County 1 Blackburn 6

Plus! 13 photos from Tuesday night

Aug 15, 2024

Thursday 15 August 2024

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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Blackburn supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Thursday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

Right, let’s get this over and done with. Match report from Tuesday night. Hannah Brown (of SK3 TV and The League One Look fame) for us, Stuart Grimshaw for them.

Today’s edition is sponsored by The Mortgage Mill. A big thank you to James.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 176.31 miles

Total steps so far: 284,130

Total raised so far: £1,981

Total completed streets so far: 399 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

✍️ Tuesday’s match in one word

Hannah: Rainy. (Over 24 hours on and I'm still struggling to reconcile all the feelings about Tuesday night, so let's just be British and talk about the weather.)

Stuart: Enjoyable.

🤔 Pre-match thoughts

Hannah: Annoyed that FanHub was clearly going to let me down (versus me letting myself down which is my default) given that we were inevitably going to have to play players that weren't in the squad and/or we've never heard of. I thought DC did a good job of preparing us for the emotional trauma that was inevitably going to unfold, but actually I don't think I was ever prepared for the 6.30pm realisation that Blackburn were putting out a pretty much full strength team.

Stuart: Would Sammie Szmodics play?

🧐 Post-match thoughts

Hannah: I think it was the right call to line up how we did, and although a result like that is hard to stomach for anyone on or off the pitch, it was what we were expecting given the respective line-ups. The rain just added to the whole pathetic fallacy of the whole event. I think when you have a result like that you have to look for the positives, and applaud the players who made a difference and stuck with it, because that's all you can ask of them.

Stuart: Szmodics played, does that mean he's staying?

🔵 Verdict on County

Hannah: So… positives… Ben pulled off some cracking saves, and for periods in the early first half it felt like Ben vs Blackburn. Camps made a huge difference when he came on, and gave the squad a bit more cohesion. It was nice to see pod favourite Fevrier get some more playing time, and he showed signs of brilliance, but his lack of speed was highlighted against a formidable Blackburn side. Bruno Cina was the standout debutant despite his false start and farcical yellow, mainly due to his tenacity, which was lacking from some of his more senior colleagues. I know Jid was singled out in Chally's post-game interview, but he definitely used his height to his advantage winning aerial duels which was encouraging.

Stuart: I'd say it was probably worse than the game the other week unfortunately, but it was also a very weakened side, which gave away County’s attitude towards the competition. I was surprised not to see any of the trialists from the friendly the other week as well. I assume none of them have signed.

🟣 Verdict on Blackburn

Hannah: They were just worlds apart, weren't they? I'd love to see how our first team would have done against them – I wonder if the gap in experience highlighted their quality more acutely than it would do normally. Their speed was one of the biggest differentiators, making it, despite all the discomfort, a good game to watch.

Stuart: “Professional” is the word used for games like that I think. We never really got out of second gear and the game was effectively over in the first 25 minutes. Another goal conceded from a corner is a bit worrying though.

🎩 Top Hatter

Hannah: Camps. He really pulled the midfield together, and we just looked instantly better when he came on.

Stuart: When you're on the end of a scoreline like this it sometimes seems a sympathy vote to pick the keeper as the best player, but Ben Hinchliffe made two or three saves in the second half that probably kept the scoreline in single figures. In particular a save late on from Gueye was top class, who pivoted in the box and fired off a quick shot across goal, but Hinchliffe got down quickly to his right to palm the ball round the post.

🟣 Top Rover

Hannah: Just for the novelty value of having my highest scoring EFL fantasy league team member playing in front of me, potentially in his last game in a Blackburn shirt before he heads to the Premier League, plus the two goals, I'm going, somewhat predictably, for Sammie Szmodics. Sorrynotsorry.

Stuart: Szmodics will likely get most of the plaudits, and with two goals he totally deserves them, but in reality it was a good performance by the whole team. John Buckley in particular needed a good performance to keep him in the reckoning in the squad and he delivered in spades. His total number of touches (169) was a record for any Rovers player since those stats started to be collected in 2003-04.

👂 Atmosphere

Hannah: Front row of block C in the Main Stand is never bouncing, but I was glad that the very vocal moaning from next to me stopped when he left before half-time. Our neighbour on the other side didn't come back after half-time either. It wasn't a night for the fainthearted.

Stuart: Away games are always good atmospheres and I'm so glad we were under the roof rather than the open Railway End. The weather was awful, though thankfully it held off long enough to get back to the car.

🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season

Hannah: I honestly don't think it has any bearing whatsoever. There are significant extenuating circumstances, and hopefully Saturday's starting XI will benefit from some returnees. It was absolutely the right call to sacrifice Tuesday night's scoreline, and I don't agree with the trope that it's disrespectful to the cup or to our history to not do our best – the financials and the risk to our league position didn't make sense.

Stuart: A good cup run would be nice, but realistically I just want to avoid another relegation battle. A few weeks ago I had us nailed on to go down, but the new signings have raised that somewhat. While we've scored ten goals in two games, we've let three in from corners and we haven't been really tested. I don't think we have much strength in depth either. I think we'll have a clearer picture of where we are as a team after Norwich this weekend.

😀 Best part of the day

Hannah: Steve Crowther celebrating his stag do dressed as… I'm actually not sure what, but it involved tartan and a wig. Charlotte actually asked if he normally looked like that, and then gently suggested she thought he might have been wearing a wig. The innate silliness of it was a perfect juxtaposition to the scoreline at half-time, and it felt very County.

Stuart: Gueye getting his first goal. He’s a character and if he carries on the way he's started then I can see him becoming a true fan favourite. His chant the crowd treated him to was entirely childish and entirely amusing… and far too rude to repeat here!

😡 Worst part of the day

Hannah: Social media after the game. Yes, it was bad, but it was bad for a reason, and we were pre-warned it wasn't going to be fun, so comments about it being “embarrassing” missed the bigger picture by a wide margin. It's done, let's hit the seaside!

Stuart: The cost of the car park! 11 quid for a few hours. At least I avoided the late fee that Ian incurred a couple of weeks ago!

The British Library receives a copy of every single book published in the UK. In the same fashion, Des Junior believes a detailed record of every County game should be preserved for the history books. So here’s the full story of our 6-1 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday 13 August, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…

11.27pm: Good game?

11.33pm: No.

We’re looking for one Blackburn fan with a business to be featured as part of our Football Family section, with your logo, photos and editorial included alongside any Rovers content we publish. It’s £45 for the year. If you’re interested email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com for a chat.

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A miserable night on Tuesday, in terms of the weather and the football

Photo of the day

A little something to get you in the mood ahead of this weekend!

Today in SK

🎬 Cinema

Three films at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. Despicable Me 4 (U) at 3.45pm, The Instigators (15) at 6pm, and Longlegs (15) at 8.15pm. Click here for tickets.

The screening of Longlegs coincides with Pizza Club. Tickets include a pizza from I Knead Pizza, a drink of your choice and an ice cream – all in the comfort of your cinema seat!

🍟 Food and drink

Treat yourself to lunch at The Dog & Partridge (SK2). One course for £7, two courses for £11. 12pm - 2pm.

Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8). Plus, discounts on certain lagers between 12pm and 6pm.

If you’re simply in the mood for a couple of pints today, pop along to one of our featured venues such as AMP (SK1), Bask (SK1), The Nelson Tavern (SK1), The Crown (SK2), The Armoury (SK3), Reddish Working Men’s Club (SK5), The Steelworks (SK6), The Shady Oak (SK7) or The Three Tunnes (SK7).

100 random grounds that County have played at

#86 – Elm Park, Reading

Last visit: County haven’t been to Reading since 1997-98, our first season in Division One. The Hatters headed to Elm Park in November, where Trevor Morley scored the only goal of the game for the home side from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute. We’ll make our first visit to Reading’s new place (I say new, it’s been there for 26 years…) this season.