The routine was the same as it has been for the last 15 years, meet friends in the Royal Cafe in Leyton High Road for a pre-match fry up. Grease numbs the pain of the football apparently.
Walking to the ground, and heading into sight of the pitch, there is nothing like the roar of the crowd and the excitement of the crowd to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. The atmosphere at Orient tonight was nothing like it. The ground appeared very empty and there were less than 2000 in the ground at kick off time.
The crowd were silent. There was a lack of atmosphere. The crowd did increase in size and by the end, the crowd was given as 3779. This however includes those season ticket holders who did not attend as they were on holiday or for other reasons.
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| Even the Prawn Sandwich Brigade In The Gallery Stayed Away |
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| A Not Packed Brisbane Road |
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| Look Closely & You Can See a Fan in the East Stand |
The game started with Stevenage making all the play and they should have been at least one up early on. However, their finishing was shockingly bad.
With virtually their first attack, Orient did to Stevenage what sides usually do to Orient and scored against the run of play. Mind you it did take about 4 attempts to finally get the ball into the net.
A second goal followed on 37 minutes when tiny Cox scored with a header. This seemed to completely deflate Stevenage. They did start the second half trying to put pressure on Orient, but with little real threat to the Orient goal.
It came as no shock when Orient added a 3rd goal near the end for their first win of the season. A 3 goal win should be exciting but this game was rather flat. A good win without ever playing particularly well is about the best that can be said. Hopefully it may give the O's some confidence and kick start their season.
There was a small Stevenage following 309 fans, but I have to say they were some of the most irritating fans I have come across. OK, lets be honest one of them was. That person with that bloody drum should have been refused admission and in fact he deserves a banning order simply for bringing an instrument to a football match.
On the subject of banning orders, not related to tonight's match, people who paint their face and people who wear anything half and half scarves, shirts, hats etc should all be banned from football for life along with anyone bringing a musical instrument to a football match.
As for clubs that insist on blaring out music over the tannoy when goals are scored, they should be thrown out of all competitions immediately. If fans cant make noise, then drowning out any noise they try to make is not going to make them any noisier.
Another thing about Modern Football is the poor treatment of the fans. The 309 Stevenage fans apart from the drummer were no problem and gave their team great support. There was not a hint of trouble, so one may ask why the last few minutes of the game were played with a cordon of stewards standing in front of the away fans. It shows a rather poor attitude towards football fans.
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| Stevenage Fans facing a line of Stewards. why? |
Right rant over. Its back to proper football next and not Modern Football until ...quite a while, possibly not until October...
Admission: Free ( ok, the cost of a fry up in the cafe)
Programme: No idea, not bought one at Orient for at least 10 years
Food & Drink: No idea of prices as never buy in a professional football ground
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