Two Halves

Bellowing instructions

From the touchline, that's my dad

Purple in the face

Getting really mad

"Man on, man on"

An empty stadium yells, "Man on"

Come on, come on

The cross goes sailing wildly over the heads

Of everyone

"Stop fannying around

Keep it nice and simple

You're not Lionel Messi

Just pass the bloody ball"

"Man on, man on"

An empty stadium yells, "Man on"

Come on, come on

The cross goes sailing wildly over the heads

Of everyone

Perhaps we were expecting

This to be a walk in the park

But these bastards from King's Priory

Are kicking lumps out of us

"Man on, man on"

An empty stadium yells, "Man on"

Come on, come on

The cross goes sailing wildly over the heads

Their left back slips taking a freekick

It trickles over the mud straight to me

In desperation he scrambles and slides

I leap the flailing leg and dink it

Over the sprawled body

Of the goalie

The net is gaping

The ball takes a bobble

I slice wide of the mark

Everything goes quiet

Staring into the red dark of my palms

They launch a long ball into our box

Suddenly we find ourselves

With a corner

To defend

I am on the near post

Somehow it gets bundled underneath my feet

At the final whistle

I am inconsolable

Man on, man on

I reckon Dad is really disappointed with me

Come on, come on

He tries his best to not show how he really feels

In the car home he says, "Dust yourself down

Move on to next week's game

Shall we pick up a Chinese or would you rather fish and chips?"