Highs and lows with nothing at the end of a Sutton Rainbow.
At the start my journey to Walsall at the start of Stonecot Hill a rainbow. At the end of the match against Walsall no crock of goal for Sutton United. Beaten one nil, a penalty for Walsall in the thirty second minute that was despatched right down the middle beyond our goalkeeper by Walsall's Wilkinson. Who
after scoring bayed Sutton supporters the kind of carry on that does not do the stewards any favours. The penalty decision was to my eyes a bit harsh as it looked like a fair shoulder on the Walsall player but as of time of writing I haven’t seen any replays of the incident. Up to that point neither side had a clear shot on goal. And this situation did not change a great deal in the second half which was marginally but overall, it was a poor game. For those that went to both the epic Wigan game on Tuesday and this game today it must have been a cast of a high to a low. Even before the game one of the heroes of Wigan Bouzanis got injured just before the game started with a calf injury with Stuart Nelson going in goal for Sutton United. The Walsall attack didn’t keep him busy, but Stuart done ok. Later in the game Harry Beautyman went off injured, hamstring I believe. As injuries start to stack up it is with a sense of foreboding, I look ahead to Tuesday's game. But one thing this Sutton United team have is resilience so I should not be surprised if we hit back with a win.
Even though I left Walsall disappointed with the result of the game my time on Walsall wasn’t bad. Not far from the station I headed to the Walsall Art Gallery that’s been open just over twenty years. The gallery itself is a familiar modernist building with some paintings that deserved more time than I could give but a short visit is better than none.
Having been to the gallery the chap at the gallery gift shop recommended a visit to Walsall Leather Museum. To entice me he told me they had one of the Queen of England's leather handbags. Not having a great deal of time before kickoff I passed up the offer. Next stop an ale house of some repute as in it were some of Sutton United's most knowledgeable ale academics. The pub had on its menu a Black Country speciality called Grey Pea Soup, glad I tried it but it's not a dish I would return to with any great enthusiasm.
I heard that twenty pence coins were hurled in the direction of Gandermonium who were on the station nearest the ground. One coin hit a Walsall supporter. Disappointing stuff but as Gandermonium quipped ‘every little help in terms of contributions to their whip’. On the way to Walsall's out of town stadium I came across a Walsall supporter walking to the ground who was friendly and had good words to say about Sutton United. As with some other clubs' fans they would like their club to have a bit of Sutton United soul. He spoke about “Leigh Pomlett has today taken over as Majority Shareholder and Chairman of Walsall Football Club after acquiring a 76% Majority Shareholding from Jeff Bonser.” (Club statement). https://www.saddlers.co.uk/news/2019/july/club-statement-leigh-pomlett/
As my walking companion said
‘Bonser has come from the logistics industry but at Walsall he has failed to deliver”.
Though in one area Walsall did deliver a bit of feel-good football mascot joy. Not as good as our Jenny the Giraffe Walsall's mascot was working hard. Hats off to the teams behind club mascots, effort goes in, and it is not a case of showing up on the day to don the costume. I have no doubt our mascot Jenny is working hard prepping Easter chocolates. At Walsall Swifty combined with the stewards to bring some mascot joy.
Having walked to and from the Walsall ground my step count was looking good. Much needed after week spent sat in front of a laptop for work combined with my other major interest, films, which involves plenty of sitting down in both cinemas and at home. Tomorrow I’ll see the near three-hour film The Batman. There was no superhero to save Sutton with a last gasp equaliser. Though some Joker decided to add only five additional minutes to the game. Though in all honesty more minutes may not have helped matters much. Better days to come.
PS. Walsall has its nice moments as a place to visit.
