The Football tourist

I am taking a break from the blog to recharge over the summer and sort out some outstanding issues in my personal life.

Writing an average of a blog a week for most of the season has left me completely burnt out. In the final weeks of the regular season I was unable to enjoy the matches with the stress of making sure I had the right pictures and notes ready for the upcoming blog. Enjoying football has been one of the few certainties throughout my life so far and to see that changing is not something I can just sit back and let happen.

I am going to many games at this summer’s Women’s Euro, including England’s opening match of the tournament (against Austria at Old Trafford on July 6th), but there will be no blogs from any of those matches. My experience at the Women’s Euro this summer will be my own as I try to reconnect with the joy of the beautiful game that I have loved since childhood.

All things being well and with certain things in my life getting sorted this summer, I am aiming to be back blogging Premier League and EFL matches once again for the 2022/23 season. See you then.

Wednesday 25th February 2022: Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton: Arnold Clark Cup: England vs Germany

Today’s blog takes us back in time by 5 months to the end of February as England’s Women’s team competed in a crunch match at the end of a gruelling week of travelling across the country in search of their first trophy under new boss Sarina Wiegman. The trophy they were trying to win was the Arnold Clark Cup, a competition bringing together 4 of the best International Women’s teams from across the globe. It was their first tournament under Wiegman and a great chance to put down a marker against some of the toughest opposition in the sport before the Euros in July.

This was the first time that fans across the country would be able to see Wiegman’s team face up against other members of the FIFA top 10 world rankings. They had already faced Canada at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough and Spain, favourites for the Euros, at Carrow Road in Norwich, collecting creditable draws in each. Failing to score against Spain was far from ideal but with no losses to their name they were still in with a chance at glory as they faced off against Germany in the final match of the tournament at Molineux in Wolverhampton.

Making it to Wolverhampton was simple enough and from the station you turn right across a bridge then follow the road between the Britannia hotel and the grand theatre before taking another right past the church before the stadium hoves into view in-front of you. I made my way through the Molineux tunnel, picked up a programme from the seller in front of me, and made my way inside after squeezing my stomach into my lungs to make it through the turnstile.

The excitement in the stands was palpable as I poured down the stairs to my seat, which told me the result must have gone England’s way earlier on and we were still in with a shot at the title. There had been another game at Molineux earlier in day between Canada and Spain in which a win for the North Americans would have secured them the title. As it turned out though Spain had won 1-0 in front of just 877 fans and so the 14,463 now filling out 3 sides of Molineux would witness history if England managed to win by 2 goals or more.

The announcer made it extremely difficult for casual fans to engage with the match though by introducing the teams simply by their shirt numbers when the programmes included none. I was able to work out which numbers corresponded to the England players due to my extensive match attendance over many years, but for the casual fan it must have been a nightmare. England were without their long-time captain Steph Houghton through the injury that would also keep her out of the Euros, so Leah Williamson stepped into the role she will also be taking on for the team over the summer. The experience ought to prove invaluable in the latter stages of the Euros.

England were in the traditional all-white strip with Germany in red shirts and black shorts for this one as play got underway to the sounds of a drummer and trumpeter cheering them on from behind the goal to my right. The atmosphere provided by their music was incredible and added to the expectation in the air.

There were no signs that the expectation was effecting the home team early on though as England piled the pressure on their opponents. Manchester City had provided half of England’s outfield players for the match (Lucy Bronze, Kiera Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp and Ellen White) so perhaps it should come as no surprise that it was 2 of their number that were providing the most threat for the hosts. Bronze and Hemp were finding great yawning chasms of space on either wing and if their teammates had been able to find the right weight of pass they could have caused the Germans incredible issues.

England were on top throughout the first 10 minutes without creating a clear cut chance that would make their pressure tell and crack open the stalwart German defence. This inability to break the Germans down almost came back to bite them in the 10th minute itself as the visitors launched a promising attack down the middle. Given even more room to develop the attack, by a Bronze miscue in midfield, the Germans began to drive for goal and were only denied by some excellent covering work by new captain Williamson. Her and Kiera Walsh had been given the job of screening the defence, in a 4-2-3-1, when England lost possession of the ball and this excellent piece of play proved that Williamson was up for the challenge.

The only thing missing from the hosts play at this point was a goal and they came agonisingly close to proving one in the 13th minute when Stanway powered into space down the left wing, took the ball to the bye-line and cut it back. Her targets in the centre were Fran Kirby and Ellen White, but unfortunately the ball was inches behind the pair and when it was stabbed towards goal by a supporting player in white, Merle Frohms barely had to change position to smother the chance.

No matter though as England found the breakthrough they deserved just 2 minutes later. Once again the build up involved Stanway, Kirby and White but this time their interplay bore fruit. Stanway fed the ball to Kirby on the edge of the box and, after her first ball rebounded off a defender and landed at her feet, her second ball was a defence-splitter of the first degree. It was a beautifully wrapped gift for Ellen White to collect on the edge of the 6 yard box and from that point she slipped the ball to the keeper’s right, the exquisite placement of the finish giving Frohms no chance of stopping it.

White is as deadly as a cyanide injection from that distance and if she is allowed to find such positions in the upcoming Euros then England have a great chance of success. The pandemonium in the stands when that goal hit the back of the net was incredible and now England just needed one more goal to win themselves the title.

They came close to securing it in the 25th minute when White kept up her pursuit of a hideously lost ball down the right wing. Her impossible pursuit was successful and when the late arriving support finally showed up in the box the ball back to Bronze was dropped on a dime. Bronze whipped the ball into the box first time and picked out Stanway with unwavering accuracy. Stanway caught the ball graciously on the turn and volleyed toward goal, though her aim was a little off as the ball slammed itself straight into Frohms’ waiting arms. If the ball had been directed either side of the keeper it would have been 2-0 to England, but alas it was not to be.

Between the opener and that gilt-edged chance for England to double their lead there was a collision in midfield. Jess Carter was knocked flat-out on the turf and though she was back on her feet quicker than the German player she had collided with the effects of the incident were enough to see her removed from the fray in the 32nd minute. Rachel Daly, who plies her trade with Houston Dash in the NWSL, was the player sent on to replace her in defence.

This change did nothing to disrupt England’s control of the match though as Daly slotted in at fullback with consummate ease. England were unable to find ways to translate that control into further domination of the team sheet however as they struggled to find the telling ball in the final third. The closest they came to doubling their lead before the 40th minute was 4 minutes before that salient time stamp when Kirby slotted the ball through the defence for White to run onto. Kirby got just a smidgen too much on the through-ball though and it ran into the arms of Frohms before White could make a telling connection.

The salient facts of the 40th minute are that it was the moment in the match where it appeared that England had let their chances of winning the cup slip through their fingers. Germany managed to engineer their first space in midfield all match and Lea Schuller made the most of this new found freedom to charge at an England defence that was all at 6’s and 7’s as though shocked to discover that the Germans knew how to attack. Schuller advanced till she was just 20yards from the England goal then turned inside on a dime to make a flat run across the pitch to create a better angle for the shot.

The turn took Alex Greenwood by surprise and Schuller collapsed over her trailing leg to earn the Germans a free-kick in a promising position. Lina Magull stepped up to take the set-piece and the fans in the stadium were treated to a finish of exquisite quality. She looped the ball up and over the wall and the despairing dive of Ellie Roebuck before dropping it into the back of the net off the underside of the bar. It was a delectable finish that would have graced any game in history, but here it was in a friendly tournament scored by the wrong team in-front of a deeply partisan home crowd so it was met with a deafening silence, instead of the rapturous applause it merited.

The final 5 minutes of the half, and the 2 minutes of added time at the end of the 5 passed without any further incidents of note. So England headed down the tunnel for half-time level with their opponents despite having controlled the play for vast swathes of the match so far.

Perhaps it was this dominance of possession and the immense pressure that they had been able to exact on the German defence that dissuaded Wiegman from making any changes to the team at half-time, but it appeared to be backfiring as Germany created the first glaring chance of the second half. Julie Brand had replaced Nicole Anyomi for the visitors at half-time and in the 52nd minute she combined with Maximiliane Rall to break the Germans in behind on the right. Her cross picked out Klara Buhl by the penalty spot but, with the headlines in her eyes, she fluffed her lines and England were able to clear the danger.

The hosts first chance of note failed to materialise till the game reached the hour mark and even then it took a mix-up in the German defence for England to fashion the opportunity. Kiera Walsh picked up the loose ball and played Lauren Hemp in one-on-one with Frohms. Hemp had the simple task of knocking the ball to either side of the keeper, but her weak attempt to sneak it in on the keepers left was saved simply by Frohms. Hemp will have been happy to see the linesman raise her flag for offside and render the finish moot.

Within 120 seconds of this chance Wiegman made her first substitution of the match as Georgia Stanway was given the rest of the match off. Nikita Parris being given 28 minutes to state her case for inclusion in the squad for the Euros. This was also the cue for a turgid period of play that lasted till the 75 minute of the match, during which the fans engaged in the time-honoured tradition of the Mexican wave.

Germany replaced goal-scorer Lina Mgull with Linda Dallmann with 18 minutes of the match remaining as they looked to force a winner. They had the first chance to do so when the game sparked back to life in the 75th minute. They broke free on the left and advanced into the space that had opened up in-front of them. The cross through the box was collected in the centre but a defender was able to successfully able to kick-start a game of pinball in the forest of legs that gave Roebuck the opportunity to come and collect the ball.

The game was back in full flow now and Williamson took matters into her own hands in the 81st minute when she unleashed a pile-driver from the edge of the box that skimmed the bar on it’s way behind. Wiegman once again took the sight of her team closing in on goal as the trigger to make another substitution. This time it was Lucy Bronze and goal-scorer Ellen White who were gifted a well deserved rest to be replaced by Alessia Russo and Ella Toone for the final 8 minutes of the match.

With the match entering it’s final 5 minutes it looked like England’s chances of winning the cup had evaporated into thin air, but Lauren Hemp wasn’t having it. She produced a gut-busting run from midfield to emerge one-on-one with Frohms and when her shot was blocked the rebound fell to Millie Bright, who slid it under the dive of Frohms and fired England into a 2-1 lead with 4 minutes of normal time left to play. Now all England needed was their third of the match and the cup would be theirs.

Having got the lead England retreated into themselves for the next few minutes as though they were just desperate to secure the win and not throw away another lead. Germany replaced Klara Buhl with the fresh legs of Selina Cerci up-front in an attempt to exploit the host’s new nervousness. It didn’t work as England made full use of the 3 minutes added to the end of the 90 to come away with what they needed.

England’s cup winning goal came with the final kick of the match. They broke up-field and Hemp headed the ball on to send Kirby running free through the centre. She advanced into the box and slotted a deft chip over the keeper’s head and into the back of the net. That was England’s third goal of the match and secured the 2 goal cushion they needed to win by to win the cup. The pandemonium in the stands at this brilliant late turn of events was incredible. What a way to win the cup.

Unfortunately my abysmal planning meant that I had a train to catch back to the North-West and was unable to remain in the ground to see the team lift the cup. To walk away from that atmosphere and the presentation stage being set-up in-front of the stand I was in was heart-wrenching. It was made even worse when I reached the station to find that my train had been delayed by 15 minutes. I was then joined, by many who had stayed for the cup presentation then sprinted to the station, with 7 minutes to spare to add to my frustration.

It was an incredible way for England to win their first trophy of the year in front of their home fans. I hope that they will be able to top this achievement by lifting the European Championship trophy in-front of 90,000 at Wembley on July 31st.

I do not have a ticket for that game, but I will be at Old Trafford on July 6th to see them kick-start their Euro 2022 campaign. See you for that blog soon afterwards.

So the nationwide train strike has been confirmed for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday next week. Even though I was going to be travelling to Leeds on Friday, for the England Women’s team’s final home build up game for the Euros next month, the knock on effect of the strikes mean that I can no longer make it.

There are enough trains to get me to the game, via a stopover in Manchester, but there is no way to get all the way back to Liverpool after the match. As I have no wish to be stuck in Leeds for 2 days this means I can no longer make it to the match.

To miss the chance of seeing Beth Mead go toe-to-toe in a scoring shootout with club-mate Vivianne Miedema is exceedingly disappointing. Not to mention a midfield battle royale between Man U team-mates Jackie Groenen and Ella Toone, whilst Leah Williamson and Georgia Stanway get re-acquainted with their old WSL adversaries Jill Roord and Danielle Van De Donk. Roord may now be plying her trade at Wolfsburg with Van De Donk at European heavyweights Lyon, but both of them used to play alongside Mead, Miedema and Williamson at Arsenal.

They worked incredible well as a team and it would have been insanely interesting to see how they fared in the head-to-head. Now I won’t get to be treated to that show unless they meet in the knockout games at the Euros. That may be a blessing in disguise though as if that game comes to pass there will be a lot more riding on it than there is on the game in Leeds next week.

I will be following the match on ITV 4 instead and hope the trains aren’t on strike again when I need to make my way to Old Trafford for England’s Euros opener against Austria on Wednesday July 6th.

With the discussions around the England Men’s team’s performances in the National League turning toxic, in the wake of their humiliating 4-0 loss at home to Hungary this week, I have decided to turn my attention to the release of the England squad for the Women’s Euros that they are hosting in July.

I am incredibly hyped for the Euros and have tickets to many of the games, including England’s opener against Austria at Old Trafford on July 6th. As such the release of England’s is of huge interest to me.

The Goalkeepers (Mary Earps, Hannah Hampton, Ellie Roebuck) are not really surprising in any way at all.
Mary Earps has had a brilliant season for Manchester United in the WSL and was a key influence on taking their tilt at Champions League qualification right down to the final weeks of the season.
Ellie Roebuck had to contend with injury problems at the beginning of the season, but has excelled since making her return to the Manchester City team. Her contribution to the turnaround in their form cannot be understated as they ended the season like a runaway train beating their city rivals to 3rd place and Champions League qualification in the process. Roebuck would be my choice for the number 1 shirt against Austria.
Hannah Hampton is the most left-field choice of the keepers, but more than worthy of her place in the squad. Having seen her play with Birmingham City, back in 2019, her skill between the sticks is undeniable. Her move across the city to Aston Villa has seen her push on and she will be hoping to add to her 2 current international caps during the tournament.

There are very few surprises in the midfield either (Jill Scott, Fran Kirby, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Kiera Walsh, Leah Williamson) and I’m particularly pleased to see Williamson rewarded for her excellent performances in defensive midfield for the Gunners this season. Many people will say that Jill Scott is too old for this level of the game, having now reached 35, but there is no denying that the experience she will have gained from 156 caps to her name will be crucial to the team in their difficult moments. Plus, anyone who has seen what James Milner has done since joining Liverpool will know that for the best players age really is just a number.

It is a little strange to see Fran Kirby included in the midfielders section of the squad given her searing form upfront for first Sunderland and now Chelsea. I’m sure Sarina Wiegman has included her in this section for a reason though and if Kirby does indeed play in the midfield I look forward to seeing what she can do there.

The power available to England up front is impressive, with Beth Mead (Arsenal), Bethany England (Chelsea), Alessia Russo (Man U) and Ellen White (Man City) all being potent creative forces for their clubs in domestic competitions. For England to be able to call on some of the greatest forwards at the top 4 teams in the WSL is awesome to see and will make them a force to be reckoned with during the Euros. Added to the quartet already mentioned are Nikita Parris (Arsenal), Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly (both Man City).

It is particularly gratifying to see Chloe Kelly included in the squad to top off her triumphant return from a career-threatening knee injury, sustained at the end of the 2020/21 WSL season. She missed months of the 2021/22 season but it is great to see her back now and in brilliant form. As long as the injury holds she will be tormenting opposition defences to her hearts content next month and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Jess Park has been brilliant for Man City all season and it is a testament to the competition up-front for England that she missed out on the squad. Baring any horrendous injuries next season it will be horrendously difficult for Wiegman to leave her out of the World Cup squad next summer.

The defence is where the biggest shock is with ex-captain Steph Houghton being left out of the squad. She has been unable to play football since January due to an Achilles injury, but there had been a lot of talk that she was on a timetable to recover in time for the Euros. That she has not managed to recover in time is hugely disappointing as to have her influence in defence would have been a huge benefit for the rest of the team. Her long-time partner in central-defence, Millie Bright, has been included in the squad though so hopefully some of the experiences that the pair have shared on the pitch will bleed through to the rest of the team.

The rest of the defence contains nothing out of left field, with Alex Greenwood, Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter, Rachel Daly, Demi Stokes and Lotte Wubben-Moy all deserving of their places. If Houghton had recovered from her injury in time the choice of who to leave out so she could be included would have been a stomach-churning one for Wiegman. I have no doubt Wiegman would have made the right call if it had come to it, but perhaps she will be glad it didn’t come to that.

I want to take this opportunity to wish Steph Houghton all the best for the rest of her recovery and to wish the England Women’s team the greatest of luck for the tournament. It would be incredible for this brilliant team to win the trophy at Wembley on Sunday 31st July. Just a shame I won’t be able to see it in person, because despite getting a lot of tickets in the draw I was unable to get myself a ticket to the final.

Good luck to the England Women’s team at the Euros and I’ll be back blogging again soon.

The next football season starts in just 2 months time, as it tries to shimmy its way around the World Cup in Qatar in November. As such I feel now is the perfect time to outline which teams will be in which league when things get underway again in August.

South Coast
Brighton and Hove Albion, Southampton and Bournemouth

Having secured promotion back to the top table in the final weeks of the season, at the first time of asking, Bournemouth will be looking to avoid dropping straight back through the trap door again.

Brighton have shown great promise under Graham Potter, but a lack of cutting edge in-front of goal remains an Achilles heel that must be addressed to maintain their top flight status long-term.

Southampton have been a nailed-on mid-table finisher every season since their ascension to the league for the 2012/13 season. However, they are also as certain to deliver one dreadful performance that sees them mauled by as many a 9 goals to nil. Who will be the team to maul them like that this season?

North-East
Newcastle United

The flood of money that flowed in from Saudi Arabia in the middle of the 2021/22 season was not only enough to rescue the Magpies from their relegation scrap, but also to finish up just 2 points outside the top 10. With a full summer to reinforce their squad and for Eddie Howe to train his team in his ever exciting and effective tactics the pride of the North-East have the chance to become a true powerhouse of the beautiful game. The current top teams had better be wary of them.

Yorkshire
Leeds United

Having managed to pull off a miraculous escape on the final day of last season they will look to push further up the table next season. Whether they will be capable of this without their fabled saviour Marcelo Bielsa remains to be seen. If Jesse Marsch can can get the fans onboard they could be a real force to be reckoned with.

North-West
Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City

The loyal blues of Merseyside were key to their teams survival at the end of last season and they will demand much more from their team in 2022/23. Lampard may be the man to lead them up the table, but if results go against him in the early weeks he may find his fate at Goodison Park to be the same as Benitez’s last season.

Across Stanley Park things look far rosier for the Red Merseysiders, despite their failure to complete the unprecedented quadruple in the dying days of last season. It does look to be a difficult summer in prospect for Klopp and his team though, with both Salah and Mane rumoured to be on their way to pastures new for next season. If they do leave then both Jota and Luis Diaz will have the weight of the world on their shoulders. How they deal with this and who is brought in to support them is crucial to whether Liverpool’s brilliant run of seasons will continue or come to an emergency stop. The capture of Darwin Nunez from Benfica is an excellent start to their summer business.

The task for Man U’s new manager, Erik Ten Hag, is far more daunting than any other manager in the league. He must stabilise and rebuild a collapsed giant of the game whilst under the immense pressure of the fans to provide this miraculous turn around in fortune within months. Such a miraculous turn of events normally takes years to achieve.

Man City are the undeniable kings of the Premier League with 4 titles in the past 5 seasons and with the addition of Haaland to their ranks for the new season few would bet against them winning the title again. The real challenge for City is to find a way to translate their domestic form into success in European competitions.

The Midlands
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest

Since their earth-shattering title win 6 seasons ago Leicester have drifted back into mid-table obscurity. Despite the best efforts of Brendan Rodgers and Jamie Vardy this looks to be where they will stay for the foreseeable future. They may challenge for European qualification in the upcoming season, but if they do it will be for the lower competitions. Champions League qualification appears to be well beyond them, but then so did the title all those seasons ago.

Wolves have a tried and tested formula, it has worked for them for many seasons now so they’re sticking too it. If they wish to move up from the morass of mid-table mediocrity a few tweaks to the formula may be necessary.

Aston Villa have done very well in the seasons since their most recent return to the top flight. Their history in both the top tier and in European football is undeniable, they have the passionate fanbase that could easily fill Villa Park 3 times over to prove it. The glory days of this brilliant club may have been back in the 80’s but with Steven Gerrard now comfortable in the dugout and with the brilliant job he achieved at Rangers in mind, perhaps the glory days will be returning to Villa Park again soon.

Talking of glory days returning to the Midlands it is brilliant to see Nottingham Forest returning to the top flight for the first time in the 21st century. Having been lucky enough to have visited their City Ground towards the end of last season I can personally attest to the incredible support their fans give the team and to the beauty of their ground. Any Premier League fans who are lucky enough to visit this gorgeous ground on the banks of the Trent will know how lucky they are to be there when they arrive. I hope they manage to survive their first season back at the top table and can continue to dine there for many seasons to come.

London
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brentford

The capital city of the nation contains 7 of the teams for the new season of the Premier League and this number is far higher than it has been for many seasons.

Arsenal are one of those teams and having missed out on Champions League qualification in the dying weeks of last season they will be extremely anxious not to miss out again in the coming season. The failure of 2021/22 was made worse by the fact that it was their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur that qualified for that illustrious competition in their place.

For their part Spurs will be buzzing after securing their return to the top European competition for the first time since reaching the 2018/19 final. To have done so at the expense of the Gunners and stolen from them the joy of celebrating St. Totteringham’s day is simply the cherry on that delicious cake. Clutching defeat from the jaws of victory is synonymous with Spurs to the point where being ‘Spursy’ is a phrase that has entered the common parlance of football fans, Spurs will be on a mission to prove that this season was not simply a flash in the pan and in doing so consign the idea of being ‘Spursy’ to the dustbin of history.

To say that Chelsea have had a tumultuous season is to understate it dramatically. They have had to ride out the effect of sanctions being imposed on the club, due to Roman Abramovich’s links to Vladimir Putin, including a short ban on selling tickets. Unable to make any match day income from shop sales or programmes and unable to renew players contracts. Despite this turmoil and the takeover coming too late to allow them to sort out the contracts they still managed to finish the season in 3rd place. With the new owners now in place and a full summer window to rebuild their squad just what they will be able to achieve in the new season is a scary prospect.

West Ham United have seriously overachieved in the 2021/22 season with not just a 7th place finish in the league, that secures them a place in next season’s Europa Conference League, but also a stupendous run to the semi-finals of the Europa League to their name, only losing to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt. This brilliant performance has secured David Moyes’ place in Hammers folklore and if he can deliver another European challenge this season and qualify for a 2023/24 European competition then he will only be beaten in that folklore by the team that won the World Cup in 1966.

With so many teams for the new Premier League season hailing from London it is shocking that only one of them is located south of the River Thames. Crystal Palace are that team and under Patrick Viera they have become a bogey-team for many of the clubs above them. Wilfred Zaha remains their talisman for the coming season and if Viera can continue to improve on those around him then a move up the table, from their 12th place finish in 2021/22 is certainly on the cards.

The bouncing between the top 2 divisions that Fulham appear to have mastered is something that many of the teams they steamrolled in the 2021/22 Championship season would love to replicate. However, for their fans it must be becoming extremely tedious to endure and any way that they can find to exit the cycle this season will be gratefully accepted by their beleaguered fans.

Brentford finished an awe-inspiring 13th place in the table in their first season back in the top division since 1946/47. To say that this has been ecstasy to bear witness too is the understatement of the millennium. From the opening day win against Arsenal at the new stadium through the 3-3 draw with Liverpool in the same location, to the 4-1 destruction of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and the 2-1 comeback win at Goodison Park, this season has delivered some amazing memories that will stay with me forever. Retaining the services of the peerless Christian Eriksen for next season will be crucial to ensuring theses Canaan days continue for the ‘Bus stop in Hounslow’. As I will be a season ticket holder for the Bees for the 2022/23 season I hope that the Canaan days do continue and that I will be able to enjoy many glorious days following the Bees for a long time to come.

Fully recharged and having sorted out the technical problems that invaded my life last week, I’m back on the blog trail again. Starting out this time with a simpler blog that outlines the winners and losers of the 2021/22 season in England.

WINNERS
Champions League – Real Madrid
Europa League -Eintracht Frankfurt
Europa Conference League – Roma
League Cup – Liverpool
FA Cup -Liverpool

Premier League Champions – Manchester City

Qualification for Champions League 2022/23
Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur

Qualification for Europa League 2022/23
Arsenal, Manchester United

Qualification for Europa Conference League 2022/23
West Ham United

Relegated to the EFL Championship for the 2022/23 season
Burnley, Watford, Norwich City

Promoted to the Premier League for the 2022/23 season
Fulham (Championship Champions)
Bournemouth
Nottingham Forest (Play-off winners)

Relegated to EFL League One for the 2022/23 season
Barnsley, Derby County, Peterborough Untied

Promoted to the EFL Championship for the 2022/23 season
Wigan Athletic (Champions)
Rotherham United
Sunderland (Playoffs)

Relegated to EFL League Two for the 2022/23 season
Crewe Alexandra, AFC Wimbledon, Doncaster Rovers, Gillingham

Promoted to EFL League One for the 2022/23 season
Forest Green Rovers (Champions)
Exeter City, Bristol Rovers
Port Vale (Playoffs)

Relegated to the National League for the 2022/23 season
Scunthorpe United, Oldham Athletic

Oldham become the first former Premier League team to fall through the trap-door into Non-League as their Shezurrection fell short of it’s goal. The tactic worked twice before but this time it was a case of third time unlucky. The Latics fell 6 points short of maintaining their league status for another season. The day their relegation was confirmed was marred by a pitch invasion by fans angry at the owner’s mismanagement of their club. Best of luck in the National League next season and I hope to see you back in League Two for the 2023/24 season.

Promoted to EFL League Two for the 2022/23 season
Stockport County (Champions)
Grimsby Town (Playoffs)

Those are all the winners and losers of the 2021/22 season, but with the fixtures for the 2022/23 Premier League season being released on Thursday June 16th now is the time to look to the future. See you in that future soon

Sunday 22nd May 2022: Premier League Final Day: Brentford Community Stadium: Brentford vs Leeds United

So here it is, the final day of the Premier League season and I am going into this match incredibly laid-back because Brentford are already safely marooned in mid-table and having a turbo charged end to the season. The Bees came into this one having not lost at home since a 2-0 reverse to Newcastle on 26th February and haven’t conceded a goal in the 360 minutes of football they have played at the Brentford Community Stadium since then.

My mood was further relaxed to the point that I was almost horizontal by the fact that the Bees final day opponents were Leeds United. The Yorkshire team are in dreadful form coming into this one, having not won since 9th April when they beat the Hornets 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

Leeds had only managed to secure 2 draws from their last 5 matches, losing the other 3, and coming into this one they knew that another draw would be no good to them. Their awful run of recent form meaning that their fight to maintain their Premier League status for another season was now out of their hands, due to their despicable -38 goal difference.

The only way they were staying up now was to fight for their lives to get a positive result from this match and hope that Newcastle United would be able to take points off Burnley, also fighting for their lives, at the Lancashire team’s home of Turf Moor. Their goal difference being 20 worse than the Clarets meant that equalling the host’s result at Turf Moor will be no use at all.

There were only two rays of sunshine on this pile of dark omens for the travelling Leeds faithful. The first being that Burnley haven’t managed to win on the final day of the season in any of their last 5 seasons during their current run in the Premier League. The second being that they did manage to score a 95th minute equaliser in the home match against the Bees. Knowing that they can score late goals against their opponents today may prove to be crucial if they need a goal to stay up with things going their way elsewhere. The only small problem with all that though is that Brentford have manged to salvage 15 points from losing positions this season so Leeds can’t count their chickens till the final whistle blows.

My route to the stadium was a little different to usual as I had come down to London for a rearranged (2020’ed) concert on the Saturday evening, so I had to get a District Line train from Victoria aiming for Gunnersbury and looking to walk from there. The first train to arrive at Victoria was a Wimbledon service so I had to make my way to Earls Court, to change there, accompanied by a load of bouncing Chelsea fans and Watford fans on their way to their teams Premier League swansong at Stamford Bridge.

I left those fans as I emerged at Earls Court just as the Richmond service I required was pulling out of the station from the platform opposite me. The annoyance of missing this train by seconds was compounded by the fact that Richmond services were only running every 10 minutes. That wait for the next Richmond service was the most frustrating moment of my season since the Sheffield train delays on my way to Hillsborough.

Thankfully my journey got a lot easier once I emerged into the blazing sunlight at Gunnersbury. Just a turn to the left and then straight on till the stadium hoves into view on your right. Google Maps had this slated to take 17 minutes but it only took me 12 minutes despite stopping to grab a drink on the way.

I turned right into Lionel South Road to find the atmosphere rather too chilled for my liking. There seemed to be just an expectation of an easy win pervading the home fans and this was only increased by the fact that the Leeds fans had no faith in getting what they needed from the game. The fans that had travelled down from Yorkshire were heading the other way to me in order to find their turnstiles chanting “We’re going down, we’re going down and next season you will be too”. Whilst I was certain they were right about the part I badly hoped they will be proved wrong on the second part by the end of next season.

Making my way down the Road towards my turnstile I spotted Ethan Pinnock standing near the players entrance taking pictures with young fans and their families. Pinnock may be injured and unable to do his part on the pitch but it’s great to see him still playing his part in boosting the morale of the fans. It is very rare to see players interacting with fans like this and according to the elder gentleman nearby, that I saw sitting on the barrier and stopped to talk too, he had been doing so for the previous 20 minutes without so much as pulling a face. That’s awesome from Ethan Pinnock and I can’t wait to see him back on the pitch with his teammates next season.

There was still one final match of the season for the rest of the Bees to get through first though so I made my way through the crowds to my turnstile. Despite a last minute problem with my e-ticket I was able to get inside thanks to some super-helpful stewards.
Before heading to my seat though I stopped to take in the view on the concourse screens and the huge banner at the bottom of each which was scrolling through the starting 11’s and substitutes bench for both teams. I was able to get every single one of them recorded on the back of my programme before making my way to my seat, as the teams were being announced over the tannoy by the brilliant Peter Gilham.

This programme note-taking saw the return of a lovely tradition for me, the player missing from the programme squad list that is in the matchday squad. Today’s player in question was on the Leeds bench and his name is Archie Gray, a 16 year old forward with the squad number 63. The fact that he was not included in the opposition roll call section inside the programme either gave me the sense that he had yet to make his debut for the club. As such I was intrigued by the possibility of him making a very late cameo in the match and scoring a piledriver from 35 yards that secured Leeds’s survival. Though not as much as I was by the possibility of ex-Leeds man Pontus Jansson scoring a last minute header to rob his old team of the result they needed.

I doubt that much of this was going through the minds of the Leeds die-hards that had made the trip to London without any expectation of seeing their team survive. Despite this lack of expectation there was no lack of hope in the party atmosphere they created before kick-off. A huge wall of noise blasted into the visiting players as they made their way over to their fans at the end of their warm-up and at one point I spotted 4 beachballs being thrown around simultaneously by the fans as they were determined to enjoy their day out.

There were also chants of “Marcelo Bielsa” before kick-off in support of the work down by their deposed ex-boss to return them to the Premier League. Whether he would have kept them up will never be known, but now it came down to the players on the day and the efforts of new boss Jesse Marsch to accomplish that goal.

An eerie silence descended over the ground as the teams emerged, Brentford in their Red and White home strip whilst Leeds plumped for a tasteful Lilac number for this final day clash (except for Meslier who had gone full fluorescent carrot), but the atmosphere ramped up again in the away end before the match got underway moments later.

Within 10 seconds of kick-off all the away fans nightmares came inches away from coming true as it really should have been 1-0 to Brentford. Leeds dithered on it in midfield and Toney snuck in to grab the ball off them then drove towards the by-line. His cut back was blocked behind and Eriksen slapped the ball up to Wissa on the penalty spot. Before Wissa could nod it home though there was a wild Leeds head that popped up to steal it off his head and turn it behind for what should have been a corner. The ref’s view is the only one that counts though and he decided to award the visitors a goal kick.

Leeds used the momentum of this let-off to put together a little spell of possession that ended with a throw-in finding it’s way to Sam Greenwood on the edge of the area. He started a theme for the visitors, that would continue throughout the vast majority of the game, by sending the ball to Mars with the speed of Apollo 11. It just kept rising till it passed the goal higher than even 3 London route masters piled on top of one another could reach.

Launching that ball like a rocket to Mars seemed to unsettle the visitors and Meslier in particular as he came inches away from gifting the hosts the lead. Rico Henry took a throw in from 18 yards out on the left touchline that looped towards goal slowly and looked simple for the keeper to collect. Meslier looked to have it safely in his gloves for a split-second before the ball squirmed free and came to rest inches wide of the left post and halfway across the white line. A huge let-off for Leeds that keeps their hopes of survival alive.

There was a lot of end-to-end play early in the match but the goals were threatened less than a Killer Whale is by Plankton. Leeds looked to change that in the 11th minute as some intricate interplay on the left saw them advance to get in-line with the 6 yard box. The resultant cross was begging for a finish that would never come as the Lilac boys in the centre failed to gamble on their teammates getting to crossing level. As such they were all resting near the penalty spot when they needed to be 6 yards further forward.

A minute later it was the hosts time to miss the opportunity for a tap-in. A raking free-kick from Eriksen near the right touchline flew out to Wissa no-more than 3 yards out at the back post. All Wissa needed to do was stretch and it would have been a simple tap-in from point blank range for him, but no stretch was forthcoming and the toenail connection that Wissa did get was only enough to direct the ball into the side netting.

The 15th minute threw up an infuriating moment for the home fans. Brentford were in the middle of a promising break with Wissa and Toney at the heart of it when Toney was pulled to the ground by Kalvin Phillips. Everyone in the stand around me thought the ref was bound to give a free kick to the Bees and were shocked into an aghast silence when the ref gave the decision to the visitors. The disbelief was palpable.

Leeds started to control the game after this decision went their way and created their first decent chance of the match in the 17th minute as Greenwood was released into a corridor of space in the right channel. He advanced into the area but Jansson got across just in time to put him under pressure and Greenwood was unable to aim his effort properly. His shot went fizzing like a thunderbolt towards goal and skimming over the top of the crossbar on its way behind.

A minute later a huge cheer erupted in the away end which I assumed meant that Newcastle had taken the lead at Turf Moor. This was followed by an ever louder cheer 120 seconds later, which I took to be a second goal for the Magpies and Leeds fan enjoying the knowledge that even without a goal in this one they would now be staying up. On looking at the scores on the concourse screens at half-time it appears that the first cheer was for the award of the penalty that was slotted away by Callum Wilson and the second cheer was the one for the ball hitting the back of the Turf Moor net.

Between those two huge cheers Leeds looked to have another reason to celebrate as they had the ball in the Brentford net. A serious of mazy passes on the left hand side pushed the ball inexorably towards the Bees goal and when the ball was snuck through the gap between Raya and his near post by Joe Gelhardt. The visiting fans erupted into unbridled Euphoria but this outpouring of joy was cut short by VAR. After checks at Stockley Park the score was returned to 0-0 and the Leeds fans were momentarily brought crushing down to earth as the goal was ruled out for Gelhardt edging into an offside position before slotting the ball home.

The Newcastle goal at Turf Moor perked up the Leeds fan once again and this translated to their play on the pitch as the pinned Brentford back into their box and piled on the pressure to find the breakthrough. That they failed to do so for a little while yet was more down to their own lack of attacking creativity than any kind of excellent defending by the hosts. Brentford looked to be lacking any ideas of how to get back into the match. They were not just on the beach, they were working on getting burnt.

Jansson took this relaxed attitude to the max in the 25th minute though as he sat down on the grass to catch his breath. To be fair to him though he had taken a ball to the stomach a couple of minutes earlier though and was perhaps still feeling the effects of that impact. Leeds took advantage of this dominance of the match to continue their tradition of firing the ball into outer space from the edge of the box. This time it was Junior Firpo taking his turn at the moon-shot.

This appeared to shake Brentford from their revelry as they finally got on the attack in the 29th minute, breaking upfield from the goal kick that Firpo’s moon-shot granted them. Wissa flicked it forward for Mbeumo to chase but the Leeds defence were quick to sense the danger and got to the ball first to clear up. Mbeumo was too physical in his efforts to recover the ball for the ref’s liking though and Leeds were able to clear the ball far upfield from the resulting free kick.

Brentford were back on the attack within 60 seconds though as Rico and Wissa combined to create an opening on the left. All the opening led too though was a throw-in 18 yards out on the left touchline that Mads Bech launched into the box and onto the head of Ivan Toney. The Bees talisman is normally as deadly as a cyanide injection from inside the area but all he could manage this time was to help the ball on it’s journey across to the far side of the pitch.

The hosts finally managed to put together a period of possession as the half moved into it’s final third. However, the next chance of note wasn’t created until the 34th minute and even then the hosts contrived to take the threat out of it. Mbeumo was fed the ball by Wissa and with the freedom of Hounslow to pick his spot he rolled it at the speed of an arthritic slug into Meslier’s grateful waiting arms. The slightest hint of power or curl on the shot would have caused problems for the Leeds goalkeeper, but it was not to be.

Brentford were finally in the mood to play though and peppered the visitors goalmouth for the next 3 minutes. First Toney ghosted his way past multiple defenders to reach the by-line before chipping a cut back in the direction of Wissa at the back post. Wissa knocked it towards goal, but it was always rising and Meslier made sure it went over the top by leaping like a salmon to fingertip it in the necessary direction. Then Eriksen let fly with a pile-driver that was deflected agonisingly wide of the post on it’s way behind.

The visitors were back on the attack 7 minutes before half-time though and the visiting fans felt they should have been given a penalty when the ball cannoned into the hand of Mads Bech in the middle of the Bees box. Whether their view made it look like the ball had actually struck the hand or their appeals were born out of desperation for a goal, with the fear of a Burnley goal dropping them back into the relegation zone front and centre of their minds, I just don’t know but the ball hit the Bees defender in the middle of his stomach. There is no universe in existence where being hit in the stomach counts as a handball and the away fans appeals were rightly turned down. None of the Leeds players appealed.

Whilst the away fans appealed in vain I took the opportunity to check the scores from around the grounds. This is where I saw that Newcastle were just 1 goal to the good at Turf Moor and whilst Leeds were safe as things stood it would only take a goal from the hosts here or there to flip that situation on it’s head.

Brentford came close to grabbing that all-important goal in this one as they came inches away from the opener in the 43rd minute when Jensen intercepts the ball 20 yards out and fed Mbeumo down the right. His cross-cum-shot drifted a little off target though and looked to be heading Toney’s way for a simple tap-in at the far post but, as with Wissa earlier, he was unable to stretch quite far enough to direct the ball home and it floated behind for a goal kick.

My first thought when the fourth-official raised his board to indicate that there were to be 2 minutes of added-time tacked on to the end of the half was ‘why subject us to any more of this?’. This was to prove prophetic as the only entertainment on offer in the added-time was another moon-shot from the edge of the box. Vitaly Janelt of Brentford was the one trying his luck this time though and, if nothing else, it was a change of pace for the hosts to be trying their luck with this tactic.

I took the time during the break to go and see my family, season-ticket holders near the halfway line, to discuss our perspectives on the first half’s play. On the way down to them I was waylaid by a fellow Bees fan who recognised me from the throngs that had visited Goodison Park last weekend. I had a lovely chat with this fan before continuing on to see my family, but it was not the first time I was recognised on this day. Another Bees fan had recognised me on my walk between Pinnock and my turnstile pre-match and whilst it’s lovely to be recognised it was also a little disconcerting as I am a very private person and being recognised is not normally a factor of life for me.

Anyway, tangent over and back to the match in question. After a quick discussion with the members of my family that I could locate I headed back onto the concourse and took a butchers at the screens to see how the many questions in the air heading into the final day were being answered.

The relegation battle was going Leeds way as Burnley were trailing 1-0 to Newcastle at half-time. Further up the league table it was the Hammers who were ahead in their battle against Man U for Europa League qualification. They were winning on the South Coast whilst the Red Devils were losing in South London and if that state of affairs remained the same at the final David Moyes men would have a chance to go one better than they managed this season in that competition.

The Champions League showdown between the North London teams was panning out just as expected, with Spurs waltzing to victory over basement dwellers Norwich and making Arsenal’s 2-0 lead over awful travellers Everton meaningless in the greater scheme of things.

The title race was turning out to be far more dramatic though as Stevie G was doing his part of the job by inspiring his Villa team to a 1-0 lead at half-time at the Etihad. Liverpool weren’t upholding their end of the deal though as despite scoring themselves that goal had only drawn them level at half-time and obliterated the lead Wolves had established within 3 minutes at Anfield.

I would be keeping a weather eye on all the developments in the North West as the second halves progressed at Turf Moor, Anfield and the Etihad, but turned my attentions back to the action in West London as Leeds beat their hosts back onto the pitch for the second kick-off. Both managers decided to keep their powder dry at half-time and as things got underway for the second half all I was hoping for was for the hosts to look up for it in this half in a way they just hadn’t during their lacklustre first 45.

The signs were excellent in the first minute of the half as the Bees swarmed forward at pace before Eriksen laid it on a plate for an un-marked Mbeumo in the centre of the area. All that was needed was the simplest of finishes either side of Meslier and the hosts would have the lead. So of course Mbeumo tapped it into the keeper’s arms. The groans that permeated the stand around me was biblical.

In the 51st minute and with a load more zip in Brentford’s play since half-time, Mbeumo had another chance to give the hosts the lead. Once again he was found in space by Eriksen but on the right this time. Instead of slotting the ball through to Toney, in acres and acres of space in the centre of the box, he chose instead to send the ball slithering down the right channel instead where Meslier was able to collect it at a saunter. The anger around me that was directed towards Mbeumo for those incidents was visceral, but for me the main emotion was frustration because Mbeumo is such a talented finisher and right now he just wasn’t doing himself any type of justice.

Leeds had struggled to create anything of note during the first 9 minutes of the second half but they were about to be given a gift of gargantuan proportions by the hosts keeper, David Raya. It came from Leeds first decent foray into the Bees half since the restart and when the ball was fed through to Rodrigo, Raya came rushing out to close him down.

He got the ball at this point but his pass out didn’t make a teammate. Instead it went straight to the feet of Raphinha who advanced towards goal. In attempting to make up for this schoolboy error Raya crashed into Raphinha and gave away the clearest penalty I have seen on a football pitch. He was lucky to have defenders nearby that could conceivably have got round to cover in the ref’s approximation. This was the only thing that helped him avoid the straight red card that the away fans were baying for.

Raphinha picked himself up off the turf to fire the ball down the centre of the goal, as though fired from a cannon, whilst Raya dived helplessly away to his left. Before the ball had even crashed into the back of the net the away end exploded into a wall of noise and yellow flares that blocked out the view of the away fans from the rest of the world.

By the time that sea of yellow floated off into the ether and the away fans had re-entered the viewable universe, Thomas Frank had already dipped into his bench resources to try and help his team bounce back from the body blow of going behind. Mr Frank decided that attack was the best form of defence for the final 32 minutes of the match as he removed defensive midfielder Mathias Jensen from the action and replaced him with the mercurial creative force of Josh DaSilva.

The change did not have an immediate impact on play as Jack Harrison drove down the left wing. Janelt followed his keeper’s example by jumping in recklessly and giving away a needless free-kick. The free-kick was easily cleared to the edge of the box but it was slapped straight back toward goal through a forest of legs in the 6 yard box. Thankfully for me and my fellow home fans Raya was equal to this effort though.

This save did not stop the cheers erupting once again in the Leeds end. It took me 10 seconds to work out why they were cheering a failed shot from there own team and then it hit me. Newcastle United must have scored a 2nd goal at Turf Moor and sure enough when I checked my phone I saw that Wilson had his second of the match in Lancashire. Now the Leeds fans knew that converting their 1-0 here into a win will keep them up unless Burnley score 2 in half an hour having not scored in the first hour of play. That or Brentford score 2 here and at this point that looked about as likely as humanity colonising Neptune in the next 3 weeks.

To try and make that colonisation a reality Thomas Frank dipped back into his bench resources again with 25 minutes left. This substitution made no sense at all though as he removed one of the best players of an incredible Bees season, in taking off Rico Henry. To bring Sergi Canos on seemed to be a great idea at the time as it was a simple straight swap and Canos is brilliant on his day. What I can’t understand though is taking off Rico, having another effective if a little quiet match, instead of Mbeumo whose shooting boots had been left on his bed in the pre-match hotel.

As the match entered its final 20 minutes Thomas Frank took another dip in his bench wallet for further resources to tip the scales of the match back into the Bees favour. Mr Frank had decided to go full send for the conclusion to the match, taking off central defender Mads Bech and bringing on attacking midfielder Shandon Baptiste in his place.

Jess Marsch responded to this third and final Bees substitution with one of his own. Marsch decided to remove Joe Gelhardt from the pitch for the final 19 minutes of the match and send on Pascal Struijk to help his team see out the rest of the match and secure their status in the league for next season.

The hosts change seemed to be the most effective in the following 10 minutes as they pinned Leeds back into their own half and barely allowed the visitors 20 yards away from their own goal-line. As for what Brentford’s formation has now become, I will await ideas for how to describe it on the back of a postcard. I could not fathom out what it supposed to be at this point.

This lack of determinable formation came into full focus just 2 minutes after the changes as DaSilva found a pocket of space on the right to whip a tempting cross into the box, but no-one was there in a red and white shirt to tap it home. Brentford now had 7 attacking players on the pitch now, including DaSilva, so why were none of them in the box to get the simplest tap-in of their career?

I took time to ponder this whilst double checking the score news from the North-West. This check gave me a little hope for an end to the final day that would have the world on tenterhooks. Not only had Burnley pulled a goal back at Turf Moor, meaning just one more goal for them and one for the Bees would ruin Leeds day, but Villa had also doubled their lead at the Etihad. Coutinho had put the villains 2-0 to the good so Liverpool were in the place of only needing a single goal to keep their quadruple hopes alive.

This sense of optimism was punctured with a javelin just 30 seconds later as Kristoffer Ajer dropped to the turf after a collision with Kalvin Phillips. Physios went across to treat Ajer as Phillips jumped to his feet and it soon became clear that Ajer was not in a good place. Sure enough Ajer was unable to continue and headed straight down the tunnel once the physios had helped him to his feet. Having already made all of their changes this awful turn of bad luck left Brentford with the unenviable task of seeing out the final 15 minutes of the match with 10 men and already losing 1-0.

Within minutes of this awful event for the hosts came one of far more glorious proportions. From nowhere Brentford were level. The Bees were down to 10 men, but out of nothing they managed to draw themselves back into the match. Mbeumo advanced on the right and when he made the wrong choice of pass the ball bounced off the Leeds defender he had been aiming for and fell to the feet of Wissa. He stood the ball up to the back post where Canos had engineered for himself the freedom of the 8 yard line to nod the ball back across goal and sneak it into the net by the right hand post.

My joy at this unexpectedly glorious turn of events knew no bounds to the point that I completed missed the return of the Bees bad luck in the aftermath of the leveller. All I knew at this point was that Canos had scored the equaliser for Brentford with just 13 minutes left of the match and at a time when no-one expected it.

It took me a full 8 minutes before I noticed that something had changed on the pitch for the hosts and then only due to a substitution that Leeds made. The visitors made the change of taking off Sam Greenwood and bringing on Mateusz Klich in his place, but this was not what caught my eye at this point.

In the aftermath of every substitution I do a quick scan of the pitch to double check that the numbers that come up on the fourth official’s board correspond to the players that have changed places with each other. In the process of doing this scan I realised that I had only been able to count 9 players on the pitch for Brentford. I double, triple and quadruple checked my count before I could be definitively sure that Brentford were indeed down to just 9 players for at least the final 5 minutes. I was so perplexed by this development that I asked the fans around me to double check my maths. It was only when they confirmed that Brentford were indeed down to 9 that I worked out who the difference was.

Canos was no longer on the pitch and neither I nor those who double checked the numbers for me had any idea why. The rumour that I collected from other fans who had been further down the stands, on my way to the bus stop after the match, was that Canos had received 2 yellow cards within about 60 seconds of each other. It appeared that Canos had been given the first yellow for taking his shirt off as part of his goal celebration, then his second just a minute later for steaming into a tackle on the far touchline.

Whatever the truth of how Canos collected his red card the fact remained that Brentford would now have to finish the match with just 9 players on the pitch.

I also took the chance to check the scores around the grounds as the season entered it’s final 5 minutes and saw that City had staged the most inconceivable of comebacks to lead Villa 3-2 at the Etihad to set themselves on the path to their 4th title in the past 5 Premier League seasons. Given my Liverpool leanings this was the last news I wanted to hear at this point.

Back in west London the game had ticked into the final 5 minutes with Brentford now 2 players lighter than their opponents and just trying to hold on till half-time with the 1-1 scoreline still intact. Leeds were pushing for the winner that would guard their survival against a last minute equaliser from the hosts at Turf Moor.

The visitors came close to that winner in the penultimate minute of the 90 as Harrison broke through the Bees defensive lines and into the box. He laid the ball off to the supporting Rodrigo who guided the ball mere inches over the bar. The expectation rose to neurotic levels in the away end as Rodrigo let the shot fly only to come crashing down like an exploded space shuttle. As a home fan this was glorious to experience, but things were about to take a turn to the dark side for me and all other home fans.

The fourth official somehow managed to scrape together 5 minutes of added time at the end of the match and I’m still trying to work out how they found so much of it. Leeds used this time far more productively than the hosts. Harrison was once again at the heart of things for the visitors, advancing to the edge of the box and launching a shot high over the bar. It looked to me like a clear goal kick but the ref took a different view of things and gave Leeds a corner instead.

I still don’t understand how that could possibly have been a corner, but Leeds won’t care why they got it as it was from this set piece that they scored the winner. The ball flew out to the edge of the box and all I saw of it then was that it turned on a dime and smashed into the back of the net. I had no idea who had scored it at this point and the wild celebrations from the players, all zooming over to the away end at light speed to celebrate with their delirious fans, was no more enlightening.

The scenes in the away end were incredible, with yellow flares greeting the entire Leeds 11 as they sprinted to the corner containing their fans. Meslier sprinted the length of the pitch to join in with the party and both Gelhardt and Greenwood road-runnered it round from the dugouts to join in too. The visions of joy etched on the faces of those who had made the long journey down from Yorkshire was infuriating to me having just seen my team lose a point to a set-piece that I was certain should never have been given. Of course I understood why the away fans were descending into bedlam, their team had just secured the win that ensured that no matter what Burnley did now they were still staying up, but I can’t deny it was really testing my patience to watch their party unfold.

The goal hit the back of the net within 60 seconds of the start of the added 5 minutes it was also the last act of the game. The ref blew for full-time as soon as the Bees had kicked off again and the party kicked off again in the away end. Half an hour later the party was still going and not just in the away end as it quickly became clear that there were infiltrators in the home end. The stewards and security people were so slow to respond to the gloating fans in the wrong end, only stepping in as things began to boil over between the infiltrators and a couple of irate home fans who hadn’t been able to get tickets for family members to join them for this game.

The true home fans in the home ends where asked over the tannoy to remain in their seats as the team will be out once the Leeds players have left the pitch for a lap on honour in recognition of a successful season. With that announcement at the back of my mind I just wanted the Leeds players and fans gone. Yes they’d just pulled off an incredible great escape with a final second winner that secured their safety and in their place I’d want to celebrate for the next 3 days, I wasn’t in their place and I just wanted them out of my stadium now.

Once the away end was finally cleared out the Bees players emerged from the tunnel for their lap of honour but with the performance they had put in today the home stands were a little more swiss cheese than they otherwise ought to have been. It was still a great feeling to be able to applaud the first Brentford team to successfully maintain their Top Division status in more than three-quarters of a century.

I didn’t get leave the stadium until 6:24pm when the game had finished at 5:45pm and to stay that long after the final whistle was crazy for me but also a fitting way to bring to a close a season that I have truly enjoyed. Looking back on the season I have seen some incredible matches, the 3-3 draw against Liverpool and 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge being stand-outs for me. I have also seen some awful bore-fests but those have been on offer more in my travels to new grounds around the country.

Brentford have had an incredible season and I am looking forward to seeing how they manage to avoid the second season syndrome. The biggest hope I have for the Bees summer business is that they hold onto the services of Christian Eriksen and add to their options up-front.

The new season starts a week earlier than last season, in just 11 weeks time, but for me that is currently far too far away to expunge the memory of this awful end to the 2021/22 season. So this blog will be keeping going with the Women’s Euros in July. Between now and then I will be blogging about any cool developments in the football world that pique my interest. See you for those soon.

Right, so the final day of the Premier League season is just 2 days away and I’m here to break down exactly what’s on the line at both ends of the table. Let’s start down at the bottom where the equation is far simpler than at the top.

Norwich and Watford are already condemned to spend next season in the Championship and have been for some time, but the question of who will finish bottom of the table remains unanswered. The Canaries will start the final day on 22points, with the Hornets just a point ahead of them on 23.

Theoretically this should mean that all Norwich have to do to avoid finishing in 20th is get a better result at home to Tottenham than Watford can manage away at Stamford Bridge, but it’s not quite that simple. Their goal difference, an abysmal -56, is so much worse than Watford’s, a still abysmal -42, that only a win will do for them. Any other result on their final home Premier League game, for at least 15 months, will mean that Watford can sneak 19th place even when they lose at Stamford Bridge.

That goal difference disparity is not down to the Norwich defence being far leakier than Watford’s as they had conceded 79 goals compared to 75 for the Hornets. The difference is solely down to the East Anglian’s inability to put the ball in the net. A return of just 23 goals from 37 games is abominable and 10 worse than the next worst record of 33 goals, shared by Watford and Burnley. Though an explanation of their profligacy is not easy to ascertain as, in Teemu Pukki they have a player with a proven record of scoring huge amounts of goals in previous seasons. The lack of back-up scorers around him has perhaps been their downfall and if they want to avoid becoming the new yo-yo team then brining in fellow finishers to support their talisman may be the way to go.

For the record I have absolutely no faith that either of teams will get any points on the final day as they are both facing teams starting the day in the top 4. Chelsea will have the home advantage on their side and Tottenham still need points to secure 4th place, more on this later. So I don’t see either London team suffering a shock result against the standout whipping boys of the league this season.

The true drama at the bottom is in the face-off between Leeds and Burnley to avoid joining those dropping through the trap door. They start the day level on points and so whoever gets the better result on the final day will stay up. The biggest curveball is what happens if both of them secure the same result on the final day. If Burnley lose against the newly minted Newcastle and Leeds are unable to squeeze anything out of their final day visit to a Bee’s team in electric late season form, who goes down then?

The simple answer to that is Leeds United. Their goal difference of -38 is so much worse than the Clarets (-18) means that all Burnley have to do is match their result against a flying Brentford team to send them down. Second season syndrome is a hugely over cliched concept, but it seems that Leeds may be the latest victims of it.

The job of securing their survival has been made harder for Leeds by the fact they are finishing up by travelling to a Brentford team in electric form, taking 16 points in their last 7 games. Not the opposition they would have chosen when they desperately need to clinch their first win since a 3-0 win away from home against a Watford side that was already spiralling down the relegation plug hole.

One nugget of hope for the men from Yorkshire is that Burnley will be facing the new superpower from Tyneside that has powered themselves away from the relegation fight since their injection of Saudi cash in January. Newcastle are that team and they have had an excellent second half of the season. They will be looking to finish their season on a high, with a top half finish still possible, to ensure they can attract the best players possible for their push to create a football dynasty from next season.

Burnley will also have to face this final day juggernaut without a suspended Matt Lowton available to feature in their defence after he picked up a straight red card in the 91st minute of their Thursday evening draw at Aston Villa on Thursday. They are expected to be able to welcome James Tarkowski back into their back line though and the best news of all for the Clarets is that they have their fate in their own hand going into a home match on the final day.

If you had offered that deal to Clarets fans at the start of the season I don’t doubt they would have taken it and it’s certainly far better than the spot Leeds fans find themselves in. Having to rely on your opponents dropping points at home as well as needing to beat an in-form team on their own patch on the final day to stay up is not a position any team would want to find themselves in and one I don’t believe they will find their way out of.

Burnley always seem to find a way to stay up and I think they will again this season. Leeds will join Watford and Norwich in dropping down to the championship for next season, with Fulham and Bournemouth already guaranteed to be coming the other way.

Now that we have the scenarios at the bottom all ironed out, lets shift our attention up to the top 7 teams where we have two showdowns for European Qualification and the epic title fight to straighten out.

The teams that will qualify for Europe are all locked in going into the final day, but who qualifies for which competition is where the unknowns rear their ugly heads. The showdown between Manchester United and West Ham United will see the winner qualify for the Europa League next season, with the loser consigned to the Europa Conference League.

Man U are the team in the box seat in this fight for 6th place, holding a 2 point lead over the Hammers. A point away at Selhurst Park will not be enough for them to hold this position if the Hammers can crush the Seagulls on the south coast and once again it’s goal difference that provides the wrinkle in the plan. The Red Devil’s goal difference of just +1 pales into insignificance next to the +11 that the Hammer’s possess. As such anything but a win against Viera’s wounded Eagles, who will be looking to show their home support that they are not limping over the line after throwing away a 2-0 half time lead at Goodison Park on Thursday.

That comeback secured the Toffees survival for another season and congratulations to them for that, but it was unfortunate for Man U as it gives Palace something to fight for on the final day. Any slip up from the North-Westerners on their trip to London will give the Hammers the chance to leapfrog them in the table and secure the Europa League spot for next season with a win on the South Coast.

Their fate is out of their hands though and with Brighton having beaten Man United 4-0 at home two weeks ago they have shown they can produce big results in front of their home fans. The Seagulls will not be completely on the beach themselves either as they need a win to secure a top 10 finish. That may not sound like a huge incentive for a team to give it their all and I don’t feel it will be enough for Brighton to get anything out a Hammers team with the momentum of a draw against the imperious Manchester City behind them coming into this one.

If Hammers do get the win then whether or not it is enough to grab that Europa League place rests on which Man U team turn up at Selhurst Park. Given how inconsistent Man U have been this season I am expecting them to lose to their match and a Hammer’s win to secure the Londoners that coveted Europa League qualification place.

In the next battle on the cards for the final day the Europa League place is the consolation prize, with the Champions League qualification place what is now coveted. The teams going for this gravy train position are the teams of the intense North London derby, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs are the ones with the upper-hand in this particular derby fight because, as noted previously, they play bottom of the table Norwich on the final day. Furthermore, they currently hold a 2 point advantage over their deadly rivals and they hold the goal difference advantage over them by +24 to +9. All of this means that they don’t even need to win at Carrow Road to secure the Champions League spot. Baring a shock of truly seismic proportions thought Spurs will win this one and turn the match at the Emirates into a dead rubber.

Arsenal’s opponents at that match at the Emirates are an Everton team fresh off the joy of an incredible second half comeback on Thursday that secured their top flight status for next season. This brilliant win will have given the Toffee’s a boat load of momentum to take into the final day and even though they no longer need to win this one the joy that must be filling their souls after that result may push them over the line here. The Gunners will hope that the Toffees return to type instead and turn in one of the atrocious away performances that have plagued their long road to survival.

From my perspective though the match at the Emirates will count for nothing because I don’t see any scenario where Spurs screw up against Norwich and open the door to Arsenal. I fully expect that Spurs will qualify for the Champions League at the expense of Arsenal and steal the joy of celebrating St. Totteringham’s day away from their rivals.

There is no doubt where the biggest story of the final day lies though and that is in the title fight as Jurgen Klopp’s incredible Liverpool side attempt to pull off the impossible Quadruple. To win all four of the biggest competitions open to English teams would be an unprecedented feat, but if anyone can win it this Liverpool team are the ones who might. The team standing in their way are domestic powerhouses, Manchester City.

Back in January Liverpool were 14 points behind their title rivals in the table, but with every week that has passed their insane run of form, going unbeaten in the 5 months since, has seen them close the gap to just a single point going into the final day. Their swing at the title appeared to have slipped through their fingers 2 Saturdays ago, 7th May, when they were held to a home draw by Spurs only to be kept at their fingertips by Man City failing to complete their second half comeback at the London Stadium and having to settle for just a draw.

Liverpool will be hoping that Mahrez missing an 86th minute penalty that would’ve won the game and the title for City is an omen of what is to come on Sunday. City will be confident of getting the win they need to secure the title though, as they will have the vociferous backing of the partisan home support on Sunday against an Aston Villa team that had to fight till the final second to carve a draw from their match against relegation-threatened Burnley on Thursday evening.

Their draw against West Ham last Sunday does simplify the equation for City though as it leaves them with the knowledge that their fate is in their own hands, win against Villa and the title is theirs. Liverpool fans will know that all they can really count on is the Reds beating Wolves at Anfield on the final day, but they will be keeping an eye on proceedings at the Etihad and will be looking for a favour from a club legend.

Steven Gerrard is the Aston Villa manager as they travel to the Etihad for this crucial day in history. With many Liverpool fans confident of their chances in the Champions League final next weekend the Premier League title missing link in the Quadruple and having your ex-captain, the man who carried your team on his back for many years, in the dugout against the team you need to drop points on the final day can only be a good thing from their point of view.

Their will also be a Oil Tanker’s worth of personal motivation for Stevie G to get something out of this match. He was part of the Liverpool team that missed out on the league title by 2 points to Man City in 2013/14 and, in a fair few people’s short sighted eyes, his slip against Chelsea is seen as the main reason why that title challenge failed. So to have all that emotional weight resting on the result of that title fight having crushed his soul for the past 8 years, now having the chance to expunge that trauma from his soul is an opportunity that, many Liverpool fans will hope, is too good to let slip through his fingers.

Whilst Manchester City are the obvious call to win the title, as any team that has it in their own hands on the final day at home to a team that played their last game just 72 hours ago should be. I can’t deny that I would love to see Stevie G’s Villa get something from the match whilst Liverpool skittle through a Wolves team that is limping over the line and for Liverpool to win the title and the Quadruple.

The euphoria that I would feel at that fairy-tale sequence of events would be utterly undeniable but with my logical hat on and looking at what is realistic I can’t see City messing it up on the final day in front of their own fans. I hope with all my heart and soul that I am proved wrong on this, my words here proving to be a curse on City, but I predict that Manchester City will win their game and the title decapitating Liverpool’s dreams of immortality just one match short of the finish.

Liverpool may have to make do with just the 3 trophies for their Victory Parade through town and right past my front door on Sunday 29th May. Though the fact that winning 3 trophies would be seen as a disappointment shows just how incredible this current Liverpool team are. They are written into history no matter how things go for them on Sunday but they have the chance to own football history if things all go their way and I for one want to see that come to pass.

Sunday 15th May 2022, Premier League, Goodison Park, Everton vs Brentford

The weekend had started well for the teams of Merseyside as Liverpool secured their second title of the season on Saturday by winning their first FA Cup under Klopp, defeating Chelsea on penalties under the arch as they had done to win the League Cup.

The early league results on Sunday all went the way Merseyside hoped they would. For the Cup Double winners their weekend was improved further as West Ham United held on to secure a 2-2 home draw against Manchester City to allow Liverpool to take their title challenge to the final day, as long as they beat Southampton on their own turf tonight. City even missed a late penalty that would have won them not just the match, but the title too and now they face Steven Gerrard’s Villa on the final day knowing that a loss to the Liverpool legend’s team will hand the title to the team he carried for so many years.

Results early on Sunday suited Everton too with first Spurs defeating Burnley 1-0 in the lunchtime kick-off, due to a questionable penalty call. Then Leeds could only draw against Brighton. Though the Yorkshire men had been minutes away from losing before a 92nd minute equaliser. These results meant that Lampard’s Toffees knew that winning this match would secure their safety.

Their recent form had put them in this position with a healthy return of 11 points from their last 6 matches, including getting a win and a draw out of their last 2 matches. Both of these were away from home and will have provided the home fans with a ground swell of confidence. Their home form has been excellent all season and this violent upswing in their previously dreadful away form may be just what they need to secure the points to keep them in the Premier League.

For their part the Bees had already secured their own safety with a run of brilliant form coming into this one, ending with a 3-0 home victory over Southampton last weekend. The Bees had only lost once since the start of April, in the Old Trafford abomination that thankfully I was unable to source a ticket for. This awesome run of form was sparked by the 4-1 destruction of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and even with safety now assured it shows no sign of letting up with the momentum behind them.

The visitors also had the fact that Everton had not won 3 successive Sunday league games in their history and that was the record they were hoping to change in this one. Brentford were further motivated by the chance to both avenge their 4-1 FA Cup loss at this ground earlier in the season and secure a league double over their hosts.

Their motivation was more than match by the Everton fans that had arrived early to the ground and crammed into Goodison Road to witness the arrival of the home team coaches like sardines attempting to induce claustrophobia. There was so little room to move by 2:30pm that it made rush hour on the Tube feel like taking a dip in the Siwa Oasis in the deserted Sahara Desert. If Everton do go down it certainly won’t be down to a lack of fan support as the whole of L4 has been galvanised to support their team in the fight of their life.

The support of the passionate Everton fans was a beauty to behold and it was difficult for me not to become carried away in the tide of optimism. Many times I had to stop a home chant from slipping out of my mouth. I managed it but it was close and only the banter from the home fans kept me in the pocket as the only Bee floating in a blue Toffee sea.

There were chants, flares, horns and even an old style rattle sounding as the atmosphere built to a crescendo every couple of minutes only to surpass that one every few minutes till the coach arrived 20 minutes later than the normal 90 minutes before kick-off. In the mean-time I took the opportunity to discuss their team’s predicament with the home fans all around me.

They shared major agreements on many points. Firstly that the recent recruitment by the club had been abysmal, with one fan even going as far as to say that it was “£500million spent on shite”. That may be a little unfair on the team but there was certainly a grain of truth behind the comment that a team who has spent so much shouldn’t be scrambling to avoid relegation with just 7 days left of the season.

Many fans blamed their current plight on what they felt was the doomed appointment of Rafa Benitez as manager last summer, but the counter point was offered that the board should take far more blame than Benitez. They pointed out that even when Benitez was on the brink of being given his marching orders the board allowed Lucas Digne to leave the club due to his strained relationship with the outgoing manager.

The talk then moved on to their run-in and their chances of beating the drop. A very talkative young lady stated that she would be extremely confident of staying up if they were playing Arsenal at home on the final day, but as it’s away she’s not so sure. Another lady standing nearby replied to the question of ‘what if it comes down to the final day against Arsenal?’ with “I really hope it doesn’t come to that”. The anxiety over their away form was palpable and that tension through the crowd makes me worried for their hopes if it comes down to that.

The atmosphere hit the zenith of it’s brilliance as the coach arrived at the players entrance and the road was shrouded in a blanket of blue flares and no-one could actually see the coach till it began to move down the road to clear the stadium and get back on it’s way back to town. This took 15 minutes though despite multiple tannoy announcements to clear the road and the help of 3 police motorbike outriders and 6 police horses. As the coach finally cleared the road the clouds broke so I made my way in through the turnstiles on the Bullens Road side of the stadium like Usain Bolt in his prime.

Once safely inside Goodison I was surprised to find that the screens were not showing the end of the Leeds-Brighton match, the result of which would have a crucial bearing on Everton’s survival hopes. Instead the screens were showing the final 20 minutes of Man City’s visit to the London Stadium and the stewards were glued to it. Perhaps they were secret Red’s but all I know it that they didn’t move till the final whistle was blown and then they used all that saved energy to whizz out of sight at the speed of The Weeping Angels.

I took this as my cue and headed up to my seat on level 2 of the Bullens Road stand in the tiny visitors section of the stadium. Brentford’s league allocation paling in comparison to the full stand they were given for the FA Cup tie. Just the solitary steward and a flimsy fence separated me and the expectant home fans, but our interest was drawn to the players warming up on the pitch as we pretended not to notice each other’s existence.

The programme, picked up as I turned onto Bullens, with it’s glossy back cover was worse than useless when the tannoy whispered each teams starting 11’s into the ether. So I was reduced to noting down the starters numbers onto the miniscule empty space on page 7. This made my note taking extremely difficult and added further credence to my belief that Brentford should run a masterclass, for the rest of the Premier League, on how to produce a proper programme. Not that a decent programme could compensate for the lack of volume on the tannoy, reducing me to reading the numbers for each team off the back of the players shirt as they were presented to the stand on the far side.

Everton started the match firmly on the front foot cheered on by the thunderous home support. With this considerable backing it took the home team just 50 seconds to secure the matches first corner. Granted this could only be sliced acres wide of the left post on the volley from the edge of the box, but it served notice to the visitors that they were in for a match against a team that weren’t going down without a fight.

The hosts heavy metal start to the match saw them come agonisingly close to the opening goal within 180 seconds of kick-off. The gilt-edged chance fell to Anthony Gordon as he was played in to space in the centre of the box and just 8 yards from the target. He shot straight at David Raya and could only watch as the ball bounced towards goal and skimmed a mere whisker wide of the left hand post. Home fans at the far end of the ground broke out in raucous cheers thinking that their team had taken the lead and thus it was cue the glorious ridiculing from the away fans when they finally worked out what had actually happened. The cheers were choked out in their throats.

Brentford where in their full banana away kit, but it took till the 6th minute for them to show their skins. Eriksen slipped a freekick from the right to the near post, where his rising banana teammates dropped the ball onto the roof of the net. Pickford set the hosts on the break that ended with Richarlison sending his effort into the heavens from 10 yards out.

Everton did finally make their early pressure pay though and it came through a mistake they forced in the visitor’s defence. Mads Bech lunged across to cut out Gordon in full flow near the left touchline to give away a cheap as chips free-kick, picking up the game’s first yellow card. The free-kick was slung into the area and Richarlison flapped a leg at it making just enough contact to confuse the visiting defence and direct the ball untouched into the far corner of the net, Mads Bech unable to adjust his legs in time to clear it off the line.

A goal from nothing and Everton had the lead their play warranted with just 10 minutes on the clock. There was no choking out the home fans cheers this time as a wall of noise crashed down onto the pitch. This looked to knock the stuffing out of the Bees players for the next 8 minutes of play as Everton dominated possession without ever looking likely to add to their lead.

It looked like the hosts were just biding their time as they kept the ball and probed for the opening that would allow them to sneak in and double their lead. All this Everton dominance was dealt a Ned Stark style death blow in the 19th minute though as they screamed for a penalty at one end before getting a defender sent off at the other.

Richarlison went down under the close attentions of Kristoffer Ajer in the Brentford penalty area and as the majority of the home players and all the home fans howled for a penalty that never came the visitors broke. The break was rifled upfield tasking Toney to race Jarrad Branthwaite for the loose ball. Toney won the race and in his desperation to prevent Brentford’s talismanic striker taking a shot at goal he scythes the striker down at the ankles. As he tried to protest his innocence, with his teammates alternating between backing him up and pleading for the penalty, the ref reached into his pocket and produced the red card that would change the course of the match.

Branthwaite was judged to be the last defender and thus he had to go. Everton had reached for the win by any means button and brushed the self-destruct button instead. Eriksen could only guide the freekick wide of the left post from the edge of the area, but with the man advantage it now felt like only a matter of time until the visitors drew themselves level.

With the hosts now a man light the match became a training session of attack vs defence as the Bees poured forward at pace at every opportunity and Everton had to resort to their Merseyside Derby tactics in a desperate attempt to cling onto their lead for the next 70 minutes. Pickford led the time-wasting way for the hosts by taking as much time as the ref would allow over every goal-kick for the rest of the half. His team-mates joined the effort in the 27th minute as they clattered into both Toney and Mathias Jensen within seconds of each other in midfield.

This dogged defensive action almost fell to pieces in the 28th minute though as a hopeful ball down the right channel found it’s way to Jensen via a couple of extremely lucky deflection. Under pressure he tried a cheeky chip and though it left Pickford grasping the air it also cleared the bar and was left resting on the roof of the net. The Everton keeper dutifully taking a metric Jurassic era of time to punt the goal-kick as far up the pitch as he can.

Rico Henry created another brilliant chance for Brentford to level the match with a brilliant drive down the right as the match ticked past it’s first half hour. His cut back made it to Christian Norgaard but he sliced his shot across the keeper and it skimmed the paint off the left hand post on it’s way behind for a goal-kick. This time it was my turn to have the cheers choke out in my throat as it looked to me like it had sneaked in for a second. I was up floating above the stadium for a few glorious moments before the cheers in the home stands brought me crashing back to earth.

A minute after that unceremonious rollercoaster my disappointment turned to anger as Richarlison tried to run through 2 Bees players and when that didn’t work he fell to the grass like he’d just been hit by a 747 going full speed. The fact that he was back on his feet after a 30 second physio appointment, but only after Bees had broken up their attack to put the ball out in a show of sportsmanship, did little to lift my mood. Even so I did not join in with the chants of ‘Let him die’ from my fellow Bee’s fans, though I did join the chants of ‘cheat, cheat, cheat’ when they struck up around me.

Brentford broke down Everton’s defensive wall in the 38th minute and smuggled in the equaliser. The immense Eriksen slapped a corner across the box and when it was headed back into the box Yoane Wissa leaped higher than anybody else around him to knock the ball free onto the left hand side. He landed well and drove the ball to the by-line. Then he proceeded to unleash a thunderbolt that flashed past everyone and into the net to tie things up at 1-1.

It looked to me like it had gone straight in off Wissa’s boot but the screen showed a little own goal signal next to Seamus Coleman’s name. I’m sure the Everton captain would be only too happy for it to go down as Wissa’s goal but alas the history books will show it as another tap of the self-destruct button from the hosts.

Fresh from getting the equaliser Brentford almost went ahead with their second goal in 4 minutes when Jensen took the ball all the way to the right-side by-line before whipping a ball across for Rico to connect with at the back post. He connected well on the turn and volleyed it just a hair’s-breadth over the bar. The collective sigh of relief in the home stands mixed with the sigh of disappointment in the away end.

These sighs pushed Brentford on to attack once more as the half ticked into its penultimate minute. Eriksen was at the heart of the visitors efforts once more as he sent a raking 45 yarder upfield to a Toney who was steaming into the box. The resulting header was easy for Pickford to collect, but Toney was back trying his luck within seconds. This time he flashed a lightning bolt across the goal from the right and Pickford had to be at his best, leaping to his right to punch the ball clear of the box.

Then the hosts hit their visitors with a sucker punch to the kidneys in the 3 minutes of injury time tacked on to the end of the half. Launching the ball up into the box Richarlison jumped for it near the penalty spot. When he missed the ball he used the fact that there were two Bees players within 5 yards of him to transform a bad landing into a penalty shout. Going down like he’d taken a roundhouse kick to the face from an MMA fighter. The red bought what was being sold and Everton had a chance to retake the lead from the spot in the dying moments of the half.

Once the penalty had been awarded Richarlison sprung back to his feet like a jack-in-the-box to slide the ball high to Raya’s right, as the keeper dove low to his left, to restore Everton’s one-goal lead. To say that this left the away support apoplectic with rage would be to undersell the point immensely because there were truly no words to describe just how angry certain members of the away support were. The ref did nothing to abate this anger heading into half-time by allowing Everton to continue an attack seconds later when Norgaard was poleaxed in midfield.

The away fans that weren’t cursing the ref or loudly booing Richarlison’s every touch from here on out spent half-time questioning just where VAR was for that penalty shout. I will be one of the Bees fans pondering that question for a very long-time. The best that my conversations with other away fans at half-time could come up with was ‘perhaps it was tea-break time at Stockley Park’.

Thomas Frank spent the break far more productively than that though as he made a substitution to help his team make the breakthrough to draw themselves level once again and hopefully take them to the winning goal. His roll of the dice was to remove Mads Bech from the action and send Vitaly Janelt on in his place. This necessitated a change of formation to 3 at the back and provided Brentford with another extra man in midfield to help them push home their numerical advantage and hopefully provide them with the supply to their forwards that would turn their dominance into the much needed goals.

Aware that they were in for a torrid time in the second half Everton started their timewasting this half before it had even got underway, waiting to emerge from their dressing room until the visiting players had already spent minutes on the pitch and were raring to go. Anxious to make their hosts pay for making them wait Brentford set up camp in the Everton half within seconds of kick-off, though this almost backfired on them when Everton broke out in the 48th minute. The hosts hoofed the ball up field on the left but when the ball was slid through the corridor of uncertainty there was no-one in blue in position to turn it home.

Having survived that scare Brentford got straight back to the task of wearing down the granite wall of home players blocking their route to the equaliser. Jensen floated a cross to the back post where it dropped onto the head of Rico Henry, but he was unable to get any power on the header and it was easily hacked clear. The ball only got as far as the edge of the box though, where it was picked up by Wissa and he let rip with a firecracker of a shot. It took a huge deflection on route to goal but despite this the ref gave the hosts a goal-kick, that Pickford duly wasted as much time as possible in taking.

Timewasting and wrecking play with cynical tackles were the main weapons that the Toffees used to disrupt the build-up of Bees attacks and hold onto the lead. This was doing a brilliant job of transforming me into a giant green rage monster in the away end, but when you need to convert that lead to a win at full-time and you have to play 70 minutes of the match a player light what would you do?

Whatever your approach to that predicament would be the tactics that Lampard’s men had chosen seemed to be working for them as the game limped it’s flowless way towards the hour mark. Brentford’s probing was failing to crack a hole in the granite despite the hosts presenting them with a perfect chance to do so in the 57th minute. Iwobi came in hard on Rico as he advanced on the left and sent him crashing to the ground like a 500 year oak tree being felled for tables. Eriksen curled it to the far post, but Pickford was able to adjust and get himself behind the ball. When he dropped it free in the 6 yard box, giving the self destruct button another tap, none of the attendant Bees players got get the decisive touch and the defence were able to clear it away.

Seeing his team struggle to find a way through the granite Thomas Frank decided to dip into his bench options again on the hour mark and go full send in order to find a way to destroy the granite and grab some goals. He took off central defender Kristoffer Ajer and send on the creative force of attacking midfielder Josh DaSilva in his place. DaSilva’s mercurial creative talent had been crucial to Brentford’s promotion last season, but he had been unable to contribute much to the team this season due to injury.

This substitution did the trick as Everton were unable to cope with the overwhelming attacking force now on display from the visitors. The granite crumbled in the 62nd minute from a very cheap corner that did not need to be given away. Eriksen fed the ball to the near post where Wissa ghosted in to flick it past the flailing arms of Pickford and draw the Bees level. The giant green rage monster inside was vapourised by this and in its place came a level of Euphoria that had yet to be discovered by human kind.

The joy coursing through my veins was so incredibly intoxicating that I was not able to follow the action on the pitch for the next few minutes. In those few minutes Brentford took the lead and the only thing I can recall about this 3rd goal for the Bees was that it came from the head of Rico Henry.

For such a turnaround to take place in front of my eyes was incredible and had the opposite effect in the home stands to the one that it spurred in me. Conceding 2 goals in 120 seconds stunned the home fans into a deathly silence fit only for a morgue or the shock of being told you have a terminal disease and the prognosis awful. The home fans had to deal with the shock of going from leading 2-1 and being on their way to the win that confirms their survival to being 3-2 behind, with their survival hopes being back in the balance in less time than it takes to make a decent cup of tea.

Brentford were now dominating proceedings and looked likely to add the 4th goal that their fans were chanting for, ‘we want 4’, with every attack. It was in this desperate time for the hosts that Lampard was finally convinced to reach for his substitutes and when he did it was for a double. He replaced Andre Gomes with Jonjoe Kenny and then signalled his acceptance that all the hosts could do now was limit the damage by removing their greatest attacking threat, Anthony Gordon, from the fray and bringing on Demarai Gray on to replace him.

Having taken the lead and with the hosts substitutions helping to repair the granite of their defensive wall Thomas Frank made a substitution of his own in the 76th minute. He decided on giving Yoane Wissa a well-deserved rest and sent on Mads Roerslev in his place to allow a return to a more usual formation. This signalled a more relaxed Bees approach to the last 14 minutes now they had the lead their dominance deserved.

They came agonisingly close to a 4th goal in the 77th minute as intricate play between Rico and Toney created space on the left. The former’s cut back into the area was blocked at the near post from where it bounced towards goal and snuck just a whisper wide of goal. This would be the last clear-cut chance for either team until the final 5 minutes of the match as both teams took a break, seeming happy to let the clock run down.

The new relaxed pattern of play was brought to an abrupt end in the 84th minute by another flurry of action on the hosts bench. Lampard chose to withdraw his captain, Seamus Coleman, from play and send Solomon Rondon in his place. What the Everton manager hoped to achieve with this substitution will never be known as the new addition was not long for the match. It was a case of ’84th minute Rondon, 88th minute Rondoff’ as Solomon decided to take the self-destruct button and pummel it to within an inch of its life.

Rondon earnt his red card with a flying tackle on Rico near the touchline far right under my nose. He was completely out of control as he connected with Rico with both set of studs. The ref had no other choice but to give him a straight red and send him trudging down the tunnel for an early bath, despite the protests of the home fans.

That rush of blood to the head meant that Everton would have to finish the match with just 9 men and put the final kibosh on any hopes of snatching a last second equaliser. Their only hope now was to hold on and hope the scoreline didn’t get any worse.

Brentford should have made it worse in the final minute of the regulation 90 when a chip to the back post by DaSilva was met by the forehead of a wide-open Rico. He nodded it back into the 12 yard box where Eriksen met it and curled it towards the right hand corner of the net, but there was a covering defender on the line to whack it clear.

The second red card for their team and the clear lack of any way back into the match led to an impromptu fire-drill in the home stands as the fans left their seats faster than a rat leaves a sinking ship. I have no doubt that they will be back in their droves to cheer their team on in their critical battle against Crystal Palace on Thursday, where a win will once again secure their safety.

As for the away fans, we began to be ushered out of the stadium the second the ref blew for full-time on our 3-2 win. The stewards were not in the mood to let us stay and bask in the victory, but the one pushing me out the exit at least managed a smile when I told him not to worry as Leeds visit us on the final day and with the mood we’re in there’s no way they’ll win. Before the away fans were forced out of our though we did manage a couple of rounds of a chant that I’m sure will be ringing round the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday.

‘Christian Eriksen, we want you to stay’

I will be heading back to London to soak in that match as Brentford look to end the season on a high and Leeds look to do what Everton could not today, secure the win that keeps them in the Premier League for another season. Will they succeed where Everton could not? Join me next week to find out

Monday 2nd May: League 2: The Peninsula Stadium: Salford City vs Mansfield Town

To complete my bank holiday weekend trilogy of matches I made the long journey out to Salford’s Peninsula stadium, in the millionaire’s suburbs north of Manchester, to see if the hosts secure the 3 points they needed to keep themselves in the League 2 play-off picture till the final day.

They started the match in 10th place and 5 points outside the play-off places with just 2 games left. So needed to win both of them and hope others slip up on the final day to make it but whilst the chance is there they were going to go for it. Their task was made difficult however by the fact that their opponents for the day were Mansfield Town, who could secure their play-off place with a win and still had hopes of automatic promotion. A win today for the visitors would put them 3rd going into the final day and leave their fate in their own hands.

The trip I had to make to make the 12:30pm kick-off was quite the odyssey. First I had to make it to Manchester Victoria station, then get on the packed X43 Witchway bus out down a single long road. The bus takes 20 minutes before you get off at Moor Lane and make the final 7 minute walk down a busy country road to the stadium. Seriously, the suburb that houses the Peninsula Stadium is insanely leafy and absolutely the last place that you would ever expect to find a football stadium.

Once I had found my way round to my turnstile on the opposite side of the ground to where I walked up to, thanks to the helpful steward, I fought my way through the crowds and inside to the most bouncing atmosphere I have ever seen at such a low level of English Football. The crowds for this match was incredible and included many Bees fans making use of the early kick-off to enjoy a little extra Greater-Manchester football before hitting up Old Trafford for their evening kick-off. The jealousy was palpable in my soul, but the addition of so many extra fans gave the stadium an atmosphere comparable to Glastonbury in the build up to the headline act on the final day.

Inside the ground there was an awesome old-school feel to things, from the cash only food kiosks to the all terraced stands behind each goal. The lack of any screen at all was a little less charming, but I managed to accurately time things on my phone stopwatch so match action should be perfectly timed. The food on offer at the kiosks was a far more up-market than normal football food though, including the crispy onions that adorned my hotdog, available at normal football prices.

I took up my place in the stand behind the north goal as the teams were finishing their warm-ups. Mansfield Town finishing theirs minutes in advance of their hosts in a show of confidence. Salford showed no sign of being un-nerved by this as they took the field again for kick-off, as the tannoy announced both matchday squads at the precisely perfect speed for me to get them noted down. With Salford in red tops and white shorts and Mansfield decked neck to knee in sky blue, the visitors stood as Salford took the pre-match knee and things were ready to get underway.

Salford had the most on the line for this match and cheered on by a partisan home crowd they took just 90 seconds to take the lead. Jordan Turnbull met a deep slung free kick into the area from the left side with a bullet header at the near-post to direct the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal. Nathan Bishop was left all at sea further back in the box, expecting a floated ball to the back post and could only watch as Salford grabbed the initiative in the match.

Just 3 minutes after taking the lead Salford were gifted a great chance to double their lead. Brandon Thomas-Asante was brought down whilst driving upfield through the centre and the hosts had a freekick on the edge of the box. Given their previous success from a much less enticing position I was fully expecting a gilt-edged chance to be created at the very least, but all the hosts could manage were 2 balls cannoned directly into the wall o allow Mansfield to clear their lines.

Taking momentum from this to gain a foothold in the match Mansfield poured forward in search of an equaliser, but the Salford defensive effort made a fortress of their penalty area right up until the visitors found the way in in the 8th minute. A deep cross made it’s way through the defences to land at the feet of Matty Longstaff at the back post. From where he flicked it back across the keeper Tom King’s body only to see the ball flash just wide of the post.

A minute later it was back to the long range efforts for the visitors as Rhys Oates ballooned one way over the bar from just outside the D. King would have arguably have had it covered if it had been on target, but we will never know for sure.

Having given the hosts the lead Turnbull was back in the thick of the action in the 13th minute, picking up the game’s first yellow card for being milliseconds late with a tackle looking to cut out a Mansfield attack as it progressed towards the box. It was so close that, in my view, giving a foul for it was harsh in the extreme.

Thomas-Asante would be unavailable to help his teammates defend from the freekick as the ref ordered him off the pitch to get treatment for a cut that was seeping blood. Being a player short may have contributed to what happened next as Stephen McLaughlin curled the ball round the ball and into the bottom right corner of the net. Bending it like Beckham against the team he part owns to draw the visitors level.

The decision to award Mansfield the freekick looked even harsher when nothing was given against Oates for holding Theo Vassell in a half-nelson 5 minutes later. The ref hardly helped his stock in the eyes of home fans when he gave Mansfield a freekick on halfway when Longstaff caught himself on the heels. He rose to his feet quickly only to fall straight back to the ground as the host’s Matthew Lund made his way past.

The visitors wasted that freekick but wanted another in the 22nd minute when Salford’s captain Jason Lowe won a sliding 50/50 against Longstaff and ran clear with the ball. This time the ref was not hoodwinked by Longstaff’s slow rise back to his feet. Nor was he fooled by a weak penalty shout for the visitors in the 26th when Oates pushed the ball a little too far ahead of himself, having intercepted a weak goal-kick, then tried to go over the top of the legs that King had withdrawn from the area in question seconds earlier. Oates did get away with a, train to Sheffield, late tackle on Vassell in the 28th minute though with the ref only giving a free-kick and no card.

As the match passed the half-hour match the atmosphere became more and more muted as neither team was able to find the telling ball to set an attack on fire. The play became more timid than cagey, as though both teams were far too scared of making a telling mistake to try and make the telling pass that might give them the lead at half-time in this crucial match.

It took until the 36th minute for either team to mount a concerted effort to snatch the half-time lead and, with the crowd on their side, it is perhaps unsurprising that Salford where the team to put this effort together. Sliding a slide-rule ball through the defence to leave Matt Smith with just the keeper to beat. Bishop was equal to the threat though and pushed Smith wide so that he could only steer his shot into the side-netting. Mansfield were able to break upfield from the resultant corner only for Oates to also find himself forced wide in the area and also send his shot wide at the near post.

These twin chances sparked the game back into life as the match roared into the final 5 minutes of the half. Salford took the momentum of creating the spark to end the half squarely on top, but they were unable to take advantage of their domination of possession and would instead be behind before the ref whistled up on the first 45.

They had their chances to take the lead before conceding though as first Thomas-Asante left fly from the edge of the box. This shot was unable to make it through the forest of legs without nicking a trunk and rebounding clear. Then a cross to the back post flicked off the back of a visiting defender’s head for a corner with 3 minutes of the half left. The away fans were up in arms about the decision, though from my vantage point at the far end it looked to be the right one. They need not have worried too much though as the corner flew harmlessly over the head of everyone in the box and the cross from the other side imitated it before floating behind for a goal-kick.

Having failed to take advantage of those chances Salford were duly punished for their profligacy by the footballing gods in the final minute of the half. Mansfield floated a freekick up to the back post from halfway and as it fell towards it’s spot it struck a Salford hand. The ref wasted no time in pointing to the spot, but to me it looked like the defender’s arms were in a natural position as he looked to gain elevation to connect with a clearing header.

Another harsh call cost Salford though as McLaughlin made no mistake in stroking it low to the keeper’s left to give Mansfield a 2-1 lead as the teams headed in for the break. Simultaneously altering beyond recognition the team talks for both of the managers, who would now have to create their own on the fly. The hosts had been ending the half as the stronger team and looking far more likely to score. A few missed chances and one questionable decision later they were behind and chasing the game to get the win they desperately needed.

Perhaps there was a feeling of quiet resignation among the Salford back office hierarchy though as they used the opportunity of half-time to introduce 10 of the most recent academy graduates to the home support. They were presented as the team’s best hope for next season and I found it doubtful that they would have been presented as such if the management team still felt the current players stood a chance of promotion.

I couldn’t tell you a single one of their names however, as I spent the majority of half-time diving into the programme I had picked up from opposite the turnstile. The seller was directly in front of me as I passed through that entrance and it would have been rude not to buy myself one, particularly with this being Salford’s final home game of the season.

Mansfield were out for the second half before their hosts, in another show of confidence that failed to un-nerve the Salford players. There were no half-time substitutes for either team as their managers both put their faith in their team attacking towards their own fans to help raise the level and suck the ball into the net this half.

The half certainly started off brightly with some creative attacking play from both teams creating chances galore and providing a lovely change of pace from the majority of the first half. Mansfield set this chance extravaganza in motion with a free-kick into the box from the left touchline just 2 minutes into the half. It caused a game of header pinball to break out in the box before Salford finally hacked in clear on with their 4th attempt.

The attacks that Salford put together in the first 5 minutes of the half were hampered by a sedate build-up phase that allowed the visitors to get their defence back in order and clear the threat before it turned serious. In the 53rd minute it turned serious and Mansfield couldn’t deal with it. Thomas-Asante decided to forgo the build-up phase and instead fire in an early cross in from the right that caught the defence napping, allowing Lund to spirit in unnoticed and unmarked at the front post to flick it past Bishop at his near post.

Just like that Salford were back on level terms and Thomas-Asante took great pleasure in driving his team forward, tormenting the visiting defenders with every attack. Within a minute of the equaliser he was running free again but this time his cross had too much on it and was cleared simply away for a throw on the far side of the pitch. From this throw a cross was sent in that Mansfield could only deflect behind for a corner. The corner was fed to the near post where Lund won his race against the defence but this time he had to stoop to connect with his header and could only watch as the ball cannoned back off the bar, leaving it shaking like a sapling in a hurricane.

Mansfield were able to tame the ball on the rebound and set themselves on the break. They found space on the right side of the box but King prevented what looked like a certain 3rd for the visitors by kneeling at his near post as the ball ricocheted off his knees and away for a corner. The visitors wasted the corner and Salford were able to break themselves.

Once again finding Thomas-Asante in space but this time his cross sailed inches over the top of Ryan Watson’s despairing leap at the far post. The ball was put back in from the other side and this time it was Thomas-Asante’s chance to see the ball fly just over his leaping head. If the ball had been an inch or so lower it would have certainly been the hosts third as Thomas-Asante was in so much space he could’ve built a national trust property around himself without interfering with a single defender’s personal space.

Lowe finished off the 5 minutes of torment for the visitors with a volley fizzed in from 20 yards that was always rising and ended up missing both high and left of the goal. Worth a try though and it took the visitors attention off Thomas-Asante for a minute or so. A good thing for the hosts as King collected a corner on the hour mark and found the man of the moment with a glorious 60 yard ball to his feet. He advanced down the right wing before squaring for Stephen Kelly who could not finish off this glorious move with a finish befitting it’s majesty. Instead simply poking the ball goalward till it squirmed into the arms of a very grateful Bishop.

Thomas-Asante was not done yet though as he was back creating another chance for the host’s elusive winner just a minute after that chance. This time he chose to cut the ball back to Donald Love, hovering just behind the penalty spot, but again the finishing touch could not be applied. A bouncing shot that got deflected behind for a wasted corner was the ending provided to this move.

By this point of the match Mansfield had been reduced to threatening on the break and they managed to do so just twice through the match’s 60’s. First contriving to utterly waste a freekick just inside the Salford half. Won by George Lapslie driving through the middle at pace. It was also Lapslie that had the second chance for the visitors and coming the closest that they had come to scoring from open play all match. He unleashed a volley from distance with such swerve on it that King stood no chance of stopping it. Unfortunately it was also this mesmerising swerve that guided it millimetres wide of the right-hand post and kept the scores level at 2-2.

With the match entering it’s final 20 minutes both managers decided it was high time to switch things up and looked to provide their team with some new impetus from the bench. It was Mansfield’s Nigel Clough who was first to blink in the 71st minute as he replaced Lucas Atkins with Jordan Bowery. Then 5 minutes later both he and the host’s Gary Bowyer made a change each. Clough removed George Lapslie from the fray, despite his recent chances and sent on Kieran Wallace on in his place.

For his part Bowyer reacted to his team’s recent abject display of profligate finishing by sending on a new striker on, who might be able to finish off just one of the many chances Thomas-Asante was creating. To this end he withdrew Donald Love, sending on veteran striker Ian Henderson to provide the masterclass in finishing his team needed.

Between the first substitution and this later duo Thomas-Asante had a crack at personally providing the finish that Salford needed. He was fed the ball on the left side of the box with his back to goal a mere 8 yards from target. Swivelling on the spot he was unable to get any power behind the shot and watched it dribble its way into Bishop’s gloves.

The game found its way to the 80th minute without further incident though. It became clear that one more chance was all that would be needed to settle one and as the crunch time approached it came down to the question of whose nerves would hold up and which team would collapse under the pressure.

Salford showed signs of nerves in the 81st minute when they dithered so long over a short corner on the right that by the time they finally put the ball into the box neither Henderson or Vassell was expecting it. Subsequently neither of them went for the ball at the near post and the visitors were able to breath a massive sigh of relief watching it go behind for a goal-kick.

Turnbull showed no such nerves 2 minutes later though as he steamed into a tackle on the edge of the box to nick the ball off George Maris as he was shaping to slot the ball away for a Mansfield winner. There were no nerves creeping into Thomas-Asante’s game either as he once again created space for himself, this time on the left wing, before delivering the ball on a silver-platter to Kelly in space 20 yards out. Once again though a splendid saving tackle got in the way of a certain goal, this time Mansfield managed to deflect the ball away for a corner which came to nothing.

Bowyer made his final change to the hosts make-up for the final 5, with Matthew Lund withdrawn for Ash Hunter to be given the chance to carve his name into Salford history. However, with just 3 minutes left it was Henderson who was trying to make sure the name carved was his own with 2 chances within a minute of each other. First trying his luck with a volley at the back-post, off a deep cross from the right, only for the ball to be nabbed off his toes just before he can make contact with the ball. Then again with a spectacular scorpion kick when the recycled ball was crossed in just behind him. Unfortunately for him and the home fans the ball was cleared just in front of the line and the scores remained level pegging as the grandstand ending to the match remained on a knife’s edge.

Clough took one last throw of the dice in the penultimate minute of the 90 by removing his captain, James Perch, from the field and sending on Elliot Hewitt. Mansfield doing their best to hold onto the draw that would leave them in an excellent position to secure play-off football on the final day of the season. They would have 4 minutes of added time to hold on to this result first though and consign Salford to another confirmed season in League 2.

In the first of those added minutes they came close to finding the winner they needed to keep their hopes of automatic promotion in their own hands. Oates advancing through the centre of the Salford half, but Turnbull was on hand to cover and force the ball out for a corner. Then, with time running out in added time, Maris provided a defence splitting ball from the left that could only be parried out into the danger area by King. The ball fell to the feet of Wallace at the back-post but he was unable to sort his feet out in time to tap it home into the empty net and the home fans could breathe again.

Salford had their own chances to win it in added time as well. The first of which came through the irrepressible Thomas-Asante, Mansfield’s tormenter in chief all half, who provided a tempting ball into the right channel where there was no-one in a red shirt ready to tap it in. The final chance for the hosts came in the dying seconds of the match as a cross found Smith unmarked 8 yards out, but he could only direct the ball into Bishop’s arms. Henderson had been lurking behind him ready to tap it into the unguarded net at the back-post if the ball had been left to run through to him. As things panned out though the chance was wasted and seconds later the ref blew for full-time.

Despite battering down the door all half, mainly through the inspirational display of Thomas-Asante, they hosts were unable to find that winning goal and must instead resign themselves to another season in League 2. Mansfield also left this one feeling like an opportunity had been lost as their fate slipped out of their own hands and they would go into the final day of the season knowing that even a win would leave them relying on slip-ups elsewhere to secure them automatic promotion.

Due to a personal commitment I was unable to attend a match on the final day of the League 2 season. Bristol City turned in the result of the decade to secure the final automatic promotion place and thus consign Northampton Town, 3rd going into the final day, to the lottery of the playoffs alongside Mansfield, Port Vale and Swindon Town.

Mansfield finish the season in 7th and facing Northampton in their Play-off semi-finals for a place in the Wembley final. I wish them best of luck but they will need to create a few more chances if they are to gain promotion to League 1.

With the lower league’s seasons all now completed, except the sold out play-off matches, I will be returning to the Premier League for my remaining blogs of the season. I will be attending both of Brentford’s remaining matches this season, starting with their visit to relegation threatened Everton at Goodison park this weekend.