Thetownend.com

The Opponent:   Oldham Athletic

After a great away win on Saturday, and Jon Obika scoring more goals in 1 game than he has since he was 12, and long may they continue, its back under the lights at The County Ground for the visit of Oldham. We are sitting fairly well in 6th place and another 3 points tonight will help push on to safety before Christmas for the pessimists and towards cementing our play off place for the more optimistic amongst us. In other football news, Oxford remain shit and looking set for a return to the Vanarama Conference.

Interestingly, The toponymy of Oldham seems to imply "old village or place" from Eald (Saxon) signifying oldness or antiquity, and Ham (Saxon) a house, farm or hamlet. Oldham is however known to be a derivative of Aldehulme, undoubtedly an Old Norse name. It is believed to be derived from the Old English ald combined with the Old Norse holmi or holmr, meaning "promontory or outcrop", possibly describing the town's hilltop position. It has alternatively been suggested that it may mean "holm or hulme of a farmer named Alda". The name is understood to date from 865, during the period of the Danelaw obviously.

People from Oldham are called Oldhamers, though "Roughyed" is a nickname from the 18th century when rough felt was used in Oldham to make hats. Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw is from Oldham, as are actors, Eric Sykes and Bernard Cribbins, TV host Phillip Schofield, and comedy double act/double glazing salesmen Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball. Brian Cox (physicist), the physicist, is a native of Oldham. His YouTube videos are convenient examples of the local accent.

Last Time Out – 13th September -  Oldham 0 The Pikies 0 – A game that produces 21 shots without a goal must have been little compensation to the 3’785 hardy souls. Oldham dominated the game with no real end product and currently find themselves on 9 points and very much mid-table.

Starting XI –  Rackchuba, Wilson, Mills, Elokobi, Wilson, Winchester, Kelly, Dayton (Morgan Smith 82), Jones, Philliskirk, Poleon.

Oldham Chronicle - Jonathan Forte could be ready to face Swindon tomorrow — but Athletic must play a waiting game on a striker target. Forte missed the scoreless home draw with Gillingham with a thigh injury, but the club’s five-goal top scorer has a chance of appearing in the league clash at the County Ground.

They have served us both – Hasney  Aljofree Tom Devlin, Alex Downie, Neil Harris, Benny Jones, Andy Todd, Alan Sheehahahahahahahahahahahan, Anton Rodgers, Cristian Montano, Brian Kilcline, Ray Treacy, Jon Sheffield, Adam Roonery, Chris Ogden, Frank Large, Fede Bessone, Fraser Digby, Paul Edwards, Don Heath, Chris Jones, Leon Clarkje, Jimmy Thompson, Abe Rosenthal, Sam Parkin, Steve Mildenhall, John Kelly, Jack Hurst, David Down, Jon Hallworth.

One From The Past –  5th April 2008 – Swindon Town 3 Oldham Athletic 0. A massive crowd of 5’384 packed in to The County Ground for this one, doubt there will be much more tonight. After a rather dour first half we picked up in the 2nd to record a comfortable win with a goal from Lee Peacock and 2 from Simon Cox.  Cox and Peacock aside, we really didn’t have much of a team that day with names such as Aljofree on the team sheet.

The Odds –  Swindon Evens  Draw 12/5  Oldham 3/1  After a cracking start for our new striker he is now best priced 6/1 with a couple of outlets to score the 1st goal. I hope Obika and Smith can form a decent partnership up front, the goals are there, it seems.

The Son Says –  Happy with our 6th place he remains in a confident mood. 2-0 home win.

The Prediction – I think I may have actually got Saturday’s right, that 2 in 1 season already, promotion is on the cards. 3-0 win, 2 from Smith and 1 from Obika, 6’545 in attendance with 187 from Greater Manchester.

And Finally –  The Oldham town hall has been listed as a historical building of significance. Built in 1841, the town hall features an ionic portico adapted from the Athenian architecture and was used by Sir Winston Churchill in 1900 during his famous inauguration speech when he won his first parliamentary seat. If you look at the outside of the building, you will see a Blue Plaque that marks the event.

COYR COYR COYR COYR

 There's a few curious names under the "they served us both" ....who'd have thunk David Down...mad.

 My earliest memorable match v Oldham was in 66, when we beat them 6-3 at the CG, with the Don getting a hat trick.

That was a sort of embryonic 69 side....7 played at Wembley....but at that point a bit inconsistent, we either battered teams, or would go on poor runs, like losing 6 in a row in Jan Feb, when engaged in a cup run.

In fact with Oldham, at the CG, we either win comfortably, draw or lose 0-1 in dour circumstances....like earlier this year.

The little spate of 2-2 draws in the 90's used to do my head in.....Roger Palmer *shudder*

 

Need to be patient tonight - they haven't conceded a goal for ages but are struggling to score themselves.

Be my first game viewing from the TE for years tonight.

1-0, 6712 with 148 Mancs. Smudge back on the scoresheet

I think it could be a frustrating night tonight, but given our performances this season and particularly the improved resilience we've been showing I'm cautiously optimistic!

If we can get in front early then I think it could be quite comfortable but Oldham will be all out to stop us in the final third and we're a bit lack there anyway, so we could be in for a grumbly (is that a word?) county ground this evening.

 :clap:

Hopefully Stephens will back tonight.

Im too confident about tonight and should know better, easy 3-0 win (Obika, Mass & Byrne)

We have goals throughout the team now and even though I think Oldham will score tonight,I'm confident that we'll manage at least two ourselves. Comfortable 3-1 Smith,Luongo and Williams to send 6389 home happy and 87 from Oldham chuntering about our inability to stay on our feet after being assaulted

They seem to be on an upward curve after the last few seasons of struggling, so will be tight, but we should have enough in the tank. Slim 1-0 win I reckon.

What's your eyesight like....be warned the view from the TE is never the best, but for night games under the ever dwindling lux of the floodlights, events at the Bank, can approach guess work.

2-0

Att: 6,077 (187)

They've been a bit of a bogey team for us recently but I'm going for a 2-0 win for us this time. 

Att: 7001, including 161 Latics (annoyingly, I believe one of them travels with a f*cking drum)

They do have a drum, they're always pretty noisy as well to be fair to them.

For some reason, we often seem to get Oldham on a Tuesday night....be warned an early season loss at home to the Latics, can be a portent of relegation like in 93/94 and 05/06, although in both those instances it was the home opener.

It's not like you to be pessimistic Reg!    ;D

Cassandra Smeeton has a certain ring to it.

Not the best, TBH but now Mrs Audrey has got the bug it costs a fucking fortune.

Either £100 for Oldham and Blades from the side or £76 from the TE.

No wonder attendances are down

There's just something about Oldham, I don't like....I've seen us put 6, 5, 4, and a few 3's on them...which tends to breed optimism, then all too frequently along comes a game like Feb's dire affair, where the grim visaged norverners, defend stoutly and scramble some scrappy pin ball goal.

It would be nice to think, that as a fair few of the current team played in Feb, we've got that out of the way, and are due one of the handsome wins.....it would be nice to think that, but of course I'm not going to  :)

Im going to be in the TE on saturday for the first time for ages.  Mainly on account of not bringing my kids so I will be allowed to swear. 

Thank fuck.

No comparison, football is just too expensive.

Was going to say shouldn't that be £74 as Oldham a bronze category then found out sheff utd is a gold category  :crash:

First game of the season tonight following cricket commitments, so no doubt I'll jinx us and say we'll thrash them 2-1! Goals from Obika and a towering Jack Stephens header.

You think you've got it bad?! the News Monkey can't even afford food

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/392947747_45835bdb33_m.jpg)

On the train from Paddington at the moment for this one. Have to get some bits and bobs from the outlet village so making a 'day of it' in Swindon. The pub near the outlet village any good?

Annoyingly the trains back to London after are a right bitch, either 20 past 9 which means missing most of the second half, or 22:34 which gets me into Paddington the same time as the last tube!! The things we do for our football team!

Think we'll win 1-0. Byrne.

The Dolphin....run by Phil King, old skool.

Proper old pub, The Dolphin. My local, really.

Might see you there then Audrey!

What time you getting there?

That'll be a first If it makes it on time as well ;)

Maybe 6?

3-0 Town, Obika, Kasim & Smith.

I'll have time for a quick one before I pick up Mrs Audrey if you fancy one/two

Can drop u in town if u want

That's very good of you! Where is the dolphin? Haha!

Looking forward to tonight. In fact, looking forward to all games at the moment. This lot have put a great big smile on my big fat chops and Kasim is the cherry on the top.
Given my very unusual optimism we're fucked.  

Come out the Outlet main entrance turn left walk to the roundabout turn right Dolphin is on the left - 3 min walk

Perfect. I'll be the Norman nae mates in the 'Samsung' red/black training top with a backpack and a fecking suit bag! (Don't ask!!).

See you shortly! I'll get the first round!

OK

Will it be love at first sight........... TBC  :girlgiggle:

Right now their eyes could be locked over the table, wistfully hoping that this could be the beginning of something special.

Of course Mrs Audrey might have issue with that.

Unchanged from Saturday.

Still no Stephens.

Foderingham; Branco, Thompson N, Turnbull; Byrne, Luongo, Kasim, Thompson L, Smith B; Obika, Smith M

subs: Belford, Barthram, Lelan, Reeves, Barker, Waldon, Williams

Unchanged

I hope the introduction wasn't overheard

"Alright mate, are you Audrey?"

:D

"I can be whoever you want me to be, handsome"

I see Oldham have Dominic Poleon up front, a man we were allegedly after along with Chesterfield a few weeks back.

Oh good, sounds like they have a drum. That'll add to the atmosphere.

I never knew that Jon Hallworth played for us - he was a bit of a Digby-like legend for them I think.

A win, last minute Jake Reeeeeeves screamer with his first touch.

Hooraaay, glad I can't listen to the commentary now.

He did, he didn't start a game for us though. He was a youngster then about 19.

Under Macari IIRC, as cover for Scott Endersby.

Hi folks,
What radio station is covering the game? I'm exile in Ipswich .

I couldn't get logged into player on my laptop so am having to listen using my iPhone which is a minute or so delayed.

First world problems.

BBC Wiltshire?

Ta!

I'm glad we have so many reporters now :

Morshead: Town free kick 20 yards out.

Steele-Davis : Town free kick 25 yards out.

Adver: Town free kick 30 yards out.

Win please...

I don't know how long a yard is anyway

91% of a metre ;) ish

Hell of a hit to be fair. You don't save those.

FFS.

Cracking goal that

Translated for you...

Definitely 25 maybe further. Hope that helps :)

Get in Obika.

Woo

(http://i.imgur.com/tWONXU2.gif)

come on!

Goals from corners are a lot like buses...

Shaun Taylor heads them in to the back of the net?

Get in, get another now lads

(http://i.imgur.com/7XeXnSo.gif)

 :clap:

Probably true too.

I'd summarise that as controlled passing with occasional threat, need  more sustained pressure but comfortable. Byrne superb on right.

Some odd choices of music tonight....

Doesn't sound like a very exciting game yet, end to end but with not many good chances.

Swindon Town FC ‏@Official_STFC  31s
Tonight's attendance - 6,332 (228 away supporters) #STFC

Ouch.  That has to be our lowest league gate for some time.

Not good that is it, could see a few sub 6000 gates at this rate.

Power needs to do some offers to get people back

£48 in 5 days is a bit of a stretch for me, doubt I'm alone there.

doesn't help finishing work at 6 either ;_;

All a bit pedestrian now

Get 3 points and we could potentially be 3rd tonight.  :o

We've sounded quite poor tonight.

Not looking likely, we've been dreadful this half.

Really ragged now. Got to get a second wind..

Get in!

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

fucking peach

(http://i.imgur.com/HrNdWyr.gif)

I like "pedestrian"  :)

Willo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo, Willo!

Get in!

Woo and indeed hoo!

Get in there.

All the sweeter because we didn't deserve it.

Ha!  Superb goal from Williams.

You're just too good to be true...

Fuck sake.

FFS..

Bollox

Fuck.

Cock.

Fuck sticks.

Awful defending. Hope stephens is fit for saturday

Bollocks. Odd free kick. Fods may have claimed that when it was played in ?? Piss poor marking

(http://i.imgur.com/ezhXWk4.gif)

Byrne MOTM then

Fair play Luongo must be relying the effects of international duty. Not been great.

Frustrating we couldn't hold on, but sounded like we didn't deserve to win.

Tbf I'd have taken four points from these two games before Saturday

Fair result to be honest

Did well to get a point, didn't deserve to win!!  Midfield three were poor, we spent too much time going backwards allowing the Oldham midfield to come on to us.  Bit of a physical side they were, but you should expect that from a northern side.  Problem was we definitely had no plan B, and when plan A doesn't work there was no fall-back.

Like to say we were poor, but that would do a disservice to Oldham who I thought were impressive.

Outplayed us for much of the 2nd half and were unlucky not to take all 3 points - they will upset plenty of sides this season.

Lots of misplaced passes from us and apart from Williams' fantastic strike I cant remember a shot or chance.

See it as a point gained TBH

Good to meet up with Bobs Orange for a couple of pints b4 the game!

Having a cider in the GW waiting for my train home.

I thought Oldham were much better than I thought they were going to be, worked bloody hard and never gave us time on the ball, hence why Luongo and (to a lesser extent) Yaser seemed to not dominate as much.

They scored from an absolute worldly from 30 yards and we equalised from a scrappy goal from a corner from Obika.

Second half Oldham possibly had more possession than us, well it seemed like they did.
We broke and whilst I was baying for Williams to square to Obika, he decided to blast it into the top corner! A couple of minutes later and Oldham had a free kick which we defended very badly and they scored from, scrappy again!

Overall a draw fair, Oldham looked a good side. Brad smith (again) looks the weak link for us and turnbull wasn't as strong as he has been. Unfortunately George barker looks a better bet at lb at the moment, although he ruined his moment in the lights by tripping over his feet!! Byrne mom for his first half showing I guess.

Up in Aberdeen for a wedding on Saturday so will miss the Sheffield United game.

Oh and Audrey hasn't phoned yet :(

How was the GLUEPOT?

Disgraceful pub crawl b4 a game!

Also fair play for Oldham, 230 fans on a Tuesday night and did their best to make some noise.

Yep, nice to meet you too Audrey, good to put faces to Townend names!

Nice pint of stout! And met a couple of London reds pre-match (including the trust chairman fella) so not all bad!

Might have to get some travellers for the train back to the smoke, 1 hour and 50 minutes! Zzzz

Think they out-shouted us for most of the match, no atmosphere and like a morgue for long periods!

Fair play to Lee Power, he comes across as a totally genuine bloke in his interviews.  Pwoper wide boy, but at least he seems to talk the truth rather than the previous idiots..

Not a bad game of football. I think a draw was deserved although they looked likelier to get the winner. If their bloke squared the ball instead of shot we'd have been in the shit likewise of Nathan hadn't got the tackle in. MOM was probably the easiest this season. Byrne by far our best player. The midfield was shit today moreso in the 2nd.
Their first was a cracker - our first was scrappy. Our second was a cracker, their second scrappy, although they somehow managed to have 3 players lined up at the back post to stick it in.
Not the best day at the office but overall a good start to the season.
 

Feels like two points dropped, but only from the perspective of us scoring with not long left. In truth a draw was a fair result.

First half we had a fair amount of the ball, but didn't do much with it. The exception being Byrne, who was absolutely tearing into the right hand side, and a couple of semi-decent crosses didn't quite get punished. But make no mistake, we were not peppering their goal.

The Oldham goal was very good. A free kick was worked square and the Oldham player has leathered synthetic upper'ed it from about 30 yards out leaving Fods no chance. They also forced a fair few corners. Our equaliser came from a corner, the ball in the box seemed to just find the boot of our man-in-the-right-place Obika.

Second half and we faded/ran out of ideas quite quickly, fairly reminiscent of doing the same against Brighton. Cooper made some attacking substitutions, not sure he got them quite right  but at least he went for it. Williams looked like a man trying to prove a point, and Smith may soon find himself under pressure. I guess competition for places is good. But it was Oldham that started to push us far too deep and looked likely to get the next goal. Then we broke, 3 on one, Williams made what looked like the wrong choice but scored a blinder of our own when he smashed it into the top corner from an angle.

So that was three points. Except it wasn't. Oldham got a free kick after the lino flagged them offside, not sure what the ref saw except it must have been before the ball was played forward. The ball was placed in but the defence seemed at sixes and sevens at some froze and others didn't. It left Oldham with a fairly simple chance which they took.

Reeeeeeeeeves made an appearance (that wasn't booing numb nuts BBC Wilts texter) and looked to be fairly lively. Barker did OK and nearly had a good shooting chance but tackled himself with his standing foot. Brad Smith is worse at crossing than me.

A fair point, two cracking goals and a bit disappointing otherwise. Beat losing though.

Cooper made the point that their second goal came about as we came out to play offside but one didn't get the message and played three of their on!!

I got to feel sorry for Brad Smith as Turnbull, for a left footer always seems to pass infield, and refuses to pass the ball to him. Oldham worked that out by half time, and kept on putting the pressure on him in he second half.

Fully agree with most of the comments that a draw was a fair result, and that Oldham will upset quite a few teams if they play like that.

Ah, well that makes sense of what happened.

Agreed. Seemed to have 2 Oldham player attacking the ball vs zero of us!

One of those nights, didn't quite click. Fair result, we would have possibly lost that game last season, well we did I suppose.

Totally lost the battle in the middle of the park, our 3 were way off their best.  Byrne was absolutely superb first half, what a transformation he has undergone.

Fair play to Oldham they came to give it a go and played nice stuff at times. Some old mong at the back of the DRS was loudly proclaiming they were the dirtiest team he had ever seen, assume it was his first game for years.

Dreadful atmosphere once again.

Spot on there, Reg.

Couldnt see a thing in the first half - was squinting like I was turning Japanese.

Had no perspective on the game at all.

Going to have to upgrade my tickets for Saturday and get back viewing from the side

How did your date with BO go?

He was the perfect gentleman

First time I've seen us this season and looked to me like we did towards the end of last season - but understand from others around me it's the worst we've been. Is that alarming so early on in the season when Cooper said the side were tired? We missed a game a couple of weeks ago and we're 7 games in - perhaps he meant 2 games in 4 days? Draw seemed a fair result and I think the only disappointment, like others have said, was the fact we took the lead at home with 10 minutes to go and should really close games out like that if we want to be a top 6 contender.

Looking forward to Saturday, hopefully be another good game and we come away with the win!

Swings and roundabouts, what you lose on Bank events you gain on TE events....both the goals going in the TE were memorable, (even if one was for Oldham) whereas both the Bank goals were Scrappy-doo.

Luongo and Kasim (to a lesser extent) didn't have much rest during the international break and unfortunately this may have hindered up last night.

I thought Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeves looked quite busy last night and made some good passes when he came on.

If only we could clone Byrne to have a good attacking left wing back as well. We look so good down the right and absolutely toothless down the left.

Still early days but Brad Smith doesn't look anywhere near good enough for League One to me.

Keep thinking he will come good, approach play is OK but crossing has been consistently poor.

If we had 2 Byrnes . . .

Plan A of patiently passing the ball through from defence to front has been great to watch so far this season, but it can be easily disrupted as Oldham showed last night by pressurising the back three.  Long ball is not our game, and Brad Smith does not seem suited to be a winger ie  his crossing is awful, and we rely too much on the great play of Nathan Byrne to create chances.

Cant be that easy to disrupt as we've only lost once - and that was a freak of a game at Creepies.

What it does require is that every player has to be close to top form every game.

If you play hoofball teams can get away with a couple being off form

Know what I prefer, though

They didn't start pressing until the 2nd half. Had they been at it all first half too then maybe things would've played out differently later on.

Really? Thought they pressed us a lot all game

Yeah looked like they were at it all game to me. Doubled up on Luongo and Kasim too.

Agreed. Sometimes you've got to give the other team credit, which Coops has done. They were a decent team. Young Johnson has the makings of a decent manager.

I'm not trying to take anything away from them but in the firdt half Turnbull and Brancs were pinning their midfielders a lot further back and isolating the strikers. 2nd half they didn't give us a single chance to do that again.

I thought Turnbull looked a little shaky last night at times, possibly because he was put under pressure more.

Nathan did exactly what he did against Brighton as well towards the end but luckily wasn't punished this time.

I guess playing the way we do, we're always likely to gift the opposition a chance or two, at this level you may get away with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG23GuNhPds

Looks like Branco was the player that Cooper was alluding to that stayed in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG23GuNhPds

What the actual fuck is that video

Its a video showing all the goals from last night...why?

Um it is the highlights from last nights game  :hmmm:

You kidding me.

I get some vid showing some Africans erecting an aerial mast!

That'll be for the high lights ....

Jeez that was some hammer on the first Oldham goal.

I have embedded it now are you still getting a video of an African Aerial Erection  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

WTF

I'm getting The Hobbit with that!

Jeeeeesus

It is a trailer for The Hobbit followed by a Rick Astley vid of Never Going To Give You Up

They're messing you about Audrey - link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vjsDIfyrKE

Fuck off

You're pissing me about now.

That you in the lift?

No, it's Otis Redding.

Very good!

You appear to be having trouble with the 3 buttons in the lift

You watched to to the end?  :eek:

No way

I fear a penis moment