Thetownend.com

Saturdays are back. Bring it on. Wooopah

2-0 Birghton

Fuck off Dave. We'll lose now!

I believe Mex has stated he will not be starting any mathchday threads this season. This is the most important factor of a matchday, and I believe it is up to us to move on and look to the future, rather than try and trade on past glorys

Can't sleep too excited!

3-1 town. :)

COYR.

Nothing like the opening game last season please. Bet the team are as raring to go as us...

Red Army!

Let's get off to a winning start. I have to say i'd love us to turn them over good and proper. I have been getting very fed up with Brighton's fans on some forums. They are way too cocky and arrogant. Then there's the whole Greer thing. Hope he comes and watches us destroy them. Bring it on!

We think you're a cunt
We think you're a cunt
Gordon Greer we all think you're a cunt

:)

Would be ace to hear that later on today.

Move on Dave! Greer's history, a minor footnote in the history of STFC.

Predicting the result of the opening game is impossible (For me). Not seen our team in a competitive game and Brighton have a new look side too.

Should be a good game though, can't wait!

Everyone down here is supremely confident of a Brighton victory, i so hope we stuff them good and proper. 3-1 to Town, Dossevi x 2 and Austin.

3-1 Town was my prediction too.

Cuthbert to score from a header, JP & Austin. 

Thaught Birghton had Oxford?.......anyway 1-0 Swindon with a goal from Douglas.

Confident display i hope, 2-0 Town, Austin after 8 mins with his boot and a second half Dossevi header to wrap things up.

2-1 Town, Austin and Ball  :beers:

I've gone 3-0 so that'll be two from Charlie and one from the new bloke Bally

Come On You Reds

Because I'm not so much of a bopard that I have to use the abbreviation.

4-2 to us. Rose free kick, Austin x 2, Pericard (I hope!)

I'm really not too sure about this, but that's just new season nerves. They think they have an amazing team, which I fail to see, but we never saw them at their best last season, so could be good? The fact they've been amusingly awful in pre-season means I expect them to be quite poor - as usual.

5-0 town. :D

Happy new season everyone. COYR - 3 2.


No no, he' a Swindon reject now. Shame he's not playing so that we can remind him :)

First game of the season is always a tough call to predict.  Nobody saw a 5 0 defeat comeing last term.  Anything more than a defeat is welcome and the league isn't won in August.
Having said all that, 2 1 to Town No clean sheets this season.

Football is back!!!

I'm saying 2-1 to the town. Austin & Ball to score a goal in each half.

Part of me wants Brighton to score first so they feel doubly sick at losing.

Come on you reds!!!

Austin with an early goal and then we'll turn it on.

3 Nil Swindon.

Swindon 3-0 Brighton

An easy home win against a no-mark team who's fans seem to think they are Manchester United for some reason. Look forward to re-visiting their forum at the end of the season where no doubt Brighton will finish in mid table nothingness!

Fucking can't wait for this, so glad the football is back! So excited for this season aswell, I really hope it's not an anti-climax.

Come on town!

2-0 town.

A good tough fixture to get us going. It's not a catastrophe if we lose but with the extra people we can expect to be attendance a good performance would be ideal.

Come on you Reds!

0-0. Dire game. A taste of things to come! 

2-0 Town

A tight, close game. But I think we'll just edge it.
5-0 Town.

ITS FOOTBALL DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

2-1 Town

Working until 3, broadband at home has packed up so no World when I get back. Fucking whoopity bopard cuntslush wank.

At least we're going to win.

Eeeek, bit nervous now. Not used to everyone being confident of a win... It's always those situations that bite you on the arse.

So I'm gonna go 1-0 Swindon.

3-2 Town.  We'll go racing off into a 2-0 lead, think we're home and dry and let two soft goals in(one direct from a huge hooooof from their goalie) before Charlie gets the winner in injury time. 9876 will see it but only 6500 will see Charlie's goal.

About time too.

Morning Mark OD is going to take some getting used to though.

0-0

3-0
Prutton, Austin, Rose

Tight edgy game 1-0 going either way, hopefully to us.

Es regnet. :(

Ja, schade.

Ist nichts zu gut. Kann ich habe gestellt den Hund in die Dusche und wird meine Torte ein nasses Durcheinander kommen?

Fuckoff krauts

Nichts ist zu gut. Wissen Sie hat ich gesetzt den Hund in die Dusche und mein Kuchen eine nasse Störung kommt?

Mein schmutziges Fahrrad wird vom Beruhigungswetter wie die Gerichte meiner Mahlzeit gereinigt werden.

dis is eine english languagen forum du bunchen of cuntenshnauzens.

Fuck this, I'm off to the pub.

Justen puttening "en" onen the enden ofen sentencesen doesen notten maken ze Germanen! :D

are you going?

im on my way now...

Listening to Mark O'D, it just isnt going to be right without his witty banter and great music before, during and after the game, best of luck in the new time slot Crystal Red.

2-1 town, should be a cracking game with 2 decent sides.

Whatever happens though, the last 2 seasons have shown us never to read to much into results on the first day as an indication to how the rest of the season will pan out.

Just looking forward to getting back inside the CG and starting to banish the ghost of Wembley.

4 - 1 Town

  Today's Guardian has the pie chart telling us that 42%+ of L1fans think that BHA are massive favourites to win the league....more or less twice Soton...whereas we're nowhere.

  Therefore we can expect to get beat  :)

Yep, we've no chance..there's no point even playing the game :no:

I think our Bazza had something to do with that Reg.

Ha, ha, fantastic the Guardian's been Bazza-rolled

 :sherlock:

Lucas out injured with Smith in goal, and Ferry and Caddis on the bench today. Dossevi to start also.

Southampton 0-1 Plymuff a bit of a turn up for the books.

Caddis has a nice range rover i've just seen him pull up in a
long with ferry

Vic and Phil commentating...the Exciteable Brothers ::)

Be prepared for over exhuberant cries from Vic as we almost get a corner! making everyone listening think we have scored.

Starting XI....

Smith, Amankwah, LJF, Cuthbert, Rose, JPM, Douglas, Prutton, Ball, Dossevi Austin

Well I wasn't far off there. Obviously didn't forsee Lucas being injured and I thought he might start with Vince. Leefer's 'little bird' was right :hmmm:

Good to see we're going 4-4-2, although really that line up could also just as easily be 451 or 433. At least DW can change the formation at will without making any subs.

It is interesting that Pericard isn't on. After all how fit is Dossevi? He's only been with us a week or so and might be some way behind on his fitness.

I guess DW doesn't think so!

Good to see the scum (Saints) losing.

Alan Pardew has to be one of the worst managers of all time. 

Indeed. Wilson must really rate him. (haven't seen him myself yet). And not rate Vince that much.

Another mention for the TEF on the radio! :D

Funny as fuck. Agree about Alan 'if Swindon get a draw they'll celebrate like it's a win' Pardew. Well over rated.

Some cunt in the DRS has brought a drum ...... Fucking great!!!!!

Pericard training alone! Does not look happy

Should've scored more goals shouldnt he.

Can you expand on that at all?

The rest of the team ignoring him ain't gonna help though! Shame! For the last half hour he was walking around shooting on his own while the others were in groups! Nobody even talking to him! He looks glum

Maybe he smells of garlic too much?!

Sounds to me like he was sulking, which is up to him. The others are obviously letting him get on with it.

Bloody hell, it's quiet on here today, everyone must be at the game. Bastards :crash:

Wish I was at the game too :(

Pericard only has himself to blame for not starting, He did very little against Forest whereas Dossevi showed a hell of a lot more and deserves to start.

Now you say it, it does look like he is sulking :)

Let the pain and anguish begin  :nod:

I'm off boating to Tresco for a pint  :boat:

That sounds pretty damned cool 8)

Seconded! Bloody gutted I can't make it.

Yes.

HERE WE GO THEN COME ON SWINDON  :bye:

Afternoon chaps... looking forward to a 2-0 victory. Will the game be on Radio Swindon (t'internet) or will they do that gay thing where they stop covergae just before kick-off?

Quite nervy for a change, I don't normally get nervous but am today

Atmosphere sounding very good from Swindon.

They'll probably be doing the gay thing...unless they forget, which doesn't happen that often.

Come on you reds!

And there's the gay cut out...  anyone got a working link to the commentary?

This is our season! C'mon Town

Sounds a bit scrappy so far.

Yeah, lots of running around and not much else.

Any half chances yet?

Fuck all chances for anyone really yet.

no, still lots of running around.

Chance by Ball, sounded closer than it probably was!

The first bit of Vic Morgan over-excitement of the season :crash:

Ooooh! Dodgy keeper!

1-0 to the gayers

Bollocks.

fucksticks

OH-SHIT COME ON TOWN

bollocks.

anyone shed any light on the goal?

The perfect time to do what they couldn't last season..come from behind to win.

One goal and all the pre season optimism seems to go out the window.

Come on Swindon its early we can still win this game, don't let your heads drop.

Sounded like they hit us with pace on the break when we were attacking, shot went in off the post, is all I could make out from the commentary.

Cheers JJ - haven't got commentary so am following it on BBC txt and on here.

Plenty of time to come back still.

Corner to Swindon, Dossevi coming into the game more now after a quiet start.

Ball goes out for a goal kick from Manks.

Bit better from the Town now, not making clear cut chances but getting balls in the box more.

How long's left?

2 mins injury time.

45 minutes ;)

Half time 0-1 can only get better 2nd half surely.

Sounds as though they are swarming around Charlie whenever he gets the ball. I reckon that Danny is smart enough to take advantage of that.

are we kicking towards town end second half? i've always thought it makes a genuine difference to us.

It does sound like they have done their homework on us and playing well in that game plan.

Going to be hard to break down but we have the players to do it, maybe get Caddis on 2nd half to run at them a bit.

We are indeed.

the optimistic side of me says 2-1, that said I'd take 1-1 from here!

cheers for 1st half updates jj.

Can some one text Ian Longden and tell him Paul Rideout is not from sodding Marlborough? He's said it about 10 times now. He's from Wroughton!

I wish the updates were better for us.

Pericard coming on for Dossevi at H/T

perricard on??

Anyone know the BBC number for texts?

We have been poor in the first half, no one seems to want to shoot.

Dossevi is off, with Vince on to replace him.

We need to improve if we are going to get anything,

And it's started raining :(

I know he was actually born in Bournemouth and I played against him when he was at Kingsdown School, he was good for his age mind you.

Charlei Austin booked for a clumsy challenge, 1st Town player booked this season.

Bugger...  The game seems to be ignored on SSN despite it being one of the bigger games of the day (certainly in my opinion!).  I saw a Swindon Town kit in the back of a car in Brighton on Saturday, made my day!  I really, really don't want us to lose today.

We've signed the wrong players...  Albert Jarrett and Alex Revell have both scored today  :no:

Due to family and friends living just outside Brighton this has been a game I dread losing for years now.

Good job City have got David James...  they've let in 3 already!   :soapy tit wank:

Now you say it, I remember he was born in Bournemouth. I was pretty sure he went to Ridgeway School. He's absolutely definitely not from Marlborough though.

He's now a coach with Kansas City Wizards according to Wikipedia.

We should have signed Revell. Would have been a great squad player.

Fair point, Jamie Slabber would have been a useful acquisition too...

OBrien waiting to come on, replacing Ball

WTF is Vic on about? That's the second time he's said that O'Brien was so fast at Millwall he made the stand go backwards...WHAT??

I hope OB plays like he did at Poole (I know its a very different game from there) but he scored sucha  great goal against them.

You cunt Amankwah :crash:

Care to expand?

Ferry coming on by the look of it for Prutton.

He just scuffed the ball wide, nothing much really, it was just me getting very very VERY VERY VERY FRUSTRATED :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash:

Shitty and their wonderful England keeper getting trounced 3-0 at home to the 'Wall.

My original reaction to the signing was 'what a waste of money'. I stand by that assessment. :nod:

JUST SCORE A FUCKING GOAL YOU CUNTS!!!!! :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash:

2-0 to the gayers, Sparrow.

shit tits!!!!!!!!

I MEANT CUNTING SWINDON NOT FUCKING BRIGHTON!!! :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide:

Looks like you got your wish ;) I recon your shouting aim is out OST!

OH FUCKING SHIT  :eek:

Can anyone with access to commentary tell us if we've created any real chances?

10,392 crowd to witness that.

Bollocks. I'm going out to buy beer :badmood:

Doesnt sound like we made any clear cut chances, a couple of half chances, but Brighton are hitting us hard on the break and are finishing better than us, Austin by the sound of it has had a real off day.

Sounds dire to me!

Austin clean through and got pulled down, free kick 18 yards out, defender booked.

1-2 Austin

come on!!!!!!!

Rose free kick saved by the keeper Austin palmed ball out to Austin from 6 yards toe poke in an empty net.

COME ON CHARLIE ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

So fucking pleased that Charlie scored even if we get nothing. He needs a goal after wembley.

Indeedy

5 to 10 mins left, still time, COME ON SWINDON!!!!!!!!!!

I accept that it's a shit yardstick of who is having a good game but he's probably the most mentioned Town player on the BBC online commentary. He's made about four fouls at least.

Agree - he needed a goal - 2-2 coming then?

We are pressing them but they still sound dangerous on the break against us.

5 mins plus time added on left.

come on town!

5 mins et.  come on!!!

My connection died when we got the freekick!

fuck sake

Austin close to equalizing, calm down Vic FFS.

BOLLOCKS

balls

Game over 1-2

Oh well.

Sounds to me like it may be a case of too many new players who haven't gelled yet.

Since when has Rick Mayall been a Tefer?

Might be a knee-jerk, but I've assured myself there is some logic in it but... Ferry must play alongside JD instead of Prutton. His energy and tenacity were missing and I'd only now have Prutton in at right wing; a straight battle between him and JPM.

Cunting fuck bollocks I hate losing. It did sound from the commentary like Brighton were a decent side in fairness though. Oh well, Danny will sort them out.

Was so excited about today but I remain optimistic. Brighton sounded very organised and solid, which is why a point would have been a big result. Hopefully they suffer from over-confidence now. Danny will sort us out, interested to see what he does with Ferry and Prutton in future matches.

Charlie scoring is massive after what happened at Wembley and we gotta remember that players need time to gel. We got Caddis to come in as well.

Keepin' the faith.

Agree with that, particularly Charlie scoring. That was very important.

I have to say how much i enjoyed that ref's performance today, he was assisted by his "friend with a flag" to make today a compelling watch. one that you had no idea which way he was going to point once he'd blown his whistle.

One thing's for sure he didn't bring his red cards otherwise el-abd and ankergren would have been enjoying some bubbles a bit earlier than planned.

A bit of a nothing performance from Town, just gotta hope that Prutton works out what he's trying to do and we don't play a rugby team week in week out

Disappointing start, had high hopes after my 3-0 prediction. Could need a few more games for the players to gel. I was at B'mth Poppies v Hayling United kept an eye on the score on my phone, now need to charge the battery again, couldn't believe it when 0-2 popped up. Gutted. Still there's a few games left yet. Oh and it's always good to see Charlie score

@leefer Brockenhurst 3 Poole 5 oh dear sorry

just got back guys and have to say that it was a dissapointing game we didnt create any chances in the first hour.

brighton scored one from about 25yards at which from were i was sitting looked as if smith flapped at it. there second we was caught on the break. brighton wernt that impressive just stopped us playing and the ref was awful.

too many balls hoofed upfront in the first half completly missing out the midfield.

dossevi was by far the better player in the first half, defence was strong apart from the two goals.

austin did nothing apart from the score and slipped up about 4-5 times

but as people say we need time to gel

I actually don't know what comments to make, Vic Morgan was commentating after all

I did sound as though we had a really really really really really good throw in at one point though.

We didn't really get going and the midfield didn't really seem to know their roles.  Prutton looks like he wants to play where Douglas is playing, or at least didn't know quite where he was supposed to be.  I can't remember him getting the ball down and playing a forward pass too often.

Rose and Ball haven't really figured each other out yet, and Dossevi, though he worked hard and certainly looks like he's the real deal, didn't do enough apart from showing us brief glimpses of his control and passing.

Early days and I thought we deserved something out of the game, but the second goal was very soft (though well executed by Brighton) and the ref certainly didn't help things by not booking them for some terrible fouls early on or sending off the guy who went in high on Pericard or the keeper.  Bet Smith wishes he'd brought their guy down now!

Also, some people in the Town End need to chill out a bit and not moan/abuse our players the minute they miss a pass just because they're your favourite target.

the ref was a complete cunt, we looked dis-jointed, hoofball, no midfeild, worst thing about it was, 1: brighton were just as bad as us, & 2 the atmos was worse than wembly, totally pissed off :(

Within 10 minutes some kids behind me said of Dossevi "i thought he was meant to be good, he's shit" because he didn't close someone down

NYYYYYYYYYYYYAAARGH

Danny said that Dossevi was shocked at the physical side of it and how he was bustled constantly by their CB's. He said that Dossevi just has to get used to it and learn to expect it.

I recall Danny saying the same thing about a certain Mr. Austin after his first game (Against Charlton I believe it was)

Pretty much how i expected the game to be to be honest except i thought maybe a draw.

Lescinel & Cuthbert were both pretty decent at the back however our midfield was well over run today.  There didn't seem to be much urgency about our play either. Too many long balls and too much hesitation as playing the ball forward.

Dossevi was by far the best player 1st half not sure why he went off but i think he was pretty much our only field of creativity.

Austin for mew was pretty annoymous most of the game if i'm honest bar his goal.  

Now to the goals 1st goal we gave the player too much space but it was a decent finish.  The 2nd goal look off side so i'm going to comment on that again tomorrow when i see on tv.

Ankeren shouldn't have been sent off because Austin was coming away from goal when he went down. I think the ref got that right.  The rest of his refereeing was woeful though and he took far to long to stamp his authority.

Defo should have been a penalty to us i was in clear view of it and our player was literally dragged to the floor by his shirt how that was missed was beyond me.

Brighton were ok today nothing special and if they think one result will win them the league then there in for a shock.

Us we need to be more sensible with the ball. Too much longball and not enough thought into our passes and not enough of our players getting into the right position.

Positives we've only got -1 goal difference as opposed to -5. :D

Not worried about the result today long season to go and Danny will sort them out

well, we were fucking robbed by Brighton again. How we came out with NOTHING is beggars belief.

Brighton must have had a whole 2 shots on target and got two fucking goals. That was it. Smith didnt have another save to make, bloody annoying.

Sparrows first goal was very well taken in fairness and was a good build up.

Before that and after that - it was pretty much all Swindon. Austin turns in the box, 8 yards out abouts to score, pulled back - blatant, nothing. We didnt threaten their goal enough but we had all the play and it was mainly in Brightons half.

Last 5 minutes before half time was all us.

Second half started the same, all us in Brightons half - lacking the final ball.

Then Brighton get forward, ball gets played to Sparrow right infront of the linesman. Sparrow was a good 5 yards offside, he runs on and scores and we all look the linesman in disbelief. It was simple, it was basic and it was obvious. The linesman should be shot for that. I still cant believe it.

We finally get in behind, Austin rounds wankergran who takes him out. Yellow card? are you fucking kidding me? going round the keeper isnt a goal scoring opportunity anymore? really? really? really? fucking really? Ok, defenders were getting back, but they were behind Austin who would have been 18 yards out with an open goal fucking really? ref fucking bottled it big style, but then he was clearly Brighton 12th man. fucking really?

Brightons number 6 was a dirty player as well, all over Dossevi time and time again, nothing given against him. I was blind side to the tackle on Pericard he got booked for but it looked bloody high, late and nasty. I'll watch it again but at the time I thought he should have gone.

I still cant believe we got NOTHING from that game, at all.

...also, Brighton fans what the hell, in the pub - the table behind us couple of adults and a bunch of kids who could not have been any older than about 11, rolling up and going out for a fag? It was bizarre one of them only looked about 7?!?!

They should be giving a huge pat on the back to the lino though. Won them that game.

CUNTS

to be fair Dossevi was massively cunted late in the air by one of their centrebacks, then he was sat on the bench holding an icepack to his head in the 2nd half

Dossevi  looked lively and despite my reservatoins about him Lecs was man of the match today.

The issue was in midfiled where JPM didn't get into the game. Douglas and Prutton didn't work as a pair as their discipline in holding and shape  was lacking, Ball needs games to get into league football

Disappointing, disjointed game involving two average looking teams. Thankfully first games of the season don't often reflect the long game!

which, for the record - the spastic ref didnt give us a free kick for.

i agree with this. even if there were defenders back austin hand the ball under control and was going to slot the ball away.

i think Lecsinel was MOM

I didn't think it was a red card to be honest.  Like i said Austin was moving away from goal so yellow was probably the right decision.

He was moving away, like 2 yards to the right!

I'm sure he could have rolled the ball into the empty net from the extra 2 yards of angle!

The most important thing is not to over-react. Both sides looked half-fit at best, and there was nothing between the two sides apart from some dodgy refereeing and a top goal. Neither side really created a great deal, and I think we'll both be between 5th and 8th.

Smith didnt really have a lot to do. Maybe a question mark over the goal, getting beat at the front post, but it was a good strike.

Back four were ok. Cuthbert looked solid. LJF looked good defensively but hung on the the ball at times and gives me a heart attack, he only seems a second away from a major error, but that might be a trust thing with me. The two full backs didn't really impress, particularly Rose who wanted far too much time on the ball before delivering, something a lot of players seemed guilty of.

Midfield were a mixed bag. JPM looked as good as ever and full of invention and Dougie was standard Dougie but Prutton did not impress me, and I think Ferry will take over sooner rather than later. Ball was lively at times but naive. OB barely touched the ball and looks scared. The other thing regarding the wide boys - both OB and Ball beat the RB and got clipped, but didn't go down. I don't like cheating and diving but if you get clipped go down!

Up top Austin looked quiet first half but much better after the break and deserved his goal. Dossevi looked a real handful but needs to learn the set plays and runs Wilson uses. Still wouldn't have taken him off though and I'm fed up of giving Pericard the benefit of the doubt, time, whatever you want to call it.

Ref wasn't great but wasn't as bad as some seem to think. Would like to see there second again.

Overall not too downhearted, we'll be fine and still think we'll be challenging for the top six. Just look at Soton!

i'm annoyingly in agreement with Dave

Looked a nailed on red to me too.

Just got in from the game, which from a Swindon perspective was massively disappointing.  I hope it’s just a case of the team needing to get used to each other, but there is definitely areas for improvement.  Cuthbert was given MOM, but for me it was Jean-Francois without a shadow of a doubt.  He won absolutely everything and looked solid. 

 There was definite confusion in the positions in midfield, which needs to be sorted and we didn’t play the ball out to the sides enough.  Austin was quiet until late in the second half, but in fairness didn’t have a great deal put his way.  Glad he got a goal, as that will do his confidence the world of good.  Dossevi looked lively and had some good touches, was surprised he was withdrawn at half time. 

On the whole the team looked slightly disorganized and didn’t seem to have any real leadership.  Brighton looked better in the first half, but in the second half they weren’t that good really.  They were also a bunch of cheats.  Referee and linesmen were shite and made some really poor decisions.

There are a few different people around me in the Arkells stand this season and it was not a positive experience. Someone absolutely stank of BO and there was a young lad who kept getting up, prancing around, taking calls on his phone and being a general nuisance.  To top it off the old bloke behind me moaned continually  from about the 10th minute when he decided that it was a waste of time,  we weren’t going to win and we won’t get anything at Hartlepool either.  Why do people like that spend money on a Season Ticket?

Oh well, first game over and done with. Onwards and upwards.

I feel so much more comfortable for the rest of the season that so may are giving LJF MOM.

Was that Haitian flag unveiled as planned?

Happily one of the reasons i left the Arkell stand and reejoined the DRS.

Ah well differences of opinion is all good if i'm honest.  45 more games to go we'll be ok

LJF was indeed solid, but as Panda Paws said always looked likely to have a Jerel moment! but thankfully he didnt.

Ball disappointed me, a right footed striker on the left wing, is that ever going to work.

Prutton got in behind Brighton a few times down the left, turned back and just didnt get the cross in.

oh, and as it hasnt been bought up. I thought we should have had a penalty in the first half when Austin was tugged back as he was abouts to shoot

Currently sat  in the queens tap hoping to avoid milwall on the train back to londonistan.

I thought the homo's were just the better side on the day, particularly in the first half. It was always going to be tight game and it was. Gaylord were lucky to finish with 11 men and the ref was most definately biased towards the poof's.

Dossevi looks like he could be useful. Ball lookef out of his depth at times. Rose didn't impress me. Lex reminds me of Ifil without the pace (I still think he could make it though).

Prutton has a reputation but did little to stand out.

The rest did what i thougjt they would.

A disappointing result but with 45 games to go, we have everything to play for and i still have total faitj in the MANAGEMENT  and te squad.

I wrote this on my phone, sorry if it comes out shit.

First of all the ref was a complete cunt. It was an absolute lottery which way he gave decisions. I couldn't believe it when he initally played on when the guy clattered Pericard - I'm not sure what made him stop and give the yellow - he certainly wasn't playing the advantage. How the hell wasn't it a penalty for us early in the first half when Charlie was held. Also, Ankergen was a nailed on red. Charlie was just about to pull the trigger on an open goal - how the fuck can that be anything other than a red.
Thier first goal was a good finish after some good build up play but we just watched and didn't close down at all. I'm a bit concerned by Rose's positional sense. I'm not sure about Smith but somebody in the TE should be able to give a better opinion on that.
We had a lot of bad performancers today but the midfield apart from Dougie were shit - Prutton in particular who watched the game pass him by. Austin was pretty crap and lucky not to get a second yellow when he punched the ball in the second half.
Brighton for a cheating, whinging, time wasting bunch of nob munchers were first to the second balls all game.
Hopefully it was a bad day at the office.
Oh and JFL MOM for me by a country mile. Decent performances from Douglas and Cuthbert.

I thought Douglas was crap today!

JPM was our midfield today

Dissapointed about the result obviously, but still it's obvious there is plenty to build on. Am just as excited about our season as i was this morning. Performance not far off where it needs to be. Bit of credit to Brighton, shut us down well and scored 2 from 3 shots. (that i remember!).

Onwards and upwards.

Come on you reds.

Thought Rose was solid enough. Lescinel was great and my man of the Match, although he does scare me in possesion. I'm all for a centre half playing it out of defence, but does he have to take on players quite that often?

Prutton was a little dissapointing and should probably give way to Ferry, but will provide excellent cover if Douglas is injured or suspended.

Ball was also dissapointing, never seemed to be in the right place. This will come with experience I suppose.

Dossevi will be class once he's settled in I think, he certainly offered more than Charlie in the first half.

Referee was an absolute tit. Charlie was clearly pulled back in the box in the first half and he gave nothing. The challenge on Pericard looked worth a red, and although there were other players about when Charlie got pulled down, I felt it should have been a sending off as it was a clear goal scoring opportunity.

As for Brighton, they were ok but dirty. We were off colour and a draw would have been a fair result. If they continue to play like they did today they are going to need a fucking big squad to cope with the suspensions that will come their way. Not every ref in the league is going to let them get away with it.

We all see different things. I thuoght JPM was useless today. Defensively he offered no support to Manky and drifted inside too much. Prutton seemed clueless as to what his position was. Ball didn't get involved enough but its early days for Prutton and Ball. I thuoght Dougie was the only one who semmed to know what he was doing.

I should quantify my statement. I agree with what you said Chalike, but I didnt think Douglas gave the back 4 the normal protection he usually gives. Maybe there were too many holes in midfield for him to fill.

Roll on Tuesday though!

I agree wasn't Dougies best performance today but he was marked out 1st half.

Definetly penalty 1st half i was direct in line with their goal and it would seem dragging a player to the floor is not a foul or penalty.

I think our whole midfield was poor tbh.  JPM was marginally the better of the four.

I'm going to watch the Ankeren thing again tomorrow but it looked from where i was sitting Charlie was moving away from goal but you lot probably had a better view than me so i'll agree that the referee was a bigger cunt than i originally thought for not sending him off purely on todays result  :D

Early days yet and i'm sure Danny will iron things out over the season.

Cuthbert & LJF both looked solid today at the back but MOM for me was also LJF

Ref was a cunt.

El abd needs to learn that men don't like being hugged all the time

Tuesday should see a few changes. I'm looking forward to it. Its early days and the gayboys ain't promoted yet and we're not a crap side because of one result. As Barnard said, the gayers better have a bloody big squad because based on today, they are really going to need it.

GNAAAAAAAARGH.

Fucking argh.

like your avatar, had a rake of beer this afternoon, found myself trying to get a small bug off my screen :headhurts:

Moan Moan grumble grumble. Two evenly matched teams, brighton took their chances when they arose, we didn't. Their five in midfield stopped ours playing, which I think we'll see more and more of this season, as teams have/will figure us out. Be interesting to see what wilson does to combat this.

Dossevi looked alright, showed a few good touches. Was always coming short though, leaving us no real presence up front. Pericard did his best,  but is never going to be able to do much good when the ball is punted 10 yards over his head.

Lesc and Cuthbert were our best two players by a mile today. Looked a good partnership although have to agree with whoever said lesc always looked likely to have 'an ifil moment'. He didn't though, so I'm not going to moan about it untill it does.

Rose and Mcgovern look far to alike. Change boots at least

Prutton did bog all. Looked lost. Douglas had perhaps his worst game in a town shirt. Ferry looked decent when he came on but at that stage is he going to change the game. Ball did not look like a left winger.

I sit in line(ish) with DV and I have to say I didn't think their blokey was offside for their second, looked as if rose was playing him on. I do have a knack of getting these things wrong though.

All in all not a great performance, but a helluva lot better than this time last year. I think the signs were there, and we played decent stuff at times, but we're going to come up against a lot of teams who set themseleves up like Broghton did today and if we're going to do anything this season we need to be better prepared to combat them

The worst thing about today for me was that Prutton was the fucking spit of Nalis.

Good shout, not only in the looks department!

4-1-2-1-2 Tuesday me thinks.Norwich did it last season and it seemed to work. The midfield was over-run today wich was to be expected with them play three strong centre midfeilders in Kishishev , Navarro and sparrow. Lots of teams will play like that this year so we need to wise up.

I'd give caddis a start tuesday and ferry. Dossevi needs a full 90 mins too... For the record the ref was a CUNT !

Prutton needs know his role.He looked good against forest when he got forward more often he needs to play hos own game. I thought rose looked quite good, Sat in the town end people seemed to get on his back too much when he tried to be patient. Ferry didnt really have enough time to make an impression should start tuesday. Dossevi had a few neat touches and was probably our best player in the first half. Ball seemed a bit weak but im sure he'll grow into the role at left midfeild.

Brighton were not better than us. They had two shots on target two goals. Smith could have been positioned better for the first the second I didnt really have a view of.

El Abd is a cheating cunt as always. Ankergren can fuck off and die for all I care and Greer takes it up the ass the fucking diry gay scummer hope he fucking dies a horrible fucking death CUNT !!!!!

The season isnt won and lost in the first game though. 45 more to go and im still confident of challenging for automatic.  :beers:

Funny you should mention that.

A Vic Morgan episode of "Fantastic ball over the top to the striker" gave me an instant flashback to "that" goal from Cox from Nalis's ball over the top.

Take it up the as? That's a new one on me

Douglas and Prutton both seemed to be trying to play in the same position, hence the number of times they both arrived for the same ball with Douglas usually getting it and Prutton stood to the side looking lost. Hopefully it's just a question of hammering out what their respective roles are and they can sort it out. if not Ferry becomes first choice. Hey, that's not a disaster.

I was baffled by Dossevi being subbed as he looked to me to be one of our livelier/more creative players first half. I'd assumed the idea was to bring Vince on to get Charlie into the game a bit more but sounds like it might have been more of an adjustment issue.

Good goal for their first, second seemed well offside (though I'll probably be proved wrong on the replay). Wankergern should have gone for taking Charlie out and the ref was generally a prize tit. Nice to hear him being serenaded back to his car by the CGH :)

Cannot be arsed reading through his...

The ref was a cunt (I had a sneay feeling that would be the case when I notice he was the same ref who gave us FA ar Colchester last season) , and their no.9 needs a slapping.

For a season opener particularly that was poor.  Ref was pretty crappy to be fair, but there was just too little energy, not enough physicality or flair.  Shame on the few dozen who left 10 minutes before the end too.  No doubt though that Town are good enough to at least press for the top 6, but they'll need to toughen up and create a lot more chances. 

I also sat near an oddly polite bloke who couldn't quite master swearing - at one point he called the referee a "ruddy cunt".

Oh - and does my guess of 10,401 win?  I was only 9 off.....

oooh, that reminds

what clown was doing the radio show? he was talking complete shite as I was driving home.

Talking about the year we signed Cureton and Thorpe and it raised our expectation levels, then we lost to Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 the opening day and ended up in the play offs.

Then the following season we lost opening day to Barnsley.

Someone needs to check the fact before he says them out loud!

Oh, what was that song about Greer that the word cunt came out of the townend with a nice volume? That's the only time I've heard a football song with the word cunt in it. Hearing it that loudly made me want to go and suck myself off. Brilliant.

no idea, but the whole darren fergusons old man chant had cunt in ever line

ian longdon

I quite liked "We can see you holding hands" but had to pretend I hadn't heard the follow-up when my lad asked me what I was laughing at

I think people have summed up the performance today, but I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned the fact we played the whole game without a right midfielder. I presume JPM was supposed to be playing there but I only remember him appearing on the right wing once in the whole match. People behind me were moaning at Amankwaah for not being able to deal with Brighton's left side, but when he's constantly left 2-on-1 what is he supposed to do?!

As for the Ankergren incident, Austin was going to score. He'd knocked it slightly to the side but one more touch and it was in.

I don't think we deserved anything today as we didn't turn up until 4.30pm. Brighton didn't create many chances but the defeat was our own doing. I'd start with Caddis and Ferry on Tuesday, and perhaps give Dossevi and Austin another go together to see how Dossevi copes when he's not being assaulted.

Heh! heh!





ruddy 8)





I'm going to do my utmost to bring that back into every day use. I reckon the last person to use that word was one of these crazy mofos....although I doubt very much they would have used the 'C' word..that's an interesting fusion of mid 20th/early 21st Century swearing :hmmm:

[url width=400 height=322]http://timesonline.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451586c69e20120a50c1eae970b-400wi[/url]

Now that is a Firm :nod:

AND HE MUST HAVE SAID ABOUT 20 TIMES THAT PAUL RIDEOUT IS FROM MARLBOROUGH....HE TWATTING WELL IS NOT!!!

 :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash:

Bournemouth me thinks?

Can't understand why BBC Wilts would want to ruin the best match day footy show they have had in years. Looks like its back to listen to the commentary only for the away games. Even then you have to suffer Vic Morgan :(

 Football is a simple game...if Wilson had followed Smeeton's Rule and not had more than one player wearing a headband we'd have been alright.  Trying to rectify this later in the game was closing the stable door after the horse had bolted.

Yes, born there but brought up in Swindon. Wroughton I think. BUT NOT SODDING MARLBOROUGH!!!!

Correct, pretty sure I played against him when I was at school and we lost 2-0

Ankergem gobbed off at the TE afterwards too..cunt

I was level and can confirm Austin went down very, very easily. He was looking for it and could have very easily avoided Ankergren. I think that's why the ref didn't give more - although I'm not sure the ref was that good to be honest. I was as annoyed with Austin for going down as I was angry with the ref for not giving a red card! (I know it makes no sense and I'm a twat.)

But Barry, if the ref thinks Austin has gone down too easily, he gives him a yellow card. That should have no bearing on the colour of the card he gives the keeper.

I seldom rant about the referee, but he was beyond shit today. One moment he gives a free kick for a player backing in when going for a header, exactly the same challenge 30 seconds later and it goes the other way for climbing. Two obvious yellow cards he didn't give even a free kick for, then he gives the first yellow for a little tap and trip.

We should have had a penalty a few minutes before they scored their first, Austin had won the ball in the air and turned the defender inside out and just as he was going to pull the trigger there was a push or a pull which put him off balance and the chance was gone. Blatant penalty for me, though admittedly they are seldom given by refs.

The challenge on Pericard looked like a straight red - foot high with studs showing on his knee and nowhere near the ball. Not sure if he was trying to play the advantage or not but he didn't blow straight away either. Not so sure about the Austin foul, but he was only six yards wide of the goal when he was fouled so I'd say that has to be a straight red as well.

But all in all, the ref was completely and utterly shit. I don't expect PL quality refs in League One but his performance was totally unacceptable and you can't help but wonder how the fuck he ended up in charge of a professional game of football.

Well I normally talk Bollocks but here we go

SMITH - Had bugger all to do. Not sure Smith is a L1 level number 1 though? Smith is quiet and whilst we may have missed the leadership of Greer I think that Lucas was a key player getting the team gelled togehter and working together, You always hear Lucas bellowing instructions where as Smith is very reserved. Think to be a good No 1 he needs to be able to read the game and advise the back 4.

AMANKWAAH - Not bad but seemed to stand in one place once too often, him and Prutton (who was shite) had words

ROSE - Looked ok, just needs to learn to put the ball in the box really. He certainly did look to have something about him though.

JEAN-FRANCOIS - MOTM by a country mile IMO. Only player who actually really looks dedicated

CUTHBERT - Thought he did ok

JPM - Did put the effort in but looked frustrated at times by lack of options,

DOUGLAS - Bad day a the office?

PRUTTON - Just looked pretty rubbish IMO. Him and Douglas are perhaps too similar a player and we missed the spark that Ferry would have brought earlier on, Although the 2 played together at Leeds?? hmmmm

BALL - Ran like hell but seemed to panic when they closed him down, he didn't really know what to do. i put this down to inexperience really. Not sure he is comfortable on the wing?

AUSTIN - Sussed out really, Didnt think he was really bad. I think given Pericard or Dossevi's record the key was to close down the bigger threat Austin.

DOSSEVI - Sheer class, Not really sure why he was taken off apart from maybe he was playing out of position far too often or a slight knock?

FERRY - Changed the complexity of the game and we seemed the Swindon of last season more so when he was on, Needs to start next game.

O'BRIEN - Something about him really, Looked lively when he came on.

PERICARD - Not his biggest fan but he did as well as he could really. He is never going to be a prolific goal scorer but he will get the ball down for Austin.

Anyone notice Cuthbert having a go at the ref after the game? Now yes the ref was a cunt but we were far from being at the races but that said we started off bad last year. No need to panic yet but Prutton for Ferry and if Lucas started I think we would have done better. Our players seemed a bit scared to get forward for some bizarre reason and ran in the same place for far too long! Did we miss Greer? DOnt think so but we certainly lacked leadership on the pitch today.

Not to forget the refs inteception when we were on the attack near the end. He was constantly getting in the way of Douglas and positioning is quite a fundamental part of his job.

Will Lucas still be out for tuesday? I'd much prefer him, for me Smith had only two major incidents to deal with and failed to stop them both. I don't think he could of done anything about the second but thought he could of done a bit more for the second, being beaten on the inside post like that.

Definite red card....keeper charges out of area scythes down Austin whose nicked it passed him with the chance of a shot on an unattended goal...hence denying him a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Ref further blotted his copybook, with a timely interception, when JPM looked to play in O'Brien for a run in on goal.

That was a bit of a highlight- unless I'm very much mistaken JPM stuck two fingers up at him as well, which would have been comic if it wasn't so bloody annoying.

You're completely right. But do you remember the world cup in which Lucas Neil "fouled" Grosso for the pen? Many said it was a penalty because Neil's leg was in the way, despite the fact Grosso used it as a convenient excuse to go down. This was similar, so it should be given. I just wonder whether it entered the ref's thinking at all? To be honest, the ref was a total cunt and shouldn't be officiating football matches.

I remember at one point Pericard (I think) was about 2 metres, at most, in front of him and he wanted to speak with Vince. He then got rather infuriated with Pericard, as he couldn't see why the ref wanted him closer. The ref kept pointing in front of himself as in, "come here." Then Pericard walked a couple of strides, the ref said few words, then Pericard walked back to where he was. This took quite a while and had a fair few blows of the whistle. Why couldn't he walk to Pericard? Clear Napoleon Complex I reckon.

Good job too - when we do get Premiership refs they're fucking terrible. Yes, I'm looking at you Messrs D'Urso, Danson etc etc

Maybe, but with a PL ref there is no way Brighton would have finished the game with 11 players on the pitch.

I still can't believe the bloke behind me though that a Yellow for Ankergren was the correct decision as there were two men covering behind him! Utter shite IMO.

Ref was the cunt who gave us fuck all at Colchester last season, and happily missed an blatant push on Sheehan, and a blatant offside which led to Colchester's first goal.

He seemed to have a complex with Charlie. He kept on giving free kicks against Charlie for absolutely nothing, and he booked Charlie, when everybody around me was expecting a free kick to us.

Yes, as far as I could tell from the DRS. Charlie got booked for dribbling the ball past a Brighton player?

It was the 3-2 match at Colchester he was the ref for during the season before last, not last year

STFC_Gazza, you're a Cunt for suggesting that O'Brien looked 'lively' when he came on. For a winger, his positional sense is a complete joke! Rose was looking for the wide man and all he had was O'Brien inside!!

I remember one of their defenders, hands on Charlie's shoulders, going up for a headerl. They both went down as Charlie collapsed and the ref gave it Brighton's way. I wanted to murder that cunt. Bennett is a fucking knob as well. I'd like to stab him.

Not as angry as I'd normally be at such a poor performance.

First games are quite often poor spectacles and this was no exception.

We lost, we move on.

That was a justified yellow. Austin's first touch was shit and when the Brighton player won the ball Charlie went in late - a bit of frustration coming out I think .

So by the sounds of it it's all the refs fault. The ref we had at Poole during the week, god knows who it was, was supposedly a FL referee and he was anonymous you didn't even know he was there. Not the case today obviously

Dont think you can read to much into the result and performance.

Dosevvi is clearly not match fit, and once he has more minutes under his belt, i think him and Charlie will be a potent strike partnership.

Caddis is highly rated, so no doubt his inclusion in our team will only improve it.

I think Perricard needs a run of games in the team before we can question whether he is good enough.  It may just be our style of play does not complement Pericards.  Who knows ?  

Only thing i'm worried about is the fact that when we go a goal down, it doesnt look like we will come back and win the game.  We are missing that Brian Howard or Sammie Igoe player who can unlock the oposing team with a killer pass.  Brighton were well organised and we just struggled to break them down.

I think the first goal in all of our games will be crucial.  If we go a goal down then the best we will probably achieve is a draw.  If we go 1-0 up,  then the worst we will achieve is a draw.

But if there were two men covering, it was the correct decision wasn't it?

But th

But there wasn't two men covering, that's the point isn't it. Austin looked ahead of their back four, and would have scored if he wasn't brought down

Dissapointing result but im not too concerned.

I felt our passing game wasn't great today, and no-one wanted to show for the ball. We didnt create enough. Altough saying that neither did Brighton, they had 1 chance and took that and one very good long range strike.

I was dissapointed with Rose today - too much hoofball but i think that could have been down with the fact he had no options.

I was extremley impressed with Lecs today, thought he had a great game, one of his best in a town shirt, he looks so much more comftable at CB.

I thought Dossevi was very promosing in the first half, held the ball up well and it was good for Charlie to get a goal aswell. Pericard - how many more chances can we give him? He just didn't seem to want to put the effort in, i think the next couple of games could be very decisive in his town career.

Douglas and Prutton cannot play in the same team together, they both want to play the same position, so we had no runners going forward and no-one to pick up the lose ball when it dropped in the final third.

JPM seemed a bit below par aswell imo, didnt seem to have that 'link' he usually has with Manks, came inside far too often, never gave Manks an option.

I dont think Ball is a left winger, but time will tell.

And the ref, what a joke. I can honestly say i think it was one of the worst referee's and two of the worst assistants i have ever seen officiate a game, the football league really should be looking at that performance.

Yes it was dissapointing, but not disasterous. Look at what happened last season. A season isn't decided in one game. Orient on Tuesday is very important, we need a good performance. And the attendance was good aswell.

Ref was shit, match was uninspiring.  Brighton Im sure will be crowing about how fantastic they are.  They really weren't much good.  For a team the fans claim will pass everyone in the league off the park, they really need to pass better.  Mind you so do we at times.

Never mind.  Better than last years opener.  Marathon not a sprint etc etc etc.  

On todays evidence Ferry should get the nod over Prutton every time

I wasn't at the game today but am interested to know if Pericard was as bad as last season.

A few years ago he outmuscled and outpaced Rio Ferdinand in a cup tie for Portsmouth. That seems a long, long time ago from what I've seen of him in his outings in our colours.

I don't think he was particularly good or bad today. He held the ball up ok but we spent too long playing long balls up to him then offering no support. What is he supposed to do?!

I take your point but his work rate and movement have been pretty much risible in most outings I've seen. I think Wilson sees him as an impact sub but the thing with that is you've actually got to fucking move around a bit.

He could try jumping from time to time. I'm fed up of waiting for him to do something, change his career, save his future at this club. He has to do something soon

The last time I saw us win was Hereford at home in March 2009.

I went today. Sorry.

All in favour to ban sonic youth  ;) sorry mate but your a bad omen now

I'm late joining this conversation but they played 451 and we failed to deal with the extra man in midfield. Especially since he was Alan Navaro and a bit shit. But they kicked us and outnumbered us and we failed to deal with it. I don't know the answer to that - I'm not Jonathon Wilson or Danny Wilson but we will need to as we are no longer the surprise package.

Only thing you can do after an opening day loss is to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks.

For me, today's result was neither massively surprising (not because I'm a pessimist but we were playing a team we've had decent tussles with in the past) nor was it the end of the world. Over to you Danny Wilson and company.

My husband borrowed a friend's season ticket today, because he couldn't go.  The last game he saw us win was also Hereford at home in 2009.  He won't be attending again soon!

Oh well I'm sure the club will survive

Dossevi looks class. In the first half he showed pace, skill, strength, vision, athleticism and tracked back on a number of occasions - in the fact the only thing he didn't display was anything in front of the goal but you can excuse him for that. Considering he got elbowed in the face, presumably isn't fully fit and has only been training with the team for a little over a week, he's going to be one hell of an asset. Charlie played well off Paynter last season and I can see the pair of them forming a good partnership.

Otherwise the game and performance was a big letdown. I wasn't impressed with Prutton or Rose and the majority of the team looked out of sorts as well. As has already been stated, it was slightly reminiscent of the play-off final insofar as some players didn't show what they're capable of. LJF looked calm, composed and solid. I think we need someone experienced at the back as well but I certainly don't think any new signing in that position would dislodge LJF and Cuthbert.

Was it O'Brien's header put Charlie through on goal for the free-kick we scored from, am I mistaken?

Rose and JPM are clearly bezzie mates and probably shave each others heads.

Not at all. We weren't very good today. We worked hard and defended reasonably well but there wasn't much to get excited about other than the goals. No one thinks we're gonna pass everyone off the park, although Wilson did say we passed it a lot better than you. It wasn't really and easy game to get it down and play really as it was quite physical and high tempo.

Obviously you're a very good side, we're away from home and it's the first game of the season so it's never going to be easy to play decent football on the deck although we had our moments. I thnk the most encouraging thing to take from it is that we were hard to beat, organised and defended well. That's agood base to work from.

That's a fair and realistic assessment seagull. Not one for the purists, today, but both sides will kick on from that. But we'll still finish above you (I have no evidence for this, I just have to say it :))

Well at least Brighton seem to have one reasonable supporter then ......... not like the rest who seem to think Stadium = god given right to promotion, champions league football, world domination etc etc etc

We need a decent left winger and a bit more up front to do better than you this season. You looked more dangerous going forward than us. Although you did have home advantage so it'll be interesting to see how we attack at Withdean. We seem to score a lot of goals from outside the box.

If only we could see at the Withdean - being roughly 438 miles from the pitch, only those blessed with supersonic vision and a need to wear their pants outside their trousers can see what's happening

Yeah it's shit. Only one more year thankfully.

Few things from today.

Must just be me who thought our right hand side was non existent today i personally thought Amankawaah was pretty piss poor tbh.McGovern needs to stick out wide more

Ball i think was a bit shocked at just how physical it is in this league but towards the end of the first half got stuck in a bit more and at times looked ok cutting inside. Very simalar to Ward when you look back at it.

Dossevi for the last 10 mins was clearly fucked he was basically playing right wing and right back.

Also suprised no one has mentioned Pericard seemed to be injured again for the last 20 mins.

Very dissapointed in Prutton.

The plus side is we looked alot more solid at the back than i thought we would  and Charlie seems half a yard quicker and sharper and was his normal pain in the ass for defenders.

Oh Douglas was far from happy he was sarcasticly clapping Pericard for not chasing back then just fucking flipped and went mad at him.

 

Cant say i blame him after the challenge he took on the halfway line. He was lucky to still be walking

Me either but probably explains why he didn't do much running.

I forgot to mention that. Maybe it was me convincing myself of things after a full pre-season, but I thought he seemed quicker, stronger and definitely bigger. I'm convinced he's bulked up. Not in an Alan Navarro or Sean Gregan way, but in a boy into man kind of way.

See, I thought he looked slower and did less running?! Football is weird like that...

He accelerated away from the last defender at Wembley pretty well before the pitch did him. I'm sure he is quicker than when he first arrived at the club. He's not slow as such - he's just not quick either. 

I still don't get how Austin manages to challenge a defender for the ball in the air and ends up winning the ball, knocking it past the defender and gaining a couple of yards on him all in one move. He did it today (and probably would have scored if he wasn't fouled) and against Charlton in the playoffs (resulting in the red card).

I think it's one of those magic abilities that certain strikers have, because it's something he seems to do fairly often. He appears to have no great pace and then suddenly he's past people. Like you say, it's hard to get your head around.

and I cant remember the last time I saw a striker so great at going round the keeper. Southampton, Tranmere and today for starters.

If we look after the young lad and he stays fit he could score an absolute shitload of goals this season. He is a natural - which in an age of atheltes and big clumsy fucking donkey's is refreshing and lovely.

Good night.

no-one has mentioned this but as ive read through everyone says that prutton was shite and ferry should start which i agree with.................but ferry did give the ball away which led to the ass shaggers 2nd goal.

also thought pericard played well enough even though he was clearly limping after el abd or whatever his name is karate kicked him in his thigh.

lots of changes for the tuesday game which probably would of happened even if we would of won today.

id expect caddis ferry and o'brien to start against orient maybe even morrison

Ah well just seen the goals on tv as i'm sure you all have, their second was a mile onside then. Rose too slow to push out but it was his only option as he was never getting across to cover. Midfield caught in posession and whoever was supposed to be holding didn't?  First was poor closing down by either douglas or pruts, couldn't see which. Home strike though.

We'll be fine. Neither team were that great. The first time we saw this new, famous Brighton flair was for the first goal, put together some neat passes imo and I'd have been pretty pleased with that goal. It was scrappy, quite ugly and a bit dirty at times. Having said that, the ref gave a lot of needless freekicks - to both teams, so he hardly helped the flow. Not to mention when he got in the fucking way. I hope JP called him a cunt.

Two teams who, once the season is well underway, will be playing good football.

Austin missed a sitter at the end, but it's no biggy. Keep calm. We'll be fine!

ohhhh i think that's a bit harsh

Booze is wearing off now so i'm going to try to put a measured response to the match. I think Brighton started with a much higher tempo than us and disrupted our game in the first half while playing some neat football and scoring a well worked/taken goal. We had a few moments but nothing of any real significance and started to get into our game a bit towards the end of the half. Second half was better from a swindon point of view, pushing men on a bit, but ultimatley conceding a break-away goal. Then we stepped up the tempo and enthusiasm and got our goal back and pushed on looking for an equaliser that didn't come.

The Ref was poor, for both teams, and looked very weak not stamping his authority on the game.
El Abd's challenge was a shocker.
Brighton played well but not the 'Barcelona' esque football we had been promised, i'd say commitment and intensity won them this game as it wasn't the best football spectacle from either side.
Our new signings showed glimpses of quality, Dossevi had a nice touch, pity it was always in our half....
Ball looked a little light weight and cut inside too much for me but its a new position and i look forward to him finding his feet as he showed signs of quality.
Rose looked solid enough.
The game passed Prutton by a little, plenty of huff but not too much product which i'm sure will come.

Overall i'm disappointed we lost mainly as we didn't seem to really get at Brighton until the last 15-20 mins. Good turn out for holiday season. Austin got off the mark. I left feeling optimistic this team has alot more to show rather than 'fuck we're going to struggle' which is something i suppose...

Well, for starters its Cuthbert not Rose

...and I wouldnt call it a mile onside, infact I'm not even certain I'd call it onside at all. Still, its alot closer than I thought at the time.

It was a dissapointing start but the alarm shouldn't be sounded. Far from it. We weren't actually that bad if i'm being honest. Our passing wasn't fantastic in the early stages. If we had got the ball down more we'd have looked threatening and we did when it happened. For me we were too guilty of letting Brighton play early on. They passed it really well in the first 20 minutes and it was a great move and finish for their goal.

The game plan for them was to play 4-5-1 and stay organised and make it hard for us to break them down. They did exactly that and they did it really well. We failed to create anything of note until the last 20 minutes. Charlie in truth could have had 2 or 3 in the end and it was far from his best game in a Town shirt.

I'm not sure where it went wrong yesterday for us. For a start Ball is not a left winger. He's right footed and can't use his left so always has to cut in. For me he is too lightweight to play in that position. Rose looked good but why doesn't he just bloody cross it? Looks solid in defence and bombed forward quite well. Impressed with him. Sadly though on the left hand side there was no understanding between him and Ball and also AOB when he came on which was a shame. We didn't use the flanks well enough. In fact we barely used them at all. It had a big impact on the game as it played into Brighton's hands in terms of playing narrow and staying organised. I'd have liked to have seen Caddis come on to provide more width.

So the players and how they did. Dossevi I was impressed with. He gets about that's for sure. Only critism I have is that he dropped too deep at times and was all over the place in areas he didn't always have to be in. I put that down to maybe eagerness and perhaps trying a bit too hard at times. His touch and awareness are superb. He's clearly not match fit yet so when he gets to that level he's going to be a very good player for us I think. Prutton looked good when he got forward. I'd like to see him play the attacking midfielder role with JD playing the holding role. I don't think they quite executed that yesterday. Defence was good. The 2nd goal we got caught napping. Ferry should have just crossed it instead of fannying around with it too much thus causing us to lose it in the first place. LJF MOM he was immense yesterday. Reminds me of Jerel. He can have his moment and his distribution is poor at times. He won everything he could yesterday at the back.

And finally......the ref. Oh my days. I haven't seen such a bad one for quite a while. He blew for every petty foul possible. He was certainly a Brighton or Oxford fan because he was totally bias as well IMO. How on earth did Charlie get booked? He was running with the ball I mean what was all that about? Every single nudge was given and it ruined the flow of the game. Their keeper should have been sent off there's no question about that. He's taken Charlie out after he's gone round him. Red card I think the rule book states. Shocking decisions and totally inconsistent. Ruined the game for me.

For the first or second pass?

Having looked at the highlights, I must admit to initially thinking wrong. First one looks borderline, second one looks miles ON side if you're counting the winger as not interfering with play.

The commentator on those highlights referred to us as 'play-off contenders'? We were in the fucking final, you dense cunt.

pretty much nail head for me IOB

Sot on.

After listening to Vic Morgan's commentary and reading all the comments on here, I'm wondering if I was tuned into the right game yesterday.

Sometimes it does seem that way mate.

Come to think of it, it's difficult to form any kind of opinion when that cut is commentating. It's difficult to know what is going on at times.

e.g........."It's with McGovern, McGovern's ball to Ferry doesn't find it's target and it's cut out. Ferry brings it forward now"  WTF!!

vic morgan should be given a minor role, and should not be allowed to commentate.
that daft cunt's pants must be dripping with jizz after every match

We're out of the relegation zone.......

I would agree with some of what you say Rich. We struggled for the first 30 minutes in midfield until Wilson changed it and put Dossevi on the right and JP just behind Charlie, then we took control of the game and lack of finishing punished us. Brighton came with a game plan to frustrate and hit us on the break, which they did twice so their game plan worked, probably a perfect away game performance from them so on the whole they deserved the 3 points.

However, they are a far dirtier side than I remember Brighton being in the past, and with a ref that was on their side all afternoon they were always going to come out on top in that game. There were 4 or 5 nasty tackles put in, especially on Ball and Austin which may have been part of their plan, but they are going to suffer a lot of suspensions if they carry on playing like that as an unbiased ref will punish them for it. One tackle on Pericard in the second half was thigh high, a potential leg breaker and could easily have seen red, along with the goalkeeper taking Charlie out, they could easily have finished with 9 with a different ref.

If it was a fair display by the ref I could understand the booking on Austin, he went over the ball to put his body in the way of an opponent, didn't make contact, but by the letter of the law it was dangerous play, but after seeing some of the other tackles from Brighton getting away with a talking to or a yellow card it made a mockery of the refs performance full stop. Brighton will be hoping to get him for more of their games this season.

I saw enough today to be optimistic, with other players due to get a run out, and fitter. Rose looked good, Dossevi looked decent (though not as big as I thought) and will score goals at this level. There is also a lot of fitness to be gained by the midfield and forwards. JPM was poor today, though the most energetic of our midfield.  Needs to change his boots too, him and rose look too bloody similar.

Brighton will be pushing for the play off's though nothing more IMO unless they improve on the few quality players that they have, Bennet looked like a pub player!

LJF or Cuthbert MOTM, hardly put a foot wrong, chuffed to bits for LJF, but consistency is the key for him now, if he gets that then no need to bring anyone in, although I heard yesterday that we have put a bid in for Taylor at Exeter, and Sean Morrison said that he had spoken to Ward and he is keen to come back to us after not being given a squad number at Bolton.

We are still better off now than we were this time last year as we were all doom and gloom then, I for one am happy to be under the radar again.

Old man Nicho next to me gets the nod for header of the day!  Even got a "sign him up" chant from the town end!

At the time I assumed it was for 'persistent' fouling, in that the ref had blown up a few times against Austin. But refs usually do a pantomime point to 4 different places on the pitch before producing the card. This one didn't.


The man in the green coat is unhooded.

Smith was to blame for the first goal, should not have been beaten at his near post. LFJ was MOTM but i think we might get caught at some point this year when he gets the ball stuck between his legs. However we did not miss Greer.
Ball did not impress as a winger and with JPM coming inside we had no width, which played into brighton's game plan of making it narrow and flooding the midfield.

A bit of a let down overall but the new players need some time to gel I guess - positives were Lesc at back - Ferry when he came on and Austin scaring the defence

I blame the ref for the defeat anyway as he allowed Brighton to tackle unfairly and get away with it whilst giving Brighton free kicks every time they dived and whinged!

On to the next -- we often lose the first game when we win a championship :)

Losing the first game is the new winning the first game.

Right, I've finally got over the initial disappointment of Saturday now, I couldn’t face coming on here after the game - except to post how my birthday was now ruined.

Although I predicted that we wouldn’t win, I was still pretty gutted with the performance.

I was really worried about the defence prior to the game, but I thought we looked solid, LJF was immense - looked calm and strong - Cuthbert was typical Cuthbert so I was a happy man.

I knew things weren’t going to go our way when I saw Smith in goal, I really really don't rate him as a goalie. Good shot stopper, appalling on crosses, appalling positional sense. Irish is right about the first goal - no goalie should be beaten at his near post in that situation, to be all American about it - that’s straight out of goalkeeping 101, to be all Arch Stanton about it - that’s a fucking shambolic mistake - so I voiced my opinion quite loudly about it at the time, it drew all the normal dirty looks from the populace of happy-clappy central, but fuck off everybody, watch the replay.

The part I didn’t predict was how out of place Ball was; he really has no place on the wing and couldn’t get into the game, not his fault, as he looks like he could be a tidy striker. The end result was that we looked as lopsided as a botched boob job, with no penetration (snigger) at all coming from the left.

Saying that, I'm not downhearted at all, as I said in my prediction post I think we will have a strong campaign, I just think with the addition of an 'proper' left winger (rather than some inexperienced child striker) we will look solid.

In Danny we trust and all that.

Yes exactly so lets end this and move on to tues night, if were still the same after ten games then we got a problem.

I have to agree that smith could have done better with the 1st goal. Its a decent shot, but it wasnt that hard and was near post.  He seemed to react a bit slowly to me.

Yeah he did, but he also produced a great one on one save in the 2nd half...

Or at least I think he did, I saw the shot and then I saw it ping off the other way but my view was blocked by a bloody pillar.

I think people are being harsh about the 1st goal. It was a good strike which has gone in off the post. And to say it was the near post makes it sound like the guy's hit it from a tight angle, when he was actually on the edge of the box.

These pictures confirm what i remember about that 2nd goal - I think it was about the only mistake the LJF made all game. There were 3 attackers, running towards 3 defenders, with the ball with the attacker in the middle. However instead of going to close down the man with the ball, LJF left it to Rose who then left his man free and went on to set up the goal.
About the only mistake that he made all game, probably down to communication which will improve after playing a few more games together. Most of my memories of the game were about how well he & Cuthbert did at the back (apart from the dodgy moments when you thought he'd tried to do too much).

Mostly disappointed with the new signings, after the hope and optimism before the game, I need to keep telling myself that not everyone can have a debut like Sam Parkin. Best of the new guys was Dossevi, although at the start he seemed to be trying a bit too hard. Once he settles down and gets used to the physical side he will be good.

And was it just me that found telling the difference between Cuthbert, Rose, JP & Ball pretty much impossible ?

I know Brighton have some idiot fans like every club, that like posting on other forums winding people up.

But honestly most sensible Brighton fans do NOT think we are going to win every week, I for one would be delighted with a Top 10 finish and flirting with the play offs if things go well.

I am however delighted with the weekends result obviously, beating a side that finished 3rd last season away from home is a great start, we didnt play great but neither did you, thats opening day fixtures for you.

Both sides will be vastly different i am sure in a months time when the window has shut, we will have Greer and Murray our top scorer last season available again in a week or so and Lua Lua will be in on loan, plus another striker.

Im sure DW will be getting players in for you also.

Good luck for the rest of the season.

Didn't realise you played Millwall at the weekend   ;)

You sure that wasn't a block by Cuthbert? I don't remember Brighton forcing him to make another save other than the 2 goals.

I think you're right - sounds like b3nny is referring to the chance where Cuthbert (somehow) got a block in

I'm not too concerned by Saturday's events, just looked like a team still bedding down to me and with a bit of luck and a better ref the result could have been entirely different, despite us putting in a disjointed performance.

The midfield does need to be sorted though, individually we have real quality there but collectively it wasn't working. Hopefully that will come either with games or maybe changes in personnel. Ferry did inject some energy on the last 20 minutes that wasn't there before, I think we need him in the side so where does that leave Prutton?

The big positive to take from the game was the defence, like most others I though LJF was immense and MOM by a mile, he and Cuthbert could form a very strong partnership at the back. Rose looked solid enough but I would like to see Caddis at RB, don't think Amakwaah had a very good game at all but part of his problems came from JPM leaving him isolated.

Dossevi has a bit of class about him, you can see that but he's going to need to get used to the physical nature of the english game. If he does then he and Charlie could be quite a formidable strikeforce.

Correct, was a hell of a block

For those of you claiming offside.......

fuck off back to your own forum

I bet you spent every waking minute since the game trying to get that image  ::)

Have you got a photo of Casper taking out Charlie, or Pericard receiving the X rated tackle?  No didn't think so!

It's finished now, trot off back to own please, there's a good fella, we have bigger fish to fry.

what about the original pass to the player with the ball?

Well, theres a surprise Smith getting the blame for the goal, it was a bloody good strike and Lucas wouldnt have got it I dont think.

I love the way a load of Brighton fans are coming on here creaming themselves over the fact they beat us. Bless 'em. But i guess it shows how far we've come!

There's still another 45 games to go yet! And like i have said previously, the razorblades will not be coming out to play anytime soon.....Even if we fail to beat H'pool!

Bigger fish to fry?? Lick my Arse Orifice oh dear.  Bigger fish to lose to maybe, we were shit and you were worse id be worried if i was you.

Yeah Gillingham said the same last season.

they were fucking wrong, werent they?

I am all for a bit of banter but this is boring me now.

Please do fuck off

Indeed.

Bent cunt.

(not you Ty)

:clap:

site should be called the FAGEND with all these brighton twats on here

Haaaaaaaa

Oh, I get it now. Very clever

Agreed. Don't see what more Smith could have done. It was a great strike from their lad. Not sure where some of our defenders went but LJF had to try and cover 2 people.

To summarise:

We were out of position too often.
The ball spent too long in the air.
X rated tackles went unpunished.
Charlie got the ball on a couple of occasions only for the ref to blow up for a foul.
Brighton picked up the loose ball better than us.
Their fans were mostly quiet (I thought they were supposed to be bringing more too  :hmmm:)
It's too early to predict where either side will finish this season.
I might have to go to the return leg now.

Not a Smith fan but i thought he had a very solid game.

I'm pleased smith will have a few games to impress, it will do both keepers good to have abit of a challange for No1 spot!!

I'm not going to bash Smith i don't think he was at fault for the first but i think i may be the only one who doesn't understand why on the 2nd goal he rushes out and just stopped. Don't get me wrong it was a shit goal all round but don't know why he did that tbh.

One of our problems is that we aren't dirty enough and don't commit enough fouls. On the second goal, Rose could have taken Sparrow out as he ran on to the one-two - that far out it would have been a yellow and a free kick in no mans land.

Whilst it's not the style of play I'd like to see, other teams play that way against us and get an advantage as a result.

Blimey I hadn't even realised that was suspect but thats a very fair shout! Here's a screen grab. It's very close but looks just about onside.

I thought the first one was offside at the time. I was convinced the second was offside. Looking back id never have thought the first one was closer!!

Its very close.

I agree. If he just stands at his near post narrowing the angle he doesnt get beat as easily, one of the CBs (LJF?) was almost back

Ditto, but he looks on from that grab.

Yeah he's on. We'd all want the benefit of the doubt if it was JP or someone holding his run like that.

Maybe you were offside in Leeds after all then?

No.

Well AOL are a bunch of cunts and i have been offline for a while.

I am sat in the bar in San Stefanos in Corfu at Man City v Spurs half time.

I was disappointed that we have been bullied again by a physical side.

Rose and Dosevi looked ok but Prutton looked like Nalis with slower legs!!

Lets all take heart from Millwalls poor start last year!

pop over to arillas and try the malibu bar and around the corner by the shore is a place called the mirage they show the football in there and do a lovely spit-roast  :)

seedy sex joint then?

:girlgiggle:

Just got back...........shagged out with the spit roast!

There seems to be a shortage of Gulls fans on the board recently.

Shame. I wanted to sing "Where's your captain gone?" to them after yesterday.

 :D