"So now that the dust has settled on our incredible, earth shattering last minute cup final win against Sven Goran Eriksson's Notts County, we can look forward with great optimism from our fourth placed perch. Imagine the DVD, T-Shirt and other memorabilia sales from this one! Everything around the club will now change for the better after this amazing win.
Ah, I must have got a little bit carried away. Do excuse me. Still, perhaps this is the sort of reaction you would be expecting if you had taken in any of the views of what is probably a minority of Sven's County's online supporters. It seems to happen every time we beat a big club (Bradford City I'm looking in your direction) though it had never really happened after a game against Sven's Notts County.
From plain silly comments about the numbers of supporters that packed crappy little Underhill, to comments about the play during the game and the standard of refereeing, Sven Goran Eriksson's Notts County MAD site has got it all. Add to that some quarters lambasting of their manager Ian McParland, it all looks like a bandwagon-y based mess to me.
As I say, this never happened when we beat them before, but this whole circus at Meadow Lane seems to have bought out the worst in football supporters, demanding instant success and looking to blow away clubs like Barnet with little more than a breath being passed. Perhaps on paper they should be, but then there seems to be no consideration that we may actually have some ability this year, and at the end of the day it's eleven v. eleven on the pitch and money doesn't come into it.
A little searching through the aforementioned MAD site, when you've sidestepped the threads linking them to all and sundry (Ljungberg, Figo, Vieira, Ritchie) it just smacks of bitterness. One post claims '1,500 Notts were there easy'. That would be in an area holding 1,262, right? 900 seemed about right to me.
Supposedly, Sven's Pies were playing against 14 men also. I've never been a fan of referee Darren Deadman, but his performance yesterday was close to immaculate. You barely noticed him all game, and that's how the role of a referee should be. In the games' few flashpoints, he dealt with them sensibly. To suggest that Micah Hyde's handball was denying a clear goalscoring opportunity is laughable. Worthy of a booking yes, but even whilst I was looking at my shoes at the time, a deliberate handball halfway into your own half does not constitute a clear goalscoring opportunity, whichever way you slice it.
Notts County fans need some perspective. Instant success is not going to be forthcoming and demanding it would be delusional. Sven's County side looked strong and you could understand how they've brushed aside the likes of Bradford and league leaders Dagenham already this season. To start slating the manager whilst sitting fifth in League Two after five games is just nonsensical in my opinion. There are indeed a number with this perspective, but an almost equal number are getting restless already and it'll do them no good.
As for us though, we're loving it. Yes, we were very excited after the game yesterday but you would be if you won any game in those circumstances. It was a tough, hard fought game and to nick a game that was destined to end in a draw was sweet. Jake Hyde's goal bought one of the finest Main Stand stacks in a long long time, which seemed to go on forever in disbelief. The result left us in fourth place after five games. Great stuff. In the pub after, it was confirmed that with us playing Northampton on Friday, we could go top as none of the top three would be playing that night. If we could do it, it will top off what is set to be another great day out, even if we are only there for eighteen hours it will be a long lost feeling which will be welcomed back with glee.
After coming back from injury Daniel Leach looked superb yesterday after a shaky start. He won everything and didn't stop all day. A great game for him. He formed part of a solid defensive line which didn't give any of Sven's forwards much of a sniff around goal all day.
John O'Flynn looked like a player who was playing his first competitive football in three or so months. The chance he missed would have been buried nine times out of ten if he'd had a full summer under his belt. Still, it was good to get him back in the team and in action. He is a top class player and could be integral to our success.
Jake Hyde looks like a great little find though. His third goal of the season was responsible for bringing the house down, and he's looked very decent in his time up front.
Three wins in a row, three clean sheets. Let's carry this momentum into Friday and continue this excellent start we've had. There's a distraction in the week in the form of Millwall in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, which should be interesting if nothing else. Let's beat them as well...!"
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