MENACE CHUFFED AS THEY STEAM TO ANOTHER AWAY WIN

So, as you may be aware I’m currently on my holiday on the Isle of Wight and today (Monday) we all went to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s Steam Fair at Haven Street. Despite this, I said I would put out the team line up on ‘X’ and try to write a match report based on information sent by club secretary Jackie Phillip via WhatsApp, given that the rest of the social media team (all three of us) were also away!

Now that’s where the first issue arose, no ‘signal’ (thanks EE) and unable to connect to the free WiFi network at the Steam Fair. So there I was sitting aboard the steam train awaiting to leave the platform at 14.35, it then began to pull away and within a minute I had a ‘green signal’, ping, ping, ping, went my phone and in came the team news via WhatsApp. Frantically I prepared a tweet (let’s face it, it will always be known as Twitter and a tweet, whatever Mr Musk calls it) and I managed to put out a couple of ‘tweets’ just in time for kick off.

Within minutes of posting, I had my first update from Jackie, ‘Peckham are losing 1-0 game just started’. Had Peckham ‘come off the rails’ already, I thought? It was probably a ‘bogie’ goal as there’s no way we’d concede otherwise. No way could there have been a ‘signal failure’ within the Peckham defence this early in the game?!

As the train pulled into Wootton Station, another message arrived on WhatsApp, ‘1-1 Carrick equalised’. ‘Yessssss’ I screamed, much to the disgust of my fellow passengers, Peckham were back on ‘track’, it was a classic Adam Carrick ‘superheater header’ from a Raymond Agyemang corner to make the game a ‘level crossing’ on 21 minutes.

Then came the next message not long after, it is now 2-1 Peckham, Tidi Barry ‘shunting’ the ball in from 18 yards after a pass from the right wing. Peckham were now going ‘full steam ahead’ just seven minutes after levelling, but this time, I kept my ‘yessssss’ to an acceptable level. Replying back to Jackie, I then informed her that I would soon be returning to the ‘no signal’ or WiFi zone, but to keep the updates coming.

Still waiting on the stationary train at Wootton Station, a third message arrived, ‘3-1 to Peckham, Raymond Agyemang, penalty’ after a Kent United player handled the ball after an Elton Romaku throw-in to Chris Weber before the offence took place with only a half hour played. What a penalty it was, the full back hitting it with the power of ‘Stephenson’s Rocket’, sending the host’s keeper the wrong way.

Fantastic I thought, Peckham’s ‘steam pressure gauges’ must be on maximum now, hopefully I’d have some ‘signal’ to get me to half time but as the train pulled away and the bars began to drop, another message appeared. ‘4-1 to Peckham, Adam Carrick’ it read, the defender ‘buffering’ the ball home after the Kent United keeper spilt a Raymond Agyemang free kick. The hosts’ ‘couplings’ had obviously now all come undone, and their defence had ‘derailed’, this could be a cricket score, I thought as I lost all ‘signal‘. Having put out as many updates on Twitter as I could I sat back looking forlorn knowing that I would leave the Menace faithful hanging with no further updates. I would now have to wait until I was back at the holiday camp to continue.

By the time we left the Steam Rally the ‘station master’, I mean match official, had long blown his ‘whistle’ for full time but the updates began to come through as I drove away but obviously I was unable to check them. When we finally arrived at the holiday camp, I was able to check my WhatsApp, Peckham were 4-1 to the good at half time and still on ‘track’ for another away win. However, I only received one further message, full time, ‘4-2 to Peckham, Nicky Meta, King of the Match’.

With four league games played, it’s now three away wins on the trot for the Menace, four wins in a row including their cup win on Saturday, 13 goals scored in those four games. Another ‘grate’ win for the Menace, conceding the early goal obviously ‘stoked’ the players up turning their ‘driving wheels’ into action, there was certainly no ‘tender’ treatment for their opponents. Sitting third in the ‘time table’ you wouldn’t sound ‘loco’ in saying that this could be a good season ahead for the Menace and you could ‘choo choo’ choose them as one the favourites for success this campaign.