OpenC

Was a great shout to be fair

Peaykin too early I reckon, but we'll see takes a hell of a side to hold onto fust place a whole seayson.

Yeah, been a thing since 1985 when hooliganism was pretty grim. Not sure if it was a direct response to Heysel or it was just a coincidence that one of the most notorious incidents happened that same year.

They have to make the leagues bigger like, 12 teams is just not enough of a season.

Aye. Said it last week too but they're still playing a lot of passes to feet that they would have got away with in the national league but which are being read and intercepted at this level; we're surrendering possession this way too much. Charlton's press today was relentless, I don't think they've ever faced anything quite like that in a league game. They stayed composed and even though there were only three at the back and Hannah Greenwood is more naturally (I feel anyway) a midfielder they largely dealt with it. They just needed to be more professional in killing the game off but even when we were down to 10 and wobbling seriously we still had people bombing up front in numbers but inevitably losing the ball. Honestly it's good to see them tested and great to see them largely passing the tests. Last season was a complete procession for them and it's good to see something more competitive.

Yeah, it's not looking like a processional formality for any one team and we've showed we can compete at the top end home and away, so all to play for.

Aye I can't criticise her too much, she's a really important player Depends on the manner of the ball being kicked away but it's one of the most inconsistently viewed and punished Definitely A Yellow offences in football tbf. If she booted it away then fair enough. If it was one of those cheeky little traps or soft backheels that usually go unpunished (and did earlier in this game) then hmmmm

Aye, I missed the red card but I heard Rachel Furness saying that they all knew kicking the ball away was a card. Hadn't realised Stobbs was on a yellow tbh

Subs were a bit too needlessly aggressive for me, KB and Elson are both great but too attack-minded to comfortably see a game out imo.

fucks sake

Nervy finish

I would have been fucking fizzing if that was given against us like but well taken

Fuck me there's going to be some stoppage time mind

Lovely touch from Amy Andrews to take it in from the wing like. They're looking great today wish I could have made it

Hayles having a great game, 2 Great play from Stobbs to put her through though

Fucking beauty great goal

Yeah, even working on the app this time

Nah not really, when you take into account the size of the crowd and the game and the occasion. They sang pretty much all the way through the game, could hear them from wherever you were. Loads of different songs, all in good humour (I particularly like Harry Potter He's One Of Our Own and the various tributes to the 472 bus service that runs through Alnwick ). It's a completely different mindset they have to the modern prem-goer.

Greenwood in at CH I guess and a definite striker on the pitch Can't get today unfortunately but I'll be watching (if it works)

I've thought for a long time that people who aren't particularly fans are increasingly going to the game so they can experience that legendary atmosphere of top level football, without realising that the contribution of the fans has always been the biggest and most important part of that atmosphere. There's a tipping point where the passive spectators start to overwhelm the capacity of the fans to get anything going and that was reached a long time ago I reckon. Honestly saw more life from 12 or 15 Alnwick Town fans watching their team get pezzled at Esh Winning yesterday than I've seen at NUFC for more years than I'd care to admit; the folk sitting around muttering was the biggest reason I got rid of my season ticket and that was a decade ago. Fully accept that everybody is entitled to watch football however they want when they've paid to get in, but times have definitely changed. Bring on the half time quizzes and the pyrotechnics

They made a proper fuss about it the first game back at Kingston Park, but I don't think they were even looking at what people were taking out.

Away at high flying Esh Winning today. My favourite ground other than Alnwick's, proper oldschool ramshackle little place.

Let him run the club shop at the very least

I was reading about it on Reddit before, apparently there were two in the Greenmarket at some point. Don't remember that, just the classic upstairs in the corner one. But aye, it was an absolute godsend in a world dominated by fucking Electronics Boutique and capital letters Game, and seemed to inspire loads of other little places which was great

Man it was such a great shop and such a great time. Japanese CD soundtracks with those pointless spine cards you had to keep I was going to move this to Newcastle in general chat but it seemed a bit sombre. Makes a change for the SJP thread