April 20 Wrexham 2-1 AFC Bournemouth Att: 4200

Last updated : 11 May 2002 By Pete Wicks
Staying with friends a few miles out of town, sorrows were drowned in advance on Frank’s fearsome home-brew & single malt, so just a drop of Lees in the Albion as hair of the dog.

Wrexham kicked off towards us and a barrage of noise. Boscombe wore yellow & black but were hardly waspish as Wrexham passed quickly and accurately. A hard shot was pushed round well by Stewart – evidently the home side were playing for their contracts. Del-boy turned a defender well to release Feeney, but the move fizzled out. Both sides lacked coherence until the ball was won well around their “D”, Holmes put in Hayter who passed across for Fletcher who shot across the goalie. 7 min.: Wrexham 0-1 Boscombe and brave songs from the massed ranks behind us. Then Tindall should’ve made safe but conceded a corner; header was cleared off the line and Holmes put it behind.

14 min.:Notts County 1-0 Huddersfield, & heads go down on & off the pitch. Play meandered, with pinball in our area. Elliott showed some trickery, but his pass was too far forward leaving the goalie to muck it up and concede a throw. Stock came through but, remembering which country he was in, shot over the bar. Stewart mis-kicked straight to Trundle who was closed down quickly by Elliott – who tracked back well all game. Stock found himself with the ball, sauntered forward, didn’t notice Elliott’s run & was caught. Stewart caught well from a shot and cross, but the game was spoiled by ref. Rennie blowing up for obscure fouls rather than the obvious ones. The Wrexham Holmes missed with a cross-shot; Purches was probably our best defender. HT: 0-1.

Feeney started with a typical “please foul me” dribble but ran it into touch. Derek chased a defender to the corner flag, won the ball with a superb left-footed tackle, got up & released the ball for Elliott to cross – our last decent moment. Fletcher was yellowed by the orotund Rennie, with the free-kick ricocheting for a corner. Both sides made many individual errors; we were just treading water. Feeney went down – ref. reckoned a fall not a foul or dive. Ditto in our area. Then we won the ball well in midfield, only for it to find its way back to Stewart – where was the ambition?

61 min.:Notts County 2-0 Huddersfield; “We’re going up as f*****g champions!”

Rennie missed a hand-ball (“shoulder”), & I missed Morrell smacking it in through a defence in disarray. Hayter should’ve covered the move better. 72 min.: Wrexham 1-1 Boscombe “Straight back up as f*****g champions!” Fletcher was felled – but penalised! Derek won it on the left but Hayter’s shot was blocked. Hand-ball in the Wrexham area was ignored. O’Connor came on for Stock on 77, leading to good midfield play and Feeney putting it through for Hayter – but the ‘keeper got there first. Then Wrexham’s no.6, tallest player on the pcth, headed it backwards. Feeney latched onto it, was flagged offside (!), Rennie gave the free to Wrexham, Fletcher complained too robustly (we can understand but can’t condone) and walked on his second yellow. I used to rate Rennie – not after this display. He was as mediocre as Boscombe on the day.

83 min.:Notts County 2-1 Huddersfield “You’re going down to the Conference” – hmm, renewed local derby with Chester, but what price a local derby for us with Yeovil?

Thomas replaced Elliott on 84 (should’ve been for Hayter, who was a fringe player again), and we all – players included - applauded Rennie for awarding us a free. Then a run down the left, Trundle got a foot to it & Edwards tapped it in unmarked at the far post. 89 min.: Wrexham 2-1 Boscombe “We’re going down while we’re singing”. An ignominious end, especially with the sending-off.

At the final whistle, some Boscombe players were in tears, some had collapsed on the pitch. I had a lump in my throat. This wasn’t as bad as 1990 (ah – your correspondent did this report that day also…) but gutting all the same. The league table does not lie – we were mediocre all season. Yes, 4 teams go down every season & it’s our turn now. As with the other 3 teams relegated, we have no money. A 3-sided stadium yet to be paid for & already looking scrappy, debts still from 1997, a board in disarray, the appalling treatment of Cherry Bear – not a good platform for the next campaign. It’ll be a long hard road back; whoever treads water the best will survive Div.3. We need players to sweat blood for the club – but not to spill it; too many big players ducked the issues today and throughout the season (thanks to Barbara & Phil for those two thoughts).

If we really have to on a day like this, then Deadly Derek for showing full commitment and giving all of his limited ability – unlike some.

AFCB: Stewart, Young, Tindall, Maher, Purches, Elliott (Thomas 83), Stock (O'Connor 77), C Fletcher, Hayter, Feeney, Holmes
Subs not used: Kandol, Eribenne, McAnespie

Player-by-player:
Stewart: not complacent, but not pushed by competition for his place.
Menetrier: evidently not a favourite of Sean/Peter, but can do a job.
Young: glad to see him return, but lost some pace. Solid; hope he’ll stay.
Broadhurst: looks good sometimes; should improve.
Maher: unsettled start and not yet as reliable as Tindall.
Tindall: now the central organiser, & should be skipper if Supa not playing. His distribution is inconsistent – should be better.
Howe: steady Eddie, not a vintage season but played in a generally poor team. Seemingly a panic sale for far too little in a buyers’ market.
Purches: Useful in all the roles he’s filled – a Matt Holland for Div.2.
Elliott: found out this season, but came back strongly. Deserves his song.
Fletch minor: out much of the season hence our poor run. Star of 2002/3.
Hughes: too many injuries; his absences also contributed to poor results. If he goes, we’ll need a strong experienced midfield general (like most sides…)
Stock: flashes of class, and with more body strength could be a regular, but must be more alert and concentrate properly.
O’Connor: reasonable stand-in; moves & passes well but light-weight.
Hayter: also needs more body strength, & ruthlessness.
Holmes: runs fastest when celebrating scoring. Deft touch but needs to use his build more assertively. Still on learning curve for this league, but increasingly effective coming back to defend. (replace Maher...?)
Thomas: another tich, needs time & space to contribute effectively. Jury’s out.
Feeney: tries as hard as anyone; now our biggest asset. Include his assists and the total approaches SuperMac’s 24 goals in our first-ever relegation season.
Fletch major: respected by many other fans in Div.2 and arguably our biggest loss this season.
Foyewa: fast & seemingly tricky, probably the best of the stand-by forwards.
All others who’ve played in the 1st team still on the books can be released.

O’Driscoll: better coach than manager? Does he do the honourable thing & fall on his metaphorical sword, or does he try to prove to himself & us that he really can hack it, learn from his mistakes? I doubt we can afford to sack him, but if so I’d say not until Christmas if we’re bottom-third; was he a poor manager when we nearly pipped Reading last year – or just lucky with Defoe? Questions over decisions, e.g. Melligan – a good player, lots of individual ability, but including him distorted the shape of the side. We rarely try to impose ourselves on other sides. Seeming evidence with S.O’D of favourites & the opposite (hmm – just like Mel). And if/when he does go, who would take on the shambles? Would Mel come back off the board?

Grant: is his aggressive attitude right for the kids?

Overall: promising youngsters asked to do too much to fill in for injured or suspended players; inevitably confidence lost quicker than with more experienced players. Playing at Dorchester didn’t help initially, contributing to a poor start. When it’s been good it’s been very, very good, but…

On the bright side – QoS won Scot. Div.2.
Pete Wicks, Greenford