County 2 Crawley 1
It wasn’t the best Valentine’s Day date, a little awkward and uncomfortable to start with, but we got our leg over in the end
Wednesday 15 February 2023
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and any tired Crawley supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
Well… we made hard work of that last night, didn’t we? Valentine’s Day is supposed to be all about easy-to-watch romcoms, like Hugh Grant wooing a Hollywood star by chucking orange juice all over her, or Bridget Jones debating who to sleep with next over a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, or Richard Gere driving down the A6 looking for a prostitute to pick up.
But the 7,000 County fans in SK3 last night were more likely to be popping pills than popcorn. Never mind A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, that first half was more like A Nightmare on Castle Street. Fortunately, Dave Challinor SAW what was happening, acted as the Edgeley Park EXORCIST at half-time to get rid of the demons, and we just about got our JAWS around the three points after the break.
What’s that? You want one more? Well I watched yesterday’s game in Yellow Block on the Pop Side, which is exactly like ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. (That’s not actually a joke, we were all gibbering wrecks last night.)
Today’s main feature is all your post-match Crawley stuff. It’s always nice to have Mozzer put pen to paper for us, and he’s alongside visiting fan Colin Bowman.
Tickets are selling well for ‘The County Comedy Quiz’ at Bask on Thursday 23 February. If you’re free next week, come and join me and Benji for a top night out. We’ve got a cracking quiz. We’ve got great prizes. We’ve got Paul Jones joining us for the evening. We’ve even got a little bit of stand-up comedy as well. All that for a fiver. Click here to join us.
Finally, a huge thank you to Kingsway Carpets for sponsoring today’s edition.
Des Junior
Yesterday’s match in one word:
Mozzer - Draining.
Colin - Powerful.
Pre-match thoughts:
Mozzer - That this was a game on paper a lot of people would expect us to coast, but which would probably not work out that way.
Colin - As a traveller from the south, I was hoping for a dominant away performance and a Crawley win.
Post-match thoughts:
Mozzer - I was right, for once! Relieved to get the three points after one of the worst halves of the season from us.
Colin - Even though County won I was on a high after a high-tempo match, three quality goals and excellent atmosphere. Good value for money.
Verdict on County:
Mozzer - I thought we were lucky to go in level but we upped our game enough after the break to just about give us the edge – I suspect a Crawley fan will think they did enough over the 90 to have got something out of us! Uncharacteristically poor performances from some of our key players, particularly in the middle of the park in the first half, made things very tricky for us. We got hold of the ball more after the break and moved it around better than we had done, causing them problems down both flanks. Hopefully this was us finding a way to win despite having an off-day, rather than a sign of anything to come.
Colin - Workmanlike with one or two moments of clarity. Brilliant header for the winner. Keep that up and the play-offs are in the bag.
Verdict on Crawley:
Mozzer - They’ll be annoyed about the two goals but overall they looked a reasonable side to me. In the first half I thought their press really disrupted us, but not only that, their midfield moved the ball around well and caused us problems. We’ve seen much worse sides at EP this season and I’d be surprised if they were still fighting to not be in the bottom two by the end of the season. Superb free-kick as well. The fault there lay with the mistakes that led to it – the shot itself was close to unstoppable. If I was the sort of fan who applauded excellent goals by the opposition I would have done. But I’m not. So I swore instead.
Colin - Stunning opening to the match with that wonder strike. Looked to be running the game but two defensive mistakes cost them dearly. Crawley need to hang on to leads!
Top Hatter:
Mozzer - Wootton will deservedly get plaudits for his goals and before the break our two front men were just about the only thing we could be happy about, but I thought Camps had a good game overall and I’d have given him the nod for MotM. I think he was the least bad of our midfielders before the break but was pivotal after it. He’s slowly finding his place in this team, I think, following a really good performance against Tranmere. Special mention to Ryan Rydel as well. Obviously he only came on as a sub but he really gave us something down the left and I’m still wondering how none of three exceptional crosses he put in resulted in a goal.
Colin - Wootton. On the front foot and made the difference to the outcome.
Top Red Devil:
Mozzer - I’ll be honest, I was getting so worked up about our performance, individuals in the Crawley side mostly passed me by – which is a comment on me rather than them! However, I thought Jenks looked good before his injury and Powell caused us problems in addition to the goal.
Colin - Powell. Produced a moment of world class magic which silenced the home crowd.
Atmosphere:
Mozzer - Better than I was expecting for a chilly Valentine’s night against a team from the other end of the country. Fair play to the 155 Crawley fans, not only for turning up but for making a bit of noise. Fair play to us for keeping our support going through that pretty woeful first half.
Colin - Oh, the atmosphere was brilliant. The home crowd behind the goal were loud and proud. Crawley fans played a massive part on the occasion but ran out of steam in the final quarter.
Hopes for the rest of the season:
Mozzer - Still the play-offs. I know a lot of people will be eyeing third place and it’s obviously within reach, but we’re coming from a fair way back in a very tight fight for all spots from 3rd to 7th so keeping up a decent run of form through to the end of the season feels tricky. Top seven would definitely do for me.
Colin - Crawley are starting to tread water at the foot of the League Two table and need wins ASAP. We’re at Orient on Saturday but hopefully we can start taking our chances after that.
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 2-1 victory at home to Crawley Town on Tuesday 14 February 2023, as told from his three County-related WhatsApp groups…
2.08pm: Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I’ll get in the Pop Side dressed like this won’t I…
2.09pm: You look like Angelica from Rugrats.
2.18pm: Yes, of course. We’re a tolerant lot. But you might want a jumper for a night game in February.
2.19pm: Pop Side welcomes all. Except bleating parents who complain about standing and swearing.
2.24pm: What about parents who only complain about one of those things?
2.31pm: Those who only complain about standing can fuck off. Those who only complain about swearing can sit down and shut up.
2.35pm: What Des hasn’t mentioned, is that before the Pop Side, you can watch him in the County Courtyard having a ‘Meal in a Mug’ corned beef hash smeared all over him, and then being orally cleaned by Vernon Bear. It’s all in his blog. He’ll do anything for a couple more subscribers.
7.54pm: Croasdale gives it away then takes their player down. Yellow. I thought he was going off there for a second. Rash. Silly.
7.55pm: 1-0 down. Great free-kick.
7.59pm: 1-1! Wootton. Wildly undeserved, but that’ll do.
8.28pm: Paedos are beating Rochdale 2-0.
8.33pm: Do you know something about Leyton Orient we don’t?
8.34pm: Sorry, the paedos are beating the Monkey Hangers 2-0 (not Rochdale).
8.37pm: Half-time. Shocking, that. Probably the worst half of the season. Lucky to be level. I didn’t think I’d see the day where I’d say haul Croasdale off at the break.
8.38pm: Apart from Crawley away.
8.52pm: Rydel on for Croasdale.
8.58pm: 2-1 Wootton. Hussey cross, keeper nowhere. That was easy.
9.41pm: Full-time. Phew. Made very hard work of that. Did well to recover from that first half. Well done County.
Here’s something you should definitely do in February
Buy tickets for The County Comedy Quiz at Bask!
The Scarf My Father Wore editor, Des Junior, absolutely loves a County quiz. He’s alright at compiling County quizzes as well. Rightly or wrongly, he also fancies himself as a bit of a comedian. On that note, The Scarf My Father Wore are delighted to team up with Bask to bring you The Comedy County Quiz. It’s a proper County quiz, with some fantastic prizes on offer, but our aim is to crack you up with some of the questions along the way.
We’ve also got special guest Paul Jones joining us. The former County defender, and Bolton Wanderers legend, will be speaking on the night, as well as handing out the prizes to the winners!
Click here for our full list of things you should definitely do in February!
It’s time to get a new carpet
There were a few empty seats at Edgeley Park last night, so there were definitely one or two County fans doing the honourable thing by taking their partners out for Valentine’s Day. It’s a rather romantic night, so I’m sure one or two of those County fans got a little fruity when they got home. It’s a fair assumption that a passionate embrace may have led to the odd glass of wine getting kicked over. If you’ve knackered your carpet during the throes of passion last night, there’s no need to worry.
That’s why The Scarf My Father Wore has a number of companies on hand ready to help with these dilemmas. One of our sponsors is Kingsway Carpets. Established in 1985, the family-run business have a huge selection of carpets to suit all budgets and there’s no hidden extras – the price quoted is the price you pay. They also have a team of experienced fitters who will expertly lay your brand new carpet perfectly. Give them a call and they’ll have your carpet woes sorted out in no time.
County v Crawley: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre Just-About-Job-Done
Never mind Google or Yell.com, we’ve got you covered
STOP! That got your attention, didn’t it? Just a quick one… I’d hazard a guess that at some point in February, all of our readers will use Google or Yell.com at some point looking for a particular product or service. But before you do, please have a quick look at our own directory to see if we have what you’re looking for. A number of great businesses support The Scarf My Father Wore, allowing us to publish fresh content every day, so let’s send a few enquiries their way in return.
Click here to have a look at all the businesses in our directory.
Photo of the day
Sainsbury’s Local, Grand Central Square
You had to feel sorry for all these knives in the Sainsbury’s at Stockport train station last night. All dolled up, looking for a good time on Valentine’s Day, but not a fork in sight to share their evening with.
On this day in 2003
Fair play to Jack Powell, that was some free-kick at Edgeley Park last night. Fortunately, there was plenty of time for County to turn the game around. Sadly, that wasn’t the case on this day back in 2003, as David Eyres’ 89th minute free-kick at the Railway End clinched a 2-1 win for Oldham during our first season back in Division Two after relegation. It was the Latics’ first league win in SK3 for over 35 years. Mad to think we could be three divisions above them in a few months…