I'm glad that today's match is actually going ahead and am looking forward to watching it. I don't know what kind of side Arsenal will put out and even their second stringers would probably be too much for us but I think we'll be fielding a strong team. The news on Dajaku seems to be a lot better than I'd feared but I'd surprised if he features this evening. This is a serious opportunity for Arsenal to get some silverware this season, though they've got a great F.A. Cup record, so they'll be really going for it. I don't expect us to win but would of course be delighted if we did. The Emirates is an impressive stadium but it's not noted for being noisy so I expect our 5,500 fans will do something about that. I have to say that a defeat won't particularly bother me as this competition has been enjoyable while it’s lasted but my mind’s on other things. Match prediction: 3-1 to Arsenal.
I got the team-news around 7 o’clock and Dajaku wasn’t in the squad and Burge was in goal, otherwise we were starting with our strongest eleven. Evans was back, as a sub at least, and as for Arsenal, I didn’t recognize any of their starting eleven but they had some beef on the bench. As far as I could figure, it wasn’t possible to view the game as I’d expected so it’d have to be SAFSEE. I tuned in…
All I could hear when I got the match on was our fans making a racket and we were definitely having a go in the early stages. We had a good shout for a penalty in the fifth minute when Stewart was tripped but ref Robert Jones didn’t want to know. Arsenal won the first corner of the game after twelve minutes when a Neil block hit the bar and went out. We cleared it but the game was going end to end and we soon conceded a second corner from which Holding’s first attempt was blocked well by Burge but Nketiah headed in the rebound in the seventeenth minute. We battled back but ten minutes later it was 2-0 when Pepe slotted home from ten yards out. We weren’t finished, though, because just after the half-hour mark Embleton fed Broadhead who dinked the ball over Leno in goal to make it 2-1. We suddenly had them on the ropes and won our first corner in the thirty-fifth minute quickly followed by our second. The game certainly had a different complexion for a while but as half-time approached Arsenal started to pressurize more and we survived a penalty-shout when Pepe was looking for one in our box and then Burge was forced into a good save from a Smith Rowe volley. Broadhead went down injured just before three minutes of stoppage-time were announced and next thing Hume came on to replace him. It was certainly a blow to lose Broadhead but it remained 1-2 at half-time and we were still in it.
There’d been no further changes as we kicked off again. Almost at once Stewart went down injured but mercifully he recovered and was able to continue. Nketiah touched in his second goal from six yards to make it 3-1 after five minutes or so and it felt like game over but we battled on. A curving Embleton shot hit the outside of the post as we pressed forward again. We went 4-1 down when dangerman Pepe fed Nketiah and he got his hat-trick. The game was clearly beyond us but we could still try to pull one or possibly two back though it seemed more likely that Arsenal would get at least one more. We were sounding tired and there was still about twenty-five minutes left. Our fans remained in good voice at any rate despite nearly all the attacking coming from Arsenal. We brought on Evans and O’Brien for Gooch and Embleton with about twelve minutes left and then Arsenal brought on their number 87 Patino (beat that numerically). With five minutes to go I thought Doyle had conceded a penalty when he was adjudged to have brought down Nketiah but it was only a free-kick and we got it clear. Three minutes of stoppage-time were announced and next thing Patino scored their fifth. We replaced Stewart with Kimpioka to give him a taste of the big time and then it soon ended 5-1.
There was no surprise about the result but we made a good go of it in the first-half at any rate and if Broadhead had remained on the pitch we probably would have made a better stab at it. Anyway, let’s hope Broadhead will recover soon and bring on Doncaster.
