Friday Night Preview

If other games tomorrow i.e. Wigan v Birmingham and Newcastle v Reading end as draws, I’d be happy enough with a draw for us too. I doubt if Bolton and Boro will get much change from Villa and Man United. If we win, and I’ve a feeling that we will, then we’ll be in a very strong position but let’s not think too much about that yet. At the school where I work they regularly take parties of students to home games at Craven Cottage, but such was the demand for tickets for tomorrow’s game that no tickets were available. It’s another six-pointer and a defeat for Fulham will probably condemn them to relegation. I also think that Bolton have the air of doom about them and, looking ahead a month, I think our away game against them on May 3 is going to be one of those jamboree days for us and I’ve got to be there.

After the Match

This was an easy game for me to get to as all I had to do was walk to the end of my street and catch the 220 bus all the way down to the Craven Cottage area, or Chelsea Borders as it’s known in estate-agent-speak. On the way I passed a property management company called Black Katz and took this as a good omen. A mate of mine, a Fulham fan, had recomm-ended that we meet in The Cottage, a fan-friendly pub about ten minutes from the ground, but unfortunately he got caught in traffic and didn’t make it there. I passed the time watching the Portsmouth v West Brom game on Sky and linked up with another mate, Anth, from Sunderland.

So far, so good but when I got to the ground around 2.30, the ticket I’d expected failed to materialize and after much searching no spare tickets were forthcoming. After the kick-off we walked down behind the end holding our fans and it was exactly like being outside a party when you can hear everyone inside enjoying themselves. It was clear that we were putting on a lot of pressure. If I’d had a rope and a grappling iron I could’ve been in there easily but I put my climbing days behind me long ago after I’d fallen off a fourth Floor window ledge. This was the first time I’ve failed to get into a game and it didn’t go down well but Anth and I repaired to the pub and shot the breeze while keeping up with the game via Chris Kamara’s reports on Sky.

I would’ve been very disappointed if we’d lost this game and I’m sure that we’re safe now. Collins has been threatening to score for a while and I’m very pleased for him. I’ve said this before but Keane has done a Cloughie on both Nos and Collins i.e. given underachieving players the belief that they can compete at the highest level. Anth made the good point that instead of signing big stars for next season, we should sign lesser-known players and make them into stars with us. I’ve always been a Chopra fan and I think he’ll get a few more before the season’s over. As we know, confidence is everything to strikers and he must be on Cloud Nine now. Other results went well for us on the whole – anyway, as long as we won and Bolton lost, that was all I was really bothered about. I think we can beat Man City next week and even the prospect of Arsenal at home doesn’t faze me now.

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