Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Linfield 3 Derry City 1


The matchwinners (thanks to Thompo and SSS)

Setanta Cup group stage, Windsor Park, Monday 10th March 2008


Team: Mannus, Douglas, Gault, Kearney (Ferguson 56), Lindsay, Dickson, Thompson, McCann, Mulgrew (Ervin), Stewart, Downey (Murphy 39)

Scorers: Stewart, Thompson, Ferguson (pen)


The life of an exile is particularly difficult on big game nights such as Monday. No Setanta Ireland in France, no internet connection, so no live streaming nor internet radio commentary, so all I was left with was text updates from those who were in attendance, specifically, the mighty Bluenose.

Just to give you a taster of how I experience a match, I'll show all the texts I got. There's truly nothing like being there...


19:38 Wait till you here this - mannus, ervin, douglas, lindsay, mcshane, dickson, gault, downey, kearney, thompson and stewart! Fathead!


He then called me shortly after to make a quick correction, that Dougie was RB, Gault CB, McCann LB and Mulgrew CM. Then:

19:54 Shite linfield crowd! Shite weather lol


20:35 1-0 linfield. Stewart. Not sure what happened lol


20:36 Dougie and Gault playing well


20:48 2-0 thompson


20:49 Downey off injured with Winkie on. Gault midfield!


20:59 2-0 half time. Big brawl at the end. Derry player headbutted gault and MASSIVE brawl. No cards. A disgrace! IT continued up the tunnel.


21:05 2nd half will be explosive! Gaulty was going beserk! Re- jeffrey [I'd said he was a tactical genius]. I'll wait till after.


21:24 All linfield. Some great football. Kearney off injured. Spike on.


21:47 2-1 - dickson is done. Like playing with 10 men ffs


21:50 Mulgrew off injured. Ervin on. Still 2-1


Then he phoned me when we got the penalty, I heard the cheer as Spike scored, various derogatory comments from his da about Derry :D and 'Easy!' chants. Then I got this twice:

21:55 Fuck derry city!


21:57 Another brawl! Gaulty!


22.05 Over. 3-1.


22:21 They all played well!Good atmosphere and that's the best we've played all season!



Here's EBB's summary:

Gaulty was on a different level altogether last night, absoultely outstanding.

We've been saving that performance for weeks and fully deserved the win.

Can't fault any of the players, as they all battled and put in a great shift, and deserve all they got last night. They put the effort in, and got their reward.


Mannus- Little to do and couldn't do anything about the goal.

Douglas- I thought Douglas was brilliant last night. Tired at the end and that's when he began to make a few mistakes, but considering he hasn't played in a while, it's to be expected.
McCann- Same as Douglas. Shaky at the start, but grew into the game and nothing got past him
Lindsay- Like the rest of the defence I suppose. Was solid and done exactly what he was there to do. If only we could keep him fit.
Mulgrew- I thought Jamie was excellent last night. Done his job breaking up play, and carried a bit of a threat going forward.
Kearney- Class. Again, Derry didn't know how to cope with him. Very evident just how good he is, when he went off.
Dickson- Quiet, but effective. Always available when needed and looked to run at the full back.
Stewart- Awesome. Like Kearney, he had Derry in knots and they also couldn't cope with him. In the end, they had to resort to bringing him down. Never a penalty though
Thompson- Up on his own and gave the Derry defence hell. Never given a minutes peace as Peter was chasing everything. Glad he got the goal his performance deserved.

Gault- The real MOM I don't think there's a better player in the country, when Gaulty puts in performances like that. Nothing got past him at all. Even in centre half, he looked class. His first 3 tackles, he had no right to win yet he still came out on top! Awesome!

DJ got everything spot on as well, despite his initial team selection scaring the shite out of me


Comments on the game on Hatchets and Hammers.

Thompo's great photos, as always, on South Stand Says.

OK, the video was posted by bitter Derry fans, and no, it wasn't a penalty, but here's a taster of the game and the incident for Spike's penalty:



And here's the match highlights via BBC:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"OK, the video was posted by bitter Derry fans, and no, it wasn't a penalty, but here's a taster of the game and the incident for Spike's penalty:"

Can you please explain how the video was posted by a 'bitter Derry fan'?

It was posted to show that it wasn't a penalty, I think everyone agrees that Linfield deserved to win on the night but the penalty decision may have had a bearing on the outcome?

Anonymous said...

The penalty made it 3-1. We were already 2-1 up, and well on top. I doubt it made much difference.

but if you want a list of why I think Derry fans are bitter, I'll post you all the links to whinging articles about the game.

Welcome, by the way!