Yes, The Resorves are playing Villa up at Kingston Park tonight. For those of you not familiar with the place, it's just south of the Arctic Circle. 19:00 KO. Expect Scott, Hempelman-Adams and Rannulph Fines to be on the teamsheet. Clarky, Jonno and Screach (and most likley Steph) in the stands, with virgin Pilgrim making his debut appearance. Anybody else??

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Answers

I'll be there and Mr Steph is hoping to make an appearance. Waterproofs will be required on top of woolies - it's p*ssing down in the Toon!

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Rumours that Bellamy and Griffin are in the side, and that LKD and Cort will be told to sell halftime lucky draw tickets are totally unfounded. However, I claim all the glory if any turns out to be true. Expect Paul Scholes to make a guest appearance on the bench as stand-in for John Karelse.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

BOLLOX!
When was this organised? I can't go bollox!

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Well it's stopped raining so get yersels alang and support the bairns.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Final result Toon 6 Villains 1

Goals by Lua Lua (2) Coppinger Kerr Chopra and an OG

No Bellamy or any of the alleged main miscreants - if that excludes Griffin who did play

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Dyer was in the stand but left at half-time. We played a lot of the 2nd half with 10 men after Griff went off injured and we'd used all our subs. Interesting that Quinn came off quite early on, at the same time as YBR was spotted in the dugout. Highly enjoyable game. Their solitary goal was excellent and Harper couldn't do anything about it. Mind you, being a man short probably didn't help.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Well bugger knock me down with a feather. Could have sworn it was 5-1. Didn't spot the OG - too busy keeping an eye on LKD in the bar.

A good performance against a poor Villa side, despite having Steve Stone and Ian Taylor in the heart of their M/F. Two of the first 4 goals were due to tenacity from Lua x2 and SO Else, who stole the ball off dozey defenders. Mind, Lua's dribble and shot was great for the first. Why can't he do that more often?

IMHO, Gary Caldwell was MotM. He had a great game, and behind hi, Steve Harper showed that 80 mins if idleness didn't let his concentration wane, making two great saves before being beaten by a great shot right up in the top corner. Lua x2 had the best game I've seen him play at KP - perhaps he is starting to get it together. I hope so, as he is very exciting when on the ball. I just wish he didn't try to emulate one of Billy Smart's lot all the time.

I felt that Quinn went off with an injury - he seemed to indicate his knee as he left the pitch. In all honesty, I hope YBR isn't planning on him for Saturday ahead of Bernard, who played pretty well, both going forward and defending when he dropped back after WQ went off.

Of the rest, I didn't think Coppinger, Green, Kerr or Boyd were particularly noticeable. However, as good that he was last time against Leeds, I thought McClen had a poor game. Andy Griffin did OK - he certainly scared the sh!t out of a few of the Villa players and Distin looked good in parts, but I still think he gives his man too much space, tho his pace is very good at recovering the distance and his geet lang legs are very good at getting a touch (calm doon lasses).

McMenamin didn't sparkle but looked promising at times - at least as good as Coppy, and Young Michael Chopra did what he had to do when the goalie and CB left the ball for each other, nipping in to score near the end.

Another good game of footy - something the locals on this BBS should get to see more often. Unlike SJP, you can hear the players communicating among themselves, tho if Bernard and Distin continue to play in defence, I think Steve Harper is going to have to learn French. It was hard enough for me (a north-easterner) to understand half of what he shouted. God knows how the frogs understood!

Nice to see I got 50% in my team prediction with Griffin playing and LKD selling programmes. Far better for him to be there than doon the quayside, tho I think he sneaked off just after halftime when YBR fell asleep.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

YKD in the bar??????? Are you joking? Actually he seems to attend a few reserve games. probably because he's big mates with Lua Lua.

Fair dues for BR for making the reserves. A man of his age should be at home with a hot toddy on these cold winter nights.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Just thinking, if YKD there I take it that the manager has had a 'little chat' with him about Spain. Were they speaking?

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Yes - LKD was in the stand for the first half and in the bar at half time (not drinking, just talking to David O'Leary or Rio Ferdinand a friend on his phone. Pilgrim almost knocked him over, so if the injury takes longer to recover, we all know who to blame ;-)

YBR goes to most, if not all home reserve games and I've seen him away once as well (the only one I think I've been to since he took over). As has been said elsewhere before, he eats, sleeps and lives football. He lives up here alone during the week (apparently - the missus safely tucked up in Ipswich) so it would be wrong if he didn't turn up to see his future stars (?) playing at KP.

With Griff getting injured, we can expect him to be sidelined for another few weeks, so Hughsie will continue to keep the blond one out for a while longer.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Thanks Screach. Interesting to hear about Lua Lua and how he is improving. When he came on against Spurs he seemed to be a completely different player than before i.e. he had a clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. Let's hope this continues and he starts challenging for a starting place as opposed to the subs bench.

By the way where is Gavilan?

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Gavilan was in the bar too and I also bumped into him in the gents but I'm sure you don't want to know about that. Er, not that, you understand. He's recovering from a break (arm methinks) but didn't look to be suffering while he was doing his thing in the gents (brushing his hair back) with plenty of free arm movement. I guess he should be back training soon, if not now. As long as he doesn't have to face Andy Griffin on the training pitch, he should be OK ;-)

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

The performance of the front lads gives me great hope: we really don't seem to be that far away from having at least four good quality forwards, having had only one until this season.

Bit sad about Griff being injured again. It'll be interesting to see if he's fit by Saturday and whether he or Barton will be on the bench...

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

I wonder if Griffin is really this injury prone, or if it's down to lack of conditioning? I fear the latter, but then it begs the question...is he not making the effort or is it our training methods? Bit worrying as he seems destined to never get the run he needs to claim a regular start in the first team at this rate.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Griff's injury was self-inflicted. He made a rash sliding, last-ditched attempt and over-stretched himself. A bit more discipline would have avoided this injury. Recognising a level crossing (aka Railroad Crossing) would have avoided the one to his back.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Ah, so we should be more worried about his mental condition, than his physical. ;-)

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001