Humdrum at Highbury

Fleetwood Town (A) - League 2 - 18th April 2025

Don’t worry folks, this won’t take long. I’m scribing this after my Easter fish and chips and prior to guzzling some ale houses of Morecambe. Brevity is all of our friend, going by the standard of the game at Highbury this afternoon.

Pre-match the angle for a bit of interest was the reunion with Pete Wild – in his interview he rightly set out his credentials having raised us up from the deadmen of League 2 and claimed he’d signed 85% of our quality players. Him taking responsibility for Proctor, Garner et al presumably failed to make the final edit.

So, to Fleetwood for another dead rubber. Whilst the trains and coaches headed to Blackpool for pre match fun in the Fylde coast drizzle I had a late start and arrived at the ground with just enough time for a pre match pint in the club bar. You can always tell how fierce a rivalry is by the warmth of the welcome. It was indifference all round and quite right too. We’re more focused on our rivals further up the Lancashire coast and our friends in the North. Fleetwood’s nemesis going forward is more likely to be the Proceeds of Crime Act.

c800 Bluebirds took their places behind the goal and in the stands, peering through the drizzle as the game kicked off and….well, bugger all happened really. First half, Fleetwood had a long range shot, Stanway saved and Devonport missed the follow up. And that was it. We just stood around, waiting for Codot.

To be fair, the second half was more lively but still short on quality. Fair play to Whing in his post-match for not seeking to sugarcoat it – it was a tough watch but nowhere near as tough as, say, Crewe (a). 6 unbeaten on the road and another clean sheet. Progress.

Anyway, back to the match and my notes show that the 13 minutes from minute 50 had the most action.

50 – Stramash in our area

51 – Cod header goes close

52 – Jackson wastes a breakaway

53 – Clever chip from Mahoney, comes to nowt

56 – Jackson hits the bar

63 – Whitfield cross – a falling Pressley fails to put it away

18.15 – fish, chips, peas and gravy for me.

And that was it really. The game ended about a minute early but I don’t think anyone was complaining too loudly. The players got a round of applause and the departing Wild and Temple also got an ovation. Fair enough, I reckon.

On we go to Tranmere at home then and after a few weeks of affecting the top of the league we can make a difference at the bottom. I know what outcome I want.