Well, the votes are in for the Finn Harps poll, with a massive 16 people voting, all 5 options got voted on and here are the results
9 Points - GD +7 = 11 Votes (68%)
9 Points - GD +5 = 2 Votes (12%)
9 Points - GD +6 = 1 Vote (6%)
9 Points - GD +4 = 1 Vote (6%)
9 Points - GD +3 = 1 Vote (6%)
After Friday night we are still on course to get 9 points off Harps, with Derry winning 2-1. Was listening to the match on iCandy - which is one hell of a service if you can't make it to the games. So a big that's go out to Niall and Maribor Kev for the commentary on the match.
So in are first 2 league games we've scored in the last 10 minutes to win the games. I think it was in the 2005 season when we lost out to Cork on the last day that we picked up a lot of points in the last 10 minutes with the team pressing hard right up to the final whistle to get goals, so it's a good habit to have if we need it.
Next up is Cork away on Good Friday, and thankfully RTE will be showing the game live, as I can't make it to it. Cork's always a tough place to go. In the last 4 seasons we've been down there 6 times in the league and have come away with 3 points, 3 draws and 3 loses. Cork are yet to win in the league with a 0-0 draw at home to Bray on the opening day and a 1-1 draw with Rovers on Friday night past, so it makes for one hell of an interesting game.
C'mon the Candystripes!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
This Time Last Week
7 days later I actually get the finger out to do up a report on the Linfield game.
Well this time last week the spirits were up, I was in work getting ready to hit the road to meet up with Big Daddy to head up to Belfast. In a great mood, the league had just kicked off with Derry winning at UCD. Walking into work, flicking through the radio stations on Richmond Road, yeah the road of Tolka Park, stopped flicking when I hit Phantom FM, as they were playing Tennage Kicks - talk about getting into the mood early, there was me thinking this could be an omen - how wrong can one man be.
Met up with Gary at 2pm and hit the road for Belfast, a lot of talk about tactics and what team would be on the pitch at kick-off. Got into Belfast around 4.45pm and headed off to get a bite to meet. We were close to the Students Union so ended up in The Globe getting a pint and a bite to eat for £5, good deal on what, you'd stretch to get a Burger King meal in Dublin for that money.
Then we dandered up to the Speak Easy bar for 5.30pm, going on Maribor Kev's post on DC Chat top find out it wasn't open - damn you Kev. So ended up in the other pub, with no Carlsberg in tap so ended up drinking Beat the Wife, sometimes known as Stella.
There we ran into Sinead and Niall and a few others from the QUBDCFCSC and the anticipation grew, so come after 7.15pm it was off to the match.
The Match
What can one say that hasn't been said already.
Our defense let in 2 very soft goals to allow Linfield to go up at half-time, and the worry that our defense was the weakest link in the team this season was reinforned from Friday nights game against UCD.
Come the second half, changes were made and Paddy McCourt came on and was on fire, with 2 to 3 Linfield men around him at most times. Martyn made it 2-1 and Derry up'ed the pace of the game, Linfield were tirering and the hope were up once more.
Well on the post for the UCD man I wrote "Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man" - and this match the man was the useles bastard of a referee - giving a penatly for Linfield, which can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjMvyNacbY, thanks goes to Vinny from DC Chat for putting it up. I think the words that spring to mind are "Diving Bastard" as in no way was that a penatly, and anyone who thinks it was needs to take their head out of their asses and smell the roses.
But it has to be said that the referee was awful through-out the game, my opinion after the game was that the man should not be allowed to ref an under-12 game never mind a Setanta Cup game. Was talking with one of the lads in work the following day and he said that Setanta should go across the water and bring in refs from either Scotland, England or Wales to ref the matchs, as then they wouldn't have to be worried about being biased, and also we might actually get a decent ref.
So the match ended up 3-1 to Linfield, I can't say that they didn't deserve to won, cause our defense wasn't the best and they created more chances than we did. But what I will say is that their players are great at time wasting, the amount of time's the players went done feigning injury from tackles, like they just got hit by a double decker bus was unreal. I don't mind time wasting when players take the ball to the corner flag, or goalies take their time lifting the ball, as that's all in the game, but the Linfield players were a joke.
The Fans
As always the fans were in good voice, with what looks to be around 1500 making the journey to Windsor Park and making some amount of noise, and I believe a good number of fans agreed with me about the Linfield players acting a wack when a chorus of "You're scum and your know you are" rang out with about 10 minutes to go. You could see that the Linfield players were not used to this at home.
Well, the drive back down to Dublin was a long one, and it's been a while since I was so fucked off after a match - one of the main reasons for waiting to do this write up, as if it had off been done last week, every third or fourth word would not have been a pleasant one.
The return leg in September will be a sell out and one hell off a game, and for one, I sure as hell intend to be there.
Well this time last week the spirits were up, I was in work getting ready to hit the road to meet up with Big Daddy to head up to Belfast. In a great mood, the league had just kicked off with Derry winning at UCD. Walking into work, flicking through the radio stations on Richmond Road, yeah the road of Tolka Park, stopped flicking when I hit Phantom FM, as they were playing Tennage Kicks - talk about getting into the mood early, there was me thinking this could be an omen - how wrong can one man be.
Met up with Gary at 2pm and hit the road for Belfast, a lot of talk about tactics and what team would be on the pitch at kick-off. Got into Belfast around 4.45pm and headed off to get a bite to meet. We were close to the Students Union so ended up in The Globe getting a pint and a bite to eat for £5, good deal on what, you'd stretch to get a Burger King meal in Dublin for that money.
Then we dandered up to the Speak Easy bar for 5.30pm, going on Maribor Kev's post on DC Chat top find out it wasn't open - damn you Kev. So ended up in the other pub, with no Carlsberg in tap so ended up drinking Beat the Wife, sometimes known as Stella.
There we ran into Sinead and Niall and a few others from the QUBDCFCSC and the anticipation grew, so come after 7.15pm it was off to the match.
The Match
What can one say that hasn't been said already.
Our defense let in 2 very soft goals to allow Linfield to go up at half-time, and the worry that our defense was the weakest link in the team this season was reinforned from Friday nights game against UCD.
Come the second half, changes were made and Paddy McCourt came on and was on fire, with 2 to 3 Linfield men around him at most times. Martyn made it 2-1 and Derry up'ed the pace of the game, Linfield were tirering and the hope were up once more.
Well on the post for the UCD man I wrote "Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man" - and this match the man was the useles bastard of a referee - giving a penatly for Linfield, which can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjMvyNacbY, thanks goes to Vinny from DC Chat for putting it up. I think the words that spring to mind are "Diving Bastard" as in no way was that a penatly, and anyone who thinks it was needs to take their head out of their asses and smell the roses.
But it has to be said that the referee was awful through-out the game, my opinion after the game was that the man should not be allowed to ref an under-12 game never mind a Setanta Cup game. Was talking with one of the lads in work the following day and he said that Setanta should go across the water and bring in refs from either Scotland, England or Wales to ref the matchs, as then they wouldn't have to be worried about being biased, and also we might actually get a decent ref.
So the match ended up 3-1 to Linfield, I can't say that they didn't deserve to won, cause our defense wasn't the best and they created more chances than we did. But what I will say is that their players are great at time wasting, the amount of time's the players went done feigning injury from tackles, like they just got hit by a double decker bus was unreal. I don't mind time wasting when players take the ball to the corner flag, or goalies take their time lifting the ball, as that's all in the game, but the Linfield players were a joke.
The Fans
As always the fans were in good voice, with what looks to be around 1500 making the journey to Windsor Park and making some amount of noise, and I believe a good number of fans agreed with me about the Linfield players acting a wack when a chorus of "You're scum and your know you are" rang out with about 10 minutes to go. You could see that the Linfield players were not used to this at home.
Well, the drive back down to Dublin was a long one, and it's been a while since I was so fucked off after a match - one of the main reasons for waiting to do this write up, as if it had off been done last week, every third or fourth word would not have been a pleasant one.
The return leg in September will be a sell out and one hell off a game, and for one, I sure as hell intend to be there.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
UCD 2 - Derry City 3
A number of the Dublin SC met up in the Montrose for a few pre-match drinks. You could feel the buzz, the long wait for the season to kick-off was almost over and hopes were renewed for the season to come. The Longford away match at the end of last season seemed so far in the past. The wait was over.
"Big Daddy" being his usual self, arrived later than expected, after him saying he was 15 minutes away from the Montrose, he arrived about 30 minutes after that conversation, but he was in plenty of time for kick-off, so we can't slag him that much.
Tickets were also handed out for the Linfield match on Monday night, adding to the buzz I felt before the match. And of course, I had to get into one of the photos, so asked a nice young lady sitting beside us to take the photo with me in - what the name of the Beautiful South song - "Old Red Eyes Is Back" - well in this picture he's back with a bang.
Well, after the pre-match swally it was time to head over to the Belfield Bowl, UCD's new ground, having moved out of Belfield after last season. And it has to be said, the Bowl itself is an improve, you feel a lot more secure bouncing about that you ever did at Belfield. But it pitch was not in the best of shapes. From my understanding the UCD Rugby team alos play their matches their so it's going to make it a difficult surface to play on, but the Rugby season ends soon I believe.
So, the game kicked-off, and as always, my match report is going to be short and sweet, as my match reporting skills are not the best, and I'll prove how bad there are in a second.
Derry got off to a flyer with Higgins scoring a peach of a free kick after 20 minutes, which I somehow managed to get caught on camera, it can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNIvN-EfOcc, but be warned it's very short, as Higgins was hitting it as the camera rolled.
Then after another 4 minutes, whilst standing in the toilets, Farren scored to make it Derry 2-0, so there's no footage of that action.
UCD managed to pull one back before half-time. So when the half-time whilst went, the talk started. Now, to be honest I was delighted at being 2-1 up, as UCD away has never been a great game, from any of the matches I've been at over the last 4-5 seasons.
Had, to take another photo, as one of the Derry faithful we all now made the trip down, good to see you again Che.
The second half was a tough one, with UCD pulling it back to 2-2 with a fortunate deflection looping the ball over Quigley in goals. And then the worrying started, as I've said, never had good feeling playing away at UCD. Some good chances fell their way, but cometh the hour, cometh the man, and Pizza stepped up on the 88th minute mark to get the winning goal. More dodgy footage shot by yours truly caught the goal, - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXTSN6UCuw, and you'll all be happy to here that we survived the Earthquake that happened after the goal. And don't mind the foul shouting in the background, that's just me.
So, the season kicks-off with a 3-2 win at the Belfield Bowl, can't ask for any better than that (well, maybe 6-0, but I'm not a greedy man). It was a tough match, and I'd have to say, I don't believe UCD will go down at the end of the season when 3 teams drop to make the new 10 team league next year. They are going to be hard to beat at the Bowl. There is a good thread on people's views of relegation on Foot.ie, and UCD are heavily tipped, but after Friday nights performance, I don't see it happening.
Better match reports can be found on http://www.derrycityfc.net/home.php and better views on the game than mine given above can be found at http://www.derrycitychat.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1.
Ran into a few other known Derry heads after the match, including everyone's favourite bear, pictured above, although I couldn't get him to say the famous quote "I'm smarter than the average Derry supporter."
Andy and his friend Peter where getting the 11pm bus from Busarus back up to Derry, fair play to them and all of the rest of the fans for making the trip down to Dublin on a Friday night. It's the first of many this year as we play all the Dublin teams away twice, and we also have St Pat's away in the Setanta Cup.
Well, roll on Monday night, Linfield at Windsor in the Setanta Cup. I do believe we will have to play better than we did on Friday night, but kicking the league campaign off with a win is all that matters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
