For the love of an apple terrine

A new reason for missing a football match has been added to the list: 

a desire not to ruin an apple terrine. Doesn’t sound compelling, does it ? 

But give me a bit of leeway here. Having landed in Lyon late on New 

Year’s Day for a minimum three-months stay my partner Suzanne and I 

are in the early phases of establishing a pattern of living together (this 

process so far seems to comprise her telling me that some habits which 

have gone unremarked for almost 20 years are apparently not 

acceptable for outright cohabitation and me apparently going out of my 

way to difficult, something I normally manage with ease). So when 

Suzanne informed me about an hour before the 8pm kick-off that her 

lovingly-crafted first attempt at an apple terrine could be endangered by 

us going to the game discretion became the better part of valour. 

If truth be told I was less than totally committed to the game – and a little 

more conviction on my part and Suzanne would have risked an 

extended break between the part where the ever-compressing apple and 

caramel/calvados concoction goes from being stuck in a sort of bain 

marie to being put in the oven. I was feeling lazy (a natural state but 

encouraged by still getting over one of those bloody annoying colds that 

won’t disappear), there was a good Crozes-Hermitage ready and waiting, 

while going to the game would have meant bolting down a very nice 

poultry dish (I still don’t know exactly what it was as Suzanne could only 

describe it as ‘the wife of the duck’) rather than treating it with the respect 

it deserved.  

So we passed on Duchere’s potentially important home game against the 

splendidly named Red Star (France’s second-oldest football club, 

founded by Jules Rimet). Potentially important because going into the 

match La Duch sat in eighth place in France’s National (third division), 

really in need of a win against a better placed rival to get involved in the 

promotion race. It’s been a decent start to the season for a side still 

adjusting to life in a national league and in terms of support base 

punching well above its weight (Saturday’s attractive fixture was played 

out in front of 377 spectators). But unlike last season the division is quite 

stretched out, with what look like some strong sides at the top (including 

Red Star, relegated last season from the second tier). For their part Red 

Star were looking for a win to enhance their promotion prospects, no 

doubt keen to get back up at the first attempt. 

From the highlights of the game it would appear the first half was a very 

dull affair (one shot each deemed worthy of showing, both tame efforts). 

But it perked up in the second, with Duchere seemingly having the best 

of it based on chances. This seemed the case right to the end, when in 

stoppage time Red Star had a player sent off (seems he was given a 

yellow for holding onto the ball to delay a restart then must have called 

the ref a Trump/Duchatelet as another followed), Duchere went up the 

other end and a shot just past the post proved the final kick. 

A 0-0 draw sees Duchere either stay eighth or edge up to seventh, 

depending on which site you look at. Basically with 21 points from 16 

games (and a record of won five, drawn six, lost five) they are joint sixth 

with Pau and Dunkerque. But the top three (there are two automatic 

promotion spots and a play-off for the team ending third) are looking 

solid : Rodez on 31 points (despite having lost their last game, at home 

to Marseilles Consolat), Red Star and Grenoble both on 28 points. This 

division does seem to ebb and flow, but it’s going to take a storming 

second half of the season and a sustained run of good results for 

Duchere to launch a real promotion bid and get into the top three. A 

late winner on Friday could have made all the difference, but wasn’t to be. 

Progress will nevertheless be monitored - and reported on. Next up on 

Friday they travel to Pau, which might be stretching it as far as being 

there is concerned. A week later and it should be at home to relegation-

threatened Les Herbiers. Not quite the glamour of a match against Red 

Star (the town is apparently twinned with Newtown in Wales and it’s 

claim to fame is hosting an annual bicycle time trial), but I’ve pencilled 

that one in. 

In the interim, having seen the back of Pinocchio we wait impatiently 

for concrete takeover news. The signs are encouraging : Meire not 

being replaced, Duchatelet seemingly so self-deluded that he was 

reportedly ‘stunned’ by her jumping ship, plus his evident focus away 

from January window signings, and if the reports are to be believed 

Robinson calling Duchatelet what we have known him to be for some 

time now – and not being shown the door. All of this smacks of a man 

ready to walk away, presumably if his inflated pride can be sufficiently 

assuaged by the price. That what he does is not driven by the best 

interests of the club, something now apparent to Robinson, will be his 

legacy, right to the end. That only underlines how inadequate a 

custodian of our club he has shown himself to be, whether or not he 

sells up in the near future.