Tomorrow evening we play our first ever match in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy (ex Freight Rover, Sherpa Vans, Leyland DAF, Autoglass, Auto Windscreens. LDV Vans etc) when we entertain Barnet at the Valley. I have never seen Johnstone's paint in the shops, although I have to profess to never having gone looking for it. I am a Dulux man myself but will make an effort next time around and see if I can find any and if it's any good. I hope it's not cheap paint because that is a complete waste of money in my opinion as it requires three times the work and still looks terrible.Having received a bye into the second round (along with 15 other clubs), we now face the hurdle to get through to the last 16 having joined the winners from the sixteen first round matches. If my sums are right, that means we are only four opponents from Wembley. I say that because the semi-final is a two-legged affair, so it's actually five games. The competition is broken into four regional areas to limit the travelling so we know who our opponents are likely to be if we progress. The other matches from our group tomorrow are;
MK Dons v Southend United
Leyton Orient v Brighton & Hove Albion
Gillingham v Norwich City
Crowds for this competition are usually very small, so it will be interesting to see how many Addicks fans come out on a dark, wet evening for an inferior cup competition when we have three home games coming up. A worry is the fact that some clubs have recorded lowest ever gates in this competition e.g. Forest managed only 2013 for a tie against Brentford in 2006 and some of the attendances at smaller clubs have dipped to Scottish third division levels of 400-odd. I am guessing we will do well to attract 5,000 and that accurately counting the number of visiting fans in the Jimmy Seed might be possible. Things will pick up though if we progress. A record 80, 841 saw Wolves play Burnley in the '88 final!
The ruling that sides must pick 6 of their players with the most league appearances, means that it should be a fairly competitive fixture, although it might be taken more seriously by our League Two opponents who beat a Charlton XI pre-season. I really do hope we have a go. We can use it to blood one or two more youngsters and give emerging players more experience.
Veering off topic possibly, but FYI Johnstone's paint is mostly used by the trade so you'll need to visit a builder's merchant, it's not much sold in retail DIY outlets.
ReplyDeleteBlogging genius that first paragraph - love it.
ReplyDeleteWasted on some people!
ReplyDeleteYou might think (if going with a paint theme) that The Little Greene Paint Company would be a good sponsor! ;)
ReplyDelete