If we’re being honest, we didn’t see that coming. After starting a post-mortem of Ireland’s latest attempt to play that egg chasing malarkey with less than the proper number of men on the field, the texts and tweets started rolling in. “Dani Lopez has scored again” – that is one we’ve been all too familiar with while farmed out on loan to the B and C sides down in League Two, but no! This time it applied to the team for whom he signed. Us! That’s who. Stevenage.
For the lad Dani, two hattricks in a week is a special achievement – even if one was for the Football League’s answer to Altrincham (the Bees’ll just never go down). For us, it was the long-desired step change from a shot-shy team into one that was rampant in its disregard for form and league position. If it were a two-legged cup tie, we’d have just pulled off some minor miracle with a 5-4 aggregate scoreline.
From the top to the bottom, Bury are next up. We’re of the opinion that Saturday’s terrific victory is going to be worth little if we don’t follow up in kind tomorrow evening. But we’ll deal with all the pre-match patter tomorrow. For now, we’re eyeing up the goalscorer odds for Bury – Dani Lopez is 13/2 first goalscorer (Bet365), 21/10 anytime goalscorer (Bet365) and 80/1 to make it a hattrick of hattricks (Bet365). Lump on!
And in celebration of Saturday’s festivities, here’s a dance:
