We. Are. Back!
The summer of waking up at stupid a.m. for an advertising/hydration breaks in the middle of a game between two nations we don’t care about is over, we have the proper football! We’re all a little bit (too?) excited and we are off and running with National League action.
Ben was on the mic for the season opener at the Attis Arena here are his key takeaways.
We saw some really nice debuts.
Throwing in so many new faces all at once was something that Billy Rowley had to do, he didn’t have much of a choice. But what he saw was a really positive showing from all his new lads.
I’ll highlight a few, but honestly, I think the vast majority gave a great account of themselves as individuals and as a unit.
Mason Obeng’s goal will rightly take the headlines (and the spuds), but he was a constant threat down the left hand side. If anything I think we maybe under-utilised him during the first half, but the way Archie Davies was getting success down the right, I understood.
Jos Barker didn’t put a glove wrong in goal, one first half save in particular was crucial. Joe Gubbins is going to key at the back and organised things well and kept Scunthorpe’s danger man Danny Whitehall quiet.
Jordan Norville-Williams is going to be a real fans’ favourite. Never gives an inch, runs for his life and adds something in attack and defence equally.
We saw two really good goals.
He meant it. There might have been a suggestion that Luke Brennan’s last gasp equaliser was a bit fortunate, but being in the Press Box right behind it and having him confirm it post match as he walked past the media teams, we saw a genuinely brilliant goal.
No blame on Jos Barker, maybe our defenders could have closed that space down a bit quicker, but sometimes, you doff your cap to a brilliant goal.
Was it better than Obeng’s though? They’re not far apart! A seriously good finish to a seriously good delivery from Ryan Jones’ free-kick.
There’s more to come.
We didn’t see either Charlie Lennon or Ste Walker at all, both saved for another day as we looked to sure up in the second half, and that’s quite exciting. On loan defender Loick Ayina was there with the group but now we have that thing called ‘depth’ we had to leave him out. That’s bonkers!
At home, having the ability to bring quality players, exciting game changers off the bench at different times should fill the fans with optimism, and hopefully put a little fire in the belly of those who missed out at Scunthorpe.
Permission to believe.
We would have lost that game at the exact time last season, in fact, my guess is it would have gone the same way as those Hartlepool openers the last two seasons, cagey, dull and eventually a bit of a damp squib.
But we didn’t yesterday. We’re gutted not to win, away at one of the toughest, most physical teams in the league who I expect to be play-off bound once more. That’s not something to take lightly at any point in the season. Plenty will come away from Glanford Park with little more than a Danny Whitehall bruise or six and a total of zero points.
The officials are allowed to be rusty as well, right?
You’ve probably seen the screenshot on social media of the third contentious ‘offside’ call against Luke McCormick by now. If you haven’t it’s below. I don’t think referee Michael Barlow or his friends were really up to speed yet. They are coming back off the break too, but being overly lenient in that game didn’t really do any favours to anyone and they called at least two (possibly three offsides) in the hosts’ favour that clearly were not.
My biggest takeaway from yesterday was that there seemed to be a bit of confidence in the team. Not something we have seen for long time.