Shrimpers shocked by floodlight farce: 'Looked like our usual self again and playing well to win'

Last updated : 27 December 2011 By exiledessexboy

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About sums it up: Back of Tuesday's Echo

Oh dear, that was a cock-up.

Seasider90 said it all on the Echo website: 'You'd think they had won the league the celebrations from their fans when the game was called off. Down to 10 men they didnt have one shot in the first half. They also gave plenty of stick to Dickinson and good to see Phillips respond to their fans with a hand gesture that summed them up. Mickey mouse stadium for a mickey mouse club.'

May be a touch strong but not for those Shrimpers who having fought through awful traffic conditions especially on the M25, the M3 wasn't much better, to get there late and see ten minutes of the game, or not to see with only two sets of floodlights working, and then have the game called off must have been frustrating in the extreme.

Throw in the cost of petrol, match tickets ect. at this time of year particularly, and there were not a lot of happy Shrimpers in Hampshire on a mild Boxing Day afternoon.

Moreover, the players themselves, desperate to turn around a bad run and well on the way to doing it at half-time, were universally 'gutted', the word of the day, at not being able to finish the job however 'confident' the Shots players were of turning it around in the second half, I doubt it lads.

Blues boss Paul Sturrock, whose brave selection, Ryan Hall on the bench, saw a return to his defensive roots and he was half way to pulling it off, said after the game: "The players are all gutted about it. We just have to take it on the chin because we can't do anything else about it."

Scorer Liam Dickinson, who as seasider says above had to put up with plenty of abuse, blimey it was him that was smacked by the Shots defender, and had scored an immaculate penalty, was not in a forgiving mood.

He said: 'It's a bit of a farce. They will be more than pleased with it but it's down to a technical fault.'

Following that up with: 'Well that was a shambles! Winnin 1-0, they have 10 men, and the lites decide not 2 work... Game called off '

And his poor mood, including the fans, will not be improved by the news that any bookings picked up will in fact count after all, so Liam will be suspended for Saturday's match against AFC Wimbledon after picking up his 5th yellow card at the EEB stadium.

This just gets worse!

Loanee keeper Luke Daniels, who had spent a lonely Christmas stuck in a hotel room, continued the theme.

The West Brom player tweeted: 'Gutted the game got abandoned. Great support again though'

Yes it was, even though as the ground had only three sides the more lively section of the home support was right next to the travelling faithful which made for some lively banter between the two!

As for the steward who was told that nobody was allowed to stand in the open section next to the stand, he was fighting a losing battle as Shrimpers passed him by, though he did stop a couple who had actually got past and wanted to return, one losing his burger the poor sod, even telling one dad with his daughter, 'if you leave to take her to the toilet you will not be allowed back.' 

Jobsworth and ridiculous!

Sums up the whole organisation really, including the travelling plod who stood around doing nothing while getting paid, probably double, at the very expense of the people who were trying to watch the game, all 45 minutes of it that is!

Anyway, back to the squad, whose livelihood this mess could actually affect after four successive defeats, and defender Mark Phillips, never one to hold back his views when having a tweet, or three.

First off, as the new Shrimpers skipper in Chris Barker's continued absense and Bomber's demotion: 'Was an honour to be captain for the game yesterday even if it was called off at half time.'

Then back to the game: 'Absolutly gutted with that....we looked like our usual self again and was playing well for the win....can't believe it was called off.........that kind of thing shouldnt happen in professional game.....could have put us back on track.'

And then ending with this unfortunate fact: 'And the results just come in...Crawley lost and we could have gone top....even more gutting.' 

It's all so, well, gutting.

Not that this lot are complaining: www.shotsweb.co.uk

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