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Yes, Quite A Relief!
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All done and dusted.
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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11/05/2010
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More On Rochdale
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"Well the job was done and we were all happy about it. Great! It was a massive show of relief at full time, even with it becoming something of an anti-climax in the end with Grimsby's failure to get a result at Burton. Still, Albert Jarrett's 90th minute was a fine ending. The release of weeks of anguish in that one joyous moment was fantastic and the mini pitch invasion at the end was just another part of the aforementioned anguish flooding out. But that's all it was.
As soon as I returned back over the barrier from whence I came, I was ready to close the book on the season. I was straight out. Reminders that the players would be back out for a lap of honour fell on deaf ears, I was having none of that. Calling it a lap of honour is a little bit of a cheek to be honest. Not many of these players have shrouded themselves in honour this season. I laid into them a few weeks ago and while the performances against both Grimsby and Rochdale were massive improvements in both quality and attitude, this strength of feeling cannot be forgotten. This season was finally over. Time to forget about it for another three months.
So we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. Grimsby's inability to play football eventually caught them up and their relegation was confirmed having been handed lifeline after lifeline which their early season form hardly merited. Though I cannot feel too much resent towards them as I was largely unaffected by their minority last week. Anyone with a half a brain can see that the moronic behaviour of those who hassled us and gave the harmless souls of Burton a hard time are not representative of Grimsby Town supporters. I look to the gracious, sporting contributors to Cod Almighty as an example of a genuine Mariners fan and I would offer them my sympathy and wish them the best in their Non-League endeavours. Though of course I can't offer you too much of that, in a choice of who I would rather go down, it's got to be you lot hasn't it? Thank fuck it wasn't us.
The repercussions for this club had we gone down would have been catastrophic. A very big deal had been made out of it, and it was clear to understand that relegation was not an option. If we had gone down, the fanbase goes, the funding goes, and we never come back. I could not see us return to the Football League for a significant amount of time if that had come to pass. Grimsby are in a far stronger position to return, and fast. Thankfully, this message got through to the team and they got the job done.
I hadn't been as worried as I thought I would be during the week. Fortunately things like a 9-5 job kept my mind away from football. I was doing everything in my power to forget that football, or rather Barnet, existed. To be fair I was doing quite a good job of it. Until about half past one on Saturday. I was in The Weaver from 1100 drinking any nerves away, as you do and after an extended stint on the pool table it was all going well. Though as kick off approached, it all went to pot. The negativity set in. The panic was rife. My arse was going like the clappers (otherwise known as squeaky bum time) but I always held on to my belief that Grimsby were crap and they would not beat Burton. Scary though.
In the end, Burton had done it for us, but that didn't tell the whole story. A packed Underhill, with its not at all surprising slow moving queues (leave it for another day) witnessed a strong attacking performance which left promoted Rochdale floundering. They'd switched off. Their minds were on a long summer away awaiting new territory in League One. They'd bought plenty of fans though, many stuck in the aforementioned queues, but 716 was impressive, so fair play to them.
Paul Fairclough took a big gamble in starting sixteen year old Mauro Vilhete up top with John O'Flynn but the youngster did very well and did not look out of his depth against players twice his age and twice his size. He was the epitome of why we could not afford to go down. The Hive has already churned out two professionals in less than a season of operation. Had the unthinkable happened, that all stops. We were dominant throughout and tested the Rochdale 'keeper Frank Fielding on a few occasions. Ed Upson looked excellent, and he came closest to breaking the deadlock late in the first half when his towering header shook the North Terrace crossbar. Half time 0-0. Everyone knew the Burton score thanks to the wonderful technology that is SMS, Wi-Fi, Radio and, er, talking. So everyone was happy. But it can always turn, can't it?
The second half continued in the same vein. Rochdale barely ventured into our final third, seemingly happy to sit back, run around a little bit for a bit of a laugh at the end of the season. We had a game to win. O'Flynn rounded the keeper but he still managed to get back and save the eventual effort. Burton went three up and the mood was relaxed. It couldn't go wrong now, surely. As such, the tension was wiped away and people could start enjoying themselves. The atmosphere had been good all day and continued as Barnet retained possession and a massive territorial advantage. Wonderful. I'm quite enjoying myself. Not often I've said that this season.
How nice it was then that in the very last minute, Paul Furlong laid the ball off unselfishly to Albert Jarrett who fired home via a deflection. Job. Done. Now we can have some fun. On the pitch for a little while, running around arms aloft. Time to go home and celebrate some more, via the pub. A cracking night in Camden was had. And we went to sleep happy. In July it will all start again, via a World Cup summer. Fantastic. We will continue to bring you little tidbits over this time and come up with some new site features too, 'cos we're nice like that. Enjoy your summer. This'll all be back before you know it."
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