Leyton Orient v Swindon Town Official Matchday Thread

[Anteater]

Pretty much agree with that Bob's Orange.

Quite funny when the Town fans were abusing some guys on one of the adjacent flats balconies only to discover when one of them unfurled his scarf it was a Swindon one......................actually that may have been the most exciting bit of the game.

[THE FLASH]

I'll tell that to my mate who, after being a ST holder for 17 years was made redundant last June and is still not working.

I am sure he would love to meet you for a chat

I don't post a lot nowadays, and now I understand why

I thought you were ignoring me?

Time to hit that button again!

[THE FLASH]

Now the dust has settled I'll give my thoughts on Saturday.

Firstly a good travelling support which was noisy and backed Swindon from the start. Gladwin was playing left wing for the first half but I only realised this after about 44 minutes. I feel a bit sorry for him constantly being played out of position. I thought Ward and Troy both looked a bit dodgy first half, a few times I thought Troy misjudged the ball and Lisbie got in behind him too easily. Orient hit the post after some typical bad defending and then a stupid challenge by Reckord just before half time for the penalty meant an uphill battle for a point, let alone 3.

For the second penalty I thought Troy was just clumsy, although at times he looked like he had been drinking since 8am so it was no surprise when he gave away the penalty. From then on Orient's keeper could have gone and signed autographs in the crowd as he had nothing to do. I'm not sure whether they were very organised at the back but we just never ever looked like creating anything and in the end to come away with a 2-0 defeat was ok in a damaged limitation excercise.

Onto the players.

Belford - Did what he had to do and made some smart saves and looked comfortable coming for crosses. A couple of times with the ball at feet he looked like a disaster waiting to happen but got away with it. My MOTM

Byrne - Can't really fault his effort and he didn't do anything bad from memory

Ward - With the ball at feet he's hopeless. A number of times he passed the ball out of play when under pressure. Will be unhappy with his performance.

Troy - More composed on the ball but I didn't think he was as solid as in previous matches and made a few errors. That said he always looked for the ball and tried to find a red shirt.

Reckord - Not great, however he seemed to grow in confidence and made some overlapping runs. Took a shot on in the second half that I thought he should have left to Smith. Undecided about him.

Luongo - Average

Harley - Powder Puff, fairy, feel free to add your own description. Pulls out of headed challenges, pulls out of tackles, floats around the pitch putting in about 50% effort. I'm sorry but after seeing him against Oldham I thought he might have tried to rectify his abysmal performance. I'd rather have a youth player putting in 100% than this waste of space. A real disappointing signing.

Kasim - Tidy enough

Murphy - Apart from a shot that almost went out for a throw in behind him, I thought he did ok and not really sure why he went off. Would have given us an option to play diagonal balls in behind, if we ever decided to fucking try and do that instead of passing around for a minute and then giving it away.

Gladwin - Didn't know he was even playing. Out of position so harsh to be judgemental. Tried his one stepover trick once and the ball went out for a goal kick. Standard.

Smith - Works hard but the ball just doesn't stick with him. Often his second touch is a tackle. One good moment where he nutmegged the defender only for Reckord to take the ball off him. Not a sniff of a chance.

Reis - The guy is a left winger and his style is not going to work the way we play. I'm sure he wants to get to the byline and whip in crosses but he's hindered. Almost fell over the ball once trying to beat his man and fooled the defender so much he got passed him. Not seen enough to know whether he's going to be any cop or not.

Barker - Not sure he realised we were in our away shirts. Gave the ball away every time he got it. Not been impressed so far.

At least tomorrow night we can look forward to having Fallon back at the CG to inevitably score the winning goal!

 

Very good.

[Bob's Orange]

Pretty much agree with that Bob's Orange.

Quite funny when the Town fans were abusing some guys on one of the adjacent flats balconies only to discover when one of them unfurled his scarf it was a Swindon one......................actually that may have been the most exciting bit of the game.

I saw a scarf unfurled but didn't realise it was a Town one! Pretty cushty spot to watch football to be fair!

I'm pretty sure the guy behind me was told off for using one of these e-cigarettes. I can't be sure but I am sure the steward suggested it was a fire hazard!

[THE FLASH]

I just don't know what to say to that.

Shut it Flash you dickhead!?

Its ok...im thick skinned...

[Victor Mildew]

shut it Flash you cunt!

[THE FLASH]

shut it Flash you cunt!

Word!

[laufav]

I'm more worried about Wiltshireman Matt Tubbs....Crawley have had a couple of decent results since getting back on the park after a long break has seen them slip to the edge of the  drop zone. A win tomorrow for them and they'll be 8 points behind us with 6 games in hand....our comfort blanket, could start to look a bit frayed round the edges without a picking up a few points in the next 4 or 5 games. Fortunately a couple of draws will do.

Do you realise we've only lost consecutive games twice all season?

I note you've stopped citing historical comparisons now, probably because you'd have a bloody hard job finding a team that's been 8th in late February and has gone down.

The Crawley comment is irrelevant because they are the only team in a pretty strange position. If they were to overtake us which, sure, is possible, this would not in itself leave us doomed, as about 12 other teams who don't have 6 games in hand would need to do the same. Sorry to disappoint.

[Reg Smeeton]

Do you realise we've only lost consecutive games twice all season?

Yes...

[laufav]

Yes...

We have shown no sign all season of going on a bad run. I struggle to find any basis for your comments. Ok, the home performances have tailed off in the last month, but that's largely because most of the games have been played in abject conditions. And during the same period we've gone away to several sides immediately around us and have earned a string of good results, none of which have been undeserved. We lost on Saturday, away to a team that has averaged nearly 2 points a game, with about 8 first teamers missing, half of whom should be back tomorrow.

Yes, we could mathematically still be relegated, but the same applies to about 75% of the Football League. I'm hardly holding out hope of a late promotion surge but to imply we could still go down is ludicrous, and so disrespectful to a squad that is serving us pretty well.

[Reg Smeeton]

We have shown no sign all season of going on a bad run. I struggle to find any basis for your comments. Ok, the home performances have tailed off in the last month, but that's largely because most of the games have been played in abject conditions. And during the same period we've gone away to several sides immediately around us and have earned a string of good results, none of which have been undeserved. We lost on Saturday, away to a team that has averaged nearly 2 points a game, with about 8 first teamers missing, half of whom should be back tomorrow.

Yes, we could mathematically still be relegated, but the same applies to about 75% of the Football League. I'm hardly holding out hope of a late promotion surge but to imply we could still go down is ludicrous, and so disrespectful to a squad that is serving us pretty well.

I'm not sure where you've picked up the discussion, but essentially it goes back to the Shrewsbury game where many lamented we'd won but undeservedly, as we'd ridden our luck like v Cov and Posh, and that unless things improved we could forget the PO's....my take was that we've never seriously been a PO contender, and should look over the course of the season as staying up being OK.

With this in mind, picking up those 9 points rather than say 2 had been vital in keeping us out of a slide. A slide that could still bring about a disappointing end to the season, given a seeming loss of form, loss of key players like Ranger, injuries and suspensions and poor away form, coupled with difficult to beat sides visiting like Oldham,  ColU, then the top boys

[Pax Romana]

The basis for your point seems pretty tenuous.  Yes Crawley could catch us, but so what?  We have averaged just under 1.5 pts per game from first 32 games.  If we averaged half that from the last 14 games we'd be more than safe. 

[laufav]

I'm not sure where you've picked up the discussion, but essentially it goes back to the Shrewsbury game where many lamented we'd won but undeservedly, as we'd ridden our luck like v Cov and Posh, and that unless things improved we could forget the PO's....my take was that we've never seriously been a PO contender, and should look over the course of the season as staying up being OK.

With this in mind, picking up those 9 points rather than say 2 had been vital in keeping us out of a slide. A slide that could still bring about a disappointing end to the season, given a seeming loss of form, loss of key players like Ranger, injuries and suspensions and poor away form, coupled with difficult to beat sides visiting like Oldham,  ColU, then the top boys

I generally read the forums, I just very seldom post, as you can tell.

Yes, ok, those home performances weren't as fluid as ones versus, say, Crewe and Notts County. But then Cov and Pboro are both obviously significantly better sides, so it's no wonder the games were tighter. And we played Shrewsbury in a monsoon, which didn't help.

Winning games isn't always about playing the opposition off the park. In each of the 3 that you mentioned, we scored at least 2 good, legit goals, because we have good attacking players. And we only conceded one, because we have a good keeper. And some ok defenders (I won't push my luck).

"A seeming loss of form"... 1 home defeat in 3 months, significantly improved away form, all of it against top half rivals, and a 2-legged tie in which we matched a higher ranked side, despite a number of handicaps, including playing with 10 men for an hour of the away leg, during which time they barely got near our goal.

I can't see where you're coming from.

[THE FLASH]

Home and away has been like chalk and cheese.

I'm away tomorrow and cannot go, disappointed because the Crawley game will be a good gauge to see if we can bounce back with better players back in contention.

[Reg Smeeton]

I generally read the forums, I just very seldom post, as you can tell.

Yes, ok, those home performances weren't as fluid as ones versus, say, Crewe and Notts County. But then Cov and Pboro are both obviously significantly better sides, so it's no wonder the games were tighter. And we played Shrewsbury in a monsoon, which didn't help.

Winning games isn't always about playing the opposition off the park. In each of the 3 that you mentioned, we scored at least 2 good, legit goals, because we have good attacking players. And we only conceded one, because we have a good keeper. And some ok defenders (I won't push my luck).

"A seeming loss of form"... 1 home defeat in 3 months, significantly improved away form, all of it against top half rivals, and a 2-legged tie in which we matched a higher ranked side, despite a number of handicaps, including playing with 10 men for an hour of the away leg, during which time they barely got near our goal.

I can't see where you're coming from.

Let me try again....loss of form, we've failed to score in 5 of the last 8, prior to that it was 4 in 23, btw I'm talking league games here.

We've 15 games to go...in the last 15 we've got 19 points replicate that and we get a very respectable 64 points, however, it's quite conceivable we could get half of that, say 9 points, which gives 54, enough to stay up, but not the sort of season end you  want.

Anyway, debate makes it interesting, after the PV win, I said that was massive and has gone a long way to avoiding a 96/97 style end of season slide.