Gainsborough Trinity v Stafford Rangers. Blue Square North

Saturday 16th January 2010. Blue Square North
At the Northolme, Gainsborough

Gainsborough Trinity (0) 1 (Beckett 90 pen)
Stafford Rangers (1) 3 (Reid 41, Alexander 70,72)

Admission £10, Programme £2, Attendance 334
Besides the FA Trophy tie with North Ferriby United, every other time I've seen Trinity play this season I could've used a ready made template for a match report that went something along the lines of:
Trinity dominated the early stages and should've taken advantage of the many chances they created because as the game went on they faded away and the opposition were let off the hook ... Ultimately the Blues lost because they didn't take control when they really ought to have done and they will be regretting all of those missed opportunities now.
Against Stafford the only slight alteration I would've needed to make to that overview of the game would be to replace 'early stages' with 'first 40 minutes'.
I'm not sure if Brian Little is the victim of a Gypsy Curse or if there is some invisible force field around whichever goal Trinity attack for the first half of games, but I'm sure even Stafford Rangers couldn't quite believe they went in a goal in front at the interval.

"A green leaf salad and blueberry flavoured low fat yoghurt please"

The visitors went ahead when Trinity captain Nathan Peat decided to head the ball away when he should've left it for his keeper Phil Barnes to deal with.
The headed 'clearance' found Stafford's number 11 Levi Reid who coolly and gratefully tucked the ball away.
At the other end, the Rangers penalty area had (until then) resembled an all hands to the pumps panic zone.

After the break, the Gainsborough players, for the most part, vanished into their shells ... a few heads dropped and for a while they seemed to have adopted the mindset that this just wasn't going to be their day and they were already as good as beat.
This was against a very ordinary Stafford team who up until that point had offered very little in the way of attacking ideas or goalscoring options.
The visitors sensed the defeatist mood prevalent in Trinity's camp and seemed to find a spring in their step now as a consequence.
The revised approach, as Trinity surrended the initiative to Stafford, led to another two goals as they turned the screw, both in the space of two minutes, both from Levi Reid, although the first did take a bit of a deflection on the way in.

As a complete neutral I find Gainsborough Trinity's play frustrating to watch this season, so lord knows how their supporters must feel when they see them chucking the towel in like this.
If their possession in the early stages of games doesn't amount to goals, their application and concentration levels drop right off ... they then seem to resign themselves to yet another defeat in a game they should already have wrapped up.
I'll stick my neck out and say, on the strength of what I've seen this season, GTFC are carrying too many passengers out on the pitch who aren't up to the mark and at times don't even seem interested.
This needs addressing as a matter of urgency if the club don't want to slide into the UniBond League next season.
I'm not going to name names. But there was a former Worksop Town player at the Northolme today, who seemed to know loads more about the present goings on behind the scenes at WTFC than any mere rank and file Tigers supporter might be privy to.
After checking out his rather startling revelations, it transpired that there is a great deal of substance to what he was saying too.
The truth is out there somewhere.
Me, I'm just a football supporter and my new year's resolution was to distance myself as far as possible from politics and other peoples business. And I'm sticking to that!
Besides, some things are best out in the open, others need to be handled a bit more sensitively.

Respect is due to the Gainsborough supporters who put in so much effort to clear snow from the pitch to get today's game on, it's just a shame certain players didn't feel the inclination to put half as much effort in and reward those fans with a whole 90 minutes today.
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, Luke Beckett scored an injury time consolation goal from the penalty spot, but the outcome of the game was academic by then and despite Trinity showing a bit of urgency in their game once they were three goals behind, this game had been over as a contest for quite a while by then.

"A Little bit frustrating"

This was my first game of 2010, so err ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Two weeks ago a problem on the M180 meant I didn't quite get to Scunthorpe United's 3rd Round FA Cup game v. Barnsley, but I did get some nice shiny new parts for my car, at a price.
Last Saturday afternoon, the very nice man delivering my new tumble drier (guaranteed delivery by 11AM apparently) got stuck in the snow and by the time he arrived it was too late for me to reach Elland Road to watch Leeds United play, or the Ricoh Stadium for the Coventry City v Barnsley game.
Maybe I'm jinxed and destined never to see Barnsley in action ever again ... probably not such a bad thing, eh!?
These things are sent to try us, but my wheels are back in motion now, thankfully.
Game 66 for THE66POW was a long time coming