Every hot streak comes to an end. One day, the sun will turn into a red giant, oceans will be brought to the boil and Earth will cop the big one as the sun dips out of hydrogen and burns in enlarged form for a further billion years before the final Student Loans Company statement is extinguished and their officials throw in the towel, watching on like honorary pagans. As Solomon is said to have noted, ‘There’s a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to fuck up against Theale’ (hopefully a time to do them over too). This was all about the breaking down and the plucking up. Without being too specific, it is hard to find words to capture the ineptitude of the performance.
A goal was conceded after 1.3 seconds, as usual. And they just kept on coming. My mood darkened irretrievably after the 6th in 5 minutes while other parents were of the persuasion that ‘it’s just a bit of fun, though, isn’t it?’ They are entitled to their opinion. I ventured into the Theale area to gauge the mood of their usually vociferous fans and all I heard was a sheepish ‘I hate to see a team get battered like this.’ That summed up the feeling that lingered and which one tried desperately not to project on to the youngster at the end as we headed straight for the vending machines.
Wilderspool Causeway 
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