Town superfan Karl Fuller tells the story of an enjoyable game at Portman Road, a cursed 20p piece and the exciting arrival of Ben Folami
I finished last week’s column stating that the last seven games of this season were going to be pure torture – I was actually wrong.
I quite enjoyed the Millwall game and came home actually looking forward to sitting down and writing a column about an entertaining afternoon for a change at Portman Road and then remembered it was Monday and true to form, I now write following a return to normal service that is a Saturday afternoon defeat on the back of another abject performance.
Just like the Newcastle home game last season and the Sunderland home game earlier this season, when an exciting game does show itself on the very rare occasion, it chooses not to be on a Saturday.
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The Millwall game had its moments of course that were not particularly enjoyable but in the main, it was better than what we’ve become accustomed to.
We could have scored twice in the first 15 minutes before Millwall took hold of the game and went on to take the lead.
Now, at this point, I need to tell you about the first of two happenings that occurred on Monday afternoon.
I travelled to the game with my mate Kevin who stands (OK, I know, that should read ‘sits’) about halfway back in the middle of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand, lower tier behind the goal.
This vantage point is far superior to where I sit, usually with my mate Jason, in row B to the left of the goal.
As Jason was absent on Monday, I thought I would stand with Kevin and enjoy a better view for the day and also what turned out to be in the end, a far better atmosphere than what I usually experience too.
I digress, the last time I stood in this position with Kevin was the Sheffield United cup game and during the first-half of that game, I decided to visit the toilet during which time, Sheffield United scored.
After a couple of ciders again on Monday, a repeat of the urge to visit the loo struck during the first-half and Kevin commented that if I went, Millwall were bound to score.
Of course they duly did and needless to say I got a bit of a look, upon returning to my seat.
I tried to argue that it wasn’t really my fault and it was just a coincidence.
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However, I am a superstitious sort and I can reveal why Town finally managed to score a home goal too.
Going back to that Sheffield United cup game. Kevin picked up an unusual-looking 20p coin in the car park outside the ground and when I looked at it, it was a coin from Jersey.
I put that in my coat pocket citing that it might be a lucky coin and that coin remained in the same coat pocket that I was to wear for six games in a row without us scoring.
Last week, I said to Kevin that the consistent in the run of goalless games was this cursed 20p and felt that I needed to return it where it was found to rid us of the bad luck of not scoring.
So I threw it back into the car park and what do you know? We scored not one but two goals.
The curse of the 20p was cracked.
Back to the game and the arrival of Ben Folami for the second-half lifted us all.
A home-grown youngster for us to get behind and it was just the type of appearance that we’ve been crying out for.
The game became end-to-end with both sides going for it.
We had Bart to thank for so many great saves in the end to gain a point but it meant that coming out of the ground, we were able to talk about something remotely exciting for a change.
Normal service, however, was resumed at Brentford!
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