Steve Riches: We're heading for a stuffing at Elland Road
This depressing season gets worse and worse.
Many fans felt we'd beat the drop by getting at least a point off MK Dons on Tuesday night, however we were beaten 1-0 and the stark truth is, we deserved nothing.
We've become a very poor side, and anyone thinking we may get something at Leeds on Saturday needs their head testing.
Of course, you can hope – as I do fervently – but hoping has done nothing so far.
I'm sick of hearing that of the games we've lost, most have been just by the odd goal.
That's like me saying I've cracked your priceless Ming Dynasty vase, but only down one side.
I shall be at Elland Road with my family, with a heart full of hope but a head full of dread.
Our forwards can't score, our midfield can't knock the skin off a rice pudding, and our defence gives goals away as freely as supermarket vouchers.
You may of course rely on Carlisle not beating Millwall in Cumbria.
It's a long nasty trip for the Londoners, who know they're already assured of a play-off place, but we can hope that competition for top slot in the play-off zone will give them some zest... you get home advantage and you get to play weaker contenders.
MK Dons are away at already-relegated Hereford and are unlikely to make a mess of that, while of course Leeds have us and should stuff us.
All three have a reason for winning, which leaves just Tranmere and Scunthorpe way back, scrapping for the fourth play-off slot.
Frankly, our only realistic chance is for Millwall to really want that result at Carlisle.
I suppose there is a faint chance Brighton will get nothing at home out of Stockport, but their recent form and Stockport's mid-table security makes it unrealistic.
Meantime, the totally illogical part of me will be thinking that the bunch of wazzocks we call a team will perform a miracle at Leeds.
Amen.
Here come the men in white coats.
Blame and scapegoats are ten-a-penny, many on Tuesday blamed the referee, he was poor but equally poor for both sides.
Then we have those who say David Cardoza should have 'invested' more (for 'invested' read 'thrown more money down the lavatory'), comments which fly in the face of his continued financial guarantees which keep us afloat, and also in the face of his prudent reduction of losses.
Then, most stupid of all are the comments that it is all 'the fault of the council'.
Well, sure, the council gave the club a certain 'come-on' to persuade Cardoza to invest in us and at a stroke to remove all the substantial costs of running Sixfields away from them.
And, sure, subsequent political parties have reneged on that and done the dirty on Cardoza. They clearly don't like him and have treated him despicably.
However, it doesn't explain why we now have such a poorly-playing side.
Any council move to help development would be putting money into the stadium, not into player purchases.
Admittedly, this would lead to greater income generation later, but as far as Tuesday's vital game was concerned, our side was not good enough.
Indeed, had we played councillors Tony Woods and Richard Church as twin strikers they’d have done no worse, and the increased gate receipts would have been most welcome.
In all this gloom, please don’t accuse me of abandoning the club.
I made a point of paying for our season tickets just ahead of Tuesday’s mess of a game, just to show solidarity.
Tonight until 8pm is your last chance of discount tickets.
Now we’re staring relegation in the face, there’s even one bright light – if we play Morecambe I’ll be able to eat one of their prize-winning pies, and then deliver the duty-free fags to my mother-in-law.
Other than that, the thought of another season in the division of dross fills me with dread.
An irony of our form in the last third of this season is that one of the players whose uncertainties initially cost points, is now the star who is saving us points.
Recently, Chris Dunn’s saves, blocks, gathering and kicking show that he’s more than risen to the occasion, and if he continues to develop at this rate he’ll become a target for bigger clubs, more even than Mark Bunn.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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