The form is stark, the table looks ominous and yet here I am again on the long train to London to take my church pew for an evening match at the Gtech.
Brentford are hovering just 5 points above the drop zone having taken just 8 points from a potential 36 this calendar year (2W, 2D, 8L), which is hardly scintillating form…
Our visitors tonight are a Brighton and Hove Albion side that have already beaten on their turf, thanks to a debut goal for 18 year old Jack Hinshelwood,
Bearing all this in mind and with a hectic Easter weekend to recover from why am I putting myself through another long travel day with a possibly extremely disappointing ending?
HOPE! Hope born out of brilliant team performances that deserved better endings, Hope from watching highlights of the game against Man U at the weekend where we played our illustrious visitors off the park for vast periods of the game only for the woodwork to deny us a huge victory, Hope from witnessing the fighting spirit of the team to never give up despite having to play for 81 minutes with a man disadvantage at Turf Moor… but above all this Hope lies the ultimate Hope that pulled me on this Southern odyssey, the Hope that tonight could be the night our luck changes, that tonight the marginal calls will go our way, that tonight the ball will fly inches inside the uprights instead of smashing into them.
This is the Hope inside me as I sit on this delayed train to London watching England fly by from my window seat, the Hope that this time things will go Brentford’s way for once.
You, my fellow fans, seem to understand this as the swarm descended on the ticketing site yesterday to pick clean our allocation for Kenilworth Road. It’s clear the belief is still coursing through our veins and so it damn well should be.
Through all the adversity we have faced this season losing; David Raya, Pontus Jansson, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry and Josh Dasilva for the season, either due to transfer or long term injury; losing most of the rest of the team to the hospital at Jersey road for a short time at some point during the season and missing our talismanic main man Ivan Toney to a ban for the first half of the season we have never once dropped into the relegation zone.
So why would we do so now? WE WONT!!!
I think tonight will be the spark that lights the afterburners to launch us clear of danger, because after so many brilliant performances throughout the season, so many dropped leads and so many horrendously unlucky breaks, it’s about time the football gods paid us back with some decent luck for once….
STAY HOPEFUL MY FELLOW BEES
The Football tourist 