SEASON 2020/21 No.33 – PORTSMOUTH AT HOME Pre-match thinking I was able to attend those two home league games when a few fans were permitted to cross the threshold but it was all very eerie. Whilst preferable to being sat in front of iFollow it was miles removed from the match day buzz of old  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.32 – IPSWICH AWAY I had begun to wonder if my frostiness towards the EFL Trophy was beginning to thaw a little or whether I should actually make a concerted effort to embrace it. Since Premier League U21 teams were allowed to participate I’ve expressed my contempt time after time. I have always  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.31 – WIGAN AT HOME Our opponents The last time Wigan visited the Kassam, the day before Christmas Eve in 2017, they humiliated us beyond understanding to the tune of 7-0. There were no lessons learned for Pep Clotet in the manner of a Ralph Hasenhüttl after Leicester put nine past his Saints  [ more ]

BRISTOL ROVERS 0 OXFORD UNITED 2 This was back to playing a team in the mid to lower reaches of the table and we know full well from our winning run that we can beat such sides. Although nothing can be taken for granted it was normal service resumed here result wise but the performance  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.29: DONCASTER AWAY Strengthening your hand Every season during the January transfer window and the longer summer one come to that, some fans end up going into a frenzy for no logical reason. Of course there is interest in who might be coming in and who is going out but why on earth  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.28: FLEETWOOD AT HOME I’ve written before about the bogey team thing, a team that always does well against another and probably will do again. Logically it makes no sense whatsoever, nor is it always applied consistently across the football landscape. Manchester City will almost always beat a team like West Brom in  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.27: ROCHDALE AWAY Before Covid I’d guess we’d have had 200 to 300 followers at Spotland even on a cold January night but all we can do now to sustain us in the world as it is in 2021 is look back on how it used to be and with an optimistic head  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 No.26: BRISTOL ROVERS AT HOME The match of the month in the January edition of When Saturday Comes was Fleetwood 5 Plymouth 1. This is the final paragraph: “The tragedy of this time is that, bar the chosen 80, others could only watch this sunny, entertaining afternoon from behind screens. The conviviality and  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 – No.25 BURTON ALBION 1 OXFORD UNITED 5 All away trips currently denied us will be missed by the resolute few hundred who used to be there every game come rain, shine or, as in the final stages at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday, snow. Some though will be mourned more than others.  [ more ]

SEASON 2020/21 – No.24: PLYMOUTH AWAY Live football provides many things that we are now, rightly, having to forego and the importance of each missing piece of the old match day experience will vary from supporter to supporter. The majority of our home fans, like at all clubs, don’t travel to away games and for  [ more ]