We were first in the West just on 2 o'clock, all a little strange and the aisle we sit by turned out to have the arrows a different way to what had been shown on the plans published by the Club, so that was a bit confusing! There looked to have been a recent cull of pigeons as there were remnants of wings, feathers and God knows what else on much of the floor plus loads of pigeon poo, which wasn't very pleasant, but the space between us meant I could put my stuff on the chair next to me rather than on the grossness on the floor. Lots of wet, mossy stuff on the ground on the front row meant that was a bit slippy - ground could have had a jet wash down in the time we've had to get it ready in my opinion.
I do think that, with the space available, we could have had staggered seating along the rows, so that there was no need to wear a mask in your seat. What I mean is, our seats were 96 and 97, if the people behind and in front of us had been put in 100 and 101 for instance, we'd have been far enough away for masks not to be a necessity when in your seat. In our row, there was only us one end and
@Tinks and family the other so plenty of room for spacing like this. It was lovely not having to keep getting up and down to let latecomers, toilet goers and burger munchers in and out!
Lovely to see and hear our supporters in the North Bank!
I'd disagree with anyone saying that was a poor match - I note a few comments of that nature - certainly didn't feel that way watching in person. Three stand out performers for me - Macca, Hart and Dieng, with Hobson not too far behind. Considering Hart has been out of competitive games almost as long as Akinola, you wouldn't have thought so the way he hit the ground running. He was a bit leggy to begin with but soon settled down and he and Clifford seemed to have good communication between them down the left. He played a lot longer than I expected and just didn't stop the whole time, continually offering himself as an outlet and getting in the mix with some feisty tackles too.
I think Akinola will be fine, he's obviously quite match rusty, and he played a lot deeper than I expected, but he has the same springy leap that Nathan Ralph has and will win a lot of headers for us.
Oxley - 7, lucky that one shot of theirs hit the upright as had that gone in we'd potentially have had a different game. Much more vocal than I remember noticing, some good punching, would prefer more route one goal kicks.
Bwomono - 7, Elvis seemed back to form, maybe he just needed fans back in the ground! Some good runs and good defensive work too.
Dieng - 8, been very complimentary of him the previous two games as well, very solid, great heading, marshalled the defence well.
Hobson - 7.5, best performance from him in a Blues' shirt, looking very comfortable alongside Dieng.
Clifford - 7, the youngster did ok, some great corner kicks, one early on would have gone straight in the goal if uncontested - the ref blew for a foul on it anyway. Good inter-play with Hart.
Olayinka - 7, well taken goal, not standing out as much because others have upped their game, still really like him so hope we can extend his loan spell.
Demetriou - 7, see Demi, that's what happens when you go forwards and don't keep playing backwards - a great cross and assist for the goal! Much more positive from the captain.
McCormack - 8.5, MOTM again, leads by example, does the dirty jobs so well, wins some good free kicks and orchestrates much of what goes on. Can pick a pass and direct and encourage others. Get that contract extension on the table!
Hart - 8, welcome back! Great first game for us, properly involved, didn't stop running the whole time, and the Scunny defence didn't like it.
Akinola - 6.5, as already mentioned, obviously lacking in match sharpness but could develop a good understanding with a CF, not sure if that's Acquah or not.
Acquah - 6.5, still needs to learn to not be bullied and to use his build and athleticism better. Bring in Barry Corr to give him some lessons! Did hold the ball up well on occasions.
Subs:
K Taylor for Akinola - 7, thought he showed the kind of form we'd been used to, got stuck in and seemed to be ready for the fight.
Egbri for Hart - 7, works really well with Elvis when they're allowed to, made a real nuisance of himself.
R Taylor for Acquah - n/a
Goodship for Olayinka - n/a
Let's hope someone has bottled that feeling and they really can believe that their season starts now. Tuesday will be interesting, not sure Macca can play another full game so soon, so wouldn't be surprised to see him and Kyle Taylor reversed for that game.
Twitter has been a great place following the game, with Akinola entering into discussion with supporters and I'll just leave you with this tweet which some may not have seen: