Karma chameleons – North Macedonia 1 Wales 1
At 11.30pm I bumped into Porthmadog man about town Tommie Collins under the monstrous statue of Alexander the Great (see above) and said I thought we’d played well.
A not untypical torrent of, er, extreme disagreement came back my way and Tommie – ruddy about the face – got even ruddier it seemed in the dark, and strode off. Nice off-pink jacket by the way, Mr Collins, where can I get one?
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps I was. Perhaps we were both right.
But, given the catastrophe a week earlier, it seems churlish/pedantic to get too much of a hump at what might have been the worst Cymru football fiasco since the last time we played here, in 2013.
So let’s just be grateful for small mercies. There was an element of karma after the 2-1 defeat back in 2013, which upset me.
As per the above picture, the 59 people who died in the Kochani nightclub fire in mid-March were granted the courtesy of a minute’s silence before kick-off.
The game functioned as part tribute to the fire victims and you could sense the locals’ half-interest in the game.
It was an event to be endured rather than enjoyed.
Depending on your point of view it may have been a good first half performance. Or maybe not. It felt like plucky efforts from 15 to 20 years ago that ended in a hard luck story.
Second half was more even. On 59 minutes, everyone clapped the full minute as a tribute to those who died.
If you have any spare denarii, donate to the North Macedonia disaster appeal here:
https://supportkocani.com/?lang=en
Wonderful Welsh fans in Skopje raised £1,100 for families affected by the fire.
Skopje is full of statues. Most of them so big you wonder if they’re trying to block out the sky. Bought as a job lot perhaps? Buy this lot and I’ll throw in an Alexander the Great, guv.
The net effect is bombastic, a bit too look-at-me, mum. It’s the Balkans, so all men too apart from, of course, Mother Teresa. She also features here, top left.
So, entirely appropriate, then, that we brought our own over.
Name of Kieffer Moore, 9ft 52ins, who is I’m sure bigger than most Skopje statuary. When he retires we should rustle up a plinth for him somewhere in Wales.
He came on because it was very clear he would have to, just to fit in with the scenery.
Let’s gloss over Joe Allen apart from saying that Sheehan was playing well so not sure why he came off.
But the home goal cheered the mourning Macedonians up, so not all bad when you step back and look at it.
And the chameleonesque nature of the current squad saved a point.
Neat possession and control was ditched for an up and under.
Moore won a header, a defender sliced and Brooks, I’d liked to say pounced, but it was more of-a dodgy schoolyard poke that crawled over the line.
Caveman football, as pioneered, probably, by Stone Age teams, wins a point.
Great view here from the terrace:
Phoo!
Ugly and beautiful at the same time. Fans went crazy and, from my spot down in the front row, it looked like the players went even crazier. Impressive. That never used to happen back in the day, mainly because we never used to score.
Maybe we played well, maybe we didn’t.
LAs Mr Collins, in his only printable comment to me on the day, said: ‘Got out of jail there.’
Didn’t we just?