Looks like it's Lewes for me and Dotmund this afternoon.

The white flags that every member of our management team and playing squad were given for Christmas are getting another comprehensive waving at Swansea's promotion party. Oh well.

E10, your boys having given up even worse than we have. What's going on?

Didn't strengthen the team in January, even with loanees. Constructive passing game increasingly replaced by negative, cautious, unwatchable goal-phobic drivel.

I'd go to West Ham-Newcastle even without an interest in either team. But then I am happy to go and watch more or less any football, so long as the absence of blizzard or suchlike can be guaranteed.

Roma-Torino tomorrow. We have no real chance of winning the league, and little chance of screwing up so badly we lose 2nd place, so it is not a very exciting end of season.

2-2 West Ham Newcastle, after the Hammers had gone two up and looked like they were going on a merry rout. It was actually fun not to care, to be a neutral.

Man City 2-3 Fulham looks like a fun one for Match of the Day.

A glorious victory in the sunshine for the Stones at Hendon's Claremont Road. (Which famously closed two years ago, eh AFC Wimbledon fans...) This meant that Wealdstone finished above Harrow Borough. Excellent! And Borehamwood were relegated!

And the Millers relegate the Scabs (until we go belly-up later this week), so that's two consecutive weeks that both my teams have won. And three wins in a row for the Millers, none of which I've watched...

Harry Carpenter wrote:

QUOTE:
As per my pub request thread, on my first ever visit to Turf Moor (with PBF) to see our players put their all in to trying to avoid any injuries or cards threatening their Cup Final place.

Ah, not an unqualified success in the latter aim. Team captain limps off in the last minute of first half, club captain (though unlikely to start the final) is sent off in the 90th minute and will be suspended for Wembley.

The club captain , Purse, had cut a huge gash in Andy Cole's leg in a tackle and was eventually sent off after Cole had tried to fight him on the pitch. He trots down the tunnel (it's in the middle of the away end at Turf Moor, behind the goal strangely).

Cole is told by Burnley's bench to go get the wound sewn up as it is the 92nd minute and they've used all three subs. He dashes actually across the corner of the pitch with the game going on to get to the tunnel to fight Purse, our bench sees this and some of the unused subs and substituted players cut across the pitch themselves to join in, still with the game going on, (it was the quickest and most team-spirited I have seen Hasselbaink all season) and then the police dive down the tunnel too.

All this and a 3-3 draw with us coming back from 2-0 down and 3-2 down with 4 minutes left in what was the only game of the day in D2 that had no bearing on promotion or relegation and should have been like a practise match, excellent.

A very, very strange afternoon at The Dripping Pan. Lewes were given a guard of honour onto the pitch by (already relegated) Weston-Super-Mare, to a backdrop of the crowd chanting, "Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board". Lewes won a very half-hearted game 3-0 (with three sendings off), and with ten minutes to play, about twelve policemen appeared and walked down the steps of the terrace behind the goal to a chant of, "It's just like watching The Bill". They were there to prevent a pitch invasion at the end, apparently. At full-time, the PA announcer came onto the pitch, the Lewes manager Steve King (who was sacked yesterday) burst into tears in the middle of his farewell speech, and then, my favourite moment of the afternoon:

PA Man: "We'd just like to think our generous benefactor..."

Crowd: "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

PA Man: "Now, come on. There's no need for that"

Apparently, at least half of the players want out too. They're going to get slaughtered next season.

Gangster Octopus wrote:

QUOTE:

And the Millers relegate the Scabs (until we go belly-up later this week)

They're not down yet, GO. They can still overtake Chester.

There was a fun end-of-season party at Gravesend, I mean Ebbsfleet, I mean MyFC.com, or somewhere, where Oxford totally dominated the first half and went in at half time 3-0 up. Allowed the home team a glimpse of a reprieve, but never really looked like surrendering the lead, and all to the backdrop of a good old-fashioned terrace party. And that's five wins on the bounce which may be meaningless this season, but give cause for optimism for next, meaning that season ticket sales shouldn't drop too much, and that some of the more excellent loan players (Michael Howard, Matt Green) might be tempted to remain. It's an fun, and unusual, feeling being optimistic at the end of a season, rather than the beginning, especially after such a shite season as we've just had to endure.