Journeyman by Ben Smith

Author:Ben Smith [Ben Smith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781849549264
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2015-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

I was really proud to receive such words from a well-respected national paper, and just as satisfying was the mention of the chance of Gary Peters resigning.

Although a great victory for us, I did feel for some of my old colleagues at Shrewsbury. I looked at their faces and could see the pain in their eyes. Peters had done to some of them what he had done to me: if you continually tell someone they are rubbish at something they are going to believe it in the end, no matter how strong a character they are.

He had a player of the quality of Marc Pugh on the bench whom he should have been building his team around, not marginalising on the sidelines.

Still, I was happy with my own renaissance. If the season had ended then I am convinced I would have romped away with any ‘Player of the Year’ award.

Next up was the FA Cup replay against Tranmere. We got battered and played terribly – especially me. After a virtuoso performance in the first game, I was the opposite this time.

It was a warning and one we did not heed. We went to Saltergate for our next game against Chesterfield live in front of the Sky cameras, but were promptly torn apart. The 4–0 scoreline flattered us.

I was captain and embarrassed by both my own and the team’s play. After about sixty minutes it became clear there was only going to be one winner and I was just desperate to get off the pitch and erase the debacle from my memory.

It wasn’t great preparation for our fourth-round FA Cup match at home to Cardiff City. The game was scheduled to kick off early on a Sunday due to police advice. To ensure we were fully prepared, we stayed in a hotel the night before, but that didn’t quite go according to plan since the hotel dished up our pre-match meal of beans on toast and cereal as our evening meal.

The match itself was a bit of a damp squib. We didn’t play anywhere close to the high level we were capable of and Cardiff had a pretty comfortable afternoon, leading 2–0 until the last fifteen minutes when Theo Robinson scored for us and we pressed for an equaliser. I was relatively happy with my own performance and enjoyed pitting my wits against Stephen McPhail, who I thought was a very elegant, thoughtful midfield player.

We were in a mini-slump and, for the first time that season, we lost three games in a row. The small squad that GT and John put together was starting to feel the effects of a challenging season, especially the younger players who were not used to working towards playing fifty games. We needed a boost and the management did this by signing two strikers on loan: firstly Gary Hooper from Southend United and then Sherjill MacDonald from West Bromwich Albion.

Hoops joined us just before the Barnet game and initially I wondered why we had signed him.

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