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I'm also not looking forward to it. The home game was so recent that the players will surely be out to avenge the performance, if not the result or even the magnitude of the fixture.
Every time we've played there we've never looked quite 'ourselves', whatever idea of 'ourselves' is at the time. Except perhaps the lockdown game but as we all know, that season didn't happen.
Kingsmeadow 16/17 - Still the most angry I've ever been at a result. Players couldn't look less interested. Didn't look intimidated, because they weren't there in the slightest. I knew we'd lose before we even walked out. And even then I couldn't have predicted it'd be that bad.
Neilson's demeanour and general insistence to chalk this down to "any other game" and say he's been a part of other derbies so it doesn't phase him rung true to the other players in the end. Nobody had a fucking clue what they were involved in, except two or three who can only do so much.
Kinsmeadow 17/18 - We were shit. They were worse. To the point where it was a rare occasion where barely us, or them could be arsed to have a go at each other. We won, and they missed a penalty but frankly, when we were having discussions on the coach home about how much we need to improve for the game on Tuesday (where we subsequently got outplayed and held on for a 0-0 draw at home to Covblers) you know it papered over cracks. Enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but the signs were there. We got relegated that year.
Kingsmeadow 19/20 - Probably the best one thus far, end to end cup game, but we were probably the better side. Tisdale approached it correctly, but had us all nervous with Kasumu starting his first game. He scored a beauty. We played really well, both sides missed a penalty, they scored with what was almost literally the last kick, and took it to pens (I had my phone stopwatch on and me and some friends were head in hands at how little we had left). We won the shootout, was a really good game of football.
Cherry Red Records Stadium 21/22 - I must admit, I remember little of the game. I stupidly thought it'd be a good idea to go out the night before and woke up with the worst hangover ever. Somehow made it out of bed with my friend pulling my leg to wake me up, and the quicker I got a jäger down me the better I'd be... ha..ha.. I eventually did sober up, after a few espresso shots and a shandy or two. But by the time kickoff came I was exhausted and sat on my own for a lot of it.
What I did remember was Wickham starting, which baffled all of us and, frankly, AFC having the better of thenfirst half. 1-0 up, work to do. We came out second half better but by no means did we look like scoring until ten mins before the end Troy doing his best Van Basten impression and bailing us out. Some of our best limbs ever, which I missed being a part of having caught the goal at the corner of my eye whilst sending a text.
They were the best part of 25 without a win. We hadn't lost in 10 or so. It was almost written it'd end there but we got away with it. A really poor performance, so a welcomed point by the end given the circumstances.
We really need our senior lads to step up, which they have done of late in fairness. Gilbey, Harvie, O'Hora, Kemp, know "what it means". So they need to drill it into the rest of them. And to be fair, I don't think Norman, Bate, Wearne, Tomlinson etc will be intimidated, they strike me as the exact opposite infant who'd welcome that kinda shit. It's more the physical element of their side. We cannot allow them to bully us off the ball, and overplaying in that ground will be dangerous.
If we're at our best, we beat them. But this really is one of the cliche 'not any other game' kinda games. We saw against Wycombe in the playoffs what can happen if a physical side plays against us with the crowd up for it. We really need tonstick the landing and start well. If we start on the back foot we could be in trouble.
_________________ #DonYourWhite
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