Week 24: Sunshine on a rainy day
Makes my soul, makes my soul drip, drip, drip away...
"It was a grim afternoon all round, with the ground, and the wasteland which surrounds it, one of the most exposed parts of central Scotland and therefore subject to a full assault from the driving rain and strong, swirling wind."
You could probably do a couple of lengths in the pool of tears left by Scotland On Sunday's Richard Moore who is no doubt still recovering from Falkirk's 1-0 win over Dunfermline, which he also, and rather unsurprisingly, described as "a terrible game of football". Alan Gow's late winner gave the home side all three points, but The Herald's James Porteous was so moved by the plight of all 22 of the players who had to suffer in the "farcical" conditions, that he felt "a point each would probably have been fair reward, if only to compensate for the misery of having to run about for an hour and a half in the soaking gloom." Note the key quotes from this paragraph: grim, wasteland, assault, misery, and gloom. Somehow I don't think La Liga match reports read like this.
It will have been of little consolation to those at Falkirk that Aberdeen's 1-1 draw with Inverness CT at Pittodrie, was probably even more depressing. "Some games instantly restore your faith in football while others leave you wondering what's become of the beautiful game," moaned the Daily Record's Euan MacArthur before throwing himself into the North Sea in an attempt to collide with an oil platform. Certainly there was little doubt which 'McArthur' category this game fitted into. Two late goals provided the action which The Sunday Times' Rodger Baillie reckoned "lit up this game like a beacon, and how badly it needed such illumination to save the numbed spectators losing the will to live." Much like a nation of readers then.
But there was the odd flare of decent football which lit up the grey skies of the weekend's football, such as at Ibrox where the pitch may have resembled a "ploughing field", "marsh" or "porridge", but Rangers delivered an improved performance to overwhelm Dundee United 5-0. "Throughout the Rangers ranks there was industry and urgency, there was a desire to play at a tempo several notches higher than before and a ruthlessness in front of goal that brought them by far and away their most thumping victory of the season," swooned Tom English in Scotland on Sunday, as Walter Smith began his second spell in charge of Rangers with more fireworks than Rangers fans have seen in a while, albeit cheap ones, from a shop that mainly sells crisps, without much genuine luminosity. Better still, after watching his side deliver a feast of goals, Smith washed it down with glass of wine while confirming his obvious greatness to the press pups after the game, much to the their delight, and that of their already enlarged livers.
It was less Bordeaux and more Cava at Rugby Park on Monday, where Hibernian showed "sparkling verve" to beat Kilmarnock 2-0 according to The Herald's Mark Wilson, who also watched Celtic's 2-1 win over Hearts on Saturday where Gordon Strachan's side were able, rather chillingly, "to savour the sweet sensation of vengeance" over their hosts.
Sadly for all concerned, the people of Paisley were deprived of savouring a football fiesta as St. Mirren's home squabble with Motherwell fell victim to the weather. Compared to the rest of the country, Providence smiled on East Renfrewshire for once, even if the sun didn't.
"It was a grim afternoon all round, with the ground, and the wasteland which surrounds it, one of the most exposed parts of central Scotland and therefore subject to a full assault from the driving rain and strong, swirling wind."
You could probably do a couple of lengths in the pool of tears left by Scotland On Sunday's Richard Moore who is no doubt still recovering from Falkirk's 1-0 win over Dunfermline, which he also, and rather unsurprisingly, described as "a terrible game of football". Alan Gow's late winner gave the home side all three points, but The Herald's James Porteous was so moved by the plight of all 22 of the players who had to suffer in the "farcical" conditions, that he felt "a point each would probably have been fair reward, if only to compensate for the misery of having to run about for an hour and a half in the soaking gloom." Note the key quotes from this paragraph: grim, wasteland, assault, misery, and gloom. Somehow I don't think La Liga match reports read like this.
It will have been of little consolation to those at Falkirk that Aberdeen's 1-1 draw with Inverness CT at Pittodrie, was probably even more depressing. "Some games instantly restore your faith in football while others leave you wondering what's become of the beautiful game," moaned the Daily Record's Euan MacArthur before throwing himself into the North Sea in an attempt to collide with an oil platform. Certainly there was little doubt which 'McArthur' category this game fitted into. Two late goals provided the action which The Sunday Times' Rodger Baillie reckoned "lit up this game like a beacon, and how badly it needed such illumination to save the numbed spectators losing the will to live." Much like a nation of readers then.
But there was the odd flare of decent football which lit up the grey skies of the weekend's football, such as at Ibrox where the pitch may have resembled a "ploughing field", "marsh" or "porridge", but Rangers delivered an improved performance to overwhelm Dundee United 5-0. "Throughout the Rangers ranks there was industry and urgency, there was a desire to play at a tempo several notches higher than before and a ruthlessness in front of goal that brought them by far and away their most thumping victory of the season," swooned Tom English in Scotland on Sunday, as Walter Smith began his second spell in charge of Rangers with more fireworks than Rangers fans have seen in a while, albeit cheap ones, from a shop that mainly sells crisps, without much genuine luminosity. Better still, after watching his side deliver a feast of goals, Smith washed it down with glass of wine while confirming his obvious greatness to the press pups after the game, much to the their delight, and that of their already enlarged livers.
It was less Bordeaux and more Cava at Rugby Park on Monday, where Hibernian showed "sparkling verve" to beat Kilmarnock 2-0 according to The Herald's Mark Wilson, who also watched Celtic's 2-1 win over Hearts on Saturday where Gordon Strachan's side were able, rather chillingly, "to savour the sweet sensation of vengeance" over their hosts.
Sadly for all concerned, the people of Paisley were deprived of savouring a football fiesta as St. Mirren's home squabble with Motherwell fell victim to the weather. Compared to the rest of the country, Providence smiled on East Renfrewshire for once, even if the sun didn't.
posted by nothing.if.not @ 9:08 PM
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