Reading a report on Oxford's draw at Weymouth

'Determined to do exactly what has been asked of him, he painstakingly composes the report in the old style, tackling each detail with such care and aggravating precision that many hours go by before he manages to finish it. As he reads over the results, he is forced to admit that everything seems accurate. But then why does he feel so dissatisfied, so troubled by what he has written? He says to himself: what happened is not really what happened. For the first time in his experience of writing reports, he discovers that words do not necessarily work, that it is possible for them to obscure the things they are trying to say.'

- Ghosts

Weymouth 2 (Beavon 40, 52), Oxford Utd 2 (Day 42, Robinson og 83).

This is the information that confronts him when he returns home. He reads the words quickly, then again with increased intensity, interrogating them for the story he knows lies somewhere behind this data. Confused, unsure whether to react with joy, relief, or disappointment, he tries to make what conjectures he can from the characters in front of him. A point away from home, but against a struggling side. A late equaliser. Two goals for Beavon, once of Didcot. A first goal of the season from Day. But in the end, after speculation, all he can do is stare at the words, reading again and again:

Weymouth 2 (Beavon 40, 52), Oxford Utd 2 (Day 42, Robinson og 83).