Leyton Orient 2 County 2

Plus! An interview with comedian Eddie Fortune

May 12, 2025

Monday 12 May 2025

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NEXT HOME GAME: Leyton Orient – Wednesday 14 May, 8pm

NEXT AWAY GAME: TBC

Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Leyton Orient supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, welcome to your late-night edition of The Scarf My Father Wore. (You can just read this on your way to work in the morning if you’re already in bed.)

To be honest, of all the recent articles we’ve published, it’s yesterday’s that should have been after the watershed. If you didn’t see it, here’s what I had to say about Charlie Kelman’s opening goal at Brisbane Road:

WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCKETY FUCK IS THAT!

I still stand by those sentiments, but I thought I should recruit a more eloquent wordsmith to write Saturday’s match report. Enter Simon Holt. The Orient piece is a decent read too, courtesy of Aynsley Taylor from The Leyton Orientear.

Eddie Fortune also makes an appearance in our unorthodox Monday night slot. I’ve had a chat with the Scouse sensation ahead of his headline slot at The Fingerpost on Friday 30 May for my next Desmond’s Comedy Club night.

Today’s edition is sponsored by DT Plastering Services and Damp Proofing Specialists. A big thank you to David.

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: 253.75 miles

Total steps so far: 418,084

Total raised so far: £2,312

Total completed streets so far: 474 (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

Photo courtesy of Mike Petch

✍️ Saturday’s match in one word

Aynsley: Gripping.

Simon: Promising.

🤔 Pre-match thoughts

Aynsley: My own confidence had drained a bit since Friday morning, which was when I took a look at your form over the season. Just two defeats since early January, one of which was at Wrexham (mind you, we did win there). Also, the manner in which you beat us in February was one which we have struggled with since Richie Wellens has been our manager.

Simon: I was cautiously optimistic. I know they're a good team, in great form, but so are we. Felt that as long as we didn't lose we'd have a good chance of making the final.

🧐 Post-match thoughts

Aynsley: In many respects, it played out as expected – at least in terms of your approach. The match data shows that we edged possession, had more touches in your box than you had in ours, and won the xG “battle”. But that wasn’t how it felt at the time. After a further few hours of drinking and then a day of sobering up, I’d say I’m satisfied with where we are – we finished the game strongly and proved that we can take the game to you. Your lot need to pipe down about the first goal. Yes, it was offside, but it really wasn’t obvious without the use of multiple replays from different angles that Beckles had touched it – and his touch didn’t really affect where the ball ended up anyway. I’m sure that once Challinor has calmed down he will accept it really wasn’t “the worst decision he’s ever seen in 15 years of management”. It was certainly no worse than us not getting a penalty for the later tackle on Kelman, which again wasn’t clear to me at the time (and that was up my end of the pitch!) and is difficult to show it affected the outcome much either, given we were awarded a penalty just a few moments later.

Simon: Thought we played well and were the better team for the most part. Very frustrated by their first goal like everybody else. I’m confident we've got a good chance in the second leg at home if we play like that. Great atmosphere too, which was lovely to be a part of.

🔴 Verdict on Leyton Orient

Aynsley: We coped with you a little better than we did in February, helped by the return of some key players – namely Beckles, Clare and Agyei – who all missed that earlier game (and all played in our 4-1 demolition of you at Edgeley Park). That said, we had other key players missing on Saturday. Jordan Brown is often under-appreciated here, but there was a big Jordan Brown shaped hole in our midfield, and I spent the first hour wondering why Jack Currie wasn’t playing (turns out he’s been carrying an injury).

Simon: They're a good team with a couple of really good players. I thought we deserved to win but a draw isn't an unreasonable result. Like us, they try to play football and be positive. I enjoyed watching both teams on Saturday.

🔵 Verdict on County

Aynsley: Again, pretty much as expected. Challinor’s MO is to build teams that are big, powerful, and have pace in transition. You were physical in all areas without needing to rely on any dark arts, which makes you a classier version of Stevenage, and one that deserves a lot of respect. There’s plenty of momentum around the club right now and you could feel that on the day.

Simon: We played well. I liked how positive and direct we were. Few dodgy moments at the back but not surprising given how attacking we are. Addai looks miles better than earlier in the season – a huge improvement.

🅾️ Top O

Aynsley: Kelman played a classic striker’s match in that he didn’t actually see that much of the ball, but delivered in two key moments. However, I’ll have to give it to Ethan Galbraith, whose energy, quality, and consistency is evident through every single match, no matter where he’s asked to play, and Saturday was no different.

Simon: Kelman's a good player, even despite the blatantly offside goal.

🎩 Top Hatter

Aynsley: Jayden Fevrier was really impressive – too strong for Randell Williams, who started at left wing-back, and too quick for Brandon Cooper, who was on the left of our back three. Thankfully, his end product was pretty sketchy, but he was having a lot of fun down that side and it did eventually cost us. Wellens admitted he’d been too slow to bring Currie on to deal with him, and once he did, Fevrier faded from view.

Simon: Fevrier got man of the match and he was great, but a special word for Owen Moxon: he's had a lot of criticism since arriving but I thought that was his best game in a County shirt. Hopefully with a good pre-season behind him he'll really show what he can do next season.

👂 Atmosphere

Aynsley: It was a beautiful day for such a high-stakes encounter. Obviously the early kick-off took some of the edge off the occasion, but folk were still up for it and intensity levels and spirits were high. It’s been a long, tough season, and the stress is what’s keeping us all going – well, that and the prospect of something amazing just around the corner…

Simon: Superb. One of the best away ends I've been in for a while. Orient and Palace have been standouts for atmosphere this season. The woman next to me said it was her first ever away game and I think she was a bit overwhelmed by it all – thing is, it's getting like this every week now! A brilliant day out.

🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season

Aynsley: In a word: Wembley. And our semi was a far better spectacle than Wycombe v Charlton, so whichever one of us gets through should feel confident about facing either of them. We didn’t come this far just to be thankful for being here, and Wednesday will be a time for heroes. We’ve got plenty of candidates in our squad.

Simon: That it gets extended for a couple more weeks!

😀 Best part of the day

Aynsley: Having a nice long relaxing drink with friends new and old in the sunshine afterwards, knowing I didn’t have far to get home, and feeling proud and satisfied with a great season at Brisbane Road.

Simon: The whole thing was great. Days out in London with your mates in the sunshine is what it's all about, especially when County play like that.

😡 Worst part of the day

Aynsley: We had the misfortune to encounter a handful of your fans on the Suffragette Line shortly before half past 11 in the morning. It seemed a little early in the day for them to loudly serenade a carriage full of women and children with obnoxious songs about women’s body parts and how London, Leyton, Euston, and Manchester were all “full of shit”. I’m not normally one for clutching pearls, but I thought punching light fittings and squaring up to someone with learning disabilities who had done nothing except smile while wearing an Orient shirt didn’t seem like particularly clever or impressive things to do. I don’t let things like that spoil my day, but unfortunately it was spoiled for my 78-year-old father and my 12-year-old son. There’s nothing wrong with being loud in support of your team, but if you’re going to use foul language in public places, at least try and be funny, original, creative, and to direct your abuse at people with more power than you, not less.

Simon: I mean, do you have to ask? Liner should've gone to Specsavers to put it mildly.

I took a trip to London in May… a sentence I hope I’ll be saying again in a fortnight

The Scarf My Father Wore

May 11

Read full story

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 2-2 draw at Leyton Orient on Saturday 10 May, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…

8.04am: Have a good day boys and bring at least a point back with you.

8.06am: No points on offer. The season’s finished.

8.09am: Schoolboy error, that.

9.03am: I’ve just done a nod and a smile to someone in a pink County shirt on Euston Road and then realised I’m not wearing anything that denotes me as a County fan.

9.09am: If it makes you feel any better I'm 98% convinced I did the same thing to Ollie Norwood at the Esso garage on the A6 a couple of Saturdays ago. The other 2% possibility is that I was greeting a random thirty-something guy in a Range Rover.

11.30am: Same XI as Wycombe apart from Horsfall in for Connolly.

11.31am: Great line-up. But I've just gone very nervous now cause it's real.

12.05pm: Anyone else feeling supremely confident and simultaneously shitting themselves?

12.06pm: Yes.

1.00pm: What a fucking disgrace. That's the most offside anybody has ever been.

2.49pm: Each team had definite penalties turned down. Then that offside goal. Should have left with a 3-2 win minimum. Take heart tablets and have some resuscitation equipment with you on Wednesday night.

2.50pm: I'm just praying we actually get some decent officials for once.

10.12pm: Fucked over in both of the biggest games of the season (Wrexham and today) by utterly shite officiating. Nine hours later, still seething. I’m going to find a short bloke for a fight.

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10 questions with Eddie Fortune!

A quick chat with Eddie Fortune, ahead of his headline slot at Desmond’s Comedy Club on Friday 30 May.

1) Thanks for joining us Mr Fortune. If you won an absolute fortune on the lottery, what would you spend it on?

I’d go off grid and you’d never see me again. Barbados and I’ll be found dead in my sixties clutching a bottle of red.

2) You’ve been tour support for Crissy Rock, of Benidorm fame. What was that like?

A long arduous painful process. Ireland was lovely. Belfast has my heart. And my liver and half my dignity.

3) What’s been your best stand-up gig so far?

My solo show in Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre: Single. Everything just flowed. I was on my best game.

4) And the worst?

Viva Blackpool. I thought I would go on stage in all white. Angel wings. The alarm went off through it all. I died on my arse.

5) Who’s your comedy hero?

Joan Rivers. She didn’t give a shit.

6) Best thing about being a comedian?

The audience and spreading joy.

7) Worst thing about being a comedian?

Comedians.

8) What’s your thoughts on the town of Stockport?

I’m doing a solo show there. The audience love comedy, I love that they want to laugh. It’s legitimately my favourite. More than Liverpool.

9) Where will you be travelling from for the gig in Stockport, how will you be getting there, and what snacks do you reckon you’ll be eating on the journey?

Probably train. But I’ll go to Canal Street first and chill with some frat queens. I’ll have a red wine on stage.

10) And finally, obviously I do these little interviews to sell tickets for the shows. Why should people come and see you in Stockport in May?

I give a good show. I treat every audience like it’s a thousand seater. I just put my all into laughter. Plus I’m not shy. You’ll get an explosive set!

➡️ Come and see Eddie (and me!) on Friday 30 May. Drop me a message, call/text 07816 111150 or email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com.

Photo of the day

Broadhurst Park, Moston

Kids cup final at FC United yesterday. One of the dads was a County fan…

Chapter 12: Wembley Holds Its Breath

The latest instalment of County’s play-off adventure, through the robotic eyes of ChatGPT. The second half against MK Dons is just about to kick off at Wembley, as we join County fan Danny Hartley and his daughter Lucy up in the stand.

The stadium lights hummed overhead, turning the late afternoon sky the colour of pewter. Danny Hartley sat forward in his seat, elbows on knees, hands clasped so tight his knuckles were white. Around him, the Stockport end pulsed with anticipation — flags waved, scarves twisted between fingers, half-time pies forgotten in laps. The kind of crowd where everyone’s trying to act calm, but no one is. Not really.

Lucy was next to him, cheeks flushed, eyes wide behind her County bucket hat. She had a tray of chips balanced on her knees, vinegar sharp in the air, but she wasn’t eating now. She just kept looking at the tunnel, waiting. Willing them out.

“You alright, love?” Danny asked, though he knew the answer.

She nodded quickly. “I just want to see them again.”

He smiled, but it was tight, nerves chewing away at the corners. “They’ll be out in a minute.”

He glanced at his phone — no messages. No signal either, not really. Wembley swallowed it all. But it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered now was what happened in the next forty-five minutes.

“One-nil,” Lucy murmured, almost to herself. “We’re winning.”

Danny looked at her — properly looked. She was sixteen, but today she seemed older. Like something had clicked. She wasn’t just here for the fun anymore. She got it. The weight of it. The meaning. His throat felt thick.

“Yeah,” he said. “We are.”

And then, without warning, the County players appeared — first a glimpse of shirts, then boots pounding the turf, then full bodies emerging into the light. The crowd roared, spontaneous and wild. Flags shot up, voices cracked. It wasn’t organised; it didn’t need to be. This was instinct. This was belief in its purest form.

Danny stood with everyone else, clapping hard, two fingers still greasy from the chips he’d nicked earlier. He didn’t care. His heart was hammering, his breath short. He found Tanto Olaofe in the line-up, then Sarcevic, then Collar. He felt like he knew them now. Like they were his.

Lucy screamed something — maybe “Come on County!” or maybe just a sound — and Danny felt himself grin despite the tension. For a second, he wasn’t a man in his forties with mortgage worries and back pain and a half-eaten steak slice under his seat. He was a kid again. On the pop side at Edgeley with his dad. Eyes full of sky. Dreams full of football.

“Right,” he said, rubbing his hands like it would ward off fate. “Here we go.”

The second half kicked off.

And Wembley, wide and waiting, held its breath.