Cod Almighty | Diary

Staring into the abyss

1 August 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: Awaydays are back! And, leaving aside the actual football for the moment, Saturday's went very well.

An overnight stay near the M25 allowed us to arrive early at Epping Station, which was just as well because at 9 o'clock the car park was already three-quarters full with locals parking up for an excursion on the local steam railway. The kiosk in the car park provided a delicious sausage sandwich for breakfast, then it was into London for the morning.

Not being drinkers, our pre-match occupation is usually a gallery or museum
so we headed for Bloomsbury where we had worked for several years. A nostalgic stroll around old haunts was followed by a visit to the British Museum. Dismayed by the humungous queue snaking around the forecourt and down the street, we used our local knowledge to go around to the back entrance and walked straight in. What was intended to be a five-minute sit down to cool off in the China and South Asia Gallery turned into 90 minutes of people watching as tourist after tourist wandered past and peered down the hole in the centre of the room. Some made a beeline for it while others affected nonchalance with sideways glances as they passed, but none could resist. Fascinating.

A tube back to Leyton and some sandwiches in the park next to the ground saw us in our seats sipping hot chocolate and chatting to passing acquaintances by 2 o'clock. A perfect build up before the excitement to come. And the first half was exciting – we seemed to be holding our own against a physically imposing and well-organised team and the fans were in very good voice. The horror of seeing McAtee run off after five seconds holding his shoulder was forgotten and 0-0 at half time felt fine.

Unfortunately, reality bit in the second half with two goals conceded in the space of a few minutes causing both the players’ and the fans’ heads to drop and we never really recovered. Sure, Town had chances but without a recognised striker until Taylor came on with just over 20 minutes to go, the prospects of scoring looked remote.

I confess to being one of those who thought the momentum of the play-off victory and keeping the squad together would see Town hit the ground running and pooh-poohed those who predicted we'd finish near the bottom this season. I still wouldn't go quite that far, but the reality is we are now in a higher division with many players from non-League, have had a very short pre-season to prepare, and currently have no fit strikers. To cap it all, there is now a rumour going round that McAtee is to be sold to Luton.

Oh well, at least England have won the Women's Euros. As I saw someone joke on Twitter, you wait nearly 60 years for men to get you something then you go and get it yourself. Go Lionesses!

UTM