It’s tough to know how to feel after a game like that. Anger? Pride? Frustration? Probably a bit of everything, to be honest.
For those that weren’t there, this was a game for the Football Scriptwriters to be proud: a true game of two halves, separated by a controversial red card on the stroke of half time. Billy Cracknell was the unlucky man, and his departure turned a first half with the Blues on the front foot, into a second that was dominated by the visitors.
And through it all, a lot of home fans left that game feeling extremely proud of the squad on a bitterly cold November evening in North London. Reduced to 10 men against a side chock full of big names, you quickly run out of superlatives to describe the defensive effort. Toby Byron, the left centre half, was wrestling with Chatham defenders for the ball by the opponent’s right corner flag in the 88th minute, which says it all really. Rhamar Garrett-Douglas didn’t stop running all night. Ben Frempah headed everything in the same postcode, and wore the expression of a fighter all evening. In truth, all 16 put in a real shift in unfavourable circumstances.
But top marks are reserved for Charlie Grainger, who pulled out a performance right from the top drawer when his team needed it most. There were a few occasions where it looked for all money that Chatham would score, only to be denied by some last ditch heroics from Grainger. He was quick off his line, commanding in his area, and adept at making himself large to smother any and all danger. If you ever want to see a goalkeeper leading from the back, this was it.
The pride is only exaggerated by a feeling that nothing went the Blues’ way all game. While Billy’s second yellow card was probably a fair cop, bringing down a Chatham forward looking to break quickly, his first was as he was taking a throw in. It was for time-wasting, in the 23rd minute of a home game, and precipitated by no fewer than eight Chatham players rushing and surrounding the referee insisting on a yellow card. Just why a player on a team that is third in the league would be time-wasting against a team nine places below them with 70 minutes to go is a question that the referee presumably felt confident he knew the answer to. He adhered to their demands, and once you start booking players for taking too long over a throw-in in the first quarter of the match, a red card becomes almost inevitable.
Usually in situations like this, refereeing decisions have a way of evening themselves out. Not on this occasion. Bobby Webb had a goal ruled out for offside, and Zack Newton had a penalty appeal turned down in the second half after he got himself between the ball and the Chatham centre-half, who barrelled right through him to get the ball. Chatham even won a corner, despite the referee and linesman pointing for a goal kick, when they yelled enough at the referee.
And so while the feeling of pride grows, it also gives way to frustration. What if it had been eleven on eleven all game? The Blues looked good value for their first half lead, and who knows how the game would have played out had they not been forced to withdraw 17-goal man Ogo Obi at half time to get an extra defender into the game.
Don’t mistake Chatham’s standing in the table for a mediocre team - if they’re not in and around the playoffs by the end of the season, then they will have a huge say on who is and isn’t. And so it’s into that context that we look at the game; there’s no guarantee that the Blues would have won with 11 on the pitch - Chatham showed their quality in the second half - what’s frustrating is that we’ll never know.
Nevertheless, the Blues finished the evening in second place, though they’ve played a game or two than most around them. It sets up nicely a very important few weeks, which is kicked off by the visit of Horsham on Saturday.
We’ll see you at the Lane!
Wingate & Finchley: Grainger; Cracknell (Red 45+2); Byron; Achuba; Frempah; Drakes-Thomas (Georgiou 60’); Garrett-Douglas; Newton (Briscoe 67’); Obi (Webb 46’); Lowe (Iontton 77’); Hernandez (Kissi 73’)
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