Thetownend.com

Deserves its own thread.

Got to think that if we can beat Man United - previously 100% win rate this season - we can beat the Teds.

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1220124082?-343:794

City look a whole lot bigger.

Have to say 'Slowey' is not an ideal surname for a footballer.

Any way to see this game ????

https://www.youtube.com/live/MRW_75c5Qck?si=ANWAgwt21Fzmtpq8

Bristol commentary on their YouTube

Sky Sports 4 in NZ

ESPN+ in the U.S.

FA Player. Better than ifollow! Faffage needed to sign up.

Looking a bit off the pace after 10mins.

Cheers... 

Looking a bit off the pace after 20 mins. No good chances for Shitty though.

Have to say that Bristol City kit & keeper kit is a beaut

Not fair. Some of their players have beards!

Pretty dull this, isn’t it?

Botan Ameen had a touch!
Is Callum Hewlett Matty's child?

Possibly, depends which rumours you believe...

He is indeed.

Not great so far is it, need to get the ball down and try knocking it about.

We can’t seem to defend the ball over the top very well…

Good news is, even with City having bigger and technically better players...they're resorting to pumping it long like us!

I think we're struggling a bit because we're not used to playing on nice grass.

Ta!

They’ve got one tactic - hoof it up to their strikers. Couple have had us panicking a bit.

If he runs around doing nothing, yes
If he starts kicking people and bending free kicks in the top corner, I’d go with no

They've set a nice wind tunnel up for us though!

WE HAD A SHOT

Their centrebacks and strikers all look like grown men, it's cheating

Need to get Old Mother on the ball

Hubbard is quite small. Bet he doesn't pay VAT on his trousers!

That was one hell of a ball through from Hubbard

you summoned that

Saw him in the pre season at Corsham - and they were fucking giants! He was very neat and skilful.

Rich Banyard on Twitter pointing out that both Yeboah (9) and Campbell Slowey (5) played for us in the weird friendly in pre season when were meant to be trialling loaners and ended up taking nobody...

 :D :girlgiggle:

Town fans in good voice!

1-0 City, Yeboah beats Hart to a through ball and squares for Philips. Nice finish, defenders beaten for pace really.

Big fan of Sonny Hart he looks very solid but extremely slow isn't he

Awful defending.
Like fuck is their #10 under 18!!

Just arrived home in time to see the goal! 😢

That really is a lovely keeper kit. Let's hope we see more of it in the second half.

A real shame we don't have any sort of development team as you could see 6 or 7 of these forming the core of a very decent side. With the transition straight from youths to the first team it'll be very difficult for any of them, although I imagine we'll contract 4-5.

Ameen off for Obodo. He's barely had a kick.

Couple of good saves from their keeper

And Galley must score! .......He's missed it.

Corr this ref is dogshit

I enjoyed the Bristol City commentators saying Coles dived and then watching the replay of him being shoved over by two players and then going... 'maybe 50 50'.

Yup, same.

Brown did deserve a yellow for that dive though :D

There's a few of these Bristol City lads that are absolutely not getting Challenge 25d.

Not being outclassed but both sides look better defensively than they are going forward so getting a goal back could be tricky.

Obodo into the side netting via Duncan's foot. Obodo been dangerous since he came on, City keeper has been excellent along with their 10.

How the fudging heck did the referee not give a penalty there?

Should have squared it.

I think you're not live DV

FT. Spirited effort, not outclassed but not robbed either. Their keeper probably MoM but both sides looked better on defence than attack. Obodo made a big difference when he came on, liked what I saw from the centre backs, Hubbard and the left back Chard as well.

Hope we can help these lads develop - they're all still two years behind a Harrison Minturn or four or five behind a Jack Bycroft or Paul Glatzel, who we'd still think of as young players. Financially tough as this level though.

What a shame...
But some excellent potential to have for the future.
Defence looked better than the 1st team on occasions and I am sure they would not have had 7 put past them against Aldershot..

Although it pains me to say it, probably on overall play the right result, but would love to have seen an equaliser which might have thrown the game wide open. Be interested to see how they fare against the moneymens youngsters.

fantastic cup run. well done yoofs.

thus endeth STFC season

I went and havent read back yet.

Enjoyable night.

Town just never got going in the first half but contained City who rarely threatened....i gave it the kiss of death saying that if we could get to HT without conceding we would have a chance...they scored.

Much better second half and the lads AND the Club can be proud of their efforts.

If the ball had been squared we could and should of equalised BUT City fluffed some great chances and overall i thought City edged it on the night.

Great turnout from the Town fans.....grasping on to something from this awful season.

Nice ground and facilities....bangs home how poor the CG is these days......Still, theyve won fuck all.

NB - How can City charge for parking in Wickes when its closed down? No Steward...nothing, so anybody could of rocked up and parked there!. Its only £4 but fuck off, that is fucking cheeky.

Could only hear town fans last night, the usual Oxford stuff  :)

Prefer an old skool ground to a sterile, sanitised stadium.

Sean Wood speaks really well, fair play
https://youtu.be/Vx0CbmQolAg?si=SAqZRwvPqkI5HYBp

A great interview that!

Town fans were class. Was it quite an even split in the ground or were the town fans just much louder?

Around us (W13) seemed a pretty even split, the Swindon fans making the noise were further across - I think in W12-  and overall probably more of us than City fans. Really decent turnout, good atmosphere, shame about the result and had chances at the end to send it in to extra time. Haven't seen an overall crowd figure published anywhere.

How many would you give pro’s this summer? I believe Kanu, Evans, McGregor, Keyes, Brown, Hart, Hubbard, Adams are all the older year.

I guess that depends on wages, budget and (nothing new here) what sort of loan deals we could get them.

I’d love to see a decent amount get contracts, get some decent loan spells in & make it onto our first team. Just playing percentages it’s highly unlikely…

I mean just looking from a purely results perspective they’ve done well in the league & had a decent cup run but obviously leagues (I guess) are quite localised, categorised(?)

So, have our youths done well in quite a small pond or have they done well compared to bigger, better, more funded academics….?

I have no insight on their ability, having not seen them.  Another point worth remembering is success at Youth level (results wise) doesn't translate to a career in the professional game.  The number who make it will be a small %.  I remember watching the Everton Youths against us 20 odd years ago.  Francis Jeffers was playing for them and was a cut above, not sure anyone else on their team made the grade though.  The real trick here would be to see this period of good luck (I know that the coaching team will take some plaudits, but the batch we have is a one off to a degree) and leverage it to build the infrastructure necessary to support that type of supply funnel going in future years.  Use this group as marketing fodder for the next batch, invest in the facilities and expand the coaching teams.

RobT, here was the Everton Youth team (I picked the final) that lifted the FA Youth cup in 1997/98

Everton: Delany, Regan, Eaton, Farley, Dunne, O'Brien (c) (82 Hibbert), Poppleton, Osman, Jevons (72 Jeffers), Cadamarteri, Milligan.

I think from that list only Richard Dunne, Tony Hibbert, Leon Osman and Jeffers had what you could call a decent career. Danny Cadamarteri and Phil Jevons also enjoyed careers in first team football. The others may have done, but I picked the more recognisable players from that side.

Having seen the u18s on a handful of occasions, the 3 who have consistently stood out for me have been Evans (good size, distribution, shot stopping and organiser) McGregor (good engine, composed & good in the air) and Hubbard (very skillful, a real box of tricks, physicality would be his main issue). The others all have their merits and may well be deserving of contracts in their own right.
As an example Hart in particular looks solid in this age group but as with all youngsters it is how they develop and whether they can transfer their potential to the professional game.

Kanu, having had a bad injury, is probably eligible for a scholarship extension like we've had Harvey Fox on this year.