Well, here we are then, at what the criminally overpaid pundits would describe as the “business end of the season”. Even though a win in August is worth exactly the same amount of points as one in March, this is the period that really counts, if you’re daft enough to take heed of Alan Shearer, Micah Richards or Joe Cole.
We can tell it’s the business end of the season because trophies are starting to be handed out:
And people are furiously studying the league tables, trying to work out how many points we need to trouble the play-off spots.
Let me save you the bother. You generally need somewhere between 70-75 points to creep into the play-offs. With eight games to play and with 51 points on the scoreboard, we basically need a miracle; a seven- or eight-game winning streak. The run-in is far from terrible: a lot of relegation-threatened or nothing-to-play-for mid-table fodder in there. But it would still need something outrageous.
As I’ve said before, however, Tony does have a knack of keeping things interesting. And so the three points put on the board against Concord Rangers was a good start, even though we got off to a terrible start here.
The “warm-up” had been disrupted by a biblical hail storm before the game, and it certainly took the Rooks a good 20 minutes to get going. Before that, the otherwise impressive Sam Oguntayo bundled over a Concord player in the box to give the bottom-of-the-league visitors a penalty, which Harrison Day converted.
The dark clouds soon lifted, and perhaps after the midweek excursion to Norway, the players were relying on solar power because they too brightened up. It soon became The Battle of Whelpdale’s Head, with cross after cross landing on the bonce of the stand-in striker. He converted one of them in the 35th minute, with Oguntayo’s fine ball looped into the net.
The second half had that familiar pattern of recent weeks, with the Rooks absolutely dominating possession, the ball pinging from side to side like a knitting machine (ask your mums, Youth Wing).
Talking of the Youth Wing, they rather betrayed their age when a second-half chant of “Have you ever seen a Concord in Norway” went up. Yes, lads. Yes. Although not for a while.
Ola Ogunwamide ensured the season wouldn’t be coming to a premature end by scoring the winner. Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala broke free down the left (amid strong yelps for handball from the nearby Concord bench), hurtled into the area and struck a decent low shot. It was well saved, but only into Ola’s path, who gratefully accepted the tap-in.
The final half hour was tepid, with the Rooks playing keep-ball and rarely troubling the Concord keeper, although Marcus Sablier came close to adding a goal-of-the-season contender in the dying moments with a Thunderbastard from the edge of the box.
So, one down, eight more to go, starting with Horsham at home on Tuesday – arguably our toughest remaining game. Win that and we’ll start blocking off the play-off dates in our calendar. Y’know, just in case.
Lewes: Harvey, Ming, Penney, Elliott, Oguntayo, Pritchard, Sablier, Olukoga, Ogunwamide, Lumbombo-Kalala, Whelpdale
Subs: Wood, Gondoh, Dreher, Murtagh, Figueira
Supporters Club man of the match: We’ll back up Brian The Badge and go for Sam Oguntayo. Despite the penalty mishap, he was a constant source of great crosses on the overlap.
Video highlights from Your Instant Replay:
Boyesy’s brilliant photos:
