Thetownend.com

anyone going tomorrow night?

i don't know where either of them are.

I can tell you that Swindon Supporters beat H&R Supporters 2-0 on Saturday...I expect no less from the pros.

Yes I'll be there, only about 25 mins drive for me.

2.3 miles from my office. would be rude for me not to.

Seems to be a fair few from MOS board going also, reckon there will be a hoard of around a dozen of us!

To be precise  ;)

god bless AA auto route JFW!

you need aa autoroute for a 2 mile journey?

to be honest with that squad theyve put out, even though its a friendly, i wont be impressed if we dont win by at least 5 goals.

why does that sound to me like you won't be impressed if we lose 5-0? Too many negatives confuse me.

You're not not wrong there.

thanks.

Line-up announced.

Swindon Town: Peter Brezovan; Kevin Amankwaah, Jerel Ifil, Patrick Kanyuka, Jamie Vincent; Mark Marshall, Jon-Paul McGovern, Michael Timlin, Anthony McNamee, Billy Paynter, Simon Cox

Substitutes: Phil Smith, Jack Smith, John Hills, Blair Sturrock, Ben Joyce, Sean Morrison, Michael Pook.

2-0 win tonight. Cox and Kanyuka on target.

I reckon that'll be pretty much our starting line-up for the Tranmere game to be honest except for Easton replacing Marshall............oh and possibly Aljofree back in defence.

First friendly on the season that we're expected to win.... Very strong line-up too.

Are we winning yet?

Anything happening?

Well we're not playing a team of note... therefore tumbleweed emerges.

We're playing 2 teams tonight so we're doing quite well to hold out!!

Are we drawing then?

I have done some research and learnt that Hampton & Richmond are in the Blue Square South, which makes them even worse than Oxford.

No update thus far - I'd imagine it's level.

I got the impression on the OS that there will not be an update until after the game.

Yeah thats how I read it too.

They normally do a H-T score though... Even for the non-league opposition.

1-0 at half time

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/display.var.2406586.0.latest_score_hampton_richmond_0_swindon_town_1.php

one nil. Cox. Trialist assist

Cox again, good lad.

"who is the oaf that writes these reports?,poor grammer and imcomprehensable sentences, probably stands in the bar and tells everybody about his degree in media studies from some naff poly!"

Erm OK then. Oh and good stuff. 5 in 5 for Cox.

2-1 Full Time - Cox got the second.

The only thing that worries me: "Cox - the only Town player to net during pre-season "

We better sign Ghionea up then! You're right though 5 games 7 goals 6 for Cox.

im abit worried that we've only beaten hampton and richmond 2-1 with a full strength side

I'm not. Salisbury and Chippenham all this week.

yes but still...

From the impression I got from those that were there, Marshall looked pretty damn good!  Interesting to hear their views when they get back.

Are you concerned that a strong Villa side only drew with Walsall earlier too?

I know Dave, I know.

:D

Who is Ghionea?

Sorry if I am being dim.

I'm a bit worried that other people seem to get in first and grab the best bits to worry about and there will be nothing left to worry a bit about ...

He got the only goal for Town this summer that Cox didn't score.

They're only a bit worried though, feel free to be slightly concerned or perhaps even anxious

i dont care about villa. i know pre-season is all about getting fitness up, but i'd say its still fair enough to suggest that a league one team would hope to beat a team not even in the blue square south pretty comfortably. I guess they're in a no-win situation with regards to the result, but this hardly makes me cock-a-hoop

Could this be something we will potentially have to get used to?

(Hoping I'm wrong - we need a goal minded central midfielder though)

Palpitations OK?

Pre-season friendly scores are never much of an indication of anything. It's more about looking at the players in different systems with trialists and new signings whilst getting fitness and match sharpness and stuff.

Results wise, I've got vague memory's of having a storming pre-season before 00/01. Whilst having a comparatively poor one before 03/04 or whenever our playoff season was. Although I'm not claiming to have a good memory and could be wrong.

It's more about getting some run-outs against a mix of opposition rather than beating teams. Which is why our relegation season really was a terrible set of friendlies.

We don't need Ghionea or any other nasty STD's thank you very much.

We played pretty well, they had a decent defence but not much else. Marshall was very good particularly 2nd half, definately got something. Spoke with Jeremy Wray(who i said thanks for all youv'e done Nick!!) He quickly pointed out he's the other bald geezer. Spoke to MM (player coming down tomorrow) Had a chat with Blair and Ben Joyce, I'll post more on those tomorrow, but all in all we played well without that many clear cut chances. Best players Macca, Marshall and Kanyuka. amakwaah and Timlin  and Cox also deserve mentions. Crowd of 300+ with around 70-80 Town.

Tell us now suttonred, tell us now!

  Obviously we don't need the STD's, but I think the Romanian market might be worth tapping into......Lincoln City have done it.
   
 Adrian Petulea, whose career started with Rapid Bucherest, begged Jackson for a trial.
   
"He was spotted by the groundsman running around the training ground with his girlfriend on his back," said Jackson.

"The trouble is his girlfriend was naked, which got the attention of the players."

    This is what is meant by wanting to play for the club.

That's awesome, sign that chap.

Messing around with naked east European women ... this is how they'll end up with Ghionea!

 Think an outbreak of Viorel Moldovan would be more scary.

Ok ok. Jeremy Wray was saying they could understand why season tickets were slow but were hoping for a rush, he was quite surprised when i said how many london based fans we had and that most were still to buy in the next week or two. He had his wallet out for a business card, and i asked if he was giving any away. he said sorry its bloody empty i've spent it all! MM was very polite and spoke to my daughter encouraging her to sing loudly. not sure who the player is, didn't like to push things. Spoke to Blair about Marshall mainly and he was impressed but wasn't sure if him and macca weren't too alike to play together, may be a bit cavalier and leave us exposed, but he did look pretty good. Said his wrist was nearly there and said goodbye to my daughter, nice guy. To cap it all just looked at O/s and there is a photo of my daughter, a first game to remember for her. JW and MM were on the terracing before the game so i'm guessing others still on the way back may have asked more in depth questions than me, but overall over the moon they all took the time to speak to us all.

Did John Hills get a run out at all?

(nice story by the way)

No Hills didn't play Vincent left back until about 65th min when jack Smith came on, Vincent actually did one blinding run to virtually the goal line from our own half, nearly spilled my pint.

Can I be the first to be a bit worried?

... and according to the OS Hills came on for the last 30 mins?????

He made a good run on Friday night as well. What's got into him?

Me and my old chap got there really early and we also spoke to budgie and Jeremy Wray. Annoyingly I didn't ask too many searching questions, but what struck me was how relaxed everybody was. Budgie got two lads on to the pitch to warm up with the lads, Mo Mo was happy to talk to all and sundry, although he looked as though he hadn't slept for some time - his eyes could piss holes in the snow! All were very friendly and happy to chat... I made the point to all that new faces are needed if we're to breach 6,000.

The game itself? Not massively convincing, but like I said to my old man, a) whatever players say, they're not going to give as much playing non-league opposition as they are teams like portsmouth and b) austria was mental. I spoke to Dick Mackey and he was saying it was a case of train in the morning, train in the afternoon (hard), then get up up, drive 3 hours to somewhere new, play a game, get up, train etc. I think the boys, while they look incredibly fit (not like that), they might also be a bit knackered.

Amankwaah was dreadful. He ran the ball out of play on one occassion. Just dreadful.

H & R had chances and I didn't feel Ifil and Kanyuka were as solid as Ifil and Aljofree. In saying that, Kanyuka does like to bring the ball out from the back and not hoof it, which is good. He will offer good competition, and then there's the big young kid (I forget his name). He's a huge bloke!

Vincent: Meh. I don't like him and he spent the game looking for his predictable little dink down the line. Did do an amazing run though, beat about 65 players before crossing to no-one.

McNamee: what more needs to be said; great dribbling, good distribution, good speed.

Timlin and McGovern: decent, but my one worry is that if easton's injured, McGovern looks likely to start in the middle, and he's no centre midfielder. He sprayed some nice passes about and we looked ok, but didn't dominate.

Marshall: hhhmmmm. Tough to call. Showed glimpses of billiance but no where near as consistent as McNamee. He's quick, skilful and direct, but would frustrate in equal measure. Better than Ricky Shakes, but maybe too light weight?

Cox: he's awesome. scored two and could have 42.

Paynter: not sure. Holds ball up well and superb with back to goal, but doesn't get in scoring positions enough for me... Played ok.

Other than that, a lovely little club and a nice summer's evening - good to watch the Reds in action again. FourFourTwo were out in force so might be some stuff on their site later this week.

A good evening but one thing's clear: we need more bodies.

But the core of the team: Brez, Ifil, McNamee and Cox look red hot.

No its wrong it was Jack Smith for Vincent, I never saw Hills there, Pook, Blair, Smith and Joyce were the subs

Amankwaah was dreadful. He ran the ball out of play on one occassion. Just dreadful.

Dont agree with that he wasn't dreadful, I thought he did pretty well, always helping JPM and Marshall, and cant remember anyone going past him the whole game. Different viewpoints eh!

  There was a nasty case of Viorel Moldovan at Coventry in 97/98....but it moved away to more traditional grounds in Turkey.

Thanks for the reports Laanduners.

hills came on for vincent, i will let you off sutton they look pretty similar :)

well we totaly controlled the game, played good passing football to feet and looked very structured.

Brezovan, didnt really have to do much, his kicking with both feet has improved tenfold. He had no chance with the goal.

Anawanker- good going forward linked up well in good triangles with Mcgovern and Marshall, looks to play the ball on the floor. He wasnt really tested defence wise, have a feeling he might not be ideal.

Kanyuka - Fuck me hes a giant. I will put my neck on the line and say he will score at least 5 from corners ala ooh shaun taylor. won absolutely everything in the air. very very vocal, bossed the defence around, however........ a couple of major errors, a dodgy back pass that should have been punished, plus he was at fault for there goal, he went arse over tit. I can see him however starting against tranmere due to his aerial presence.

Ifil- was ifil, touches of brilliance with fucking circus like defending at times.

Vincent - now i have always been a fan of him but today he was off the pace, got caught out 5 or 6 times in first half but eventually settled down and did a maradona like run towards half time that would have been similar to the cheating argie cunt against us in 86 if it had gone in. Substituted half way through second half for Hills who looks like a jack smith clone.

Marshall - Sign him up. Showed flashes of macnamee like brilliance and he has to be the quickest player i have ever seen in a swindon shirt. swung in a couple of corking crosses that cox should have buried. He needs work on certain aspects of his play and he definately is a rough diamond but fuck me hes great to watch. The second goal was due to a rocket from 30 yards from marshall that the keeper couldnt hold on to and cox twatted it in. my man of the match.

Mcgovern - Played in the deeper centre midfield role and played very well great distribution and pairing up with...

Timlin - run marshall close for man of the match. good tackling great vision and passing and denied a goal by a blatant handball on the line. well played.

Macnamee - didnt really get the rub of the green and rather worringly limped off in the second half as he was totally clattered. not good watching him hobble round the pitchside.

Cox - constant threat. a right gobby shit. but our gobby shit:) should have had a hattrick in first half. greedy fucker. ace.

Paynter - toiled. thats the only way i can describe his performance. worked hard but not much seemed to come off.

comedy. three of us went, three different opinions!

That's what it's all about.

I'll give you Timlin and McGov, but I still don;t get the feeling that either could grab the scruff of a game and boss it, especially if it's niggly.

Amankwaah: I'm sticking by my guns. Yeah, he passed well when under no pressure and made himself available, but IMO he's not better than Smith, and so seemes an odd signing. Hope he proves me wrong.

Anyuka: yeah he is mahoosive and dominated in the air like aljofree. Prone to dropping the odd bollock and if paired with ifil, there'll always be a feeling they could give the ball away in a key area. BUT strong as an ox and likes to play the simple ball. Decent, very decent.

Cox looks awesome at the moment.

oh one other thing, they had a tuck shop. fucking lush. i had flying saucers, chery drops and fruit salads. and some lush white mice.

In traditional tef fashion i approached nick watkins and could have asked him about new signings plans for the future ala ground redevelopement. but i asked one question only. why havent we got a tuck shop?

he said he would look into it :)

Juddie i agree with all your points there, anawanker does seem a strange signing, he does however add height at defending corners.

cox is going to score lots of goals

The tuck shop, oh my days!!!!! first of all the food was ood, burgers and the like, I think my old man mentioned that to Jeremy Wray, but the tuck shop was immense. H & R seems a cool little club with a huge emphasis on kids, tuck shop wouldn;t go amiss along with some kind of junior robins membership or something?

Good to see Marshall was better than Friday. I guess as Juddie says it'll come down to whether we can have two luxury players of a similar nature in the same team.

Did nayone else other than Cox look like scoring? It does worry me how we'll cope when the opposition double up on him and McNamee.

dont worry we will score shit loads.

going up as champions :)

if plan A works we could score a hatful, but I'm worried we have no plan b. Tonight Timlin and McGov always wanted to spray it wide - better teams will cut out that supply.

And, if we play a big and aggressive team McNamee, Marshall and Timlin will go missing.

We don't yet have a player willing to gamble and get in front of the two strikers.

For me cox and cor is the front pairing, but we need one of our midfielders to gamble.

havin said all that, Cox will score 20+. I'm gonna put money on it. He;s not just scoring, he's looking sharper than a razor blade and he's always in scoring positions.

I thought Timlin was excellent against Pompey and they're a massive team who got stuck in.

Totally agree with Mex's post, and about the tuck shop, my daughter got well sugared up, although i reckon you or i had too many dib dabs, as the tannoy said smith and i spoke to him at a throw in after he came on for vincent. Mind you my eye site after calling Jeremy Wray, Nick!!

You approached Nick Watkins?  It was probably Jeremy Wray, Nick is away on hols for a week!!

it was probably just some bald hampton fan in a suit.

Thanks for the summaries, chaps.  Glad your girl enjoyed her first game, Sutton.

(And sorry I couldn't join you.  If you're on the e-mails that will, no doubt, be doing the rounds later, I'll explain why.)

If they decide to double up on Macca AND on Cox that's going to leave gaping holes across the rest of the pitch. I'm not worried at all!

Exactly thats why he may be looking at Nalis to play a holding/enforcer role, so the other two can tear up the wings

I really enjoyed the game at Hampton,football was a bit helter skelter at times,but a good work
out for the lads.Nice to be able to have a good chat with Dave Byrne and Jeremy Wray before
the game,both very approachable and friendly.They have a genuine interest in the views of the
fans.

Lovely warm,still summer evening for football,saw quite a few fans that i've known over the years,
good to have a drink with and chat with them.Hope those of you that went enjoyed it.

What's this concern over teams "doubling up on Macca", use the ball well and you'd rip teams to shreds if they did that.

I don't think trams will 'double-team' macca, they'll just cotton on to the fact that our whole game involves getting the ball to the wide men and will stifle timlin and co. as a result.

we might rip teams to shreds, but we still havent got anyone (apart from cox) who could hit a coos erse with a banjo

i think if trams started doubling up on mcnamee things might get messy

  Seen the photo now and fully admit i was wrong, after two serious incidents of mis identification in one game, I'm off to the opticians (if i can find it obv!)

thanks for the reports guys, interesting and positive stuff. looking forward to cardiff now.

  Were you the guy on crutches?

No that wasn't me.I actually spoke to Jeremy Wray directly after you.I did overhear you call
him "Nick" but i could easily understand that,because there is a similarity between them.I put
it down to your cool wrap around sunglasses  ;D

Hope that your daughter is now a committed Town fan for the future.

I'm never going to live that down! Yes she'll be going to quite a few this year, I've just got to work on her to go to the cricket now!

Sutton,

Good to hear that your daughter wants to watch the Town.With regards to cricket,if she gets used
to watching some local club cricket,then a trip to watch Surrey at Whitgift College would be easy
for you and i'm sure it's more child friendly and a better environment for her, than at the Oval.
Big bouncy castle and she'll be hooked!

Thanks I'll do that Whitgift is only 2 or 3 miles from me.

Next summer,if you want to take your daughter to the most picturesque ground in the country
and to have a great day out,take her to Arundel.

It's just by the castle and on the other side,views over the Sussex downs.Very child friendly.
Sussex played Hampshire there last week,well worth a visit and one for the diary,i'd suggest.

And if you take a wander past the castle up to the lake you can get an ice cream at the cafe and buy food to feed the ducks.

i was at arundel last week, its now me and my dads definate summer date in the diary, 5 days of sunshine and two victories. you cant beat sussex at arundel castle.

I've been to Fontwell races before which I believe is quite close to Arundel.

Fontwell is often regarded as "The jewel of West Sussex" lovely small racecourse.