Unused Sub

Noted that the football special to Witton was back again last night, seems to me to be just for the European games. Was a bit strange considering it went against the club advice for home fans to use Aston, unless it was for aways fans. The announcements at New Street were in English not Dutch like previous games which suggests not. Not sure if the railways and the club were on the same page, maybe one for the FAB group to discuss with the club.

For my £5 last night I got 6 goals, one disallowed goal, woodwork twice rattled, a missed pen, a couple for meaty challenges, some handbags plus a penalty shootout. Money well spent and credit to Lye on the pricing. In the first half we gave the ball away too many times and it wasn’t a surprise we found ourselves two down. Moore put us back in it from close range, so we trailed 1-2 at the break. The second half was entertaining. They hit the post and then scored of a corner. You could throw a blanket over most of the players, as was their tactic for corners. Very dangerous from corner all night. Emery was lucky to stay on the park when he bundled over a forward when rushing out of his goal. We got a goal back when the ball fell nicely in the box for Wilson to score. Other reports this morning state Moore, but it looked like No. 15 to me. The equaliser was similar, a cross into box made its way to Moore to poke home. With time running out a pen was given after a surge into the box, Bogarde was felled. It was a nice height for the keeper to save down his right hand side. From the corner, a bar was hit following a scramble. The Lye right-back bizarrely pushed Jimoh following a tackle and they squared up to each other. Handbags followed involving all 20 outfield players plus our head coach. It was nice of the Lye coaching staff to remind the ref that our head coach had entered the playing field and should be booked! In the dying seconds it looked like we had won it but ball over the top was given offside. So, onto the pens, most of ours were well taken. Moore decided to take an identical penalty and unsurprisingly it was saved again. A Note on Afoka’s pen, a fanny-dribble effort that took an age to roll into the net. It reminded me of a Bert Traore goal against the Abion. Overall for us, Wilson made a difference when he came on at half-time and should have scored but lobbed over. Katsukunya looked calm on the ball, Borland is neat and tidy. Rowe was very good, up and down the right flank all night. Team: Emery, T.Rowe, Munroe (sub: Wilson); Katsukunya, Bogarde, Borland, Young (sub: Afoka), Alcock, Moore, Jimoh, Patterson Unused Subs: Lynch, Lewis, Pavey Goals: Moore 31&79mins, Wilson 76mins For record, the shootout: 0-1 Palmer - Scored 1-1 Bogarde - Scored 1-2 Funge - Scored 2-2 Wilson - Scored 2-3 Meacham - Scored 3-3 Alcock - Scored 3-4 Hall - Scored 3-4 Moore - Saved 3-4 Ngbeken - Saved 4-4 Afoka - Scored 4-4 Tye - Saved 5-4 Borland - Scored

Individual comps I have: 40 - 1886-87 - FAC 29 - 1960-61 - LC 25 - 1985-86 - LC 23 - 1962-63 - LC 22 - 1974-75 - LC 21 - 1976-77 - LC 20 - 1912-13 - FAC 20 - 2019-20 - LC 20 - 2023-24 - UECL

40 - 1886-87 - FAC 37 - 1960-61 - FAC & LC 31 - 1985-86 - FAC & LC 31 - 1981-82 - FAC & LC & Europe & Charity Shield 31 - 1974-75 - FAC & LC 30 - 2009-10 - FAC & LC & Europe 29 - 1976-77 - FAC & LC 27 - 1988-89 - FAC & LC & Simod 27 - 1962-63 - FAC & LC 24 - 2008-09 - FAC & LC & Europe 24 - 1999-00 - FAC & LC 24 - 1995-96 - FAC & LC 24 - 1989-90 - FAC & LC & Zenith Data 24 - 1964-65 - FAC & LC 23 - 2023-24 - FAC & LC & Europe

The simple answer is if the street signs are brown then you are in the borough of Walsall!

It was converted into a gym in the 1950/60s. I think it was flattened during the 1989-90 season. Doug put in planning permission for a hotel in its place in the corner of the North Stand, but nothing came of it.

Big Ron, Big Cyrille, Dalian Atkinson, Ugo, Stan, Rico, Paul Mortimer, Teale & Les Sealey. Only Big Ron, Stan, Rico, Paul Mortimer & Teale still with us.

Another non-league ground ticked off the list and £10 lighter in the wallet, I found myself at Sutton Coldfield last night. I can confirm it was a bit nippy out. Controlled the game throughout and deserved to progress to the next round. Could have been 6 or 7 and no one would have complained, but 3-1 will do very nicely. Richards could have had a couple more. O’Reilly, Broggio, Bogarde and Wilson on another day would have scored. First time I’ve seen Broggio, and can see why there is a bit noise around him, looks quite easy on the eye when running with the ball. Shame he went off holding the top of his leg/hip early in the second half. Richards went off late in the game with cramp. A note on Tristen Rowe, it’s the first time I’ve seen him at centre-back since the Albion U21 game last season where we were turned over 2-6. The Albion forwards that night looked like they were on ‘big dinners’ and Rowe struggled a bit. Last night he looked very good, and handled the Sutton forwards well. His distribution was very good as well. So then the goals; Richards found the top corner from long range early in the second half, The Royals equalised with a header from a set piece, roughly 15 minutes to go. The assist for our second goal should go the chap on the PA system who announced “the referee has indicated that there will be an additional 4 minutes added on time, if the game is still level after this there will be a penalty shootout.” Just as he finished this announcement, the ball was swung in from the left and Teddy Rowe, unmarked at the far stick, tapped home from six yards to much amusement to the crowd. From the kick off Sutton got the ball down their right-hand side, the cross was mis-hit and looked to have caught Proctor off guard having expected the cross to come in, the ball looked odds-on to go into the net at the near post, but somehow Proctor managed to tip it around the post. From the resultant corner there was a scrimmage on the edge of the box, the ball was won and Borland was sent clean through. With the Sutton goalkeeper up the for the corner, Borland had the simple task of dribbling the ball the length of the half to score. Goals: Richards 54’, E.Rowe 90+1’, Borland 90+4’ Team: Proctor, Ealing, Munroe, T.Rowe, Feeney, Alcock, Jimoh, Bogarde (sub: Borland), Richards (sub: E.Rowe), T.O’Reilly, Broggio (sub: Wilson). Unused subs: Emery (gk), Katsukunya.

A great list. Note that one of the own goals was by Ivo Stas. He was signed shortly after, but retired 12 months later without playing a competitive game. Staunton’s goal was unusual as it was from a corner. Not direct from a corner as he done before for us (like Douglas Luiz), it was towards the back end of this career and was at centre-back. Nodded it home from a few yards out. For many years he took corners, just seemed odd to see him on the end one instead. Yorke should have had few more but for the 3 overseas player rule. Staunton, McGrath & Saunders would generally be the 3. How the system worked was very strange to me. At the time we had 4 Ireland Internationals; Irish born Staunton was an overseas player, McGrath was an English born overseas player, Townsend was English and didn’t count, while Scotland born Houghton didn’t count either!

Can you ask for any feedback regarding the bus shuttle relay experiment from the Brighton game in May. Any plans from the club to try again this season? (especially as more train strikes are due at the arse-end of this month)

Sorted mine, plenty of seats behind the goal.

For what its worth, all want is a rampant lion facing left with a big tongue. A really big-ass-long tongue like the 1980-90s badge. The rest I couldn’t give a monkeys about.

First time in this thread, not my thing really. A lot of old badges have appeared there. Not really worth clearing up as its not really that interesting, but for clarity, the 1956 version was basically our badge from the start if the football league in 1888 until the late 1960s boardroom revolution. It was on the clubs letterheads, in the programmes, and of course the old Trinity Road Stand. Its wasn’t until 1956 that we had, as a standard, the badge on the shirts. Anyway, nobody remember the very short lived 98 badge used in some club literature, so its not the first time this has happened:

Not sure if it’s the same cup but its in the window of the trophy shop in Old Hill. I’ve walked past it many times. Looks more like Neil Rioch close up.

Nothing was announced at the ground at the time (that I can recall, however excitement might have got the better of me). Unofficially I have seen elsewhere 42,212. I'd probably wait a few more days and see if anything comes to light.