#afcb 4 v 1 #nffc

Normally I fear change but today I decided to embrace it with a 'spoons fry up and a bus and train to DC so that I could properly "get in the mood" for the game

We went to a pub called the Cricketers which I'd never heard of (more change) and was very pleasantly surprised by it being a proper old pub with decent ales

The wifi was a bonus (for my son) and had I noticed that they did decent portions of cheeseburgers and chips it would have been the perfect start

Matt, the most pretentious of pre match eaters, did, however, enjoy the chilli nuts and pickled egg I bought him to keep his weird eating record intact...

Amy was kind enough to give me a card at the game and after all the beers I think I did genuinely wear with pride the birthday 1D badge it came with...

The crowd started in fine voice and it looked like a sell out and Ritchie almost rewarded the noise in the very first minute but his daisy-cutter from the edge of the box was always going wide

On 9 minutes a clear pre match plan became clear as O'Kane attacked down the right and put a low cross in towards Kermorgant 

He volley passed it to Grabban on the right and Bournemouth's goal machine smashed it near post and their keeper made a great instinctive save

This was a game that Forest HAD to win, yet didn't press anywhere on the pitch

I can't remember a game when our players had so much time on the ball - weird??

My mate Steve had sacrificed his beer drinking as he had a 100 km bike ride the next day on behalf of the British Heart Foundation and the Forest fans were kind enough to contribute with a 20 minute sponsored silence

They finally did wake up then when McLaughlin finally created their first chance by cutting in from the left past two very weary looking tackles but his shot was so weak it almost stopped before rolling for a goal kick

Fair play to the away fans though, once they did wake up they made some proper noise, so much better than at the City Ground earlier in the season

What made the noise all the more impressive was that Forest were having to do so much running without the ball, chasing it from side to side as AFCB tried to pass the opposition into submission

Saying that, the keeper was largely untroubled which only goes to prove the point that it's not just about having the ball but what you do with it

A couple of half chances from Pugh and Grabban were the best the home side could muster and they were almost punished for their lack of cutting edge on 38 minutes

At that time, out of nowhere, a ball was slotted through the AFCB defence and Derbyshire was through on goal

Rather like an angry cat, Camp came out and tried to make himself as large as possible as the in-form striker weighed up his options

He elected for a low strike towards the far left corner but Camp was able to adjust his feet quickly enough to kick the ball away

Sure it would have been against the run of play but how often have we seen that situation this season

AFCB continued to press forward and with 2 minutes before half time the pressure finally paid off

A sloppy looking bouncing ball was flung out to the right and just as we were expecting Brazil to catch it, suddenly Francis was there to head it infield and run after it

The Forest defence were clearly caught still with their cigars and brandy in their smoking jackets and there was a mad scramble to catch him up but they simply didn't have the pace

Looking up, Francis dinked the ball to the far post and there was slinky-necked Kermorgant to power the ball down, heading it right into the bottom corner to make it 1-0

Half Time 1-0

The crowd were buoyant as the second half kicked off and it only took 2 minutes for AFCB to double their lead

A far more attack minded O'Kane found himself running at the ball and even though he never looked once like he had control of the ball, it kept sticking with him

Finally a tackle came in to relieve him of the ball but all it did was fall to Grabban just 6 yards out

It wasn't a one on one so instinct kicked in and he drilled the ball low at the goal

It must have been travelling at light speed cos no-one wanted to get in its way as everyone seemed to jump straight over it, including the keeper, and finally we had a goal at the North Stand!!  2-0

Just two minutes later, Kermorgant, still smarting from not being awards the player of the season (despite not being here for most of it) decided to throw his hat in the ring for goal of the season

The ball dropped to him just outside the centre circle and seeing the keeper off his line he launched and audacious 40 yarder

Back De Vries ran, jumped and caught the ball. His momentum had him landing well behind the line but he deployed his extendable gadget arms to ensure that ball itself never crossed - excellent thinking / keeping

Forest were clearly rattled. None more than Halford who, at another AFCB corner on 50 minutes confused the ref's whistle with a boxing bell and punched Kermorgant in the side

It was as clear as day but not for the first time this season it was missed by the officials - I don't think TV coverage will ever be allowed by the dinosaurs of the game past goal line technology but if ever there was an example of why it would be a good idea...

Five minutes later and the game was turned on its head

The ball was played wide left and as Francis turned he slipped and fell on the ball

Yes it hit his hand - but did he mean it?

A free kick was awarded and clearly our defence thought that as it wasn't a real free kick it didn't count

That's how I account for the fact that as the ball was zipped over there were 3 Forest players in a line attacking the ball

Two of them realised Halford was in the mix and not wanting to get the Kermorgant treatment they graciously stepped aside and he powered his header past Camp, who had no chance

Good delivery, good header - bugger 2-1

Just 10 minutes later it could have been even worse as a Forest corner bounced, 4 yards out, to the feet of Halford again but his conscience thankfully got the better of him and he smashed it into the car-park

A real let off and Forest were to rue that wasted opportunity just 2 minutes later on 69 minutes

The ball was played out to Pugh and as he cut inside Jara, he inexplicably just tripped Pugh up in the box

A softer penalty you will never see and as the North Stand stood expectantly, Grabban passed the ball into the right of net with the keeper diving the other way 3-1

Phew

Forest did try to press forward from then but were simply unable to keep hold of the ball and were always going to be at risk from the quick counter and so it proved in injury time

AFCB countered on the left and passed the ball to Rantie at the edge of the box, who had come on for the last 5 minutes for Grabban (much more sensible sub than bringing Pitman on)

What had preceded this move was a rousing chorus of "if Rantie scores, we're on the pitch"

I'm no psychologist but making him feel like the fat kid in the playground with a built up shoe and glasses like milk bottle bottoms that always gets picked last for teams, isn't going to improve his fragile confidence

Seeing the goal in front of him, he passed it wide (no surprise there then) to the free Kermorgant who smashed it across the keeper into the bottom left corner to make it a thoroughly deserved 4-1 final score

Summary - Not the best I've seen AFCB this season but still far too good for Forest

The passing and moving was excellent and the lack of chances I'm putting down to Forest's gobsmacking decision to park the bus rather than go for the win right from the first whistle

Next season I hope that we will see ourselves as contenders as others have clearly seen our qualities and are setting themselves up more and more to nullify them

I do think we have finally thrown off our small club complex and if we start the coming season as we have played since January, the rest of the league won't have the luxury of the head start we handed to them

Lastly, look out in the coming weeks for a link to a petition I'm creating to campaign for weekly pitch invasions

I could finally just get out of the stadium without people rushing to the steps then standing there for 10 minutes to have a good old sing song

Star Man - O'Kane - industrious throughout finally showing that he can compete for that Arter role of terrier in the middle whilst keeping the team going forward

#afcb 2 v 4 #swfc

Today just felt wrong 

It was a Friday match-day, Paul wasn't wearing his lucky socks, Pete didn't have his lucky gloves and Marco wasn't turning up at all

To top it off, Eloise had COOK printed across the back of her shirt today so there were just lots of omens against us

The rest of the crowd clearly hadn't spotted all of these obvious signs as we started with the longest rendition of "Barmy Army" that I can remember

After some early AFCB pressure it was Lee who had the first shot of the match from the edge of the box on 5 minutes but he dragged it harmlessly wide

He'd been given way too much time on the ball and I felt that the defence were too worried about the giant Nuhiu and so were slow to react to the threat at hand

Five minutes later AFCB had their first chance as a long ball caught the Owl's defence napping and Grabban ran onto the ball (one of the few occasions he wasn't caught offside)

He cut the ball back to Ritchie but his weak shot was easily saved

On 11 minutes Grabban added to his already unbeatable record of 1 on 1 failures as he was sent through and smashed the ball at goal only for the keeper to pull off an excellent save

To be fair to Grabban most of his 1 on 1 shots are on target but he's yet to perfect the "missing the keeper" part of the equation

The save was all the more impressive as Kirkland was clearly suffering from some sort of hydration problem which is why every time he had to take action he had to throw a water bottle back into the goal

He surely wasn't doing that to waste time ....

On 15 minutes we witnessed the defining moment of the game, for me

Cook had the ball and under pressure, panicked

First he got the ball caught between his feet and then committed the biggest schoolboy error ever - he blind passed the ball across the box and there was Nuhiu

Despite having the pace of a pregnant tortoise, as NO-ONE was expecting that ball, he had all the time in the world to look up and smash the ball into the bottom left corner

It was a great finish on the back of an absolute defensive howler

You may ask why it was the defining moment in my eyes, especially as AFCB scored the next goal

The reason is that this one second seemed to send shivers throughout the previously impressive back 5 and turn time back to the beginning of the season

Time and time again, instead of the ball just being cleared, the ball was allowed to bounce to cause so many more problems

Worse than that though is once the ball bounced between 2 AFCB players, neither would go for the ball

There were no communications and no leadership and so often one attacker would get the better of 2 or more AFCB players

This is what needs sorting before Ipswich on Monday

It could have been even worse just a minute later as Cook attempted to pass the ball back to Camp but only managed to chip the ball up right into the attacker's path

Luckily this time he was far enough away from goal for Cook to show a dazzling turn of pace and get back to slide tackle the ball to safety

Cookie wasn't dead, he'd just been hiding....

AFCB came right back at Wednesday then and had the majority of possession but to continue the time travelling analogy we looked good, without looking threatening

Then, on 30 minutes, we suddenly remembered what we had to do and had done so well pre - Yeovil

Some clever work down the right had the ball chipped into the middle of the box and there was Pugh to head home from close range to make it 1-1

How the AFCB faithful enjoyed the next 90 seconds

That was how long we had to rethink those bad thoughts of how we only do well when we are confident and we only have confidence when we score first

This time it was a long throw in on the right, that trickiest of all set pieces, that was to be our undoing

Over it went into the box, flicked on despite being outnumbered 2 to 1 and headed in by Hutchinson 

The game then turned into a match up of pace against muscle and unfortunately for us it was the muscle that was winning

So many pushes and grabs went unpunished the only decision I truly believed was when Grabban was caught offside again and again and ...

On 38 minutes Grabban could only hold his head in disbelief as his half volley from 6 yards out was launched into the car park

It followed a flowing move down the left and the ball was crossed over all of the defenders right to his feet - bang went my theory of him being better when he didn't have time to think about it

With just 2 minutes to go, AFCB almost drew level

Kermorgant headed the ball on to Surman and he surged forward

Seeing the gap on the left he opened his body up and curled a left foot shot to the bottom left of the goal and thirsty Kirkland pulled out a top drawer save to deny him

Half Time : 1-2

Ten minutes into the second half and the sides were level

The pressure was all coming from AFCB and this resulted in a series of corners 

One such corner, on the left, had Harte trotting to take it

As I was debating whether it might have been better to have a right footed player take it from that side - over he smashed it

I've said it time and again but it's worth repeating - you just can't fault his delivery

Kermorgant certainly won't complain as it landed on his forehead like a rocket and he powered it past Kirkland as all defenders looked at each other posing that important question - "who was meant to be picking him up?"

At this point I fully expected us to step up a gear and win

What actually happened was a series of bad decisions - both on and off the field

For AFCB - time and again we tried to pass the ball through the eye of a needle or pass 50 yards across field when there were 6 easier / shorter passes available or pass the ball early when there was acres of grass to run into

Then it was Howe's turn, bringing Fraser on for Ritchie

I think Fraser is great but Ritchie was at the centre of most things going well whereas having him on the right and Fraser on the left gives us pace to burn and a directness that opposition teams hate

Not wishing to feel left out of the poor decision making Hutchinson decided to get in on the act by tripping Kermorgant and getting his second yellow - surely a win was in the bag now even with that dodgy substitution...

Howe wasn't to be outshone though and took Harte and Pugh off for Smith and Pitman

The initial sub made the team slightly worse, the second gave us more pace but less delivery and unless Pitman was replacing me, well, I thought we were trying to win the game

Sandwiched in between the latter 2 subs Kermorgant had a 25 yard free kick curl over the wall, thump against the bar and hit Kirkland on the back and yet it STILL wouldn't go in

Then, with 5 minutes to go the ball bounced out in between O'Kane and Surman 

Mimicking the defensive indecisiveness, neither went for the ball and a midfielder nipped in and the Owls were on the break down the left

Out came Camp to make Antonio's target smaller and he chipped the ball over the keeper and the ball bounced off the bar

There was a collective sigh of relief for that and the fact that the ball fell to Best....

He controlled the ball, ambled about a bit and then just passed the ball into the goal

No-one will be more disappointed than Camp that it went in at the near post but at the time, I reckon I was a close second

If he puts it into the far corner fair enough, but to be beaten at the near post - it's something that's happened a few times this season

Don't get me wrong, Camp has been outstanding this season and has saved us far more points than he's cost us

The players heads all went down and the home crowd went quiet - until they held up the sign saying there was to be 7 minutes of injury time

Let's throw the kitchen sink at them !!

Orrrrr we could watch a team very professionally run the ball into corners and generally frustrate the numerically superior team

Actually, scrub that, let's really get the salt rubbed into the wounds

Kermorgant was sent through to chase the ball and was tripped as he ran onto it

Obvious to me and everyone else, except of course the linesman and referee

As we all stood round clearly not playing to the whistle, off they broke again down the right 

A low cross found Maguire on his own in the middle and he cleverly dinked it over Camp to complete the scoring

Final Score 2-4

Summary : Better tempo than last week but the poorest defensive display I've seen us put in for months

Cook had a game to forget and that seemed to affect everyone around him

Players weren't prepared to take the lead, opting to pass rather than shoot and were all too often beaten to the ball through hesitation

Going forward we still attacked with pace but the irony for me was that once we'd thrown the final dice by bringing Pitman on, we seemed to stop crossing the ball

The dream of the play offs may have drifted (although still possible) but it's still been a great season

What today showed me is that the quality of the squad is still too thin as we didn't have anyone on the bench that could make a difference

Hopefully this season's exploits will encourage Max to open his cheque book

Finally, IMO , if Arter hadn't been such an idiot against QPR, I think we'd be sitting in 6th right now

Star Man - Kermorgant - powerful in the air and held the ball up well to allow attacks to build by bringing the midfield into the game

#ytfc 1 v 1 #afcb

So here we were, 5 games from the end of the season and people were already booking their tickets for Wembley

Sure the table suggested that this was a winnable game and I for one expected (hoped) us to win - but against a side fighting for their Championship status this was far from a walkover

We followed tradition and went to the Airfield Tavern for pre match beers and in keeping with tradition there were only 2 bar staff to cope with the 2000 of us and they ran out of the best beer in the first 20 minutes

The beer bought for me by my daughter having just turned 18 was especially tasty though - the first of many, I hope :-)

Lunch was provided by the chippy next to the pub and once I'd got the hang of the fact that they'd clearly been cooked on the SUN I managed to tentatively enjoy the food

The ground was only a 10 minute walk away but worth every step to ensure that we could get away without delay

I'd done a q and a session for the Yeovil programme and had been promised a free copy but as there was no one wearing a rose in the lapel, carrying a copy of the guardian I guessed my answers hadn't been up to scratch and bought one anyway - you can't hide from vanity :-)

Despite being at the ground nearly an hour before kick off the stands were quite full but we found a good vantage point just to the right of the goal

Unfortunately it did mean that we had to keep our wits about us because the nets they put up behind the practise goal were actually lower than the goals so we had to ensure a good 10 minutes of being peppered by some truly woeful shots - maybe they were saving the good ones for the game...

We'd brought so many and to see the Hillsborough minute's silence observed so well was very moving

Little was I to know that this silence was more of a theme than a special occasion .....

Yeovil were big and strong all over the pitch and it is one of our Achilles heels that we don't seem to fare well against bruising sides so I just hoped we were up to the task

In the first 2 minutes it was like the start of the Reading game as Grabban quickly showed his pace and was away down the left

He cut back and found Ritchie and as we all waited for the net to billow he smashed the ball over the stand

Oh ok, not quite like Reading then

Yeovil then started to make their presence pay with some fantastic chasing down and some bone crunching tackles

They looked like they wanted it more and were prepared to run through anyone to get what they wanted

Sometimes that skirted legality but more often it was down to honest endeavour and strength that kept AFCB on the back foot

Keiffer Moore in particular was causing us all kinds of problems with his height and power, winning every header and shielding the ball well

It was he that had Yeovil's first meaningful shot on goal shortly after Fraser had had a tame effort saved on 18 minutes 

Cutting inside from the right he sent a stinging shot towards Camp who could only just parry it but had the presence of mind to jump on the ball before it could be bundled in

Yeovil were very much on top as Bournemouth looked a shadow of the side from Tuesday

Fraser has good reason to be running slower as he was floored by a tackle better suited to wrestle mania than the football match but as for the others - maybe I should roll out Atkins' "bad day at the office" excuse

That, though, would be doing Yeovil an injustice as on 25 minutes they got the lead their play richly deserved

A free kick from the half way line was lobbed up into the box and was only limply headed away to Moore, who thumped the ball into the top right corner to make it 1-0

No more than they deserved and no  less than we as supporters deserved as we put up a performance as flat as the players

When you are outsung by the supporters in the seats you really do have to think whether these arguments for better atmospheres at safe standing areas hold any truth at all

Grabban had 2 chances to raise everyone's spirits before the half time whistle but the first, a low cross from Francis, he missed completely and the second, after he had chipped a defender brilliantly to create a shooting chance, almost went for a throw in

That summed up the first half really - we weren't awful, in fact on the counter we looked quite good but we just seemed out of sorts

Either we couldn't decide when to cross the ball or we crossed with so little accuracy we'd have needed 500 in the box to have a chance of getting near the ball

Half Time 1-0

After a slightly improved opening 10 minutes of the second half where we started to gain some possession without actually looking that threatening, Howe made a surprise (to me) substitute

He brought Smith on and took Harte off

I didn't even realise he could play on the left

What I also didn't appreciate was how this move was to change the feel of the game

I have nothing but praise for what Harte has brought to the team with his composure and fantastic ball delivery but even he'd be the first to admit he's no Usain Bolt

Smith, on the other hand, has pace to burn and suddenly we were as threatening on the left with him and Fraser as we were in the right with Francis and Ritchie

Within 2 minutes of being on the pitch he was charging down the left and threaded a ball through the defence for Fraser to run on to

Unfortunately he over hit the pass just slightly which allowed the defender to come across, right to left, to smash the ball clear

That was the intention, anyway

What actually happened was that he hoofed the ball straight into Fraser's chest and the ball looped back over his head

But that wasn't the end of it

The ball continued to loop up and their 9 foot 6 goalkeeper could only look up in anguish as it sailed over his head and nestled into the top right corner to make it 1-1

Finally the crowd cheered

We'd said before the game that any goal would do and so maybe fortune was on our side and we'd go on to win this

Instead of AFCB raising their game it was Yeovil that rose to the challenge

Despite us looking dangerous on the break it was Yeovil that created the most panic

On 63 minutes a series of corners had AFCB flinging themselves at man and ball as the ball pinballed around the box and we were all waiting for the scoreboard to click over but the ball was finally clawed away

Three minutes later it was Ritchie that was carrying the charge forward down the right

Instead of using the tireless Francis overlapping him he cut inside and had he had a haircut that allowed a clear field of vision I'm sure he'd have seen the players free to the left and he wouldn't have shot tamely

Again though, the story of the day - it was like going back in time to December - lots of threat but always the final ball was lacking

If the Smith substitute was inspired, the next baffled me

Even if we guess that Grabban wasn't fully fit, I'm not sure what Pitman brings to the team

With him and Kermorgant up front we have no pace at all

Sure Rantie doesn't look like he could finish his dinner let alone finish a move but he has got pace and when we are playing on the break that is exactly what you need

On 68 minutes it almost didn't matter as for once Francis was beaten to the ball and their striker was away 

Rather than running to the byline he charged at goal and tried to beat Camp at his near post but he was equal to the shot and the defence was able to scramble it away

Five minutes later and we were all wondering if the team were wearing new spoon sponsored boots as another chance went begging

This time it was a Ritchie low cross that was stepped over by Pitman (surely he wasn't brought on just for this move) and there was Fraser to smash it out of the ground

I think we've been spoilt in recent weeks with all shots at least hitting the target

Today that strike rate was being evened out 

With 15 minutes to go a rare Cook slip gave the ball away and an instant strike sent the ball just over the bar

Finally Rantie came on but it was for the unfortunate Fraser so while we gained speed in the middle we now had fewer options on the wing 

Maybe Howe's decision to not bring Rantie on earlier was justified as he made no impact on the game except for a sluggish challenge on him which got the yellow it deserved

In fact it was Yeovil that had the final chance just 9 minutes from the end where more chaos was created in the box and only a last gasp clearance prevented the home side from collecting all 3 points

Summary : AFCB just weren't at the races today

In previous games their work rate had been phenomenal and the pace of attack a joy to watch

Today there was no such spark and they were far too static and slow to truly trouble a well drilled team

You might say Yeovil are a little one dimensional but I prefer to think they play to their strengths

They have big men all over the pitch and they make sure the opposition know they are there

AFCB just didn't have enough pace or guile to break them down and when it wasn't working we started to lump the ball forwards which was just food and drink to the giants of Yeovil

This might well have ended the dream of the play-offs but it's still been a fantastic season and I'm looking forward to what the future brings

Star Man - O'Kane - surprisingly strong in the challenge and was good at doing the simple things well

#afcb 3 v 1 #readingfc

I've decided that I don't like having the day off on match days

I had all day to refresh twitter and all I read was AFCB fans getting more and more excited about the prospect of getting into the play-offs - I just can't cope with that kind of optimism and always think that even thinking it out loud will jinx it

In the concourse the mood was positive but a little more restrained as we all predicted a home win, by the odd goal - that's more like it ;-)

As we faced our second hoops in a week it was like Saturday had never finished - the noise was amazing even before a ball was kicked

Even when Reading had a chance in the opening minute as a Francis clearing header was brilliantly volleyed by their 37 only to find Camp in imperious form, diving to his left, the noise didn't diminish - this is what every game needs to sound like from now on

Looking back now, that start was the perfect kick up the arse we needed - just because we are on a good run of form, it doesn't mean we can be complacent

That slap around the chops fully woke the side and from then on the work rate all over the pitch was nothing short of outstanding

Hunting in packs they gave no-one a second on the ball and every second ball was won by an AFCB player with Ritchie performing the Arter role of stepping up and saying "I'm going to run this hard - this is the standard you ALL have to match" - and match it they did

With just 6 minutes on the clock is was one such hunting party that snaffled the ball from midfield and was passed back to Cook

He passed the ball up the line on the left and Grabban, having had an intensive 3 day course explaining what the offside rule was, was away

Just in case I forget to say so later, tonight Grabban was OUTSTANDING. His runs and work rate were top notch and he jumped, and actually headed, more balls today than he has all season

Add that to the way he managed to hold the ball up under extreme pressure and the defenders had a torrid time with him

On this occasion, he cut back inside and at first glance seemed to pass the ball behind everyone but in fact in was running Ritchie from the right and with a first time controlled shot he passed the ball into the bottom left corner, giving the keeper no chance

Just when you thought home games couldn't get any better, it just did : 1-0

Reading weren't here to just roll over though and their right winger number 10 was as fast as I've seen at Dean Court so they always had an outlet

It was he on 16 minutes that suddenly had the ball on the half way line after an AFCB attack was cleared and he was away

At least, that was what he thought

Across flew the team's most improved player and he timed a sliding tackle fantastically to thump the ball into the stands

Goals make the crowd go wild and this tackle was greeted with exactly the same fervour

It was like the team were saying "you might beat one of us, but we've all got each other's back"

Properly inspiring

Not just for us, it seemed, but for the team as 2 minutes later the lead was doubled

Grabban was played through leaving the cumbersome defence in his wake but inexplicably he doubled back and it seemed the chance was lost

He passed it back to Surman who passed it first time to Ritchie and he produced a carbon copy passing shot that again he keeper got nowhere near : 2-0

Reading then really tried to raise their game but they just couldn't keep hold of the ball as the AFCB players were all over them like a rash and were a constant threat on the break

One such break on 32 minutes had a right cross land on Kermorgant's head and as I jumped up to celebrate the goal - the keeper saved it

How did that happen - it's always a goal when the Frenchman heads it? Remind me to put in a formal complaint that the keeper clearly hadn't received the memo - heads will roll, I tell you......

On 39 minutes it was groundhog day

Another defence splitting pass had Grabban running away from the hapless centre backs down the left and as he opened his body up to pass the ball into the far corner, he missed the target altogether

I reckon if Grabban could score even half the one on ones his pace creates he'd be in line to win Europe's golden boot but it was just another one that went missing

In an otherwise flawless display, though, it's easy to overlook this small fly in the ointment

What made that pill a little easier to swallow was that it wasn't the end of the best half I've seen - yes I said it, best and again yes, I was there for the Leeds game

With just a minute left on the clock some more good work on the right had the ball crossed in and there was Kermorgant again

Still fuming from his previous miss he bent his neck so far back I thought his head was going to fall off and then, recoiling it like an angry serpent he smashed the ball past the keeper to make it 3-0

The half time whistle went shortly after that but the singing continued - I've not witnessed anything like it - absolutely superb support and still enough to make the hairs on my arm stand up

Just before the second half started their keeper was led out like a punch drunk boxer and he was put through his paces for a full 5 minutes

The North Stand ironically cheered with every save he made - well, it must have been nice to touch the ball without having to bend down to pick it out of the back of the net....

The second half started and Reading definitely started the brighter, keeping the ball well and trying their best to get as many high balls into the box as possible

Reminiscent of AFCB at the beginning of the season, though, you just never thought they were going to score.

Such is the understanding now at the back it appeared that every eventuality was catered for and if there wasn't someone there to pass the ball away, there was someone else to put it into row Z

Despite their pressure the real chances fell to Bournemouth with the first created by a typically strong run by Francis shrugging off his marker as he were no more that an annoying gnat and crashing his shot near post, which more struck the keeper than was saved

Pugh then punched a long range shot wide of the left post when better options were to his left and Grabban just failed to keep his shot down as he struck the bouncing ball just over the bar

Then on 74 minutes the unexpected happened

For the first time of the night AFCB's policy of passing the ball out from the back was their undoing as a ball was intercepted and the ball moved to the left

From a LONG way out Robson-Kanu struck the ball and I'm not sure whether it was deflected or if Camp was unsighted but he didn't move as the ball sailed in

I'd joked at half time that I hoped we didn't get a fourth as we always seem vulnerable then and so this was going to be another test

Well, that's what I thought but despite the Reading fans finally waking up, the only test I had was with my patience as I witnessed dozens of home fans leaving early

What's gong on ? I get that traffic was bad earlier but if you can't enjoy getting within 2 points of a play-off spot in the Championship you do have to wonder what will keep bums on seats - the Champions' League perhaps - or will that depend on whether the Masterchef final was on at the same time...

That really was the only test as Reading huffed and puffed but just didn't trouble Camp again

The person I felt sorry for was the poor guy that got hit the face by a Kermorgant free kick deep into injury time. That alone was bad but as he'd been practising those free kicks before the game and had already peppered the guy without hitting the target once the supporter must really rethink his Aunt Sally fancy dress outfit...

Final Score 3-1 and we finally have a positive goal difference!!!

Summary : Leeds was great, Birmingham was excellent but this first half was better

The noise of the crowd, the passion of the players to retrieve the ball and the pace and deadliness of the attacks were amazing

With the chances we created today the score could have been even more impressive but it wouldn't have been flattering

The only thing that rankles with me is that all of the bloody goals are at the South Stand AGAIN - can't they share it around every once in a while ?? ;-)

Star Man: Grabban's overall display was outstanding but for work rate and giving a lesson in keeping cool when scoring opportunities arise, it has to be Ritchie - a welcome return to top form

#afcb 2 v 1 #qpr

There was an air of cautious optimism in the Fitness First bar before the game

The 'P' word was liberally used but surely it's a step too far, isn't it? Looking at the run in, if we COULD beat QPR, Reading, Ipswich AND Forest no-one could say we didn't deserve it .....

Within the first 5 seconds Kermorgant and I've been told Hill (not Dunne) clashed heads and both fell to the ground immobile

To be fair the QPR defender was spark out and fell on Kermorgant which must have felt like getting body slammed by Giant Haystacks so there was no way the plucky Frenchman was going to be able to move

The first 15 minutes had QPR's millionaires running the show with Jenas ruling the midfield

AFCB sat back and invited the pressure and these types of players really don't need to be asked twice to have a go

Luckily we had their ego on OUR side

Countless times some dazzling footwork created space and opportunity but instead of playing in a team mate they tried to take on that one extra player and when that extra player was invariably Elphick or Cook, that was always going to be one player too many and the ball was cleared

Arter was waspish in midfield and Kermorgant held the ball up well but it was really one way traffic early doors

Jenas has the visitor's first chance on 16 minutes as his curling 20 yarder  had Camp diving superman-like to tip over from the very top left corner

Just 1 minute later and Morrison had a shot drilled into the ground but as it looped up it took a superb back dive a Russian gymnast would have been proud of to reach back and tip it over

Camp's purchase has been largely overshadowed by Kermorgant but in those 2 minutes we saw what a difference he has made to the team

It took 22 minutes for AFCB to finally get a foothold in the game as Grabban was put through on the right

He scampered past the good ship Dunne and crossed the ball low to Ritchie who scuffed wide left of the goal

A trademark Cook long throw in on 28 minutes caused mayhem in the box as it was headed on and but for a brave diving header surely Grabban would have pounced

AFCB raised the pressing tempo of their game significantly at this point and it was from one such hounding mission that they retrieved the ball on the right and crossed the ball in on 36 minutes

Reminiscent of Grabban's first goal against Leeds, this time Kermorgant cut in front of their defence and smashed the ball at the goal

Unlike Grabban, though, the keeper was equal to it and he made a comfortable looking save

We even had a crack at the long ball game with 2 minutes left on the clock when a huge goal kick arrowed towards Grabban

The ball went so high that it gave Grabban time to take the lead weights out of his boots that prevented any other attempts at jumping for the ball and actually got off the ground

His head, however, was still shaped like  50p piece so he "let" Dunne head the ball and the ball ricocheted between him and Dunne (well it could hardly miss Dunne) and the ball fell back in Grabban's path

A smart 1-2 with Kermorgant had him running through at goal but unfortunately he dragged his left foot shot just wide of the right post - so close

Into injury time and and the Howe halftime team talk had to be ripped up and hastily rewritten

Another fantastic Harte delivery of a corner had Elphick soaring above all and sundry and he crashed his header past the keeper to make it 1-0

It really was a thunderous header and it raised the roof on an already impressively noisy stadium

The half time whistle blew to cheers and applause as the players went off with their 1 goal lead intact

20 seconds into the second half and it all went wrong....

A lofted ball sailed over Francis' head and there was Traore

Brilliantly controlled on the volley he tore forward and smacked the ball near post past Camp to make it 1-1

Sod it

We'd not even lasted 1 minute - come on the bloody drummer - get the singing going!!!

To be fair he, like the rest of the home support, rose to the challenge and the noise grew and grew

On 55 minutes Surman surged forwards and linking with Kermorgant in a neat 1-2 saw Surman having a glimpse of goal and his shot was brilliantly tipped over

Hmmm maybe this wasn't all over

Four minutes later and it was FAR from over ...

A clever ball from Surman over the defence found Kermorgant who chested it forward into the box

Realising he'd gone too wide he crossed the ball from the left into the 6 yard box and a howler from the defender had the ball squirm under his interception and it sat up to Grabban who smashed it past the keeper

We were beating QPR  2-1 - who would have thought that after our visit to Loftus Road

On 61 minutes Arter forced an excellent save from the keeper with a curling shot destined for the top right corner but unfortunately that was the last time he was to have a positive influence

Just 6 minutes later a horrendous Arter lunge was richly rewarded with a straight red - I'm not sure if it was a red but the fact that he gave the ref opportunity to brandish it was foolish to say the least and I hope this moment of stupidity doesn't mar the season

In fact, up to that point Arter was my man of the match as it was him that single handedly raised the tempo to put pressure on the visitors but with challenges like that you do wonder just how much he's grown

All I knew is that it would now be 25 minutes of backs against the wall

At the beginning of the season I would have put money on us not coping with that

But this isn't the beginning of the season and this isn't the same team

Kermorgant was unluckily sacrificed for O'Kane and while we had a player who has improved immeasurably at holding the ball but still doesn't leave the ground I understood why Grabban was still there (pace) but still cursed Arter's stupidity

Fraser was brought on for Ritchie and when he was kicked in the head as he ran forward we realised that we weren't getting any decisions from the ref so what was difficult became just slightly worse

QPR surged forward for the last 15 minutes after bringing on 3 subs each of which were worth more (£) than the AFCB squad but despite us sitting back and allowing them possession we are  now a proper team that covers for each other and despite being pulled from pillar to post, numbers were always present to repel the attacks

In fact with 2 minutes left Grabban could well have put the result beyond doubt as Fraser ran forward and brilliantly slotted him through only for yet another 1 on 1 chance to go begging

Harte also had a free kick tipped over as the clock passed 90 but this wasn't the end of the talking points

Earlier in the week Howe had everyone lined up against the wall with measurements marked against it

The assumption was that he was preparing for the end of season "Usual Suspects" themed end of season p**s up but, oh no.

What he was actually doing was seeing how tall players REALLY were (no CV sh*t) and when a corner was awarded to QPR deeeeeep into injury time he used that preparation to haul Pugh off and bring Pitman on

Up waddled Chicken to the near post and it was he that headed the ball off the line as it was headed into the top corner

Tactical / Substitutional genius ? yes , yes it was :-)

Final Score 2-1

Summary : For me this is what supporting your local team is all about.

Excitement, nervousness, exhilaration, fear and absolute joy

I've gone on about the passing and movement we have in the past and while we had that today, it was the defence that really stood out

From the forwards to the keeper the team defended as a unit so if anyone was caught out there was always at least one other to cover

I have no doubt that at the beginning of the season this would have been a game that we would have lost but not any more

We are now a full 11 points better off against teams in the first half of the season and the confidence is there for all to see

Could we make the play-offs ? Hell yes

If we made it, would anyone want to play the form side of the league ? F**k no

Make it or not it has been a brilliant season and all involved should enjoy what we have

Star Man : Cook - just immense and that sliding tackle on Hoilett alone was worth the entrance fee