Local pride... in Wales
14/02/06 | by Chris Price

“Even Town held ‘em to extra time!” I should have suspected it, walking into the annexe this morning to the jumpers-on-the-bandwagon. I was on a hiding to nothing from the start, after my local side took Swansea to extra time in the Welsh Cup last week, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

It all started so well. Tyson’s goal was very well taken and going forward we were starting to play insightful through balls. We were even passing it on the deck! Forbes’ goal was good but he should not have been allowed to make that run. We had the better of the first half without creating many clear-cut chances. It seemed as if that final ball would not fall to the right person. Trundle hit the post for them, but they didn’t create much either.

After showing a greater effort than has been seen this season, Forest started drably in the second half. They were punished by, non other than, Trundle. The woman in front of me, who had a vendetta against Eastwood, seemed to have one against him too. As I screamed "don’t back off him", what did they do? And as he had done to beat Carmarthen Town, Trundle curled a sublime finish into the top corner. There is no doubt he is a good player and he is undoubtedly suited to this division with his hustle and bustle play, but that was quality.

There were very few out of your seat moments from there on in. Swansea slowed the game down. Our players seemed to get more disgruntled, as did the fans. The game had started with a good atmosphere, but in the second half it turned. The Swansea fans had decided to fight each other, which was more interesting than what was happening on the pitch, and the Forest fans seemed to had lost themselves in watching them. Five minutes of stoppage time was signalled, which stirred the crowd into action, but even when Breckin had his header cleared off the line, my usually over enthusiastic self could not be moved. I felt like a balloon that someone had just stuck a pin in. What annoyed me most was at the final whistle loads of fans stood and applauded the players!!! Yes the effort was there, but is that what we’ve become, accepting of failure. Yes we deserved something, but we lost. Professional sport is all about results and we are not getting them. 

Believe it or not there was an international on the pitch on Saturday: Sam Ricketts. God how I hate him. He is an awful player and the worst thing is he plays for Wales as well (smile, at least you don’t have to put up with that). However, he does have his purposes. He offers those with absolutely no footballing ability hope that one day they may actually make it.

So Megson’s 50th game in charge ended in defeat. Under him we have produced the worst football I have seen for a long time, and not only are we not winning, we are not winning in a lower league than we were before. Just to further emphasise our slide, the year we made the play-offs, Swansea needed a win on the final day to stay in the Football League. Many have thought of ways of ousting Megson. Although I would like it, it won’t work. Boycotting games is ridiculous. It doesn’t matter how bad it gets, we will still go and we know it. How do you account for 20,000 every week other wise? We go because we back the club, players and the badge. 

I think after Saturday even the most optimistic fans agree we won’t make the play-offs, but a question for you, is anyone twitching yet? One side usually gets dragged into the relegation dogfight, and, don’t laugh, if we lose on Wednesday at Oldham and then at Port Vale, it is conceivable we could be in the thick of it. Then what will Doughty think of stability?