Down, But Not Out

Many questions and not a whole lot of answers seems to have been a theme over the course of the weekend.

There is no tip toeing around the fact that the Bandits simply weren’t good enough at the weekend as the Monarchs ran rampant at Shielfield Park. But realistically what does me tearing strips off the guys here on the clubs official website actually achieve?

Nothing, zero, nada, heehaw, diddly squat.

Yes I could criticise but I know that I couldn’t do any better a job myself so there really isn’t much point. What I will say is that I absolutely get the frustration, there was nobody more frustrated than me as I walked out of  Shielfield on Saturday night.

Dejected, defeated and deflated just about sums it up.

I had a few people come up to me and ask what I was saying about the defeat and what I was going to write and in all honesty I wasn’t really sure. To be fair to all of these people, none of them were asking me in a sarcastic or snarly way, I think they were genuinely interested.

One particular gentleman did ask me about it and said he was a regular reader of my ramblings and would be waiting with great interest. To that man I thank you for that, in all honesty that was one of the highlights of my Saturday night.

Of course I think what made Saturday’s heavy home defeat all the  tougher to take was that it was against the Monarchs as those are always tough to take irrespective of the margin. On top of that the Bandits had put in such a plucky display at Armadale the night before, meaning there was a genuine belief that we might just sneak a win on home shale.

The story of the season so far has been one where we have largely punched above our weight on the road and before the pitchforks are dusted off, hear me out.

We arguably should have got a point at Leicester, Poole and Edinburgh when we probably had no right to on paper.

We arguably should have won at Plymouth only for it to all go a little bit Pete Tong in the final few heats. That happens, more than once, just ask Glasgow.

We actually did get a point at Scunthorpe which is more than anyone else has managed so far and by all accounts on another given night we may even have sneaked the win.

Those are all encouraging signs, and while it is very much a case of plenty of effort for little reward and that doesn’t put points on the board and trophies in the cabinet, there are positives to come out of 2021 so far.

Leon Flint has exceeded all expectations and taken his career to the next level while Dany Gappmaier has, for the most part, been one of our more consistent performers of the season and as such these guys don’t deserve much in the way of criticism in my opinion. Then of course there is the Bullets and Academy sides who have seen riders make rapid progress too, all in the name of securing the future of Berwick Speedway.

I realise this might not be of much consolation to some and that arguably home results is the bread and butter of any speedway team, and yes we should be doing better than we are. I know it, you know it, the team know it and Patsy Kensit too.

Speedway NEEDS fans and relies on throughput at the gate in order to survive, unlike more “elite” sports who are fortunate enough to survive whether a single ticket is sold or not.

This isn’t our first defeat, it won’t be our last. We will bounce back and soon enough the hurt of it will fade away into obscurity.

In the mean time I’m certainly not going to let it derail my passion that I have for this club. I’ll still be here week in and week out and I know that many of you will be too.

What I won’t be doing is thieving, taking drugs on TV, beating up the wife, looting or destroying the properties of others in order to take out my frustrations.

Lets leave that for the classless supporters of other sports shall we?

Of course if you wish to agree, or disagree with the Mythman, have an idea for a feature, or you simply want to chew the fat over all things speedway, you can email me jbspeedwaymedia@hotmail.com or get in touch via the JB Speedway Media Facebook page. If your compliments, or indeed gripes can be contained to limited characters, you can send me a tweet @Mythman666.

Until next time…and there will be a next time.
Right I’ll hae’tae gan
Mythman