3: Southampton 1-2 (A) 8.11

I can barely bring myself to write about this; such is the rawness of the evening. It’s the only defeat on our list, and it reminds me of a story from my childhood.

Indulge me. Back in the early 90s, my friend had an Amiga with Kick Off 2. I’d go and play him, and he’d lie to me, saying he never practised when he did. He’d thrash me, time and time again, relentlessly. One game we played, I was somehow drawing 1-1, and in the dying moments, I deliberately nudged I’m and his joystick (not a euphemism) so he missed a shot. In retaliation, he fouled me cynically in the area, had a man sent off and I scored, winning 2-1. He claims, to this day, it was a moral victory for him.

This was a moral victory for us. There are parallels with my game – the penalty, for one., Sadly, we didn’t get it and therefore didn’t score. If we had, we’d have gone 2-1 up in a game few gave us hope of winning. Paudie O’Connor gave us the lead with a bundled effort, but they levelled through Che Adams’s offside effort. The other parallel with my Kick off 2 anecdote is we’ll still be talking about the injustice 30 years from now.

Still, City were brilliant all evening, and my only surprise is this comes behind two other matches.