I always prefer to be away on the first day of the season because if you get a bad result at home first up you have the pressure of going away with no points where as if you lose the first game away you know you have your fans behind you at home in game two. Also if you win one the road first up the excitement builds up for the home game the next week. that's my theory anyway.
Last season we gained our fist win of the season at home to Barnet in the fifth round of games(another crap start to the season)Barnet returned the favour by winning the return game at Underhill 3-2. both sides finished in midtable so both saw this match as a good chance to get of to a winning start.Before the match there was a minutes applause for Sir Bobby Robson which was very well supported by the crowd of 3,773.Before the match we had popped into the Center spot bar behind the south park end of the stadium.I thought that charging £3 for a Pint of fosters in a crappy plastic glass,the type that even the with the smallest amount of pressure applied spills everywhere was a bit steep.Although the profits go to the club so i suppose i should,nt moan. plus with the weather being very nice we took our drinks outside for a spot of "bird watching" the sun brings them out you know.the one in the entrance to the executive boxes Which had a rather fine plumage was noted.
On to the game.New signing Rene Howe was on the bench so we had Chris Fagen and Paul O'Conner as our new look strike force.two new full backs in Joe Heath and Cian Houghton. In middfield Richard butcher and Jamie Clarke made in 6 out of 11 new players in our line up from the 2008-09 season.
With so many new faces it was going to take time to gel. Barnet saw much more of the ball in the first half although they weren't exactly raining shot after shot at Rob Burchs goal,we were chasing shadows for long periods in the first half and were glad to get to half time at 0-0. City needed some serious G-Force!!!
No crime fighting Guinea pigs were brought on at half time however city did start to get a foothold in the game. Half way through the first half the beast of Budapest hit the post with a header the reacted quickest to ram home the lose ball to give the imps the lead!.After that Goal city seemed alot more settled and The fight seemed to drain out of Barnet and city closed the game out quite comfortably even surviving the 5 minutes of added time without any alarms.
For me there was alot of good points to come out of the game.Yes we were shaky in the first half but as i have said before it will take time for the side to settle. the Defence looks solid and upfront Paul O'Conner had a good game winning flick ons and holding the ball up.Rene Howe looked good and with a bit more match fitness could be a real handful in this division.I must also give credit to Stefan Oakes who got stuck in made his tackles in midfield and played some good passes. after a under par season last time round (although i thought some of the stick he got was way over the top) he looks like he can show us what a good player he can be when used the right way.
Programme-£2.50- quite a good effort with a fair bit to read, hope it stays this good throughout the season.
Beer £3 -average
Food- Cheeseburger in the ground, better than the last one i had there 6/10(Felice said hot dog was crap)
Imps performance 6.5/10
My man of the match- Stefan Oakes.
There is still work to do and there tougher challenges ahead than Barnet.Notts county slamming five past Bradford was a sign of this (we visit Bradford on Tuesday week). but we will get better.we wernt great today but still won. and its great to get the first win to get that monkey off your back.
fact of the day from Baz at one point there were 16 black players on the Field of play ( this is by no means a bad thing just an observation)
i will be trying to find a pointless random fact every imps game lets hope the rest are up to if not better than this first one!
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