Tuesday night euphoria and playing the best.

Hi Bluenoses, everywhere.

My joy on Tuesday with the 4-1 evisceration of Huddersfield Town at St Andrews did not begin after the final whistle but some 45 minutes before kickoff. At last, the square pegs had been placed in the right holes and we announced a side which had in it, all our leading goal scorers. Stansfield is a number 9. That’s called the centre-forward if you of an age who wore black Adidas or Puma football boots. That’s where he played and Hogan nearly 10 years his senior was given the leading bench warmer position. Miyoshi was at 10 i.e. playmaker or if you saw soccer in the 50s and 60s the schemer. Wide men were Bacuna and the blessed Dembele. Both these two had been eased in via the bench in the previous two games in which we were useless in the goal scoring dept. I tire of the idea of putting players on the bench and trying to “ease” them in. What that means is you wait until you are out of the game, and you throw them on in desperation.

Dembele came on 20 minutes before the end at Carrow road. We were 2-0 down and desparate for a spark of inspiration from somewhere. Dembele did not touch the ball for 11 minutes. Against the Terriers in 11 minutes, he had scored and had two shots go narrowly wide. The game was virtually won inside 20 minutes and Dembele was having a party. When your best player is ready to sit on the bench, then in theory he could be on after 1 minute. If he’s fit for that then he’s fit to start.

The little man was sensational, and I was so overjoyed that he performed so well and remained intact. The removal of our scoring players with 15 to go was understandable to protect them and we went from being likely to score any minute to never looking like getting near. The clean sheet that would have made the performance perfect was soon dirtied but to Jordan James’ credit he combined with Longelo to hammer home number 4 with the goal of the night.

Sadly, the night was marred when some idiot racially abused Bacuna. It certainly affected the young man who was visibly disturbed. The idiot who did something similar to Troy Deeney last season saw Troy badly injured the following week and hardly kicked a ball again for Blues. These things have a habit of swinging the axe against you and I hope the persons who did both acts are never seen in public again.

Thanks to SKY TV, rail strikes and West Midland police I am yet again unable to be at St Andrews to watch the game on Friday. Only a month from now I shall in theory be there to witness my second home game of the season. The piece of plastic gold which is my season ticket will have been safely locked away for three months. I’m hopeful that the HS2 line could be open for my next available visit!

The Baggies have been technically our inferiors for the last 50 years and yet the records show that they have stolen, flooked, or been gifted so many points over the years that Albion’s record against us beggars belief. There has been a trend though, where the games have been significant,  we have come out on top. Last year’s double was a case in point. 

Tonight could see us jump into 5th place above the Baggies. That will severely damage their playoff hopes and amazingly resurrect ours. What hope, did I hear you say? I just hope we can have a 15-day break with six points behind us!

God bless you all.

Anyway, look out for ‘Watto’s Weekly Live’ on You Tube, Twitter and Facebook. 

God Bless you all

THE TILTON TALK SHOW

Back Monday 10th October