Thetownend.com

Don't think I've ever lost opening one of these...

Bury have made a solid start to the season and are currently in 7th position (but only 3 points ahead having played a game more). Their most impressive, if that's the word, result was away at Walsall where they were 3-0 down at half time only to be at 3-3 by the 66th minute.
We have Jones and Vigouroux suspended, whilst they have James Vaughn (?!) suspended, glad to see him out after finding out he plays for them  :eek:
Henry to replace LV and JSW and Branco probably in tomorrow with Barry dropping to the bench would be my selection. Would love to see us play with 2 strikers tomorrow please, and also would like to see Tom Smith given a run out.

We have not beaten Bury in 3, including two home 1-0 defeats, but I thoroughly expect us to come away with the 3 points. 2-0 to the town with goals from Norris and Delfouneso.

Att: 6232 COYR

Their Paypal overdraft is still operational, so expecting a tough game, probably 0-1 or 1-1.

Black pudding.

I fear Aggressive will beat Passive again today for an away win

I'd like to see a midfield three of Doughty, Kasim and Murray today, with a front two of Delfounseo and Obika.

Betcha Rodgers starts.  1-1

2-1 Town. Late Town End turnaround. Murray free kick and Norris.

5-0 win.

2-1 defeat, put your house on it

Bury currently sit in 7th place 9 places above us with 3 more points than us but have played 1 game more.

All their wins have come at home so far this season and only 2 points picked up away from home at Walsall & Coventry.

They have won their last 3 games on the trot but all of those being at home, on the road they have lost 2 and drawn 2 scoring 2 conceding 8 goals in the process.

In Games between Swindon and Bury at the CG we have won 14 drew 5 and lost 5 times scoring 51 and conceding 18 with a win ratio of 68%.

Bury have won their last 2 games at the CG both 1-0 but before that you had to go back 14 games for their previous win in 1977.

My most memorable game with them was a few days before we played Arsenal in December 79 when we beat them 8-0 and it could have been more.

I think it will be a tight game and a 2-2 draw with Norris and Goddard scoring in front of 6,399 with 289 black puddings makers there.

1-2 defeat

A keep most of the ball draw.

Last season....I think our twenty pass move broke down, a break down the wing, a hopeful cross, header in...

Like to see Murray start after doing well in the Boycott Cup.

Would like us to win this one but these sound a tough team to beat even on their travels - I am still confident that the team will get there act together but not just yet - another draw 1-1

First home game of the season for me so likely to be a dissapointing 0-2 defeat.

3-1 Town

Murray + Fonz (2)

6732

Ive generally been pretty impressed with us this season, a few bad performances but overall Im feeling fairly confident. I always seem to watch us lose against Bury though... maybe its time to buck the trend. Team wise Id go for

Henry
Thompson Branco JSW (is he available?)
Furlong Murray Kasim Doughty Brophy
Obika Fonz

Good options on the bench then with Goddard & Norris to mix things up a bit. Wouldnt be disappointed to see young Tom Smith start, like the look of this kid.

 A big match for Luke Williams today....he needs to at least avoid defeat. He seems a reluctant manager and this week won't have helped. Convincing the fans of your competence is important, so he needs to get back on track, and put out a side that can compete effectively.

I like the look of that team although I think Norris will probably start ahead of Beeks today and bring him on later in the game for some more game time.

Good choice  tails but you know rodgers will start

True, he will be invigorated after his being rested on Tuesday....

Got a feeling it will be
Henry
Furlong Thompson Branco
Barry Doughty Kasim Rodgers Brophy
Obika Delfouneso

A repeat of Dec 1979 would be nice :)

But would settle for another squeaky 1-0

Rodgers doesn't start.

Wasnt far off! Barry for Furlong

Indeed :) , but no Doughty either :(

Oh and Thomas for Doughty... no mention of injury was there?

What is it then

Who's the potential scapegoat now then?

Doughty's sick apparently.

Doughty is ill apparently.

Branco will of course be the scapegoat.

Im guessing Branco....even if nathan concedes 2 pens and gets sent off

Don't agree with leaving Furlong out. Think he's a better  centre half option than Branco and a better wing back than Barry.

Henry; Rossi-Branco, Thompson (C), Sendles-White; Barry, Kasim, Thomas, Murray, Brophy; Delfouneso, Obika.
SUBS - Ormonde-Ottewill, Furlong, Rodgers, Smith, Goddard, Norris, Hylton.

Doughty will be a big miss, Thomas and Kasim are both more defensive midfielders.

not the best of starts..

still, 0-0, plenty of time

Sounding lively last 5 mins.

FFS

Hallam Hope 0-1

turdmendous.

bury deserve it

But whose fault was it?

Anton's, obviously

Do we have a keeper on the bench?

Doesn't seem so.

1-1 Obika

offside?

not 1-1 disallowed

unbelievable. lino gets barracked by bury players well after the goal, then sticks his flag up.

staggered

That was odd

Another set of clueless cunts officiating

it was like he forgot the offside rule for 20 second. it may have been the right call, but it was bizaare.

sendells-white fucked by dodgy challenge too...play on, advantage. ffs

This is absolutely disgraceful. The referee and linesman are bent.


Sent from my iPhone

So much for the new rule about players surrounding officials.

Sounds like we are losing our discipline yet afuckinggain

This ref has got to be a closet Bury fan.  Books 2 of our for challenges when they got the ball..  He is losing it now.

Sounds like some very bad refereeing all round.

It's getting fucking worse he's lost it


Sent from my iPhone

The referee has completely lost control. I'll be surprised if someone doesn't get sent off.

It will be one of ours, they managed to crock JSW badly enough that he needed a stretcher & yet he didn't get booked, or even spoken to

Thompson or kasim first red?

Branco

2 nil down

oh dear...

0-2 Hallam Hope again

A long hard season again I am afraid you just cannot keep giving goals gift wrapped

dodgy backwards pass,  shame to give a soft goal like that away

Looks like a terrible game to watch for me, we just haven't got going

Absolute shit cunt of a ref. Bookings galore for no reason. Murray has been very good in my eyes at switching the play but then ballsed it all up with that shit pass.

We are too slow.

Terrible performance, ref hasn't helped but we were ill disciplined and lucky to have ten men (same goes for Bury mind).

No ideas, no strength, no movement, no pace, no point.

Terrible performance, ref hasn't helped but we were ill disciplined and lucky to have ten men (same goes for Bury mind).

No ideas, no strength, no movement, no pace, no point.

Could Murray be the new Rodgers?

No murray has passed it forwards, except for the pass for their goal  ;)

Poor game all round. Shame about Murrays lapse as he's been decent. Thoroughly shafted by officials yet again. How can you decide 2 minutes later its offside? I even checked the flag before celebrating.

Think it would have been a different game at 1-1. Nevermind

My word. Just how much time does a linesman need before deciding a goal isn't a goal after all.

Either ref is being payed off by someone, or he's just genuinely incompetent. I'm not sure which of the two is the more palatable answer. Fucking awful officiating. Brought it all on themselves.

Be amazed if we dont have a red card this half, Kasim/Branco/Barry all very close

As shit as the officials have been, we have been far worse.

I wonder what the linesman said to the referee 'sorry, I've changed my mind now a few of the Bury players told me it was offside' - what a farce.

However, agree with Sonic, we've been shit, far too slow and again reluctant to get the ball in the box.

we had a bit of a spell after their first goal.

but bury have been much better than us

Dave Hockadays commentary is pissing me off, repeating himself all the time about Williams not being happy and that a goal would change the game...no fucking shit sherlock.

1-2 Beaker

better effort/work rate rewarded with a goal.

coyr

Great ball by Murray, composed finish by beeks

Murray off Goddard on.

Easier to score than miss then

Beaker wide from a great chance.

Dave Hockaday "I don't know how Swindon aren't drawing or even ahead"

Well Dave I will tell you...Bury have scored more goals than we have....

I know jj "swindon in total control".we are 2-1 down ffs!he's irritating me now

He is master of the innapropriate cliche.

Come on Town get an equalizer.

That was probably the worst free kick ive ever seen norris

Not gonna happen is it.

Thought the same. Shitter of a game really. Looks like officials have cost us ultimately but we've done ourselves no favours with the goals conceded.

Poor result.

Dave Hockaday: "It's another learning curve".

YOU CAN'T DO IDIOMS DAVE. STOP IT.

Nearly went today, but plans changed late on.  Glad we didn't make it.

This is limp, Swindon.

Horse shit

Rubbish. Need to turn it around on Tuesday, defeats against two local rivals early in the season would see the knives out already for Williams in some sections I fear.

Some Luke Williams quotes from BBC Wilts:

We got exactly what we deserved.
We did very little about it.
We started the game in a coma.
Very slow in and out possession.
Sean Murray dopey and played a soft pass for second goal, but slow team performance meant it was coming.
Expressed to players at half time that if we play so slow, expect to get beat.
Referee said linesman thought Murray's shot went straight in so did not flag. Referee thought Obika was offside. He clearly wasn't.
Tough to accept alongside last week's free kick that was turned into a penalty but we need to move on from these bad decisions.
Hard to find many positives after below par first half performance.
JSW potential ligament problem, could be a few weeks.
Doughty had complication during appendix surgery. No timescale.
Need to change players mindsets into how they can positively affect the game before Tuesday.

Im neither a happy clapper nor doom merchant but im worried now.without doughty we have very little quality.

got what we deserved, second half better but not quite good enough. obika as good as he is should have equalised...

I thought despite his clanger Murray looked half a yard quicker in thought and should become a good asset.

I think we will have a good idea of where we stand in a week's time after playing Bristol Rovers and Oldham.

So why are we playing that way if the Manager has told the players to play at a different pace/tempo?  I don't understand.  LW sets these parameters.  Are the players ignoring him?

Barry had an absolute stinker - nearly everything he touched went tits up. Fonz looked alright, nothing special.

Branco my MoM if anyone was worth that accolade. We just don't have the guile to break down even average defences.

The ref was fucking bizzare.

Slow, unmotivated and worse of all pulling out of challenges and basically bottling it and throwing the points away.

Only going one way I fear, teams have to do very little to beat us at the moment, just hassle and wait for us to gift the chances, piss poor today, don't go every week but that was crap.

Took my eight year old for £1 and that was too much!

 :doh: Speed it up Motherfuckers,these players are not the Tottenham youth team they are out of their depth playing it around at the back.The amount of comedy goals we let in for the last 3 seasons is a bad joke.I can't seem to be tempted by the £10 tickets available to see such lifeless ,dull and uninspiring football plus little to fuck-all atmosphere

Most poor performances I've seen over the past couple of seasons are when we've started slowly and thought we could casually control the game. You have to earn the right to play and the speed at which we start games only encourages the opposition in my opinion. I don't mind the passing football, it looks great when it comes off, but when you start a game lethargically it's very hard to change gear.

Not sure what Williams is telling them but at home at least it should be get the ball to the half way line sharpish and then look to play the game in their half with your passing football.

I feel like we over complicate and try and play a way that League 1 players on the whole aren't good enough to execute. Defenders should never have as many touches as ours do, setting yourself up for a fall every time. Chuck poor discipline into the mix and you've got the perfect recipe for a disastrous season.

Play like that again and it will be in the relegation zone!

Seems like I'm in the minority but I strangely enjoyed today's game. I don't think we are far off being a very decent side. We caused Bury a lot of problems in a decent spell in the first and then for most of the second we looked alright.

Thought Obika was very good, should have scored twice. Delfonz made a lot of runs and held the ball up well. Murray looked good and is still getting upto speed, will be a good signing. Brophy looked threatening but it always seemed to take an age for the ball to get too him.
Thompson/Branco were decent enough.
Usually think Barry gets unwarranted critisism but he was dogshit today bar one decent cross.

Up the tempo, have a fucking shot when we're in the box and we will be fine.

I said earlier this was a big game for LW....needed a reaction from last week.....and didn't get it in a positive sense. We're still way too easy to play against, even for modest Div 3 teams.

The alarm bell is being dusted off, and given a routine check for working efficiency.

Totally agree with all of that !
Murray looked really good, apart from THAT pass !

Both teams were total shit but Bury were organised, dirty and got the breaks. we pressed the self destruct button and yet again beat ourselves. The ref was a total cunt and if going in late and over the top was an olympic event then Bury struck gold. The challenge on JSW was a straight red and the ref waved play on. Kassim got booked for a full blooded challenge identical to one of theirs a few seconds earlier which went unpunished. The "goal" was bizarre. The ref totally lost the plot aad they took full advantage roughing us up.  
That said though the first hour we were total shite. Barry had a game to forget. Thomas was anonymous. I didn't rate Murray today but he's fitted straight into the team by fucking up for their second goal. Good ball in for ours though. There's a decent player there though. Our set pieces were shit and our movement was as flacid as my dick after 10 pints.
MOM for me was either Kasim, who was essentially our midfield or Branco who despite moving from right to left looked pretty solid.
All in all a shit afternoon. A reasonable result would have been 0-0.

Now I'm more confused!

Did Murray's shot get deflected by Obika ? If so, I can only assume that means the lino saw Obika offside but didn't think he'd touched it. Whereas the ref didn't see the offside but did seethe touch.

I still can't remember seeing player protests prompting the officials to question their original decisions..To do so after so long was...odd.

The teams were virtually lined up ready to restart after the 'goal'. Surely the first thing a ref does when a goal is scored is check his linesman who had not flagged. Wtf went on to disallow it I haven't a clue.

Kasim was a definite yellow, though. Surprised it ended 11 v 11

There should be a rule that they can't rule it out once "Glad all over" has started playing ...

Absolutely no point in blaming the officials for today, we were simply dreadful. We started like a group of 11 people who had never met before, let alone played football together and didn't wake up until the outrage following the disallowed goal. Even then, our response was misguided and the players seemed more interested in getting booked for stupid/reckless challenges.

We utterly dominated the second half and Bury weren't interested in doing anything other than sitting back yet we couldn't break them down at all.

Barry is a player whom I am usually indifferent about, neither impressive nor poor, however today he was atrocious. Brophy similarly had a shocking first half but again impressed in the second half - what the fuck is that all about? It's pointless carrying him as a passenger at the start of a game.

The biggest problem is our rigidity. We have no other approach or plan. Our options on the bench were one of the worst fullbacks I've ever seen, a kid, he who shall not be named, a non-league striker and like for like replacements in Goddard and Furlong.

I read in the programme before the game that Bury had not scored more than 1 goal at the County Ground since the 70s. It was at that moment I knew they'd score at least 2.

p.s. Conor Thomas is such a poor player, I'd prefer to see Rodgers in midfield

That was the most inept referring performance I have seen for a long long time.  Ive never sen a referee overturn his decision to give a goal after 2 minutes.  After the players have celebrated, after glad all over has been played, after it has notched up on the scoreboard.  Its not a question of a dodgy decision its a question of how long before allowing the pressure of players complaining change your mind.  Furious.  

How it can be excusable even if its the right decision, which apparently it wasnt, is unfathomable.  Ive always questioned why players rush the referee to protest a decision.  Because clearly hes not going to change his mind is he.  Well apparently even that certainty in football has gone.

The game has gone.

Of course having said that we were poor.  Bullied by a big dirty team unfortunately the ref joined in and bullied us as well.

Brad Barry is stealing a living from a real footballer , I know he is a trier blah blah but my god he is Hellenic league standard at best he offers absolutely nothing.
I thought Murray looked OK and Brophy looked good in patches not too sure about Conor Thomas although he does get stuck in. We really missed Doughty today his driving runs forward the build up play was slow at times, Bury attacks broke down time and time again but we go backwards and sideways allowing them to all get back to there positions rather than being dynamic and bursting forward.
Next game I would like to see Furlong in the Barry position with Branco, Thomo and Jones in the Back 3 sounds like Doughty will be out for the next couple after having his appendix out. Just so frustrating that we start to play after gifting a 2 nil head start.

 One of our many problems, is the inability to find a settled side, due to call ups, suspensions, injuries etc.

 So we end up with lads, playing in what should be the key partnerships across the pitch, not having experience of playing together, hence no understanding.

No doubt the process will repeat for Tuesday, as may the outcome.

Think I had my rose tinted specs on today as Im not nearly as negative as everyone else.

We didnt deserve to lose today

https://twitter.com/onemoardave/status/777200388730650625

OK, we were on the wrong end of another inept referee, but we are too easy to play against for even modest Div 3 teams, which ultimately is the reason for defeat.

Sigh...

He also missed Popes 'tackle' on JSW

That wasnt an easy win for Bury.

Looked easy to me.....basic game plan.... kick a few early doors, wait for defensive error(s)  then sit in, and time waste.

Work the ref by whining and rolling around after challenges.  Good game management....

I've had a quick look through and cant find the attendance?
Anyone help out?

Doughty has had an Appendix out and it was an operation not keyhole so this will mean at least 8 weeks out.

A gnat's nob under 7000

Even given that it was kid a quid, that's not a bad turn out.

We're 11th in the table of average League 1 attendances.  We've not been that low in a long while.  And just the 2,000-odd lower than Oxford and Bristol Rovers.  Early days...but still.

Right Ive calmed down a bit now.

More considered opinions, Barry had a mare as has been said.  Right side was ineffective.  They had the measure of us there.

Left side was better, Brophy should be given the ball more and be encouraged.  We still seem to be reluctant to let him have the ball.

Thought the front 2 held it up well when they got it.  

Defence - we missed the Liverpool lad.  Their big 11 bullied our smaller defenders throughout the match.  And got away with it.  The sort of mates with the ref performance that the likes of Grant Holt exposed us and our inexperienced defence with last year.

In midfield its quite exciting.  Thomas is a weak link.  As is Rodgers when he is about.  If we get a run of games with Doughty, Kasim and the Watford lad in the season we could get a lot of good results.  Very impressed with the new guy and was a shame to see him go off.  I can only imagine its due to fitness at this stage.

Vigs
Furlong jones thompson branco brophy
Kasim doughty murray
Delfonz obika

Best 11 for me

Why do Swindon fans always seem to blame the ref?

Thomas was hugely improved once he dropped back to a more defensive role after Goddard came on. Not sure the plan to move him forward has worked.

tbf, the ref was a complete tit today. He's not the (only) reason we lost, but he was bloody hopeless.

I dont think anyone was completely blaming the ref.  Even me.  I think we've all said the performance was shit.

The referee was next level shit though.

Unlike Flasher, I'm not into conspiracy theories, but the ref was called Breakspear, the name of the only Englishman to become Pope. Pope somehow managed to avoid red for stretchering JSW. Coincidence  :hmmm:

jsw seems pretty concerned it's bad..

"
Words cant describe how gutted i am. Praying its not as bad as expected 😔😔😔
"

We've got bigger players than last year but we still.play like a bunch of fucking poofters. We don't physically intimidate anywhere in the park. Fair play to kasim for his yellow today. Barry's yellow was a true fucking Gaylord yellow. Get a crap ref, get a kicking, lose the game and repeat. Get a decent red against a team that want to play, get a chance of a result. We really need to man the fuck up and get at least one player who can master the dark arts, not the stupid shitty fouls we currently do.

Congratulations on your incredibly homophobic post.

(http://i.imgur.com/Jww2VYX.jpg)

Hmmm.

So who put that in? Twitter said Delf, who looks marginally offside.

Obika.  Who wasnt.

he hasn't kicked the ball yet!!!

I thought we were poor for the most part. We just don't create much at all and when we do our strikers don't offer much in the way of goal scoring. We really missed Doughty today. Without him no one makes anything happen or at least they didn't today. Some of these players need to step up now. We have been well short of the mark since the Rovers game. A positive start has turned a little worrying of late.

You know that's a photo not a video right?

really!!!

Go to bed Magic, you're drunk.

;)

I can't see the fuss tbh. It wasn't our best game but it was far from our worst. Maybe I have been leaning towards the positive side unfairly due to the number of idiots on the other side, though. When a man is facing his own goal, has 3 of the oppositions players behind him and you still get people moaning about a pass back to the 'keeper you know you've got some serious melts for "supporters".

stop being the voice of reason. i'm an angry drunk tonight  :(

Barry and Boo seemingly taking it in turns to be utterly inept. With Ajose we would have managed a comeback win without him we just lack any sort of clinical edge up front. With Sendles White, Jordan Stewart and Doughty already facing lengthy spells out lets hope that last autumns catastrophic injury list isn't about to be repeated

Took my eldest to her first game today. She wasn't ready for it. Actually cried at the noise in the Town End when we scored. I fail as a parent yet again.

You've got more than one  :o

Only seems like 5 minutes ago we could have discussed the closing round of County Championship games.

That was shit.

Woke up after the game was lost.

Beeks sweet finish a miniature highlight.

Shit ref was the cherry on the icing on a shit performance cake.

At least Williams came out and was honest.

I fear for Tuesday and going forward. Too easy to beat once our play is broken up.

Staggeringly simple too, play the ball to him - side foot it in. Why don't we see more goals like that?

It's those pesky defenders.

You have to make the space yourself. The opposition have to be pulled wider to open the gap in the middle. We did it by using Barry higher (to cover his lack of ability dribbling, I suspect) and trying to get Thomas into the gap between fullback and centre back to pull another player in and destroy central cover.

This time, Delfonso had moved the centre back over towards Brophy and his partner didn't come over with him close enough. Their midfielder (19), who was meant to be covering the centre, took a lazy step inside and then is when Murray spotted the gap and Obika made his run. Easy.

We really need to do something about our disciplinary record.  Most of our bookings are for stupid stuff, unlike Yasser's 'yellow but probably should have been red' effort yesterday.

http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/fairplay

No point moaning but having just sought out the 'highlights' Obika's disallowed goal was onside and should have stood. The two conceded goals both have to fall under bad defending.
I don't think our current league position reflects our potential, but it is fair - you can't keep giving away goals and expect to win.

2nd goal not really bad defending was it. You can't really expect a numpty midfielder to give the opposition the ball without looking.

Perhaps not bad defending but poor team play. I guess I mean it was avoidable, more than anything else.

Sounds more like individual error than anything else. That's the 2nd time Murray has given a goal away, that should hopefully iron itself out with game time though.

He set up our goal to be fair. Well, both of our goals.

He played well. Looked sharp and the only one willing to go forward first half. He'll be a good signing for us

agree with tails, looked a yard sharper than most. until...

I wasn't being critical of him. Just pointing out it's probably more of an individual thing than a tactical/system thing and that it hopefully wont happen again when he's fully up to speed. New players will be rusty.

Possibly these errors and lapses of concentration that led to his departure from Watford?

Couldn't possibly say, but it'll be our gain.

Nah. It's not a great pass into him - should be slightly to the side otherwise it is hard to turn on (Williams talked about too many straight passes and that is what he means) then he under-hits it sure, but he hasn't looked. He doesn't know where the man is. Can't believe he'd played the levels he has without haven't learned to check almost constantly. Watch any good player, the check shoulders every few seconds. He didn't get remotely caught in possession otherwise so probably a one-off.