It’s the middle of October and due to family holiday(s), various other commitments & then spraining my ankle ligaments, unbelievably the trip to the South Coast represented my first away game of the season and because of this, I was looking forward to the trip to St Mary’s more than usual.
The journey to and from the stadium could’ve been mistaken for a day trip out a care home for the elderly with me and Dan acting as carers and keeping a close eye on Fergus, Hoggy and Trev although, as things turned out the ‘old’ men were the ones looking after a hanging and lifeless Dan. An emergency ‘shit stop’ sorry I mean pit stop just outside Southampton seemed to perk him up a bit but at the same time enraged an already angry Irishman.
After an entertaining but very slow journey down, we eventually made it and found somewhere to park and with just an hour to spare till kick-off we decided to head straight to the ground for a few beers and meet up with some familiar faces. A quick stop off at the off-licence whilst on route to the ground for a cold can of Heineken was much needed and went down far too easily.
As kick-off approached, the travelling fans were in fine voice on the concourse but there were still a mixed feelings amongst us Gooners with how the game was going to pan out. This largely due to our inconsistency in performances and results at St Marys in recent seasons.
A dominant opening first-half saw Xhaka rifle one into the roof of the net and continue his resurgence after just 11 mins to send the travelling Gunners into raptures and renditions of ‘We’ve got Granit Xhaka” and “We are top of the league”. We continued to assert our dominance but just couldn’t get that all important 2nd goal. As it was, we went into the break 1 nil up and looking fairly comfortable although the feeling amongst us fans was, we desperately needed that 2nd goal early in the 2nd half to kill the game off otherwise it would come back to bite us. As it was, we passed up another couple more chances before the inevitable happened.
It was a disappointing and frustrating afternoon on the south coast and whilst our intensity levels dropped in the 2nd half and we looked very tired in the final 15/20 mins, it was a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal that ultimately cost us 2 points but with the way the results went over weekend (Man City aside), it meant we strengthened our Champions League qualification hopes rather than dented them.
Hopefully, it’s just a one off & we go again next week at home vs Nottingham Forest albeit with a quick stop off in Netherlands on Thursday where a single point is all that is needed to secure top spot and straight passage to the round of 16. Vital we finish top and avoid the inconvenience of an appearance in the February playoff round, which obviously involves the dropouts from the Champions League.
*On a side note, but staying with performances, it must be said just how poor the referee was on the day. Robert Jones was so bad to the point I was expecting Jeremey Beadle and his camera crew to walk out at full-time. Some very bizarre and questionable officiating that will most likely go unpunished.
After the game we met on the concourse as discussed at half-time. Well 4 of us did anyway. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Mr Senile himself (Hoggy), we finally decided to head back to the car Russell-less but hoping to bump into him along
the way or find him back at the car. Fortunately, we found him near the car stooped down and hiding behind a couple of pallets (don’t ask). Soaked from the walk back, it meant the journey home was a very wet and arduous one. The road works, numerous breakdowns/crashes and old men piss stops along the way only added to this although that lot losing at home to Newcastle meant the final leg of the journey home was made a lot more bearable.
Whilst the result wasn’t what we wanted, it was a great day shared with great people, lots of laughter and a few beers. All part of why we follow and love the club up and down the country (and abroad) week in, week out regardless of winning, losing or drawing - We are the Arsenal, and we are the best, we are the Arsenal, so f… you all know the rest!
UTA 🔴⚪️🟡🔵
Big T (@BigT_87)
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