Thetownend.com

The Opponent:    Gillingham

A whole week away from matchday action has left us with plenty of time to speculate on our alleged £450’000 worth of striker, once again it will be all eyes peeled on the Arkells to see if anyone remotely footballer like is sat down with someone remotely agent like. Now I am happy to think that it could well happen, after all, if we are even looking to be a sustainable league 1 football club for the next few seasons to come, we are still going to need a striker.  You can guarantee that Andy Williams will score a hatful for Yeovil, now his return to Somerset has been confirmed. Since we last met, Mark Cooper has been passed the responsibility of making us the new Swansea.  I empathise with those who wanted a big name, we were spoilt with Di Canio, but we have to give Cooper a reasonable chance.

Today’s visit from The Pikies is an interesting one for me. I grew up in Kent and watched them on quite a few occasions as it was the nearest thing to league football that was on offer. I can honestly say that the hostility that came out of the old Rainham End at Priestfield is quite an experience. OK, they’re not what you may call the Galatasary of South East England by any means, but the knuckle dragging element of the club were a nasty bunch. Even a few years back when we were in the away end we had coins and lumps of stones being thrown at us, from the fucking family stand!

Its an odd ‘rivalry’. Something of a one sided effort really. A Kentish friend of mine tells me they still sing their hatred for us on a regular basis, despite most of us not really considering Gillingham as rivals but more as something to take the piss out of, see Franchise as a similar example, albeit the ‘rivalry’ being in place for many different reasons. There is not much nice to say about Gillingham as a place, the most positive aspect of the town being the platform at the train station that takes you away from the place. Medway is full of travellers, seriously, they are everywhere, not just caravan folk but those that have tarmacced enough driveways and flogged enough lucky heather to buy their very own council house.  Funnily enough, Gillingham is recorded in The Doomsday Book of 1089, it is believed the name came from a Warlord, Gyllingas, (Gyllin meaning “to shout”), and he always led his followers in to battle screaming and shouting. Gillingham’s most notable resident in recent times is none other than Pop Idol 2003 winner, Rik Waller, or ‘that fat cunt’ as he is more commonly known. To be fair they did also produce David Frost, Brian Moore and spiky haired chef Gary Rhodes, but that will never make up for the fact that The Luftwaffe could have done so much more than bomb London, when Gillingham was just a short flight down the road.

The last time we met at – The County Ground –  Back in October 2011, after a sticky start to the season, we beat the pikies 2-0, with goals from Matt Ritchie and Jonathan Smith. If memory serves, it was this game that earned Luke Rooney a six figured (not fingered) deal!

They’ve played for us both – Alan Reeeeves, Iffy, Ty Gooden, Luke Rooney, Aaron Brown, Frank Nouble, Curtis Weston, Callum Kennedy and Moses bloody Ashikodi again.

Where the opposition gather –  http://fansonline.net/gillingham/mb/view.php?id=198766

“I'd be a bit careful going to Swindon myself....they're known for having a bullying element who will have a go at the normal away fan....especially us”. Reg? Crispy?

Last 6 – DLLLLD (Half of these were in League 2)

The Odds – Swindon 5/6   Draw 13/5  Pikies 16/5. The 9/2 generally on offer for Andy Williams to score 1st is not looking great value right now, however, the 18/1 Skybet offer on Luongo to score 1st is a fair bit better than the 7/1 that Bet 365 are offering for the same player.

The Son Says –  After explaining for 10 minutes how this lot see themselves as our rivals he scratched his nuts and plumped for a 2-0 home win.

The Prediction – So who is going to score the goals? To be fair, Williams effort of 1 in 4 this season was about as good as we were ever going to get out of him so its time for someone to step up. I am going for a 2-1 win, with goals from Luongo and Harley, 7’920 in attendance with 590 from the armpit of England.

And Finally – Ray McHale became a scout for Oldham Athletic in 2001 and after they suffered from financial problems he was relieved of his duties and became an FA Tutor. Ray now lives in Spain where he coaches youngsters and plays a rather decent round of golf.

COYR COYR COYR

4-1 to Gillingham.

I would love ty gooden ti play for us again;

We will lose convincingly tomrowo

It all kicked off in 1895, when 3 railwaymen from Chatham turned up for the Test Match v New Brompton at the Croft. Over a beer in what was the Fountain, but now the Pig on the Hill....there was a disagreement with some Town fans over which was the better railway....London, Chatham, and Dover, or the Great Western...during this altercation Kentish ale was spilled on the floor. They have long memories.

Another good read. Mad me laugh at this early hour.  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

2-1 defeat.

You're not far off! The Test match was played at Reading and obviously New Brompton had the locals supporting them. The fact we lost easily and should've been relegated but weren't, because the league was expanded, probably pissed them off even more.
Still, I won't mention the fact those cunts tapped up one of our players a few seasons later with an illegal approach.

Cheating cunts.

2-2 today.

A 1-0 victory for us on the pitch and a few brain damaged pikies off it

A fine and convincing victory today, 1-0 (Storey)

A draw today....

A low scoring draw or a 1-0 defeat.

3-0 home win

I'll go for 7,055, I hope it's better now the holiday season is finishing.

Decades ago I remember being in their home end on, I think, a Boxing Day game.

There was very little seasonal goodwill - and have hated the Pikey fuckwits ever since.

10-0 all scored by Ranger in the last 20 minutes.

7405 in attendance with 416 lucky heather sellers

I cannot stand the Pikeys.

1-0 (Ward) 7,014 (426)

If we play like we did against Shrewsbury, we will lose. Heavily.

I think it will be a draw.

Not really bothered about the score,just want to see a team that gives it all.

Draw looks the best bet.

Confident of a big win for us today.....so going for 1-0. Red Army :nod:

6.0 swindon

If we play like we did first half against Stevenage we will win. Heavily.

I also think it will be a draw.

Ranger to net the winner in front of the away fans.

More doom and gloom today 1-3 pikeys akinfenwa hatrick hall for us.

A 0-0 at best and Jed will give an interview where the majority will be lies - again!!

Ronnie I'm going to take a punt and say  Jed upset you Ronnie. In all honesty any player deal may genuinely have been delayed. 450k maybe not mind.

Game today, 1 1 with ranger scoring  the edward woodward as we finish the stronger. 6953

2-0 Town

Ranger and Luongo...

You've really taken this personally haven't you? I think you might need to talk it out with a professional.

Shrewsbury knocked all the optimism out of me after a positive start to the season. If Ranger doesn't start today's game then a defeat is on the cards 0 2 to the Pikies.
If Ranger starts perhaps a draw or a 1 0 win to the Town.

Hahaha reactionary much?

Personally, I'll wait until about November/December until the optimism leaves me....new board, new team (not complete yet), new manager....all still gelling...I think we can have a decent season, personally.

Not optimistic about this. Been lacking a cutting edge and cohesion and Williams departure isn't going to help. 1-3 after Ward puts up 1-0 up.

Happy to be wrong though.

Going for a one nil to us today
From a defender I reckon

We should be able to keep them out but whether we can cause them too much trouble up front is debatable

Already done so SY, Dr Chang really is great!!!

Jed visited a Swindon Supporter in hospital today and took him in a free programme, nice touch that.
Just seen so many bad things on here of late, thought it was worth to try and balance it out.

No doubt someone will find something negative to say about it though..........

So McCeveley and Ranger start - Storey on the bench.

Byrne to play in midfield seemingly......

Decent going forward so not a bad thing...

Lots of people on here calling for Byrne out wide and McEveley at LB, perhaps Cooper is looking to us for inspiration?

Will be interesting to see how long Ranger manages. Despite my initial outrage, I really do hope that he takes this opportunity and does well for us.

Yeah I do too....

If he takes this opportunity and really goes for it, he could be some player for us. Undoubtedly good enough to play at a higher level....

oooh, I see Gerry Phillips is on Twitter now - https://twitter.com/itslove1956

Yeh - maybe that Jed probably put said supporter in hospital in the first place?  ;)

HAHA.........something like that....

is STFCPlayer breaking up constantly for anyone else?

It's terrible - barely more than 4 words are spoken before it cuts out again.

Gills commentary is fine.

I don't fucking pay to listen to the opposition commentary

Jebus, do you think he's really 6' 7"? Scary thought. Not just a loon but a huge loon.

Yes, it's utterly diabolical.

Gotta be better than the home commentary anyway, right?

Yay

Are the clubs forced by the FL to use Player?

I said he was good going forward!!

 :D

Get in Byrne!

I missed the goal as the bloody player keeps dropping out  >:(

Still - yippee for goal!  :clap:

Yep

I'm too fucked off with STFCPlayer to care about the goal. Fucking piece of shit.

Is Byrne playing in midfield? Got GPRS access so finding it hard to look through thread..

Yes.

yes, out wide

Twitter until the second half for me.....then it's BBC Wiltshire in my car during my mealbreak!!.....

Rock and roll!

I take it we scored, BBC Wiltshire has dropped out for the last 2 minutes

Thanks all. You reeeeeeds!

yes. Byrne scored

Going by Gillingham commentary we're tearing them apart

We did - I just caught it before mine cut out too - Byrne.

Byrne scored in the 11th minute.

Nice to know the radio isn't any better than STFC Player

1-1. Kedwell.

fucking iplayer proving shit again

FFS

I thought we were supposed to be on top?

Cheers it's just kicked back in time for Gills goal  :badmood:

WE ARE GOING DOWN!!......

 :-[

And I was just about to say we're 10th as it stands.

Glad I didn't.

ranger sounds like he's holding the ball up well

Down to 16th now :suicide:

don't panic, Gerry's going to give Cooper another couple of games to prove himself

Switched to Gillingham commentary now - STFCplayer keeps cutting out. I don't want to have to listen to these Kentish nobbers with their estuary accents, but at least it's not cutting out...

The club have told me to complain to [email protected] regarding the commentary problems, would probably be helpful if everyone sent off an email at the same time.

I have NEVER known  STFC Player as poor quality as it is today.

Just seen that - I will do it

Manish Bhasin ‏@_manishbhasin 2m
Players going off at the Valley due to waterlogged pitch..with @CAFCofficial 0-3 @drfc_official ..Paul Dickov not a happy man



ouch!

Same. Little good that it will do I'm sure.

So has it been abandoned?

The club actually responded to my moaning on Twitter to say they're investigating - doubt anything will happen though.

I need to get to a game and soonish!

Seems like we're playing quite well and Byrne is having a decent game.....which is what I can gather from Twitter  ;D

No sound at all now, been off for a good minute.  :crash:

I guess making bomb threats in my email was ill advised...

No commentary on Gills version either....

Gill's commentary is only crowd noise

The Gills commentary has cut out a few times but much less than our own. They've stopped speaking though and all I'm getting is the stadium noise. Weird.

Still Zilch - Sonic - what have you done?  ;)

Got fucking Notts County now!!!!!!!!!!

errr, went to make some lunch and now we've got some other game?

Same here. Fucking crap.......Gillingham commentary works now though- if you don't mind just listening to 2 twats chatting.

Beyond a bloody joke.

it's amusing in a way...

wtf is going on?

where the fuck has the swindon commentary gone

I've got Stevenage. Ironically, the commentators are saying that people are complaining because they're not getting any commentary on t'internet ::)

Swindon Town FC ‏@Official_STFC 1m
@mankatron2009 Perform assure me that the line has been switched and it should now be working clearly.


I think they've gone and switched ours to Stevenage commentary and Stevenage have no commentary now

I wonder if another club has Swindon commentary

If true, that is hilarious!!

and its still cutting out

Gary Roberts banging them in for Chesterfield

Ooooh! We're back ::)

hoorah! We have the correct commentary again...but it's still dropping out like before.

who are the commentators for town? boooooooooooooring as fuck

stutteringly

is it Chalky?

......accompanied by Hannibal Lecter!

Yes

The Silence of  ...

I preferred the Stevenage commentary

Found his level!

It's difficult to tell, but are Gillingham on top at the moment?

Oh I will never know - lost the sound again.

2-1

crackle crackle fuzz fuzz...and the commentary has gone again.

Yessss 2-1

cut out just as we scored!

Thompson header.

have we scored?

Have we scored? I missed it - no sound at all.

commentary gone off

again

We are still "glad all over" I see

Missed that goal too.  :suicide:

Fucking STFCPLayer.

BTW Yess!!!

Nathan Thompson.

Get in

no commentary on stfc so back to the gilliscum commentary

Back to Gills commentary again then.

I have had a reply to my email btw - they are "investigating"  :hmmm:

And its gone again,switch back to Gillingham to hear we've scored.World is shit and await a reply to my email with interest

who needs strikers when your defenders score for you

I had a reply that they're investigating too

Att 6520 (400 odd from Gill)

My first email and reply:

Hi Mike,
 
Thank you for your email.
 
We have raised the issue to the relevant team and its being investigated.
 
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused to you.
 
Best regards
Althia
Customer Services
 
 
From:
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:41 PM
To: customerservices
Subject: FLi STFC player site: Access issues
 
site
player.swindontownfc.co.uk
to
[email protected]
from

subject
FLi STFC player site: Access issues
message
As a supporter of Swindon Town FC I am extremely disappointed with the STFCPlayer service provided by yourselves. Myself and many other subscribers have suffered breaks in commentary almost every week for as long as I can remember. Now, today just after half time in the match between STFC and Gillingham the Swindon commentary has completely died. The Gillingham commentary remains, albeit as only crowd noise. Please tell me what you are going to do to bring this service to a standard fit for the purpose that we have paid for.
other params:

i like the sound of Althia

quite liking the gilliscum commentary. at least they sound excited

a propos of nothing-what's happened to Matt Ritchie?

2nd message and reply:

Hi Mike,
 
Thank you for your email.
 
We have raised the issue to the relevant team and its being investigated.
 
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused to you.
 
Best regards
Althia
Customer Services
 
 
From:
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:47 PM
To: customerservices
Subject: FLi STFC player site: Access issues
 
site
player.swindontownfc.co.uk
to
[email protected]
from

subject
FLi STFC player site: Access issues
message
Further to my earlier message about the commentary on Swindon Town v Gillingham, instead of Swindon commentary we are now receiving Notts County commentary!
other params:
sender.name : Mike

SAme reply .... Althia is a robot.

2nd chance to kill the game and Mason scuffs his shot. Let's hope it won't cost us!

He left us in January. I don't think anyone really noticed - it didn't affect us at all, which is probably why you have only just noticed. ;)

like

2-2

fucking cunts

BBC Wiltshire cut out again...sounded like Gills were about to score...arghh

Gills commentary just said it's 7520

2-2, bollocks.

I can see a late Gills winner here

arse

Gills commentators reckon it was off side - but, concluded - "who cares?"

Yes - just  heard that too! A few minutes ago they'd said 6520.... thought that was a bit low!!

2-2. Cock.

FT 2-2

oh well. least we didn't loose

Arse. Thought we'd draw but so close.

On to next week then..

Well we certainly sounded more penetrative today, quite a good thing considering Gillingham men behind the ball.

Heard very little of Ranger

A few at the game suggested he was winning headers and holding the ball up well...once fit will be dangerous..great that he had 90 minutes though..

I heard very little full stop.

I heard nothing three months ago.

I've never heard anything...

Hope there is not too much negativity after todays game. It sounded like we were the better side & we all knew it was gonna be a work in progress this year. If Jed gets in a decent striker this week i'm convinced we'll be ok,plus there will be more to come from Ranger when he gets fitter & match sharp.

What?

A bit of sarcasm....never mind.... :toocool:

Player is fine now that the match is over ...

Say again?

In all fairness....there's not too much negativity so far...it's quite nice actually..

Ahhhhh.......touché...........

 ;D

:crash:

I'm not sure it is entirely Player's fault, BBC Wiltshire provide the feed. I can pick up BBC Wiltshire and that has also been intermittent this afternoon, cutting out often. It may explain the problems with the internet stream.

Could have won, should have won.

We didn't play too badly but just couldn't see out the game, a bit of inexperience cost us. Byrne is a better winger than defender that's for sure.

Pleasantly surprised at Ranger and will come good given a few games and training. Won most in the air and passed the ball well, just missing a bit of sharpness.

I thought Harley played really well although him and Luongo drifted away second half.

Here's to next week then!!

Oh and the cup game, hopefully come through that unscathed....

Quite enjoyed that.

If we end up mid-table playing like that I'd be pleased.

Couple of piss poor goals to give away, though. The second was an absolute fluke - the ball went straight to their fella after a ricochet so cant really legislate for that.

Thought it was deathly quiet today - was expecting a bit of an atmosphere.

Thought JMac was decent given his long lay-off - same for Ranger.

Hall looks classy at the back.

All in all there's not too much wrong but not expecting us to do much other than an average season.

Great that JMac played well....he's had his critiques........

Byrne always looks better going forward than backwards, so good to see him score too....

You mean Gillingham didn't create an atmosphere for their Cup Final V Their bitter rivals?

Well I never....

I am feeling fairly positive after that despite the late equaliser, as long as we stay within touching distance of the top 6 going into the last 2/3 months of the season we may well get somewhere should we put a run together.

Away form will be the key, I think we need 2/3 more physical, experienced players if we are going to pick up enough points on the road to mount a challenge which is of course expected.

I was very impressed with Nile Ranger considering his fitness levels, some great touches and won more headers today than Williams won in his entire STFC career. He will be an asset if we keep him out of trouble, very good display.

Byrne much improved in a new role, and I thought McEveley was solid at the back with the odd poor cross as expected.

You have to be strong to trouble Darren Ward physically, and Akinfenwa done just that first half although we dealt with him better second half.

Much, much improved from last Saturday. Get a striker in soon to give us another option and I will be confident of three points next Saturday.

All in all, a positive display and this bunch of players will only get better over the season.

You know as well as anyone that Jed's comments about promotion are nonsense, so why harp on about them?

OK.....who are you, and what have you done with the REAL Chang?

Gills fans will be made up...first point at the CG for 26 years...450 Pikeys is a massive turn out from them it's usually 250...most of them were parked up on the grass in Queen's Drive by Churchfield's School this week.

450, that's one family isn't it?

I did hear from Jed . . . . . . a month ago!

Sonic, I have seen enough to suggest that with a bit about us on the road and a couple of new, experienced players brought in, we have enough to mount a challenge should we be in the mix around March.

A lot depends on the away form, and I think Jed's claim of a title challenge is a tad delusional, but he has made it very clear that the objective for the season is promotion.

Now I don't know what you have thought of us so far, but there are promising signs and this is a young team that will only get better. I think Ranger will turn out to be a golden bit of business.

Fwiw I think we will fall short due to away form but it is far too early to say.

One thing for sure, I am much more positive seeing this side than I was earlier in the summer. Long way to go mind but the objective is clear.

Their fans weren't bad in terms of trying to make an atmosphere in fairness to them. Poor in numbers but that is to be expected.

Martin Allen legged it down the touchline when they equalised. Not that a big a goal at this stage of the season surely?

Do you genuinely believe the objective is promotion just because Jed stated it?

Don't know about a big goal but he's a big lad. Should undertake some of those army camps himself.

well - bossed that in parts without an end result to most attacks
Thought Ranger had a decent game up front winning his share of balls punted to him and holding up a few, deffo lacking fitness and sharpness so will be a handfull in a few games time.

McEveley had a decent game at LB tho going forward he had more than a few chances to put the ball in but chose to cut it back to someone else - tbf there was at times a definate lack of movement/bodies in the box

Thompson had his usual steady match - getting forward every chance he had and some good defending too, took his goal well - low header into the bottom corner and you could see by his celebrations it meant something to him.

Byrne played better in midfield/right wing than at a back - bundled the ball home after a great town attack - ball played out to the left wing where Pritchard hit an instant reversal to Thompson on the right wing who fired across the box for Byrne to hit home

Wes had a bit of a jekyll and hyde game. Gills equaliser was from a long throw with a header that looped slowly over everyone into back of the net then he saved the town , parrying a freekick into the path of an oncoming Gills player and saving the resulting shot with an outstretched leg. Pulled off a superb flying save in the second half too but again beaten too easily in a one on one for their 2nd goal

Just like Shrews last week 2 sloppy defensive moments cost us again - not saying the pikies didnt have other chances, Akinfatwa was a handful upfront bullying defenders to get to the ball.
Thought Hall had a decent game marking him

Cant say anyone had a really poor game
Mason had a couple of chances after coming on as sub - shot when easier to pass and snatched at the 2nd one, Looked a lil off the pace but as coming back from injury to be expected

Personally thought Storey would have been a better option than Mason esp with Ranger tiring and that substitution should have happened a lot earlier.

Sponsors gave MoM to Harley who I thought played as well as anyone really

That was alright.

Nice and pretty and 2 excellent goals.

A big week in the transfer market. I worry about us away from home defensively and our ability today to hold on to leads late on in matches. Even in the one league game we did win Stevenage missed a golden chance to equalise late on.

We'll finish 15th or 16th ok at home and struggle away.

Very fair comments, thought 2-2 was a fair result, they had us under a bit of pressure at times but we didn't seem able to keep consistent pressure on them.  Was not overly impressed with Ranger, didn't win as many balls as he should considering his size and his first touch let him down on several occasions - but as long as he improves as he gets match fit we may have a player on our hands.  Was a bit surprised at Harley as mom, personal opinions I suppose!

Jed told me he didn't know why the bottle bar in the legends hasnt been operational all season.

Yeah alright then

What do people make of Hall? I saw a few tweets blaming him for their second goal but a few praising him too.

Of course that's the objective. Whether it is realistic or not only time will tell.

Hall: Looks solid enough, decent in the air, comfortable on the ball and will only get better. Should anything happen to Ward it may be a different story. He will improve as will the whole backline - I hope we stick with that defensive line up but I have a feeling we may see McEvely depart...

The goal was created by their centre back tackling on the halfway line and the ball flying through to their striker, Hall tried to block the shot but it was a nice finish into the bottom corner. Not sure how he can be blamed for that.

Thought he had a solid game - struggled against akinfatwa on the ground mostly cos was pushed off the ball but didnt give in and stuck to his task. Put his foot in on more than a few occasions and did ok in the air.
Will benefit from being paired with Ward and imho can only get better

Easily already a better defender than Flint and more accomplished with the ball at his feet too

First of all thought the ref and linos had decent games today.
Gillingham were a fucking awful team who I think will be cannon fodder. Akinfenwa is a fat cunt but he's a bloody clever player and we could do worse than sign him.
Our first goal was a thing of beauty - what a cross from Nate Dog. Their goal was embarrassing to concede. Throw in, header, goal. Then we ran the show but still gave them chances such as a near repeat throw in, header combo. We had a header well saved on to the post and Byrne should have scored but blazed over.
In the first part of the 2nd half the Pikeys nullified us and we scored against the run of play. A great cross from Harley and a good header from Nate Dog - he just enjoyed that a little bit. From then it was all us but they scored against the run of play and another fucking awful goal to give away.
I suppose that's the way it goes with a team that's gelling. We should have won. sometimes we played some god football at others it looked like we could concede at any time.
I wasn't impressed with Pritchard today. Byrne is interesting, whatever he does is either brilliant or shit - knocked off the ball easily sometimes and then does a decent tackle. Now for my favourite - Nile who I still wish would play for someone else. He held the ball up really well and gave us an out ball when we hit it long. He did a bloody good job defensively as well. He didn't look likely to score though and was brushed off the ball a couple of times when it looked promising.
I think that was 2 points dropped today against a really fucking awful side.
Like the Stevenage game you could take a positive or negative view - good in parts, crap in other.

I also learnt that you can't buy a dash of coke, you have to buy a whole can.

I know this sounds a bit wooly, but I feel something is missing in the team and I just cant put my finger on it.

I look at the defence and cant really see anyone in L1 who'd be better than Hall/Ward and NT as full back.

Midfield - again Lungfish is a top player and Mason will be also. Kasim/Harley are also decent.

NR is going to be a right handful at this level.

So, what is it?

Perhaps we need a real nasty bastard in there somewhere

Could anyone make out what the lone protester at the bottom of the DRS was shouting about. I'm not too far away but didn't have a clue what he was saying!

It was Wes's 100th appearance for us today

Not necessarily nasty but I think McCormack would have been great for us this year, someone who would get stuck in. It all seems very nice and passy but we do miss a hard bastard.

Could be....here's a pic on the edge of the Lawns, earlier in the week
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Reg__Smeeton/pikeys_zps5bf4382e.jpg)

Thought we deserved a win and it is extremely disappointing to only pick up a point against a team that is a likely relegation candidate. We are still at least 1 striker and a winger short.
Thought Ranger performed very well today, especially given his fitness levels; held the ball a million times better than Williams ever did and also won some balls in the air. Could do with getting in the box a little more when it gets wide, especially attacking the ball at the back post.
Our 2 goals were of decent quality, good build up play and very good crosses that brought an easy finish. With our team we are going to concede some goals as of their first and their second goal was a fluke (came from a tackle on the half way line).. Perhaps not at the right shape at the back and maybe switched off.
Thought Harley, McCeverley and Thompson looked good today and no-one really had a bad game.
Much an improvement to an awful result last week and a lot to build on rather than boo and criticise about. If we play like that, should do well most weeks and will almost definitely stay up, as I said a couple of players short but hopefully Jed will stick to his word and bring some in..

Promising performance, if not result. Still very early days for this team and I'm looking forward to seeing how they progress. Mistakes are bound to happen but some of our passing play was a joy to watch.
Ranger was very good for us, even though he is nowhere near match fit. Plays the loan forward role much better than Williams. Luongo is a star in the making. The player that is going to frustrate me this season is Pritchard. Bags of skill but poor decision making/selfish play meant a lot of his input came to nought.
Looking forward to next week.

This.

Thought Storey should have been given a run out as Ranger looked knackered for the last ten minutes which was not surprising and wonder if the use of subs is Coopers blind spot?

sounds a bit like Ritchie early in his time here

I said the same thing today, he's certainly got skill and potential, he just needs to learn how to use it.

Is Ritchie injured at the moment? I've noticed he's not playing for Bournemouth.

Well disappointed with the result but going to be patient. The football was very decent at times and we kept hold of the ball really well. Ranger looks to be a really decent signing, he is everything that Williams wasn't. That said, I can't see him scoring many goals but he holds the ball up very well and is good in the air. Wasn't impressed with Pritchard or Mason but I suppose they're not properly fit yet.

We look good for a lower mid table spot, hopefully we can build on it for next season.

Oh, and Kasim is fucking ace. THE most casual player I've ever seen and loves a decent two footer.

[devil's advocate]It's hard to build when half your side is made up of loan signings[/devil's advocate]

Yeah but by next season all the high earners will be gone and we won't need 5 loan signings just to break even.

No

Please don't

A Charlie Austin type player to score a goal from nothing...at the same time worrying there defence and manager to the extent it would change a match.

I really believe this team has potential and don't think anyone put in a bad shift today. The more I see of Kasim the more I rate him. At one point today he must have attempted 3 tackles in as few seconds, his distribution is top notch and its about time the footballing powerhouse that is Iraq came up with a good footballer. All eyes were on our No.9 today and to be fair he did more than what I was expecting, considering Cooper claimed he wasn't ready to start for a couple of games. Seems to have decent feet for a big fella, holds the ball up well and could be something of an asset, until January at least.

Not sure what Nelson was upset about today, he reminds me of Steve Phillips, seems to have been around for years and never really achieved anything of note. Although it doesn't really say much, I thought the ref was the best we have had at the CG for a while now. Prick of the day has to go to Martin Allen. Seeing the ageing, never quite good enough to be a top manager wobble his way towards the few Pikies that bothered turning up when they made it 2-2 was enough to convince me the Football League Show will be worth a miss tonight.

Nice to see a tramp let in the Town End today too. Down the years he has worn some lovely woolly headwear and used to bounce around like an epileptic flea, often leading 'the left side' into 1 comically fantastic chant after another, upsetting Gary and Kojak regularly, but now he looks a little like an unkempt Steve Coogan in need of a good meal. Hopefully all of his friends that have attended with him down the years will rally round him and put him up on their sofas for a bit.

Yes

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:Nelson got upset because the ref, stood fifty yards away claimed he was placing the ball outside of the line for his goal kicks - he wasn't, the ball has to touch the line and after he made a show of pulling it back a yard he carried on as before and nobody noticed.

As regards the tramp - Fred will be upset with you, could almost call you outside Chang-style for that remark!!  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

1st game of the season for me today.  Liked the style of play.  Just couldn't convert.  A common problem we've had for years very frustrating. 

I've seen a couple of point saying the ref was really good.  I would usually just say he was shit so he couldn't have been that bad, but he seemed to ignore Ranger being completely wrapped up in the arms of a defender every time a cross came in.

Also Akinfenwa seems to be immune to censure.  Fair enough he cant jump, a fact the ref seemed to take into account and allow him to just run into people.

Should have won, but plenty of positives.

Its what my daughter calls him and she's marrying him so there.

Mason looked a right greedy cunt even more than Pritchard but I think Mason seems to have a lot more about him. Early days yet for both.

Seen a lot of stick for Pritchard on here tonight. I actually thought he was alright today and certainly a lot less selfish than he was against Torquay. He seems to have improved a bit in terms of being more direct as well.

i thought we moved the ball quicker once mason came on - it seemed as though the other players were looking to him as the man they consider to be our best player in a way, he'll be a massive player for us.  pritchard looked much better to me today, looked more focused on the team than before.

a couple of little negatives as to be expected so early on in the season but loads of positives to be taken i thought. 

storey should have come on, not for ranger even though he did look shot to pieces with about 20 minutes to go, as cooper said he needed to be on the pitch to help out with defending set pieces.  should have taken harley off as him and mason seem like similar players to me - mason the better of the two.

they were slow at the back and i felt we could have stretched them more with miles trying to break the line for about 15 minutes.

shame about the bad fortune for the equaliser, could have gone anywhere.

The equaliser came about because Pritchard pulled out of a tackle which let the Gills get in a clean strike. Ward gave him a mouthfull of abuse for it to

from where i was (TE) i did wonder where ward was too, hall was on his own back there - or so it seemed.  i'll re-assess after i've seen the goals again.

We were on a break and the two centre half's didn't come out together.

If they had the two forwards may well have been offside

I love luongo, but he was dogshite yesterday.

That's me you fucking cunt.

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFZKlfRrGbw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Easily his worst game for us.

Plenty of positives to take, a drastic improvement from last week. I'm sure these guys are quick learners and you could see that Pritch was looking to get the ball in the box quicker this week. We're getting there slowly but surely. Next thing for them to figure out is when to just clear their lines as it was from some fannying around that eventually led to the throw that we conceded from.

Glad to see Mason back, I seriously rate this guy. Really pleased with Ranger's and McEveley's performances today too. Nobody was particularly bad but Luongo was definitely off the boil.

Unless Crewe have drastically changed their ethos, next weekend should be a pretty decent game.

I fucking love Afinkenwa.....we all took the piss and he just laughed it off...I almost wanted him to score to see what he do!

Game: My ambition is to stay up this season....We really need to win our home games to do that, so I'm disappointed that we didn't see it out.

Could me an old fashioned cunt but I want to see two strikers playing whilst at home.

I think we have enough in the tank to hit mid table.

Just saw the highlights. Their second was fucking awful.

yep. Lucky clearance but hall got turned far too easily. Same thing happened eary in the 1st half too.

 He's comfortable on the ball for a league 1 centre back but I'm far from convinced he's a good defender. Worth giving troy a go? He was decent in a handful of games early last season pre injury. (But he should never play centre mid ever again )

Hall is the classiest defender we've had for a long time. Remember he's young and still learning - which is one of the reasons that Ward staying was so important. I'll make a bold prediction and say that Hall will play for England one day.

Haha, fucking bollocks.

But only 80%....... ;)

Crikey, tbf his is probably the steepest learning curve, he's certainly calm on the ball. Nearly gave be a bloody heart attack at one stage.

Although we all obviously want good results, my personal opinion is I dont really give a fuck as long as we stay up and continue playing as we are.

Dull it aint!!

Viva el Cooperino!!

He was far, far worse than that last week.

That's good. Improvement already !

Yeah, probably right. Kind of struck it from my memory!

If we carry on playing as we are, then we'll get relegated...being weak away from home, and showing an inability to see games out at home is a recipe for Div 4...so we need an improvement..

A lot of the time he was just chanting solo, such as COYR and "Town end Town end give us a song" He was also upset with Akinfenwa's pushing of our centre backs. I'm sure at one stage Akinfenwa's was involved in a rugby maul, literally driving Hall back 10 yards! the funny thing is that this guy works in the local Co-op and is very softly spoken and friendly, and he's never been that outspoken before at a game. Glad I wasn't sitting next to him, though...funny, bordering on annoying. His heart is in the right place though - it was deathly quiet at the CG yesterday...

Thats the worry
While we did play well for most of the game it was only Gillingham
There are much better teams in this lg than them and we need to be winning games like yesterday

Still lets see who jed has up his sleeve as the next player in
Can only improve matters

We won't get relegated, in fact if we do I will get Thetownend.com tattooed on my ass.

Saying that, who was is that posted a photo of their balls a couple of years ago? Bushey?

Cunt...would do. This could be fun like when Bushey Boy had to post a picture of his balls after a failed declaration.

Not believing a word of this.... I remember the last time someone loyally promised this....

Haha, it was Bushey then. Anyone remember what the reason behind it was?

I have enough shit tattoos from holidays to worry about one more.

Mooney scoring a certain amount of goals for Walsall...

;D;D;D???

Yasr Kasim was my MOM - broke up play and helped us counter quickly. 

Nathan Thompson had a storming game but perhaps through exhaustion lacked composure in dangerous positions (until his glorious run for the goal) and let Kedwell, a good, journeyman striker, score a very soft header from the throw - Wes could perhaps have claimed that one?

JayMac was solid defensively and put in some decent crosses even if he was a little leaden and one footed.  A good swap to move Byrne to midfield so perhaps a little credit to Cooper for that.

Just back so my two-penneth.

I was quite pleased with the way we played on Saturday. We passed the ball well and looked quite bright. Many have said Luongo didn't play well, I thought he was excellent in the first half an hour and then faded in the second half for some reason. Kasim seems a useful purchase, always looking for the ball and keeping things simple, whilst hunting down the opposition players to win it back, he's going to be suspended a lot this season! Pritchard I was disappointed with, seemed to try and do too much. Not convinced by him. Mason came on and you could see he is a classy players with a great piece of play in front of us in the DRS. He is going to be a good player.

Byrne is probably better suited playing higher up the field and N.Thompson impresses me more and more, Paul who? Harley was busy and probably deserved man of the match for the excellent cross for the second goal alone. Akinfenwa caused Ward all sorts of problems but when he went off, Ward won everything in the air. Good to see Maceveley back and he did ok.

Ranger won a lot of headers on the air and retained posession well. He had one half chance in the box where his touch let him down and he was clearly knackered at the end but he is going to be very useful in this formation. Gillingham had done their homework and Wes wasn't able to pass the ball out short from goal kicks and so Ranger was realistically our only out ball

For me, the way we play football now is very pleasing on the eye, whether it can bring sucess here is debatable. In fact, I thought we played too much, surely into injury time it would be worth putting a few balls into the box, however we continued to pass it around whilst the Gills defence we happy to let us have it without us doing anything at all. Also, I think our tempo is too slow, we don't have any pace in the side and when we did have a chance of a counter attack to make it 3-1, Luongo held onto the ball too long and the pass to Mason was probably not perfect and he ended up blazing over the bar.

And so a work in progress that for me requires some work still. I think we might struggle away from home and so we need to get good results at the CG. Crewe at home on Saturday could be a brilliant game the way both sides play.