One of my best friends once said to me “I love football. I just love talking about football”. The phrase has proved a massive hit for banter purposes and barely a week goes by where he isn’t reminded of his heartfelt comments. It came back to haunt him one Sunday when he chose to watch a David Attenborough documentary over Match of the Day 2. I just hope you love reading about football as much as he loves talking about football, otherwise this blog about Peterborough and the MK Dons could be quite a drag for you.
My dad is responsible for many things, and the main one (behind him being partly responsible for bringing me into the world) is perhaps getting me into betting on there to be numerous corners in a televised match. You could put your mortgage, or in my case the last £2 in my Bet365 account, on there to be numerous goals in a Peterborough match, so I did. I fancied buying money tonight rather than going to the bank and drawing some out, so I put my £2 on an Over 12 corners and over 3.5 goals double. In hindsight, I should have just gone to the bank. Very upsetting cause it would have won me a massive £7.90.
MK Dons took a 1 goal lead to London Road, after an enthralling 3-2 victory over Peterborough at Stadium:MK on Sunday afternoon. Both teams had every chance of making it to Old Trafford. The standard of play paled into insignificance once former Man Utd player Luke Chadwick appeared on screen however. The man has been off my radar for a while but it is fair to say that he has definitely grown into his looks and has surely done enough to shake off the “ugliest footballer in the world” tag. That’s probably the first and last time I will comment on the way a footballer looks.
Posh captain Grant McCann scored his 12th goal of the season with a cheeky free-kick in the 12th minute; no doubt that is a stat all of footballs statisticians and Guy Mowbray will be salivating over. The 24th minute saw a drop-ball awarded. A drop-ball is where the ref drops the ball and two players kick each other before making contact with the ball. I felt an explanation was necessary as inexplicably this fantastic part of the game has been going the same way as the Snow Leopard in recent years; towards extinction. The 29th minute saw a ball fizzed across the MK Dons box with onrushing Peterborough attackers and Dons defenders. I needed goals and corners, so naturally it missed everyone and went out for a throw-in. To add to my frustration Daniel Powell hit a shot firmly against the Posh bar and I still needed 3 goals. In the 40th minute Craig Mackail-Smith forced a Dons defender into a panicky clearance that went for a corner. Sky commentator Gary Birtles said “That should have been a throw in”. His point was, as he was expressing for each of the 90 minutes, that Craig Mackail-Smith is a very hard-working striker that never lets defenders rest. He supplemented his point when he said “Craig Mackail-Smith doesn’t know the meaning of a lost cause”. I know footballers are stereotypically unintelligent, but I’m sure he does know what a lost cause is, Gary.
The first half finished 1-0 with 9 corners; still work to be done on the bet. If Craig Mackail-Smith wasn’t the best player since Lionel Messi before he scored, he was after. He could do no wrong in the commentators’ eyes, and to be fair to the lad, he is very handy at League 1 level and has had an incredible season. 2 more goals and a few corners needed. In the 63rd minute Lee Tomlin put the Posh 3-0 up with a great strike. My Sky Player then crashed so it was a full 5 minutes later (5 mins spent patting my own back about what a good bet this was turning out to be) that I realised the ref had pulled play back to award a free kick; definition of bad refereeing. Back-patting stopped. The corners requirement of my bet was satisfied in the 81st minute when the 13th corner was awarded. The same couldn’t be said about the goals scenario. Dons keeper David Martin diverted a firm Mackail-Smith shot onto the post in the 88th minute and it was then I turned off the life-support that was keeping my bet alive.
Peterborough held on to win 2-0 and booked their place at Old Trafford to play Huddersfield. The MK Dons were left to rue a first leg in which they should have prevailed by a larger margin. The final will be a great match if both teams play how they have played all season. League 1 this season has been a fantastic league. MK Dons and Bournemouth can be proud of their efforts and look forward to strong campaigns next season. Craig Mackail-Smith will be playing in the Championship next year whether Peterborough win at Old Trafford or not. That’s assuming Gary Birtles doesn’t get on the phone to Pep Guardiola and convince him to take on the Peterborough hitman anyway…
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