Firstly,
the support - magnificent, Pre-season friendly! Obviously the Toffeemen
can't wait, we filled the Shankly Stand, hopefully we all had a good
piss and a crap.
We started well and Vaughy looked lively, almost latching on to a
header which Roger knocked back from a set piece. It all kicked off
big time (for a 'friendly') when ex red shite Mellor appeared to give
Hibbo the Kirkby-kiss, Hibbo quickly responded with a right upper
cut to the chin - belter, cue mayhem. Ref booked both players and
saved any headlines.
Shortly after, when things were still a bit heated, Vaughy got felled,
it did not look too bad until he went down in a heap. 10 mins later
he's stretched off, it did not look good. Particularly when Betty
was brought on as a sub. It has to be said, there were va few boo
boys amongst the faithful who greeted Betty's arrival. Having said
that, he did not let us down, he is becoming the Larry Grayson of
Centre Forwards!
We were struggling to put it together, apart from Mikel who alone
was worth the £10 entrance fee. It got worse when Valente, who
had an absolute stinker (save for one last ditch tackle) showed so
much of the goal to a Preston striker that bhe could not fail to score.
We went in one down at the break.
Catain Phil & Phil the Jag joined in the fun after the break.
There was no sign of AJ or Ozzy and Joey was redduced to touchline
warm ups. Now so far we have not mentioned Shandy! After an intial
piece of wizardary, followed by a wicked cross, he just descended
into a music hall farce. In the second half he had the darkest shirt
on the pitch, the Stella must have been oozing out of every pour.
He was in the middle, in his own half, behind the front two, anywhere
but on the wing. He gave the ball away umpteen times and incurred
the wrath of the best little Spaniard we know.
Despite PNE hitting the bar, bringing off a couple of good saves from
Tim and missing a couple of clear chances, we ground them down!
'We're all goin' on a European tour' was reverberating around Deepdale
and seemed to bring us to life. Even Betty showed us why we blew £6m
when he swivelled, shot and brought a good save out of their keeper.
The travelling hoards got our wish with around 15 mins to go when
Big Vic, who worked tirelessly and was looking our main threat, showed
great determination in holding off his man and beating the goalie
from a tight angle. The support showed their appreciation.
We finished strongly, Howard, Hibbo, Roger, The Jag, Nev & Big
Vic all did well. Betty, Shandy & Nuno had stinkers but hey, it's
pre-season, who cares? It's all about fitness, not playing well as
a team and getting a win - we were happy to see the boys in blue again
and witness another master class from Our Tater. When Joey, Timmy,
AJ and Riquelme return we can start our assult on 4th place.
Bring it on, Verder Bremen, Palace & then the big one with Wigan.
Off the Ball tonight was, the sight of the bloke who ran on the pitch
after the goal and did a 2007 version of Eddie Kavanagh but somehow
managed to get back in amongst the away support - if you read this
you are a naughty boy (but it was funny) - we-ve only just got into
Europe, don't get us banned - surely it takes more than running on
the pitch to do that?!
Come on you Blues! Hope Vaughny's ok, well done Big Vic and thanks
again Mikel - we luv ya!!
