Football overshadowed by the loss of a legend

Saturday was match day. After the usual dose of Football Focus, which featured Speed as a guest presenter, it was off to Aggborough for Harriers versus Cambridge United.

The encounter turned out to be a game of two halves. Tony Breeden’s fine penalty save from Ashley Carew was the highlight of a scrappy first 45 minutes that saw both sides cancel each other out. Steve Guinan’s outrageous attempt to lob goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt, which cannoned back off the crossbar, was the only other thing of note.

My personal highlight came when a supporter in the main stand jumped out of his seat and dived at full stretch to his right to prevent the ball, which was travelling at a fair speed, hurtling into an elderly lady. Something I’m sure Breeden himself would have being proud of.

When the whistle blew to signal halftime most people in the crowd had already left to beat the queues at the refreshment bar. No one could have predicted what a thrilling second period was in store.

It really was end-to-end stuff filled with goal mouth scrambles and last ditch tackles. Testament to the drama on the field was the fact that hardly anyone in the ground made an early dash for the exit. As goalless draws go it turned out to be a gripping contest.

Lee Hendrie was introduced on the hour mark for his first appearance in a red shirt and he made quite an impression. Parading up and down the right flank his movement and vision caused the Cambridge defence a number of problems.

He linked up particularly well with Lee Vaughan on a several occasions – something which could prove to be a promising partnership. A couple of times when Vaughan was in possession the former Aston Villa man would drop deep, pulling his marker out of position, which in turn provided the ever willing Jamille Matt with space to run into. This combination play created a couple of decent goal scoring opportunities and is something that will definitely work against any opposition.

Harriers again hit the woodwork with twenty minutes left on the clock. This time Callum Gittings rose well but saw his header come back off the angle of post and crossbar. You got the feeling that it was one of those days where it wasn’t meant to be.

Still, it was a hard earned point against a well drilled team that will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season and it keeps the club in contention for those play-off places.

After the compulsory viewing of Match of the Day on Saturday evening I awoke the next day to the shocking news of Gary Speed’s death.

I am still in a state of sheer astonishment and disbelief like the rest of the football world. It is hard to take in, let alone comprehend. I’ve not seen such genuine sadness since the passing of the late great, Sir Bobby Robson.

Something of this magnitude puts it into perspective that football isn’t really that important. Tributes poured in for the Wales manager as the beautiful game and beyond mourned his passing. The game between Swansea City and Aston Villa went ahead just hours after the news broke with the Liberty Stadium set to observe a minutes silence in memory of Speed. This minutes silence turned into a minutes applause – somewhat fitting for such a footballing gentleman.

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