Chance to reflect on the way back down here, and have to concur with most of what's been said above ...
If one of those 3 dead cert goal chances in the first half had gone in (which in 99% of games they would have), I think that would have settled some of the big match nerves, and then I feel we would have won that game comfortably. As it was, we had to wait for them to score to wake us up in the second half and score a well-worked goal laid on by (for me) the best player on the park today (McGregor) and put away clinically by Brandon - who looks like he's going to cause a few defences some problems. (I think, btw, McGregor switched wings when Lee Hendley was substituted - maybe that was tactical to try to torment the other full back, or maybe it was to accommodate the preference of Phil Coffin?).
Central defence looked like they could deal with the arial threats fairly comfortably, though I'm not too sure what happened with Oldham's goal - looked like someone along the way didn't clear their lines when they should have. And there were a few occasions when I was glad their forwards had not done much target practice. Mind you, the same could be said of our shooting from outside the box - a fair few glory-hunting/wishful-thinking attempts to keep the ball boys busy, plus a rather woeful edge-of-box free kick.
Agree about the midfield looking a bit lacklustre. Maybe they'll get better with some competitive match practice. Maybe the length of the grass didn't help either. Am I alone in thinking it was a bit long? I know we have been spoilt in recent years with the playing surface at the VS, but from what I saw today it looks like the team are being encouraged to play a passing game of football, and the weight of pass was so often defeated by the grass, with many balls in midfield ending up as 50-50 balls with Oldham players. Again, maybe they'll take a while to adjust to that playing surface, having not had much pre-season time on there.
Have to echo my namesake above - isn't it wonderful to be able to talk about football again?
It is also wonderful to reflect on the whole matchday experience. Being pestered to part with money for various tickets and raffles and golden goals has never before been so enjoyable, especially as that was followed up with Birtwisle's steak pie. And not being quite so local, it was good to catch up with so many familiar faces and I lost count of the number of people who accosted me to enquire about my journey. In the half-hour before kick-off it felt more like a giant family reunion gathering than a football crowd.
As for the crowd, 490 exceeded even my optimistic expectations. I know it was something of a special occasion, and as such will have attracted a few from further afield, so we shouldn't expect that to be a regular figure, but I saw people there who have not been for years, and was also encouraged by the proportion of younger fans. I was also amazed how many replica shirts etc have been shifted - to both young and not-so-young! I think the performance, if not the result, will persuade a large percentage of them to come again.
Congratulations to all involved in putting on such a good show, and thanks to the army of volunteers doing all the little 'unsung hero' jobs around the ground.
