Match Report

Liverpool at home is always a big game. Why, you only need to have listened to the toe-curlingly embarrassing press conference from their soon to be new gin-dandy good ol’ owners to know that the Anfield Athletics are the biggest franchise in the soccer world. I bet some of the cheeky old Scousers are choking on those Glazer chants now eh? Anyway….

Due to some minging weather, there was plenty of rumour and half truths in the pub before the match about potential postponements and flooded pitches, but thankfully the game took place and a very enjoyable and entertaining one it was as well.

For the first twenty minutes or so, the match was fairly one-sided with the Liverpool Reds much the better side, with offensive (literally) short stop, Bellamy looking the proverbial handful. Our defence looked as flat as a witches tit and the Welsh gobshite with the piss poor goals tally constantly got behind our back line and could quite easily have had a hat trick. In the end he got only one, following a truly shite clearance from a shaky Harper getting played back in for an easy finish. To be fair to Harper, he pulled a decent save off to divert a Bellamy effort onto the bar not long after but the keeper’s kicking all day was awful and there isn’t the degree of comfort that Given provides.

From seemingly nowhere however, we were back in it. A decent ball through from an improved Dyer held up a bit on the turf and after a combination of persistence from Martins and fuckwittedness from Reina and Agger, Oba was left with an open goal that he calmly popped the ball into. Martins was magic again all afternoon, hassling and chasing the centre halves and using his body strength to hold onto seemingly lost causes and deserved the goal, if not only for the blatant foul that directly preceeded him being left with a gift of a finish.

The equaliser completely changed the game and it opened up to become even and entertaining, with both sides having a decent go at each other and this continued through into the second half before we took the lead from the spot. At first, the penalty looked a bit ropey with Taylor seemingly executing another swan dive, but the lack of serious reaction from their lot and replays later showed that Halsey (who bias aside refereed sensibly throughout) had got it right. Nobby coolly knocked it in and we were on our way to a fine win. Liverpool had another couple of decent chances but we had our moments to and we held on for a smashing three points.

The game was an old fashioned classic, piss wet through, freezing cold, a full house and a well fought for three points at the end of it – magic. The midfield battle especially was excellent to watch with Parker in his element sliding around in the clarts, Butt having another solid afternoon and Sissoko looking impressive for the Scousers. Surprisingly Gerrard was quiet, but a lot of credit for that must go to our two in the middle who were excellent. As, for that matter were the two centre halves who looked more solid as the game went on. Titus has been rightly given a fair amount of stick in his time but was spot on in the second half, as was Gooch who put in a steady, no nonsense display of the sort we have been screaming for for a long while. He may look a little bit too Boumsong-esque with his shirt flapping in the breeze but giving a few more displays like this, then he could win a fair few admirers in NE1. Chuck in a man of the match display from an out of position Taylor and there was plenty to be smiling about plodding back through the puddles outside SJP.

Results and days like this are to be enjoyed, a throwback to the days when franchises, corporate buy-outs and dodgy American millionaires were a far off thought. We may have rode our luck at times but fuck it, why shouldn’t we. Enjoy it!

Keep the Faith, Shepherd Out and Stick Your $$$$$s

GH