Thetownend.com

The opponent:  Tranmere Rovers

I shall start proceedings by wishing everyone on the TEF a very Happy Christmas and a great 2013. Much like the games over the next couple of weeks, the matchday threads will be coming thick and fast, (I can only apologise in advance), but personally this should give me some much needed respite from the kids arguing, unwanted in-laws ruining my morning and iPhone’s  flying around. Talking of Apple, Mrs Rosso wanted an iPad for Christmas, so I have gone out of my way and purchased a pack of ten from Boots, and they are “enriched with cucumber and tea tree oils”. Apparently they take all the wrinkles out around aged eyes, I must admit, I’m amazed how these little eye pad things can do the job of a box of Polyfilla.

So, the last game before Christmas is upon us and it all feels a little bit odd with it being on a Friday night, although looking at the ghastly weather forecast for Saturday perhaps its not such a bad thing after all, as there is no way I am trouncing the bad streets of Swindon Town Centre looking for the cheapest gift packs of Nivea and Lynx in the pouring rain. Only 5 points separate us from today’s opposition, by the final whistle tonight that could well be 2 points. Ronnie Moore’s Tranmere Rovers got off to a flyer this season, their first defeat in the league didn’t come about until October 20th, losing 3-1 away to a resurgent Bournemouth.

Tranmere Rovers, based in Birkenhead were formed as Belmont Football Club in 1884. An unrelated, disbanded side had played under the name Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club (Association football section in 1881–82 and on 16 September 1885, before their second season began, Belmont F.C. adopted the name Tranmere Rovers.  Probably the most famous footballer to ever come from Tranmere would be Dixie Dean, who made his debut in 1924 aged 16. He played 30 games for Rovers, scoring 27 goals, before being transferred to nearby Everton for £3,000. In the 1927–28 season, Dean scored a record 60 League goals for Everton. Just to think what Deans value in today’s over inflated transfer market may be makes the mind boggle.

A few notable people hail from the ship building town of Birkenhead.  Out of the 85’000 residents, Comedian and cross dresser, Paul O’Grady, Southampton manager Nigel Adkins, ex Spice Boy, Jason McAteer and Rugby Unions Matt Dawson are all lucky enough to consider Birkenhead as their place of birth.

What are they saying about us? –  Censorship of the highest order! The main Tranmere forum does not let you view posts and when I tried to register it tells me that registration is disabled! So instead of enjoying the normal pre match bullshit from the opposition I made my way to The Wirral News, who reports......

“Tranmere Rovers will be stepping into the midst of a family squabble when they take on Swindon Town on Friday night.”

http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/tranmere-rovers-fc/tranmere-rovers-fc-news/2012/12/20/swindon-town-s-fiery-manager-paolo-di-canio-dividing-opinions-at-the-county-ground-club-80491-32462696/


Tranmere Rovers Last 6 – WLDDDD (Currently sat 1st on 41 points)

The Threat – Young Welsh striker Jake Cassidy leads the way for Tranmere with 11 goals so far this season.  Experienced midfielder, Andy Robinson has also chipped in with 8 and the wonderfully named Jean Louis Akpa Akpro has 7.

Head To Head -  In all League, FA Cup and Football League competitions, we have faced Tranmere Rovers on 62 occasions, winning 25, drawing 16 and losing 21 times

The irrelevant stats – Tranmere’s away form is pretty decent. They have picked up 22 of their 41 points on their travels this season, winning 6, drawing 4 and picking up just 1 defeat. They have managed to keep 6 clean sheets and have scored 18 goals, whilst only conceding 8.  We will need to be on our guard towards the end of the game with over 30% of Rovers goals come in the last 15 minutes.

The Odds –  Swindon 19/20    Draw 23/10    Tranmere  3/1  (Ladbrokes.Com) Looks pretty decent odds for the League 1 leaders it must be said. In form Raffa De Vita is a best priced 15/2 with Bet 365, as is Tranmere leading scorer Jake Cassidy. Think I could be tempted to have a few quid on Joe Devera for the 1st goal as he is generally 40/1 with most outlets, now that would be a Christmas bonus!  If anyone fancies a random bet, Half Time Tranmere/Full Time Swindon is at 30/1 with Bet Victor.

Sid Says – I think he thought I was on a wind up when I asked him for his much respected prediction. After showing him a copy of today’s Independent, he came up with a pleasing 2-0 home victory.

The Prediction – I’m sticking by my recent mantra. Someone is going to get a true thumping sooner or later and I think tonight could well be the night.  I am going for a massive 4-0 home win, with goals from Devera, De Vita, Martin and Williams in front of 8’069 (298 from The Wirral)

And Finally – Birkenhead Park was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in Britain. It is widely accepted that, after visiting the park in 1850, American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted incorporated many of the features he observed into his design for New York’s Central Park!

COYR COYR COYR

Reckon it'l be close, but as i'm attending we shall win.

1-0 Town. Kick on and rip this league a new one from here on out.

4-1 Town, Tranmere to proceed to the afterlife.

Whatever happened to Macateer?

As there are problems at Paddington, are trains between Didcot and Swindon delayed considerably? Bus replacements?

What are the state of the trains............. ;)

Local news said the delays were after Swindon...

Looks like Paddington trains are being cancelled in both directions at the moment:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ldb/

Hopefully sorted by later on. I need to get from Chip-> Swindon...

Expected to all be sorted by 3pm (i hope).

They had signal problems yesterday and then a small fire overnight i think.

I'd take a draw tonight 2-2

If the game isn't postponed due to the end of the world then 3 - 1 Town.

First game of the Christmas period.  Top of the table opponents.  The perfect time to signal our intentions for the season.

2-1 defeat.

I've got a good feeling about this.  2-1 Swindon COYR

4-3

I think we will win 4-1 but knowing my predictions lately we lose 0-2..attendance 8256

1-0
with hopefully some doomsday chants

We'll die when we want,
We'll die when we want,
Fuck off mayans,
We'll die when we want!

Who's on floodlight duty later?

Absolutley gutted I can make it tonight. Friday is a shit day for football.

A win would be massive, put us right in the mix.

Ha, they still moan about that today.

The club are expecting around 9000 tonight, which is a brilliant effort for a pre-Christmas game.

I'll be in the pub from 6pm, can't wait.

They're scallys - we should expect no less.

If we get 9k then that's a damn good effort and the move to friday will have worked (well in their eyes).

I'll be in the pub by 5 if they get these damn trains running....

Probably late, dirty, overcrowded, and extortionately priced....

3-1 Home win. Pub, Football, Pub, Ska, Sofa then Headache. Perfect Day.

We will play well and take our chances resulting in a 3-1 win. What train are you getting Batch? We are also going from Chippenham on the 5.25pm. Going in the Brunnel ( think thats what its called ) before the train for a beer.
Edit: forgot to say, Well done Rosso.  :clap:

Blimey.

We will smash them 3-0.

Swindon 2-0 Tranmere, 8439...goals from Martin and Williams!

Just got on at Paddington and can confirm that is indeed the case

I'm going tonight so we will win 2-0 with goals from Martin and Williams, sparking them off on a goal scoring frenzy for the rest of the season!

COYR

Homeform to continue and lose 1 nil.
However we may pull a few irons out of the fire and draw nil nil.
Is previous predictions of a 9,000 crowd part of the scams thread?
I need to know because I'll need to leave home earlier than usual.

Just polished off the last of the work's Christmas do booze and now heading towards Paddington to try and get a train.

2-0 Ritchie and Williams

I'll be doing the same.

Score: 1-1 and their keeper to play the best game of his career.

AS BLOODY USUAL. >:(

Train problems grr. Train has gone from being cancelled to being absolutely fine... Only 1 an hour from Stroud so I'm fucked if they cancel it. Can't get a lift either.  :badmood: If I have to catch the 7 o'clock I will be at leats 15 mins late. Just my luck.

Any streams?

Unchanged line up. Bar the absence of Bostock, I'm happy with that.

Scrappy 2-1 will do,both goals from Martin and a crowd of 8091

No one broadcasting it

Boooo !

My sentiments exactly apart from the addition of good expectant crowd

feels very weird to be playing on a Friday night.

Feels weird not being at the CG!

Unchanged side which is a surprise. Come on town!

hollands scores

Hooray!

And now a celebratory joke

Q Who would win in a fight to the death
between John Terry and Joey Barton?
A. We all would

Get the fuck in.

Get in!

2-0, game over

Not too shabby

2-0 apparentley, still not happened on player!

Get the fuck in!

Rafa is on fire . . .

 :D

Who got the second?

De Vita

De Vita got the second.  Should have just scored again as well.

I ≤3 raffa

Fucking hell!  This is like the start of the home leg 1993 play off semi.  Kick off, bang, bang, 2-0 up.  Thank you very much.  :D

3-0, Williams

Good old Steve Vickers.  He almost got us to Wembley single-handedly!

Hope the floodlights hold up

Unbelievable! Looks like I picked the right fucking game to miss.

My 4-3 is on then :)

"Aldridge, what's the score?"

Fuck, yeah!

OK.  This is just taking the piss.  Shaw Ross was right.  We're due to hand out a spanking.  Who better than to the league leaders.

This is what can happen when PDC stops chopping and changing the team . . .

AND ANOTHER

Ritchie!!

4-0

Ritchie

We are ripping them apart and playing some of the best football I've seen at the County Ground this season.

I don't know weather to laugh or cry.

Holy fucking shit this is incredible!

This has been coming for a while, great time to do it.

Merry Christmas, from Swindon Town.

Now do this every week......

Can't get stupid player to work on my phone or tablet PC :-(

Likewise.

Astounding.  Simply astounding.


I think we should assume those intentions have been well & truly signalled.   ;D

H/T 4-0

Meh...not bad I suppose. I'd have probably taken that before the game.

Come on, Reg.  Last time we went in 4-0 up at half time?

Merry Christmas everybody  :beers:

Well what can you say about that.

Fantastic first half, not just the goals but the all round performance.

Have given them a football lesson.

There is no fucking way they are the best team in this league.

WTF? I tune in to find its 1/2 time and we're 4-0 up!!

And now chatting to Wayne Allison on the radio.  I liked Allison, a lot.

Chief! Chief! Chief! Chief!!

What a wonder way to start a Christmas break.................Come on you reds. :)

Allison:
- Martins and Williams causing probs as Ritchie and DeVita are pulling the defence wide
- Tranmere can't cope with boys up front
- Whole team playing well. Solid at the back. Midfield is working hard.

Watkins:
- Financial decision to play tonight
- Carol service monday, senior citizen lunch, junior do and board meeting today
- Usual stuff at the board meeting referring to running the football club
- Considering every option (wrt development). Hopefully make moves in the Spring

Well score 4 more in the 2nd half, and we'll have 8 on the board which has only been achieved 13 times in the club's history...and most of those were over 100 years ago.  The most recent being the 8-0 league win at home to Bury in December 1979.

http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/StatAttack/TeamResults.asp?Type=Wins

We can dream.

Absolutely, best half of football i have seen for many years.  

So what will the plan be for the 2nd half? Will Town just sit back or will they fly out at Tranmere and repeat the first half?

April 2008 against Port Vale. 6-0 at full time.


and before that was October 1996 against Huddersfield. 6-0 at full time also.

Fly at the fuckers and sub anyone who isn't doing it.  Harsh, perhaps, but let's really send a message to the division.  2 points of top, btw.

I'd love it if we do but I somehow doubt it. It rarely seems to work like that, such as the games Sonic mentioned for example.

5-0

Williams

Would be just our bloody luck for the fucking world to end now.
 >:(

FFS! I go into the kitchen and we score!

Haha. This is ace.

I know.  If we're still at 4-0 with 30 mins to go, the sensible thing to do would be to start conserving.  But that's not the Di Canio way.

So when we read the match reports tomorrow are we going to have to put up with...

Tranmere's defenders were full of Christmas spirit as they gifted Swindon 4 5 goals

or

Tranmere looked like they had been on the turkey and xmas pud 4 days early...and on and on and on....

Oh well, it's all good  8)

i switch over to SSN and they are showing the goals?! but i've missed all of them
ffs

Tranmere Stuffed.

Don't think anyone has said yet, but sky have shown our goals a few mins after they happen. Probably should've mentioned 4 goals ago!

BBC Sport summary seems a little harsh on us...a real shock? Maybe if they're referring to the scoreline...

"There is a real shock on the cards at the County Ground as Swindon race into a 4-0 first-half lead against table-toppers Tranmere"

Of course another real positive from this...league leaders Tranmere going to be all at sea after this result, and full of self-doubt heading in to the Christmas period.  Just the way we want them.

I'm sure they'll show all the goals after the game.


Heh! heh!


Max Power 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3zdkmw2E4

Similar to us beating Southend at their place last Season.

Penalty

penalty...

missed

PDC wanted Miller to take it, Miller didn't want it and Williams was on a hat-trick anyway.

hmm.

ffs williams

It's all gone to shit.

Doomed.

Williams stepped up to take it to secure a hat trick. PDC went mad and wanted Miller to take it. Williams hit an awful penalty, which was saved. PDC goes mad and kicks a water bottle.

wonder if he'll force himself to make a public apology :)

WTF did Di Canio want Miller to take it for any way? I wouldn't have wanted him anywhere near the ball  ::)

If we don't go up this season, we will be able to trace the origins of our downfall to that penalty miss.

What's our record for pens this season? It must be pretty dire.

Roberts coming on for DeVita

Good decision to play tonight - would possibly have been postponed due to rain tomorrow- it's a monsoon here at present - too wet to go out & the pubs only round the corner - well everywhere is  just round the corner here  :D

Expect Cornwall/Devon to be washed away tonight - the Mayan prophesy is true  :sherlock:

Ha ha

5-0 up and people still bitching about PDC.

he's designated penalty taker, i think. had a good record before he joined us

0 for 3 isn't it?

where are people bitching?

Att: 8885, (291 Tranmere)

Decent effort from their fans.

Please say twitter.  Deleted my account months ago, and haven't missed it at all.

Once you've missed 2 out of 2 you go to the back of the queue and someone else has a go*

*P1 of the OST Ace Coaching Manual

I think bitching was not the right word to be honest. Although some do seem to be paying more attention to it than the actual match.

I remember 3 out of 3 fails this season too - just wondered if I had forgotten any others.

Let's play Post Match Interview Bingo.  I'll bet we get 'passion' and 'warriors' within the first 10 seconds.

Nope, not seen anything on there tbh.

More attention to what?

I want 'fantastic' and dominate

i'm curious whether Miller's decision to refuse the penalty was because Williams was on a hat-trick or if he lacks confidence

I bet Di Canio does that comedy 'kick up the arse' thing to Williams.

Williams off for Collins

commentators saying that Williams didn't look as if he wanted to take the penalty. They think he was goaded into taking in to get his hat trick

noticed that Morshead tweeted that Paolo was screaming for anyone to take it, not Miller.

perhaps Williams is just really crap at taking penalties

From what he has said before, maybe it was because PDC thinks that Williams is fragile under pressure. Maybe he thought a penalty miss might knock Williams confidence for several games?

8,885 - very good.

Sadly, I guess it means we will get more Friday night games next season.

shame I missed this one - still I would not of got me bet in !!!

Good point.

if that is the case, credit to PDC for good man management.

One of these Tranmere commentators is desperate not to give us credit.

ooooh how do i do this

done it. thank fuck for that. bloody annoying

Are we holding on?

it's squeaky bum time.

Tranmere commentator saying their goalie is MOM.

Backs to the wall stuff.

Same old Swindon.

I do like listening to the other team's commentary, I do it quite often. It's interesting to get a different perspective.

[url width=408 height=225]http://i.imgur.com/KQ1pk.gif[/url]

I could look at that all day.



FACT!

She's pretty. Who is she?

And yeah. He's just said it again. They reckon it would have been 'cricket score' without him.

Tranmere hit crossbar!

Cmon Town! Hang on!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Trannies hit the bar ???

We've got the best goal difference in the league.  + 19.  MK and Tranmere nearest with +14.

Thats quite exciting isnt it.  Or not.

Really? Its Cheryl Cole/Tweedy

FT 5-0

Nice :clap:

Williams:
- Nice to score having not scored for a while
- First time he'd missed a penalty and would have been first time in career he'd scored a hat trick

Hollands:
- Can be difficult starting 2nd half at 4-0 up
- Great team spirit
- Up for tonight's game
- Good for goal difference
- A lot of confidence in the squad

Tranny comms...

'Lady luck just wasn't there tonight'

Errrr...yeah....right.

thank you Town - even though I wasn't there - that's well impressive

Wooo. Massive win (Metaphorically and literally)

 :hmmm:

 :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

And the Gas even further in the shit, things looking up all round . . .

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

In what way?

It's OK, just saw the table - Barnet won didn't they 8)

I win.

He said fantastic first  :smugfu: We could make a new game out of this though.

Anyone on PDC Translation Duty tonite ?  :)

He's supporting the players that are not getting playing time.

Giving lots of credit to the fringe players

PDC wanted Chris Martin to take the pen.

That will make the league sit up and take notice! Kick start our season that will, I think we can win this league

The PDC post match rant:

- Most convincing performance of the year
- Tranmere are solid team
- I was sure we would win, but scoring so many goals was good
- Key to success was working hard
- Martin and Hollands getting up to speed now
- Cant win 5-0 everytime.
- Tonight was perfect
- Wanted to thank the players
- PDC knows it is not easy to put forward this energy, commitment and desire every week
- Calling for team to be more ruthless. Wasnt a problem tonight
- Tonight players proved that they have worked hard in training
- Commended players for gaining 39 points from 1/2 season. Compared it with 2 years ago when we got 41 total
- Also thanked players who didn't play tonight and haven't had chance recently. Adds to the magic combination of pushing those who are playing and fighting for their place
- The secret for any team challenging at the top is to have a squad mentality and fringe players ready that you can call upon
- Missed penalty: Understands people like scoring hat trick. PDC wanted Chris Martin to take it as he hasn't scored yet. Wanted to get him off the mark.
- Doesn't care whether tonight's result sends out a message to the rest of the league
- Against top sides like Villa , Sheff Utd and Tranmere, PDC doesn't have a problem in lifting his side to perform.
- Although PDC sounded mellow, he still found a way to bring up M'Bargo and the statistics of how many we scored before, during and after

As always

Take a bow, Sir.

Oh I do like Friday night football.

Patey "live from Wiltshire" on Radio 4 now, talking about our great victory? Peace and love in SN1?

No, the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. Well, he got over the excitement quickly.

Why thank you, I'm sure it was you saying give me until January  :D

piece-of-piss.

That is all.

Am I the only one who thinks the patey appointment is a load of bollocks? Already lied through his arse. Results like tonight make it impossible to dislike di canio .winning is everything

Many thanks from this deaf person {yes really  :) }

Although in fairness, your prediction was actually incorrect.

Need to judge him when he's had a chance to take the redevelopment forward.

Somebody was due a walloping and Tranmere duly go it.  For once the run of the ball went with us and the ref was not against us.  Totally outplayed them for the first 60 mins, but once Ferry went off we went off the boil a bit.  Enjoyable evening.

Well I'm glad to say my 1 nil prediction was a bag of crap.
That more than made up for Preston away.
Merry Xmas everyone.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I fucking loves it!!!!!!

That was an enjoyable evening. We chased everything and Ritchie and Devita absolutely took them apart in the first half. Hollands and Ferry were superb also. Tranmere were shite but we never let them settle on the ball. Without their keeper it would have been double figures. We stepped off the gas in the last 30 but the players probably wanted to avoid bookings, injuries etc.

Loved that. It could have been 8 or 9-0. It's a shame Bostock didn't replace Ferry as we lost something going forward when he went off. All the laddys played well though, even Roberts when he came on. Not sure about Macca for MOTM. Any of Ferry, Hollands, Ritchie, Williams or De Vita would have been more worthy.

well if he can bullshit bluh and the rest of those cunts then bring it on.

Wasn't the world supposed to end at midnight on the 21st? As in 11 hours ago?

He's been disappointingly quiet.

What did he lie about?

I must admit his apparent lack of involvement isn't helping establish him with the fans.

Cracking first half from Town. I haven't seen us play that well since the opening few week of the season. Truly brilliant at times. We won everything in midfield, we were clinical upfront and solid at the back. They really had no answer. We took our foot off the gas after we missed the penalty and rightly so given the tough Christmas schedule which is coming up. Could easily have been 7 or 8 tonight for us . Ferry going off saw us lose our attacking edge in midfield. Can't complain about any player in red tonight. Even Roberts looked half decent when he came on.

As could I. There's something amazing about that image. My Darwin, she looks good in it.

Oh yeah, since the football was brilliant I'll moan about the fucking catering.

When I arrive at the County Ground half cut I want a fucking chicken burger. But there weren't any, apparently they weren't hot enough to serve until half time.

Stood waiting at half, finally got to the front. No fucking burgers left.

Its probably a blessing in disguise. Lesson learnt though. Buy outside the ground.

I thought the key thing tonight was that we pressed them back in their own half from the off - they didn't like it and couldn't cope.  That was what we lost when Ferry went off.

This is true, there can be no denying, although the thumping prediction was a reasonable one

Should have gone to Burger King.

It did. We have all died and gone to heaven.

Wrong thread mate.

Due up on SSN soon apparently

Wow! Hadn't really thought about it providing a service in that way.  :-[

Sums it up perfectly.  A really enjoyable night and once again shows that on our day we have nobody to fear in league 1.  Tranmere may have had an off night, but we totally ripped them apart again and again.  As for their goalie being mom on their commentary, I can only remember him making a couple of decent saves?

Hollands had his best game and would be toss up for mom with Ritchie who seems to have been back to his best in the last couple of games.

Defence not called upon much, but never looked in danger when needed.  Would have been nice to see Williams get a hat-trick.  I don't think the kerfuffle and confusion around who was taking it helped him.

Excellent way to start the festive period.

I thought we were fucking crap.

Absolutely fucking magnificent.

Says it all for me.

Only home games I've missed are tonight and Yeovil.  Been to 6 away games and haven't seen us win.

I should stay away more often but I won't

Back from an extremely enjoyable evening of football via the pub- so please factor that into my comments below.

First half was dynamite. Most dominant I have EVER seen the Town play. First 20 minutes was like watching the dominance posession and chance-wise of the Spanish national team, except it was interesting because they did more than just pootle it about. Special mentions to Devera, De Vita, Ritchie, Nathan Thompson and Ferry for absoloutely outstanding performances. The rest of the team worked really well, but those were real standouts for me. Watching the back line was perhaps most interesting for me- whilst one member of it went after the ball-holder at all times, the other three tightened up into what essentially became a 3-1-4-2 formation. Devera excelled in this role, acting essentially as a defensive midfielder as well as a centre-back (some of his balls over the top of the Tranmere midfield were sublime). The Thompson/Ritchie and McCormack/De Vita partnerships are really working nicely and I would lvoe to see them continue. Darren Ward was an utterly changed man since I last saw him. Brave, lean, able to hold onto and pass the ball effectively. Am unsure about Martin- he seems unwilling or unable to control the ball properly, or chase stuff down. From what I saw at the start of the season, Williams has also lost a little bit of his energiser bunny energy- it's still there, but not in as much abundance as before.

Second half started well, but obviously the loss of Ferry blunted things, as did the loss of De Vita shortly after. I see why Paolo did the switch for De Vita, as at 5-0 up, it was the perfect time for Gary Roberts to come on and really get some confidence back- which, seeing his face as he chased down EVERY ball and closed down EVERY Tranmere player, was something he was working bloody hard for. His tendency to drop central without anyone to replace him (unlike the Ferry/Ritchie relationship) did cost us a little though.

All in all, absoloutely dominant and thumping victory. Paolo on fine form during and after the match.

Regarding Tranmere, their number 5 was inept and incapable of defending anything. Their number 4 showed some promise, and if it wasn't for fingertip saves from their keeper we'd have won 9-0. Their number 10 was a fat bastard who couldn't run but had a really sublime touch and deftness of passing. Their half-time subs made all the difference between 5-0 and a rugby score.

Bring on Orient.

Now that was just a fantastic display.

oh.....and a special mention to the best refereeing display at the CG this season. No bookings I believe but most importantly wanted to let the game flow that suits us down to the ground. Played so many advantages and that is what we want !!

Simply buzzing after that.

That was so good that I bought tickets for Orient, Colchester and Bournemouth.

Are you a wealthy student Fola?

Bought under 18 for each one.  :toocool: Plus I get free train travel because my mum works for first great western, no brainer really.

That was ace tonight, really enjoyable.

Thought the Tranmere fans were excellent considering the result, although I did laugh at one of the coaches leaving at 70 odd minutes. Don't blame them in the slightest.

To state the obvious, we were superb last night. Hollands was a completely different player to the one I've seen twice before - he actually participated last night! Good on the ball and tireless effort. Ferry was superb until he went off, Ritchie always looking to come inside and De Vita just goes from strength to strength. Two good finishes from Williams as well. The second goal had to be one of the most satisfying goals I've seen at the County Ground in a long while. They had the ball for quite a while, but we pressed them all the way back. Martin and Williams hurried the centre backs into a mistake, Ritchie picked it up and his ball through to Williams was spot on...capped off by a lovely finish by Williams. Forget the penalty - it gave an insight into Williams' general nervous disposition, but the guy had a really good game last night and I hope he wakes up with a smile on his face this morning.

Remember there's a planned tube strike for the Orient game - Doesn't mean you can't do it, you just need to take that into account.

First half was as good as anything I've ever seen at the County Ground, flawless performance.

Couldn't have asked for a better way to start what could prove a crucial run of games over the next 10 days.

Well i really enjoyed that night.....got to meet Red Ox as well briefly.
Great performance with Ward shading Man of the Match for me.....DRS and Herthab gave it to Alan Mac i believe over the tannoy..
Nice to see players like Ward come good and it was as good as atmosphere i have heard for a long time.

Brilliant.

The atmosphere was pretty good.  Probably got something to do with half the crowd being sloshed!

The signal of intent which indicates we are going to destroy everyone. Totally mental result :clap: We won't be cannon fodder anymore, the dark days are over, this is our day in the sunshine. Take us on and we will rip you apart.

Apart from the last 30 minutes, when the Tranmere fans sang 5-0 up and you still don't sing. I guess it was a combination of shock at the score and taking our foot off the gas.

Can you hear us Oxford, you snivelling non-league scum? It's all gone yellow over there, the colour of sick, the throw-up envious cunts. We swagger, we cavort, we schmoozle, you twats, you just wallow in your sick muck. Tommorow is ours, today is ours, the future is red. The armeggeddon did happen yesterday, it struck an already near dead club called Oxford Utd.

We are going to make you ashamed.

What a great night, started at 4.30pm with a beer or two on the train then straight into a few pubs in town. got into the ground just before we scored our 1st, only had to walk up Manchester road but it's a long way when your not walking in a straight line ! Glad I got to see the goals again this morning as it was a bit blurry last night  :pint: a great way to start the busy Christmas fixture list.

I didn't hear them singing that. The Town End was class last night. It's been a while since the atmosphere has been that good at the start and before a game. I do think a few people had been on the booze throughout the afternoon evening though which certainly helped.

Maybe this Friday night football isn't a bad idea at this time of year. Pretty decent crowd in terms of numbers last night as well. Well done board.

Friday night and the gates aren't low!

Bit of luck really, because last night was ideal for football in December, whereas today's a bit grim. Scum game gone and they're supposed to have a state of the art pitch...shame the egg chasers have ruined it  :)

Sometimes things just work out....

...well,amazing!My first game of the season which will be closely followed by my second at Orient.Every single player in the first half looked totally comfortable with the ball-Ritchie outstanding.Ferry was the orchestrater and we were less effective after his removal but the biggest change for me from last season is De Vita.Totally assured and confident his improvement is substantial and Ward looks irreplaceable now.Hope its not a case of big gameitis tho!Cheers Herthab,I owe you.Good to see Spacey and to meet JGIAA

Yep - Robots bottom of the Football League and hopefully Scum hurtling down to join them

Happy days!

In a nutshell IOB. Now, if we can grab the next two weeks by the bollocks and squeeze, we could be unassailable, in form and confidence if not in points, come January.

You off to Colchester and crawley?

Excellent night...

Loads of beer .....two pints for every goal!

Roll on orient.

Just seen 2 Mallards and a Heron on Oxford's pitch.

Sorry just realised this is not the birds thread posted earlier in the week.
Phew then I realised it could be .........

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Tinpot ..... even the rain can beat the Scum now.

Going on a minibus for that one.  :)

Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right football, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king

PAOLO, PAOLO!!!!!

ha ha, just waiting for the Lady of the Lake to emerge from the puddle in the centre circle and anoint Constable as the new Arthur :)

If I've got any money left!

Nice to put some faces to names. Great game long may it continue, and also nice to meet adje

Great win last night, best performance of the season and hopefully it will kick start a crackin Xmas period!