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Finally it seems King has actually formed a reasonable opinion of Hewlett's ability, or more importantly - lack of ability.

It's about time he was off, I've been embarrassed by him for far too long.

On another note, I though Steff played very well last night in a sort of midfield sweeper role.  

He won the ball countless times last night, and because everything was in front of him, when he got the ball he was able to move it sensibly.  

He's not a tough tackling ball winner by any stretch, but he used his strength to nudge players off the ball throughout, and was composed when on the ball.

Fallon too showed that he is capable of playing at this level, OK he should have scored a couple, but surely if he'd been given more chance earlier in the season he would have perhaps scored a couple last night, due to that extra 'match sharpness' that playing brings.  

Not sure how we are going to line up next season in terms of personnel, but as long as we keep Smith (alongside Steff), we should at least have a central midfield with the strength to dominate more often than in this season.

Finally out of the players we are not quite sure of, I reckon Duke should be given another go, his versatility could be vital with the transfer window coming into play.

Bit of a rambling old post I know, but it's been a while since I've done one.

well done king, its only took 9 months!!

Trouble is he'll probably forget everything he's learnt during his summer break.  Come August we'll be back to square 1.

My grudge is that he didn't make any other substitutions....

He made 1! Duke for Migs cause he was tired!  Not sure it was really necessary to make any subs.  We wanted to win.  We only had youngsters on the bench, who could well do with a run-out, but everyone on the pitch played well.

it seemed to me that smith played most of the game on the left with howard in the middle. migs and smith would be a decent central midfield they were being played as central midfielders

Im just glad we had a bit of fight on the pitch

I think the reason it was like that was because of the formation!  I am a big fan of 5-3-2/3-5-2 formation and smith does play the wing back role very well!  If playing a 4-4-2 then i would definately play howard wide and smith in the middle.

I must say both Howard and Igoe suprised me last night with the way they were getting stuck in.  First time i have been impressed by them in a long while!

Yes, Smith was played in the left wing-back slot, but I can't see that being the case too often.  

So yes, Smith and Migs in the centre has to be the basis for the team to be built around next season surely.

Amazing what happens when they are at the end of a contract!

agreed. i did feel smith played well and put some good crosses in. i thought igoe and howard were average. it's swindon v brizzle everyone should be getting stuck in! can't fault the effort but we should be seeing that sort of effort every week

igoe should have scored near the end when parkin headed it down to him but he got scared of being clattered as usual, but other than that he had a decent game, as did howard. i just wish igoe would learn to cross the ball first time instead of stopping & passing back to jenkins all the time. you could see parkin getting well frustrated by it.

Agree totally with that!  That is what pisses me off, if we played like that every week we could really do stuff, but.........same old story really!

Howard was average if you ask me, and left Migz doing half of his running for him.  He is in no condition for a footballer still.  I would have hoped that being dropped might have forced him down the gym a bit more.  Went down way too easily if you ask me.

I am so relieved at Hewletts imminent departure, i cannot begin to say!

Indeed, anyone reckon he'll land another job in the league?  If he does, it'll be at a struggling League 2 team at best.  I seriously think he may have to go part-time if he hopes to carry on playing football.

I think he will follow the same route to alcoholism and ruin as one Bobby Howe.  :beers

I wouldn't wish that on anyone!!  Whenever I see Bobby Howe out you can almost see the sadness in his eyes.  That's one depressed mother fucker.

Whilst I shall not be in anyway upset never to see MH  play again, I think a bit of perspective needs to be applied to his record.....he was a free transfer and did play near on 200 games in total over 5 seasons....so in that sense has given good service...there have been periods when he has played semi decent and we've maybe missed him if not playing to an extent.

  A limited player, but we're not going to get Patrick Viera or Rino Gattuso on a free from Shitty are we?

  His decline this season may in some way be connected to the Gurney leaving situation...don't suppose we'll ever know.......I'd imagine he might interest a Conference club.

I thought Howard did well in the first half, but looked knackered by 65/70 minutes.

Anybody else think that he looked like he'd lost a little weight?

Maybe hooolit will join swansea in a shock transfer?  :wink:

He worked much harder than I've seen him in a long time, looked fitter, sharper and wanted it more. Perhaps he's playing to impress all the Premiership scouts at the game last night. Couldn't tell if he'd lost weight from the back of t'Nationwide though.

As for Hewlett, thanks for the service, cheerio, see you later, good luck.

Cant agree with Reg-Hewlett would be a strong candidate for a Worst Ever Town x1 in my opinion and I've been going for 40 years.How much better did the midfield look last night?

If King thinks Hewlett is not worth a new contract, why has he played him in about three quarters of all our games this season?

More creative, didn't give the ball away so much and used it much better but there were huge gaps and City had a lot of room. It'd be interesting to see how we cope away from home this weekend.

I must have been drunk.  Howard didn't look any fitter at all in my eyes.  Not saying he was awful, just didn't have the legs for a 90 minute game of proffessional kick and ball.

I agree with Reg, Hewlett is far from a good player but he's not our worst ever and he does get used as a scapegoat more than he deserves.

He did have a very good spell in the second half of last season but he hasn't performed this year and I'm happy he's leaving. I doubt he would have played much this year if we'd managed to sign the box to box midfielder in the summer.

He was shit. Stop being nice.