County 1 Leyton Orient 4
Plus! A load of photO’s from Saturday
Monday 23 September 2024
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Leyton Orient supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Monday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
County’s unbeaten start to the League One season came crashing to an end on Saturday, against a Leyton Orient side who started the day in the relegation zone. A very bad day at the office. Dave Philbin and Gareth Platt offer their opinions on the game.
Today’s edition is sponsored by MKM Manchester South and CFN School of Motoring. A big thank you to Mark and James, and also to Craig.
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: £2,001
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
✍️ Saturday’s match in one word
Dave: Frustrating.
Gareth: Surprising!
🤔 Pre-match thoughts
Dave: I was really confident. It wasn't will we win, it was how many will we win by? With all the players we had returning from injury, along with how the others had been playing, especially at home, my prediction was 4-1 the other way!
Gareth: Hopeful of a hard-fought away point but far from confident.
🧐 Post-match thoughts
Dave: Not good enough from back to front, gave ourselves too much to do in the second half and never recovered. Tried to go for it after the break which we had to do, but once the third went in, it was curtains. I don't mind losing games of football, I've seen us lose enough over the years, but it’s the manner in which you lose that matters. And that was unacceptable. However, put it down to a bad day at the office; no overreaction here. Having said that, saying we were no good and calling out individual performances is NOT overreacting, which has been suggested amongst many super fans on social media.
Gareth: The early goals helped Orient to take control of the match, and it feels like the individual parts of the team are starting to click into place.
🔵 Verdict on County
Dave: Where to begin? We actually started really well in the opening stages of the game; some quick passing and attacking play left us all thinking this one was a shoo-in. Then the defenders stopped defending, the goalkeeper stopped goalkeeping and everything went to shite. Too many had sub 7/10 performances and if you do that at any level you won't win. Don’t need to name and shame any players, the bad performances are obvious for all to see, I just hope we get a reaction next week. Change of personnel coming? Glad it's not my job to pick next week's side!
Gareth: Despite going two goals down, County had a real go and nearly got back into it. Dan Agyei’s goal seven minutes after Diamond had pulled one back pretty much killed the game off.
🔴 Verdict on Leyton Orient
Dave: I thought they came with a game plan and executed it perfectly, but we definitely made them look better than they are.
Gareth: A surprisingly good start to the match and a very reassuring team performance after a tough start to the season.
🎩 Top Hatter
Dave: Jezzy Fevs. He's got to be knocking on the manager's door this morning.
Gareth: Jack Diamond.
🅾️ Top O
Dave: Galbraith.
Gareth: Ethan Galbraith. (He usually is!)
👂 Atmosphere
Dave: Was alright when we had something to cheer about, but very much matched the energy of the players. In fairness it was loud at 2-1.
Gareth: Great atmosphere amongst the travelling O’s faithful.
🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season
Dave: Same as always, play-off race with 10 to play.
Gareth: That Orient can push on from this performance and result and start to climb the table towards top half security, which probably feels realistic given the stature and resources of some of the clubs in the division.
😀 Best part of the day
Dave: The first whistle.
Gareth: A thoroughly enjoyable away day overall but the better half will insist on saying the pies. She liked them so much that she bought some to take home!
😡 Worst part of the day
Dave: The final whistle.
Gareth: Clutching at straws a bit here as it was a great day out, but our return train being slightly late back to London.
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 4-1 defeat at home to Leyton Orient on Saturday 21 September, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…
2.22pm: There is a kid in a full Bradford kit in front of me in the queue. That’s a new one.
2.24pm: Knock him clean out.
3.53pm: They started much better and sharper than us. We've been the better side since the second goal but still not good enough. Playing it around at the back is fine but we need to be quicker at playing it forward. We're drawing them on and then passing it slowly or lumping it to Wootton. No value in that.
4.28pm: I have a theory. What if we’ve got to relearn how to play with the players back from injury? So this and last week are like our first games of the season and we’re going to be shit until it clicks.
4.30pm: Imagine what Birmingham would have done to us playing like this.
5.02pm: On days like this they should have Vernon Bear on Hardcastle Road with a sign saying ‘Free Hugs’.
5.48pm: Day topped off. Come home and my son comes up to me with some lettuce saying: “Here you go dada eat this, I'm trying to help you lose weight.”
A friendly greeting from one of our sponsors!
Yellow there. We’re MKM Building Supplies Sharston on Altrincham Road.
We’re not your average builders merchant, we’re open to tradies and public too. Our friendly local team are always ready for first class service on first name terms. Oh, and free tea and coffee too.
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We’re just around the corner, and the kettle’s on!
Visit mkm.com/branches/manchester-south for further details.
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Sunshine and smiles before the slaughter
Photo of the day
Wembley, London
Some very nervous looking County fans at the League Two play-off final in 2007-08. Everything turned out fine in the end, as Jim Gannon’s men secured promotion with a 3-2 win against Rochdale.
Today in SK
🎬 Cinema
Two films at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (12A) at 6pm, followed by Lee (15) at 8.15pm. Click here for tickets.
🍺 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 Bask (SK1), The Crown (SK2), The Armoury (SK3), The Crown Inn (SK6) or The Three Tunnes (SK7).
🎶 Free jukebox
The Nelson Tavern (SK1). From 6.30pm.
Random photos of County players at other clubs
#12 – Jon Macken, Preston
Jon Macken only scored one goal for County, a late equaliser at Macclesfield Town in March 2013. To be fair, he did only make 13 appearances for the club, and we were heading for the Conference North at the time. Prior to that, however, Macken had been a prolific marksman during his career, most notably for Preston, where he scored 25 goals in the 1999-2000 season as the Lilywhites won the Second Division title. Macken later went to City for £5m, and scored the opening goal at Edgeley Park on that memorable John Hardiker night in March 2002.
If you’re in need of any of the following products or services this month, drop a message to our sponsors
🪟 Blinds & Shutters: Bauhaus Blinds and Shutters
👷♂️ Builder: C E Building Services Ltd
🧱 Builders Merchant: MKM Manchester South
🧽 Car Valeting: Rub A Dubz Detailing Ltd
🧼 Carpet Cleaning: A Star Clean Ltd
🏠 Carpets & Flooring: Kingsway Carpets & Rugs Ltd
🐈 Cat Flaps: That Cat Flap Company Ltd
🧹 Cleaning: Beespoke Cleaning
🚙 Coatings: Colourtone Ltd
🧽 Commercial Cleaning: JFC Cleaning Solutions
🐶 Dog Trainer: Forever Home Dog Training
🚘 Driving School: CFN School of Motoring
🏠 Estate Agent: The Agency UK
💧 Exterior Cleaning: Impact Pro Clean Ltd
💷 Financial Services: The Mortgage Mill
🍦 Ice Cream: The Mobberley Ice Cream Company
💻 IT Services: Bridge Computer Services
🪚 Joinery: SAW Contracts Ltd
🔌 Kitchen Appliances: SW Appliances
📮 Leaflet Distribution: Wolf Distribution
🔑 Locksmith: APL Locksmiths Ltd
💪 Male Weight Loss: MAN v FAT
🖌 Painter & Decorator: BGM Decorators
🚑 Personal Injury: Parkers Solicitors Ltd
🧱 Plastering: DT Plastering Services and Damp Proofing Specialists
🚰 Plumber: S F Plumbing & Heating
🚚 Removals: ASAP Clearances
☀️ Solar Panels: Malbern Solar Ltd
👨💼 Solicitors: B.J. McKenna & Co
🍹 Spirits: Guerrilla Chicken Spirits
🪨 Stonemason: LM Stone Creative
🚕 Taxi Hire: Lynx Taxis
☀️ Travel Agent: PTF Travel Ltd
🧰 Vehicle Repairs: C J Motors Stockport
⚖️ Weight Loss: Slimming World Reddish & Bredbury with Shlean
County MotM was Adaramola for me. The only defender who looked like he actually wanted to be on the pitch.