I arrived to hear a Steward chatting to the people in one of the food kiosks of the Upper Rous and he was clearly preparing them that the chance of going home early was definitely an option. In fact judging by the way he then shrugged his shoulders he was implying it was clearly a matter of when not if.
The pitch didn't look playable. It reminded me of 8 years ago when the Burnley game was postponed a few minutes before kick off due to a deluge. That day the rain fell in one huge cloudburst and I think the only difference with today and why we went ahead was that it was constant rain so the ref had kind of got used to how bad the pitch looked. But to the untrained eye it looked dangerous and it should be a relief to Mr J Moss that only one player, Ross Jenkins, was stretchered off towards the end and doesn't appear to be badly hurt. One wonders had someone sustained a career threatening injury whether the officials could be sued. But after seeing how Stuart Atwell was treated with his 'mistake' earlier this season I'd imagine they'd be awarded the FA Cup Final to officiate and the matter would be quietly dropped.So the atmosphere at the Vic ironically resembled that of the Marie Celeste for at least the first half hour or so as everyone waited for the referee to come to his senses. There didn't seem much point in getting behind the team 100% when any goals scored would be cancelled by the abandonment.
But it never came. And so the two teams played a new game called Marshball which was entertaining and intriguing but required little of the skills that are usually seen at the Vic. The main thing needed this afternoon was an ability to judge how far the ball was likely to go when passed and how much power it would need. This varied greatly depending on whereabouts on the pitch a player was at the given time. Up near the Vicarage Road end the ball played fairly normally, whereas down by the Rookery/Rous corner flag it didn't move at all.
Oddly the team playing down towards the Rookery seemed to have more of the chances. In the first half we really could have been 2 or 3 up by half time. Whereas the second half was much more even and we had a few scares. But despite having fewer chances in the second we took them and so deserved to win the game.
Priskin should have had a penalty in the first couple of minutes when his legs were taken out from under him by a Cov defender who wasn't anywhere near getting the ball. The ref seemed to decide to put it down to the conditions and nothing was given. He made amends in the second half when again Priskin's legs were assaulted and Tommy Smith duly obliged from the spot.
Cov came back quickly with Clinton Morrison (who else) scoring in a crowded penalty area. But JJOT restored the lead with an excellent strike after he picked up a cross that was meant for Priskin but was too high to reach its target.
The whole team played well, adapting to the conditions and looking more up for it than their opponents. Six points in four days puts us above our next opponents Derby, and we should go to Pride Park with plenty of optimism whether we have to play football or marshball.
