Stoppage time, injury time, Esquire added time! fergie time, call it what you will, but it definitely made things interesting for me on Saturday. First up we had Darlington, away to the second bottom team in the division, who were coming off a 4-0 loss the week before. 2-0 up after 90minutes and looking very comfortable, still 2-0 up after 94 minutes, cue the collapse and we come away with a 2-2 draw. They're certainly coming up with creative new ways to frustrate the crap out of you.
Later in the evening, and Toronto FC are in their latest win or bust game, trying to keep their desperate playoff hopes alive. After a shambolic first half, they improved in the second, but just like it was back in the first few games of the season, they'd relied on a bit of magic from Dwayne De Rosario to draw them, level, but time was running out and 1 point really wasn't going to be good enough. I was out with friends so wasn't watching the game, but got commentary of the last few minutes over the phone (thanks Roz!). O'Brien White missing another good chance seemed to be the end of our chances, but then De Ro got the ball and attacked and got fouled just on the edge of the area. Playing against his former team, and having scored one free kick goal already, surely he couldn't do it again could he? But he did, and we won. Realistically the playoffs aren't going to happen but it extends hope for a little bit longer, selfishly, that means long enough for at least the game in Seattle I'll be attending. Taking the game on it's own though, an awesome moment, one that really ratcheted up my karaoke enthusiasm for the rest of the night.
Stepping outside of the moment, and though it would be unfair to make any kind of snap judgement about the post Preki regime, the goal just hid the fact that we look like a team that's just starting over, which of course is unfortunately what we are.
A 4-1 thrashing followed by a bad game against a theoretically inferior team, only to be rescued by De Ro heroics. It's like we're back in April. We're a team that frankly isn't good enough and is going to rely on individual inspiration, and it doesn't surprise me that De Ro thrives in that sort of situation, and if we're going to do anything this season, he's going to have to go on an amazing streak. Hopefully next season, whether under Dasovic, or a new coach, we'll be able to move beyond the need for such heroics on a regular basis, much as we did for a couple of months this year before injuries exposed the depth limitations. Hopefully that new coach won't be fired in a panic as soon as things go wrong, I've had enough starting over.
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