Heading East

FC Unionist Lite will be taking a break this weekend, as I'll be off to watch my other team hopefully do the business in Bratislava/Pozsony/Pressburg (delete as appropriate according to ethno-nationalist preference). To be honest, I need a break from all the debates about national anthems, new stadiums and David Healy's music lessons; the only question I'll be pondering this weekend is whether to stick with the Zlaty Bazant or give the Celta a chance!!

Bearing in mind the forecast temperatures (30 c plus), the absence of Lafferty and Worthington's tactical ineptitude, I'd be more than happy with a draw...but as long as the players at least look as if they care(which hasn't been always the case under NW's stewartship)I'll settle for that...and a couple of packs of Zlaty.

Back soon.

Postscript:

It was one of those football trips where apart from the actual football it was almost (I’ll explain later why only “almost”) a perfect weekend break.

Regarding the game, I know it’s not a very original insight, but a 4-5-1 or even 5-4-1 only really works with a striker like Healy up front when you also have at least two very quick supporting midfielders or full-backs. Which we don’t, so DH is too often running around like a headless chicken after a ball which is being struck around by the 4 defenders minding him. Also psychologically I think the heat played its part here- a good opening ten minutes, NI realise they have another 80 minutes in 30 oc plus heat, think they’ve got to slow down to preserve energy and lose the initiative until the last ten- it wasn’t very clever planning of the IFA to agree to this particular fixture at this particular time of the year- the away against Poland would have made more sense as an opener. Defensive errors like the two on Saturday happen, but it was a bit disturbing to see a lack of the old espirit de corps we used to have under Sanchez after the two goals went in. Unfortunately, we’ve beaten by a not very good Slovak team who I think will drop a lot of points against the other teams in the group, but if:

1.We had kept up the pace of the first or the last 10 minutes for the whole 90 minutes
2.Got the penalty we should have (just before Slovakia scored their 2nd)
3.Had scored that near miss near the end
4.Had someone supporting Sir David

...it would have been a much different story with us getting at least a draw. And the core of the team remains one capable of pulling off unlikely results, so, I wouldn’t just yet rule out a victory against the Czech Republic on Wed.

The non-football side of the weekend was coloured by the vicious attack on some NI fans on Friday night by a “security-firm” connected with The Dubliner pub. I saw one of the victims on the Saturday and he looked as if he’d just stepped out of the ring with Mike Tyson. As it isn’t the first time that this pub has been associated with such brutality, hopefully there’ll be some kind of official repercussions, but I won’t be holding my breath. So, I was a lot more cautious than usual pre and post-match on the Saturday, but really there wasn’t that much to worry about from what I saw. There was a “Hungarian King’s Festival” (work that one out Aberdonian!) taking place which was a bit surreal in the burning heat, but it helped to put a couple of hours in on the Saturday afternoon.

For the reasons previously mentioned, the beer didn’t exactly flow, but was very tasty and cheap none the less; the Zlaty (minus accompagning pheasant!) was the main one of choice, although I also had a Corgon and a pint of Hell (!) .The mass walk to the ground, 3km away, was like a traipse through the desert, an endurance trip, more than our usual bouncy parade and it was quite easily the hottest weather I’ve ever experienced at a game. Afterwards, I had a couple of beers and a bit of banter with an ex-colleague of the better-half, a little bit out of the city-centre alongside the Danube and it felt a lot more relaxing than the still rather dodgy atmosphere in the old town. Grabbed a midnight Big Mac (cosmopolitan to the end!) and then a 3am trip home.

So, overall, glad I went and would be happy enough to spend a day or weekend there again. Next stop (I’m allowed 2 away matches per campaign!), another part of the old Austrian-Hungarian empire, Slovenia in October. This time, however, Ms O’Neill will be joining up and we’re taking a week off travelling around with our hiking books and compasses. I suspect we won’t be needing our Factor 30 though!


*For those of you on Facebook, I've started posting up some pictures from both this trip and my visit to watch the New York Mets at O'Shea Stadium.