Savage Blow

I arríved in Prague at 3.15 on Saturday afternoon, and the first thing I did was switch on my mobile: once I was in the terminal building, of course. One down, but still loads of time to equalise and then ram home 4 or 5 in the 2nd half. Checked 5 minutes later to see if we had equalised. Disaster: internet access issues. It took a text message from a friend in Portugal, to me in Prague, to let me know that Homer had struck again at Ochilview. 2 down at half time. I guessed that that was that, and headed off to the Slavia Prague: Brno match. It cost me £2 to get in. A beer cost me 25p. The match programme was free and the big sausage thing was only 50p. The whole experience was a bit surreal. For my paltry entrance fee I got a decent game of football which Slavia won one:nil, but also thrown in was the obligatory police brutality and one of the most unusual sights I have ever seen at a football game. The 100 or so Brno fans at the other end of the ground stripped off their top halfs, and then spread themselves around the away end before starting some quite weird synchronised keep fit routine, complete with star jumps. As for Smicer, he was subbed. Maybe Campbell Money should invite him back to the UK to help out our flagging midfield. I got back to the hotel and quickly checked ceefax to see if we had pulled off a miraculous fightback. The TV signal was not the best so the text on the screen was a bit scrambled but it was possible to guess at most of the scores. As for our game, both team names were missing from the screen and the only clue as to what the final result might have been was "Savage 87". My worst fear. This time last year we lost 5-0 in the most embarrassing performance I have ever seen from a Stenhousemuir team. We then went on to have a completely forgettable season. Hopefully this is not the sign of things to come. Last season we lost too many games at home, with quite insipid performances, but Money was given the benefit of the doubt on the basis that it was not "his team". It is now very much his team, and for everyones sake I hope this is just a minor blip and that we will get back to winning ways next week. Otherwise, I think we all know what will happen next. Another dismal season like last season would seriously hamper all the good work the club has done attracting young fans to the club and generally improving the general atmosphere about the place. It had better not all be in vain, for Campbell, and the players sakes.