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“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
Mr. Fondop Sr arrived in Oldham last week to watch his son play professional football for the first time. Mikey had “been praying and praying, asking God to let me score today”. Apparently, They heard him, and answered his prayers, and what a blessed week it has been.
As a Catholic atheist, I missed the first few minutes of the Yeovil match last Saturday praying to St Anthony of Padua after leaving my phone in the Rocky toilets like a dickhead. Huge thanks to whoever found it, and to the stewards for sorting it out so quickly. If you were the one who handed it in, please get in touch so I can buy you a drink.
The first half, it has to be said, wasn’t exactly heaven sent. We probably had the better of the chances – their keeper saved well from Norwood inside the box, Lundstram probably should have done better after breaking down the middle when he shot straight at the keeper – but it was all a bit meh. I’m told that the commentators on Radio Somerset said that Yeovil were well on top and Charlie Cooper was bossing the midfield? We needed to improve, especially with our passing, but ‘bossing the midfield’? Hmmmm. Nah.
After the break, as Reagan Ogle so accurately put it after the game, “I think it’s safe to say we ran all over them”. Fondop later said that everyone was frustrated at half time, and Mellon told them to just keep going. The passing was far better, we looked more dangerous going forward, and Fondop came agonisingly close early in the second half, when his header bounced over the keeper but just over the bar.
We got our Hollywood ending, though. With less than 10 minutes left, Ogle – who had battled valiantly all afternoon as part of a back three who all impressed – put a belter of a cross into the box, and Fondop rose like the Christ the Redeemer statue over the Corcovado mountain to head it in and win us the game. He ran straight to the Joe Royle stand, where everyone was hugging his jubilant dad and partner; and Joe Garner, the yin to Fondop’s yang, jumped on his head and flattened him.
It all got very silly at the end – two of Yeovil’s players appeared to hit Hudson after taking exception to him holding onto the ball, but Hudson was the only one who got booked? From the resulting corner, Yeovil wrongly thought they should have had a penalty; a brawl broke out in the centre circle, which the referee ran away from in order to send off the Yeovil manager, which, honestly, was excellent banter from him. Fondop managed to not get sent off (which was a relief to those of us who tried and failed to bet on him both scoring and getting a red card), and God’s number 9 lapped up the fully deserved applause at half time. What a lovely day.
Big Mike was understandably emotional after the game and spoke about how he wanted his dad to witness the passion of the fans and how Boundary Park bounces after a goal, and after a win. You did your bit, Mikey, I hope you were happy with how we did ours. He thanked the club and ‘Mr. Chairman’ for looking after his family and making his dad so welcome.
Mellon was about as emotional as you could expect from a dour Scotsman after a league win in September. When asked about Fondop’s goal, he grinned and said “Should have scored more!”. He probably had a point, to be fair. He praised the players’ resilience, he praised the supporters, and he appealed for us to stay positive and keep backing the team: “We’ve lost one in ten!.....Don’t look for the negative out of everything!” When asked for his thoughts ahead of the Forest Green game, he replied “nothing, I’m going to have a glass of wine tonight and enjoy the win”. You and me both, Michael.
Surely it was asking too much for Mikey to score the winning goal in front of his dad again on Tuesday against Forest Green Rovers? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
We came out on the attack from the kick off, and Fondop headed over the bar very early on, but the number of the day was nine. In the ninth minute, Monthe played a peach of a long ball to Norwood, he headed it on to Fondop, and God’s number 9 chested it down with his back to goal and buried it on the volley. “And behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
Special mention must go to the ball boy at the Rocky end, who took great glee in winding up the Yeovil players and whipping up the crowd. It was funny as fuck, but don’t push your luck, son, it turns out that ball boys can get sent off too.
FGR had plenty of chances, Hudson made some great saves, and they missed some sitters. In the second half, we had to ride the storm a bit and Mellon switched the formation to 4-4-2. We defended valiantly, much to Steve Cotterill’s annoyance, and held out for a third win on the bounce and another double-triple-fist-pump. Hallelujah!
Conlon spoke after the match about how pleased he was for Fondop, “because he got a fair bit of stick after the Altrincham game”. He’s answered the doubting Thomases in the best possible way, and on current form, he’s undroppable.
He may have a new strike partner at Ebbsfleet, as we announced the short term loan signing of Jack Stretton from Stockport. Their fans seem to rate him, and Mellon says that Stockport value him highly and want him to play games, so let’s hope this allows us to move on from last season’s loan striker who I guess isn’t coming back after all.
It was one in, one out, with former captain Liam Hogan making the move to our wee neighbours Rochdale. You couldn’t fault his attitude or his effort, age just caught up with him. I wish him well, although, from a selfish point of view, I’d rather he doesn’t turn out to be as good a signing for Rochdale as Mark Shelton has proved to be for Barnet.
Long may this run continue. I know we’ve had false dawns before, but this feels like we’ve turned a corner, and we might be starting to build momentum. Good luck if you’re off to Ebbsfleet today, I hear the pubs are… quite something. May God be with you. KTMFF.
Written by Arlene Finnigan. Photos © Oldham Athletic.
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