{"id":6687,"date":"2022-09-25T12:52:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T11:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6687"},"modified":"2022-09-30T11:19:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T10:19:42","slug":"beth-meads-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6687","title":{"rendered":"Beth Mead’s on Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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image courtesy of the author<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was a few weeks ago that the four of us, me, my son, wife and daughter were sitting in our living room watching the Lionesses win the Euros. The following day, Arsenal women were advertising their games at the Emirates in the WSL (Women\u2019s Super League). I noticed that the game against Spurs was on the middle weekend of the interlull. Naturally my son was up for it, but to my delight so were my wife and daughter. Brought up in an Arsenal household, they \u201cgot it\u201d but regarded going to games as something the lads did (I tried, my daughter was even a mascot against AC Milan, but once she hit teenage the interest waned). But they were up for this. Tickets were easily obtained (we even got our own North Bank seats plus the two next to them) and remarkably cheap, \u00a312 for adults and \u00a36 for concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, on a delightful early autumn day we found ourselves taking the familiar route to the Emirates. Holloway Road seemed a bit different, fewer replica shirts, the Ten Pins and The Tollington looked noticeably less crowded than usual. Parked up in the usual spot we strolled the ten minutes to the stadium. On the concourse the mix was apparent. Here the replica shirts boasted female names (Mead, Leah etc) and were sported by women and girls. Many family groups were apparent. The queues to get in were pretty lengthy and a bit slow, but we got there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is usual after the long drive, we scattered for a prematch pee. However while the gents were virtually deserted, the ladies, my wife and daughter told me, were very crowded. Into the stadium and the familiar walk down to Block 7, row 9. None of my normal North Bank buddies were there (I later found out that many of them were in the stadium but had taken the opportunity to watch from a different vantage point. Me I\u2019m just a stick in the mud). Again there were lots of family groups, many of the Mums and Dads with quite young children, usually daughters. Lots of young women, either in groups, or with boyfriends. Many of them, I\u2019m guessing, were regulars, judging by their enthusiasm and knowledge of the team. Oh and pizza. The pizza outlet at the ground must have made an absolute killing by the number of people going to their seats carrying pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the prematch slot, there was a lovely tribute to Maria Petri, a loyal follower of the Women\u2019s team as well as the Men. This was followed by the chorus of North London Forever that has become a regular at the men\u2019s matches. The fact that we had many irregulars with us was apparent by the fact that, around us at least, only my son and I knew the words. No matter. The sun was shining, the atmosphere was buzzing and we were about to watch The Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So before I get to the football what was the atmosphere like? Well you won\u2019t be surprised to hear that it was different. There were 53,000 tickets sold, but evidently 47,000 turned up. For some obscure reason, the front two rows of the lower tier were left deliberately empty. We all sat down, which we hardly ever do in the North Bank (except maybe for league cup games when again the very cheap prices mean many children around). There was virtually no swearing. There were songs but they tended to be generic (Arsenal, Arsenal) rather than player focused. There were a couple of choruses of \u201cstand up if you hate Tottenham\u201d but they soon fizzled out. But it wasn\u2019t quiet. Lots of applause and appreciation. The young woman in front of me was clearly emulating Maria because every now and again she would come out with a huge shout of LEAH! She also celebrated the goals very enthusiastically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what was the football like? Arsenal were excellent, showing top level ball control skills, playing incisive passes inside and outside the full back and very, very quick. We played out nicely from the back and were soon 1-0 up, Beth Mead recovering her own blocked shot and firing in an unstoppable rocket into the top right corner of the goal. We pressed like crazy and this paid off later in the first half as Spurs lost control just outside their own penalty area. Caitlin Foord intercepted and calmly played in Viv Miedema who, one on one with the keeper, slipped it past her and into the corner of the net. As the first half developed, we could have had four or five more, but showed an Arsenal like tendency to want to walk the ball in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half time. 2-0. More pizza. More queues for the ladies (I\u2019m told).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started the second half as we had ended the first. Total domination. We won a corner on our right at the Clock End. A good high cross came in and Rafaelle Souza, our Brazilian right back, rose (I am contractually obliged to write \u201clike a salmon\u201d) and channelled her inner Bacary Sagna by thumping a glorious header into the Spurs net. Finally, for the scoring, Steph Catley clipped in a lovely ball for Miedema to head in. That was about that. Mead and Miedema came off to standing ovations. The game drifted a bit. But 4-0 was as comprehensive as it could be.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the problems with the WSL is that it is uneven in quality. The top four sides (Arsenal, Chelsea, City and United) are head and shoulders above the other teams in the league and it showed here. But Arsenal were brilliant. They only lost the league by one point to Chelsea last year. They have a difficult away game against Ajax mid week in the Champions League, having drawn the first home leg 2-2. But, like the Men\u2019s team, they are great to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final whistle went. The PA cranked up with Beth Mead\u2019s on fire, followed by (of course) Sweet Caroline. The fans loved it. There was literally dancing in the aisles. The woman in front of me did her best Shakira impersonation. More power to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a great day out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a few weeks ago that the four of us, me, my son, wife and daughter were sitting in our living room watching the Lionesses win the Euros. The following day, Arsenal women were advertising their games at the Emirates in the WSL (Women\u2019s Super League). I noticed that the game against Spurs was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6687"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6702,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions\/6702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}