With Villa out of action Dave Woodhall takes in some FA Cup drama.
It’s definitely been a week to be grateful for the fact that you’re writing online, which means no real pressure to do ‘x’ number of words, because there isn’t much I can say about the Villa. It’s international week, so nothing of any consequence has happened so far.
Gabby Agbonlahor pulled out of the England squad with a hamstring injury that I hope is more diplomatic than real. Darren Bent created the goal that gave England a win over Spain and meant they’re certainties to win next year’s Euros, at least until the next friendly defeat. As usual, there’s been some comment about the number of former Villa players in the team but I can’t get too worked up about it. Good luck to Kyle Walker, and the rest don’t exist. Shay Given and Richard Dunne also look like they’re off to Poland and/or the Ukraine on holiday next summer.
With no proper football scheduled for Saturday I went down to Plymouth to watch Stourbridge in the first round of the FA Cup. Anyone who thinks football is all about greed and big business should have been there to witness a match that defined the term ‘pulsating cup tie’. Stour went a goal down after three minutes and a hiding seemed on the cards – they looked overawed by the occasion but gradually got back into the game and were well worth their equaliser and the 1-1 scoreline at half-time. The Glassboys were even more worthy of the lead they took eight minutes after the break when star striker Ryan Rowe chipped the keeper with a goal deserving of the occasion and the cue for an outbreak of delirium behind the goal which led to a brief, good-humoured pitch invasion.
Plymouth equalised with twenty minutes to go, but anyone who thought the full-timers would inevitably carry on to win couldn’t have been more mistaken. Stour took the lead once more with eight minutes left after a penalty saw a Plymouth defender sent off (and led to plenty of advice for taker Sean Geddes from Stour’s followers, most of which was on the lines of “jusfukkinommerit.” He did .). Unfortunately the fairy tale couldn’t last, and in the 88th minute the home side equalised, although there was still more incident as they were reduced to nine men in stoppage time.
The visiting support was given as 865 in a crowd of over six thousand, a contrast to the couple of hundred diehards who were watching the Glassboys in the Midland Alliance five years ago. They all had a great day out and the financial windfall of Saturday plus next week’s replay will go a long way to helping a club who, like all at this level, have to budget for every penny. The soul of football may be battered, it may sometimes appear to have gone missing, but it’s still there. You just have to know where to look.
Next Monday night sees Villa at White Hart Lane against the first of the Champions League contenders we’re playing over the next few weeks – a combination of circumstances representing everything that’s crass and horrible about modern football. The contrast couldn’t be greater.
