Ritchie hits a pearler

There was one point of Saturday that simply could not have gone any better. It was in the 84th minute when Matt Ritchie was holding his pre-free kick huddle and wondering if this was the moment when he could transform the game and get AFCB in front with just minutes of the game to play. 

Sheffield Wednesday had already had a similar free kick at the other end and had hit the woodwork. Whether the Owls' supporters were nervous about what AFCB could do from their I don't know but fans around me in AFCB's end where saying who is going to take it? Yann Kermorgant was off the pitch and he had scored i the last such position against Brighton. Some fans had clearly forgotten that Matt Ritchie can strike the ball supremely well and, when Andrew Surman rolled the ball towards him, I was already looking at the top corner to see if Matt was able to hit it. Sure enough the ball flew beautifully over the wall and swung away from Chris Kirkland right into the top left hand corner of the goal.

Matt ison target again and is up to 12 goals.

It was a late contender for goal of the season and the joy on Matt's face was just tremendous. I wanted to run down and give him a hug but I can be reserved at some moments unlike a few others who dashed on to get near the winger from the Steve Fletcher stand only to be embraced by a brace of eagerly awaiting stewards who were ready to protect the players. It didn't quell the enthusiasm though for the goal as Matt Ritchie was revving things up by whooping, hollering and shouting in sheer delight at what he had done.

That was probably the best part of the season for me and perhaps many others at the time and yet it was to be followed by one of the worst moments only a few minutes later. Whatever the outcome of this season it is apparent that AFCB has some truly marvellous players now who can do some fantastic things on the pitch and I just hope they get to show their talent off in the top tier of English football, because they are good enough now.