10th February 2018 - Jarrow Roofing (h)

La Roi a parti! J'étais très triste! Oh lala, comment peux-je continuer? Au revoir et Merci Thibault. 

Suffice to say I was gutted, the French maestro would no longer be gracing the bowling green pitch that is Hillheads in a Bay shirt. No more Gallic overhead kicks to enjoy. The travelling was getting to him so now we have to move on: I need to move on.
As a tribute to him, here is his last piece of overhead brilliance at Hillheads...

My first job was to resign from Flag Club, although I will serve as an honourary president: even though I will no longer be regularly erecting my flag! My attention can now be totally focussed on videoing all the Bay goal action...of which I was hoping for plenty against third from bottom Jarrow. I was to be slightly disappointed on that front.


An hour before kick off, I was joined by the inimitable Silly Andrew:

                                               Ready for the Lens game! courtesy of Silly Videos

 We watched the first half of the Derby du Nord: Lens v Valenciennes before setting off to enjoy the entertainment at Hillheads.

A delayed departure thanks to these lovely ladies!
courtesy of Silly Photography

 Slightly delayed by Andrew's insistence on feeding my chickens first, we arrived just in time to see Dennis Knight head Jarrow ahead after three minutes. Considering Lens were losing 1-0 when we left home, this was not promising to be a good afternoon. Things went from bad to worse seven minutes later when Liam Anderson put the Roofers 2-0 up. Me and football were not getting on very well!
Standing with the battling duo Bob and Moira, we were delighted to be celebrating six minutes when Liam the Brookster drove home via the remaining blades of grass left in the penalty area.

Despite the goal, the lads were struggling to make more of an impact on the game and sadly, it was former Bay midfield supremo, Lee Kerr who was running things for Jarrow like a majestic matador in a bog.
Silly Andrew became distracted:

And so did I:

If the match isn't up to scratch you can always read the programme!
courtesy of Silly Photography

A halftime tea with a Cola bottle to dunk was needed.

It was good to see that despite my tricoleur's absence, Pogo Patterson was still flying his flags. Disappointingly, the other lads were missing for their second home match in a row. Serious words will be forthcoming...maybe.
The lads had probably had the right idea staying away as the bald maestro Kerr put the Roofers 3-1 ahead. This prompted a domestic argument between Bob and Moira. Bob complaining about the entertainment and Moira telling him he could go home if he wanted but he'd still have to come back to pick her up cause she wasn't leaving. GO MOIRA!
At the other end, Flynn was onhand to beat another Jarrow shot away. This was threatening to get embarrassing. That was until The Raven replaced Brooksy. Swooping onto a Cornish corner, Peter the Raven from the Hill's header looped over the Jarrow keeper. 3-2 and game on!

Bob was happy again and I began singing, admittedly quite quietly and to myself: "We're going to win 4-3.
For the last 20 minutes, the lads played some great football but we didn't win...or even draw 3-3. Another defeat 4-2 so Bob left muttering. Hopefully I'll see Bob and Moira on Tuesday. The pitch had cut up badly after all the winter weather but as I was informed, the away pitches the lads have won on recently have been just as bad. Volunteers were asked for, the following day,  to help put divots back in the pitch (apologies I forgot), so let's hope there will be an improvement on Tuesday night.

The real reason for the state of the pitch....they come out when no-one is looking!