It's an addiction and they are terrible things; they make you do stuff that if in a rational state of mind you wouldn’t normally contemplate. And that’s why at ten minutes to three last Saturday afternoon I found myself handing £5 over to a man on the turnstiles at Bower Fold.
Yes, for shame, I paid to watch Stalybridge Celtic.
In my defence though I will say that as a Manchester City fan, as well as a supporter of the once mighty Whites, I was primarily interested in watching them and whoever the home side were was purely irrelevant. Well that’s how I’m justifying giving five of my hard earned pounds to the Tameside Reporter’s pet club.
Any road, after positioning myself in the least dirty seat I could find at the back of the Tom Pendry Stand, I sat back and prepared for what I hoped would be a thoroughly convincing display from a young City side of whom great things are expected by those “in the know”. Having watched football for so long though I should have realised, especially as a Mossley and Manchester City supporter, that hope and reality are immiscible.
Frankly, if it wasn’t for Kasper Schmeichel producing a string of saves that were above and beyond the call of duty for a pre-season run out then City would have been, it pains me to say, on the end of a thoroughly deserved thumping. Maybe it was the lack of games under their belts (or a sulk at not being picked to travel with the first team to Doncaster) but a surprisingly large number of the City players didn’t seem to be particularly interested at all.
However, despite being the better side by some distance over the course of the first half, Celtic were incredibly fortunate not to concede a spot kick before the interval; the referee waving away City’s strong appeals after Marc Laird’s run on goal was brought to a crashing halt by Simon Garner.
Now if you’re thinking that that name sounds familiar, you’re right. Garner was signed during the summer from Clitheroe where in recent seasons he’s kept us Mossley fans amused with both his ridiculous hairstyles and defensive qualities. And I’m happy to say that with Mossley once again on the horizon he’s somewhere near his “best” form judging by his display against City
City, resplendent in their new purple away kit, managed their first effort of the match on target not long after the restart and with it, took the lead. Albeit not in that straightforward a fashion. Ched Evans’ header from a right wing corner was weak and directly at Celtic’s substitute keeper. Instead of dealing with it comfortably though he dropped to the floor and somehow spilled it between his legs, giving the impression that he’d somehow managed to shoot the ball out of his backside.
The audible gasp that was emitted by the supporters that really care about the outcome of friendly games as the ball trickled slowly towards the goal was replaced by a sigh of relief when it stopped on the line, only for that gasp to echo around the ground once again as Celtic player bounded in and hit the static ball into the back of the net. Surprisingly some of the supporters sat nearby didn’t find this quite as funny as I seemed to.
Parity was restored not long after when ex-Latics player Matty Barlow (afforded the kind of space normally associated to someone with an aversion to soap, water and toothpaste) received the ball eight yards out and hammered the ball past Schmeichel - providing the City keeper with the opportunity to show everyone just what tips he’s picked up from his dad by vociferously laying into his wayward defence.
As the game slowly ground its way towards a conclusion it was becoming increasingly apparent that both sides were content with a share of the spoils. That was until with two minutes to go Irish youngster Karl Moore capped a fine display as a second half substitute for City by cutting in from the right after flummoxing his marker and scoring from a very narrow angle. A brief round of applause and then it was time to go.
As people are fond of saying at this time of the year, “its performances that matter, not results” – something that will comfort the Stalybridge management team more than the City’s, despite the visitors win. From a Mossley perspective though the appearance that Stalybridge have ‘clicked’ this early into the pre-season campaign is slightly worrying ahead of next Tuesday’s game. The result may not matter but the last thing the Lilywhite’s new look and never before played together side (outside of Hurst Cross) needs is a comprehensive and demoralising spanking. Then again I expected City to do the same to Stalybridge…
Until then I’ll be satisfying my craving for football of any kind at Curzon this coming Saturday. That is unless a patch is developed or someone performs an intervention and puts me on a twelve steps programme.
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