Thetownend.com

This one's on TV as well innit?

I've seen Swindon live more this season alone so far than in the entire previous 11 years or so I've been away from Blighty.

Loving the PDC factor. Loving it.

This one's on TV as well innit?

Sure I heard one of the Barnet matches is on the box.

May have dreamt that though.

Im going.

And you can all buy me a pint

Your brother said you would be settling his tab tonight. Bring a fat wallet!

Why anyone would want to rest players i don't know.Massive chance to keep us in the national eye,win a trophy and get some cash.

Why anyone would want to rest players i don't know.Massive chance to keep us in the national eye,win a trophy and get some cash.

Why anyone would want to rest players i don't know.Massive chance to keep us in the national eye,win a trophy and get some cash.

1,142 tickets sold already plus pay on the day, good turnout for a midweek game indeed, we should be pretty much half the attendance again.

Should I be worried about turning up on the night and paying to get in ? We won't bring more than 1,500 surely ?

When would the Wembley final be?

We had an initial allocation of 1,500 with an on the night 1,000 also available, so I doubt we will get anywhere near that figure of 2,500 in all honesty.

Is Bodin available? If so I'd like to see him get a game ahead of Connell (who must be absolute knackered, looked it at times on Saturday) and/or De Vita. No point calling him back if we're not giving him the chance.

I think it was 1500 in advance, 600 more if we need them. Could be wrong though

I hope there isn't a hangover from saturday. See it too often with other teams that have a great result then get beat in their next game.
A narrow defeat wouldn't be a disaster mind

I hope there isn't a hangover from saturday. See it too often with other teams that have a great result then get beat in their next game.
A narrow defeat wouldn't be a disaster mind

It's going to be hard for the players to lift themselves after Saturday but this is arguably the more important game. I'm not expecting a pretty game and I'd surprised if we came away with anything better than a draw or narrow defeat.

Bodin maybe given a game?

Cup tied, he played in Torquays defeat in the first round they played in.

McLeod will score.

We might score more.

Didnt know De Canio was boss at QPR in 2007-8 ?

Di Canio is our Di Canio.  De Canio is their  De Canio.

dont worry about it, there's not gonna be 300 turning up to barnet without a ticket

1p or bigger ?

Anything but a loss would do me. I fancy a 1-1 tonight, Connell.

Barnet 1 v Swindon 0

then second leg

Swindon 2 v Barnet 1

Town: Foderingham; Caddis, Flint, McCormack, Cibocchi; Ritchie, Ferry, Smith J, Gabilondo; Magera, Murray

Subs: Smith (GK), De Vita, Devera, Connell, Thompson L

The Cibocchi foulthrow-o-meter is open for business :)

I read an interview about Paul Benson made last year by a Daggers fan site when he was at Charlton, and he got the question: What is your least favourite opponent and least favourite ground. The answer was Barnet and Underhill because he never won there and had some injuries there.

So maybe that's the reason why Paul isn't in the squad tonight!

I don't think there's radio commentary tonight :(

Old Skool  8)

Player isn't working for me.

But the BBC site is.

Dunno if their allowed to or have forgotten to flick the switch but its working. :D

Hang on wheres keith warmington!? i always listen to him in the evening!

Medium Wave!

All I can hear is the town fans singing.

Sounds like superb support again!

All I can hear is the town fans singing.

Sounds like superb support again!

Commentators having a go at Foderingham's kicking?

Well now we've signed him permanently we can start slagging him off can't we ::)

One of thems Juddy off here I think

Commentators having a go at Foderingham's kicking?

I'm guessing I'm not the only one annoyed by the attempts to find a negative and focus on it then. His kicking is superb.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one annoyed by the attempts to find a negative and focus on it then. His kicking is superb.

Who is commentating?

Who is commentating?

I'm guessing I'm not the only one annoyed by the attempts to find a negative and focus on it then. His kicking is superb.

When's the last time Ferry scored?

When's the last time Ferry scored?

Huddersfield at home.

Ah thank you. I haven't seen Gabilondo play yet. What's he like?

Its not a negative but more an observation - he put a few in to touch on Saturday. I wonder if his brief was to wang it out wide, but there is a small margin of error of course.

Mixed bag really. Has ability but sometimes his crosses dont beat the first man. Cuts inside too much sometimes as well. Can see there is a decent player there though.

Let me get on my soap box; don't rain on my parade. :)

Would he cut it at L1?

hasn't cut it in L2 yet. There's a good player there but maybe more of an impact sub than a starter

Reckon we'll be seeing De Vita in the second half.

Get the fuck in.
Do away goals count double in the JPT.

Can't get the stream to work it keep s going to iplayer but not doing anything  :cry:
Fucking apple piece of shit

Are you not in the Swindon area?

Are you not in the Swindon area?

Andy Warren just tweeted saying Murray could be coming here on a permanent basis. Interesting.

Can't get the stream to work it keep s going to iplayer but not doing anything  :cry:
Fucking apple piece of shit

Interesting. I would be quite happy with that I think. Who's Andy Warren?

Interesting. I would be quite happy with that I think. Who's Andy Warren?

Interesting. I would be quite happy with that I think. Who's Andy Warren?

Apparently Rotherham manager Andy Scott at the game tonight spying...or coming back to see the Paolo di Canio circus (remember his interview in Sky...)

Although I'll think about more after this game... There's only 6 points between us and Rotherham. We need a big performance on Saturday.

Update Flash Player .........................oh wait!

Apparently Rotherham manager Andy Scott at the game tonight spying...or coming back to see the Paolo di Canio circus (remember his interview in Sky...)

Haha just heard the one man, "come on barnet" supporter

Game in hand though haven't we?

Do we go dressed as clowns then on Saturday??

No game in hand with Rotherham but a superior GD so basically 7 points clear.

De Vita on for Gabilondo, who has summarily failed to impress.

Although I'll think about more after this game... There's only 6 points between us and Rotherham. We need a big performance on Saturday.

More importantly, we're 6 points off 2nd and 3rd places and 7 from top. Still have many of the teams in the top to play.

...Really?

1414 town fans

hope we take the same amount fans for the league game in a few weeks too

In other news, the cat's just eaten my sausage out of the frying pan.

Rovers 2-1 up.

As they were on page 16

Did he/she enjoy it?

im sure senda broke his playing for milwall a few season back against us

im sure senda broke his playing for milwall a few season back against us

im sure senda broke his playing for milwall a few season back against us

Full time. Would have taken that at the start.

Do away goals count as double?

Not a huge surprise, but what style of football would suit him, glacially slow?

Ditto to the above, I would like to add fair play to barnet, they pressed us all game and disrupted our normal way of playing, no way will they finish bottom half if they keep playing like that. Would aslo like to say to any Barnet fans looking at this, good luck to danny Senda. Looked innocuous at first, but soon became clear he was in trouble, hope it's not a career ending injury.

I thought the general taunting of Magera tonight with ironic 'One Alan Connell' chants was fucking embarassing.

The guy can not win headers at the moment and is obviously low on confidence, but his overal effort levels are good, he has neat and quick feet and he's a fucking handful when he's got the ball.

He had a hand in the goal tonight and did a decent job for us on Saturday when he came on - so why fucking abuse one of our own players, risking the complete demolition of any remaining confidence he has left in him?

I just dont get it.

Why the fuck would you do that to one of our own players, let alone one that our idolised manager seems to think is good enough to appear for us on a regular basis?

Also, how many of the cunts getting on his back would argue, face-to-face, with PDC that Magera a complete cunt and deserves to be abused while he's playing for us?

Most, if not all of the spineless cunts would either shut the fuck up like some fucking pussy, or just run a fucking mile.

Cunts, the fucking lot of them.

That's the second time Senda's broken his leg against us, poor cunt

McCormack now suspended for two games.

Also, how many of the cunts getting on his back would argue, face-to-face, with PDC that Magera a complete cunt and deserves to be abused while he's playing for us?

Most, if not all of the spineless cunts would either shut the fuck up like some fucking pussy, or just run a fucking mile.

Cunts, the fucking lot of them.

Respectful applause as well for Senda, thought he was having a decent game, and hope he will be back next season for us!

Its not a negative but more an observation - he put a few in to touch on Saturday. I wonder if his brief was to wang it out wide, but there is a small margin of error of course.

The behaviour of some older town fans when Senda got injured was disgusting...then they squared up to each other...wankers

Give it a rest for fucks sake. The hardman "say it face to face and you'll get knocked sparko" reaction to every bloody issue is fucking tedious.

And yes I'd say it your face x

Was this behind the goal?

After so many games over Christmas and their heroics on Saturday, I guess we can forgive them for being a little lethargic!

Also, Rotherham will have had 12 days of rest come Saturday. Hope it doesn't show!

12 days rest is too long, they will be rusty.......maybe!

Anyhow, onto the game.
I was surpised Benson wasnt on the bench, thiught this wouldve been the opportunity for some valuable game time.

Swindon next week...
I don't know about anybody else but I will just be glad when the Di Clownio circus has been and left town.
For some strange reason I don't really care about the result...I would like to stuff them though !
The more I see of the man on tv the more I just don't like him.



The usual media hype that follows him will be there, I'm sure. Our game at their place should spur us on to revenge. I just hope we have a strong referee who doesn't fall for their blatant diving.



Have they officially changed their name to 'Paolo DiCanio's Swindon' yet,
cos they might as well to listen to the media, every time they're mentioned.



Big game and i will love it when we smash that MASSIVE arrogant Italian ego...



Personally I'm looking forward to giving this ex piggy Barsteward some stick..bring him on!



Anyone see the picture in the paper of him crying after they beat Wigan?
You'd have thought they'd just beat Barca.
I hope we stuff them, their antics in previous game were poor, you could clearly hear every Swindon player scream when they had been tackled by a Rotherham player.



As for that r swipe Di Canio, hope Tongy tries to drop him again but succeeds this time.



Scotty should have our boys rolling about in agony whenever we get tackled, screaming like little babies when they are touched etc but I guess it wont happen as AS isnt that good at this thing called tactics. But you never know he just might decide to play them at their own game? what do you think?



A great opportunity for us to use Swindon as a play off promotion launch pad - we represent a banana skin for them.
What is it ? Only 1 defeat in 18 ?
They will come to Dull Valley off the back of a high octane atmospheric victory against Wigan in the FA Cup. I think Dull Valley will be a real culture shock for Di Canio and his team.
Di Canio will have no crowd behind him and will find it strange being situated so far from the crowd. The bleakness of the place and a Sunday morning atmosphere might just for once help us - Di Canio thrives off being the centre of attention which in turn inspires him to drive his players on -

A quick low down on Swindon after I watched them last night
This will be no Zippy s trips so I apologise now!

A friend of mine is a Swindon fan and we both work in London. So last night I went with him to Underhill to watch the southern final 1st leg of the tin pot trophy against Barnet.

The ground as most of you will know is a proper throw back in time. Standing on the terrace was a real treat. Swindon took almost 1500 fans so fair play to them. They created a great atmosphere.

(Just for Zip) I felt obliged to taste a pie. Thankfully they were Pukkas only Chicken and Mushroom left but it was still good. £2.20 I think? Bovril £1.50?

Anyway back to the game. Swindon were good. As the league positions show way better than Barnet. I was surprised at the final score of 1-1

A few key players to look out for. First the keeper Foderingham was not that impressive. Kicking was poor at times, he could have done better with the goal and he spent most of the night doing not that much at all. When he did get involved it always involved a lot of shouting/fighting with his back four.

They have a giant centre half in Aden Flint. He must be close to 6'6. No point in us banging balls up front on Saturday he will just gobble them all up.

No 27 Cibocchi is an Italian right back. A very decent player. Cheats like most of his countrymen in that sly 'what me boss' kind of way. He should have been yellow carded twice before he got one.

All in all the defence looked pretty strong. The left back was always bombing forward too.

In the middle they have Simon Ferry a Scott. He was decent apart from his 1988 Gascoigne haircut! Gabilondo is a very tricky winger. Ran rings around people at times.

Up front they have a proper giant in Magera. He must be close to 6'6' as well and is a Czech International! He can flick balls on and win headers but not too many. He has the same problem as Peter Crouch. When he jumps he only gets 2 inches of the ground. Still 6'8' of height beats most players.

All in all they didn’t get run ragged. I was hoping Barnet would make them work so after two cup ties they would be knackered but that didn’t look the case.

I think it will be a hard match to win for us. They looked really classy at times.

For a tenner it worth the visit.

Beson was apparently carrying a small knock and thus not risked.

As a little prelude to Saturdays game I have been having a little read on the Rotherham Utd Forum and they really dont seem to like Paolo at all, its like readin a Pox forum.

And one last quite complimentary one about one of their fans who went to the game last night.

Those comments come across instantly as fans of a club who need an almighty injection of passion.

Definitely an element of jealousy in there too - very amusing read!

Scotty should have our boys rolling about in agony whenever we get tackled, screaming like little babies when they are touched etc but I guess it wont happen as AS isnt that good at this thing called tactics. But you never know he just might decide to play them at their own game? what do you think?

.... atmospheric victory against Wigan in the FA Cup. I think Dull Valley will be a real culture shock for Di Canio and his team.

I liked this one:

We've played at Barnet and at Kingston-upon-Wimbledon. Good clubs and proper stadiums, but neither exactly the San Siro. I think we'll cope.

No doubt it will be a tough game though. Especially after such a busy period. And looking at February the schedule doesn't exactly calm down much. You can see why PDC wants a couple of quality players added to the squad.

Have I missed something.

Why have we got this reputation as a cheating, diving team. I'm sure our players go down easy on occasions (like every pro footballer!)

Must be jealousy.

Have I missed something.

Why have we got this reputation as a cheating, diving team. I'm sure our players go down easy on occasions (like every pro footballer!)

We've not had many penalties either have we? Must be jealousy.

Apart from every single game this year Dv,no you have not missed anything mate :-)

I think a lot of the fans from all opposing clubs are jealous - I felt that when reading the comments after the Northampton match too.
They too want the passion and publicity and results that we have been experiencing of late.

It actually makes the one match touchline ban quite satisfying seeing as they won't be able to witness first hand PDC in action!  :D

Is it not somewhat because of PdC's comments after a game earlier in the season (Macclesfield?) when he said our players should dive more to win penalties?

Is it not somewhat because of PdC's comments after a game earlier in the season (Macclesfield?) when he said our players should dive more to win penalties?

Apart from every single game this year Dv,no you have not missed anything mate :-)

The Stewards were clueless, anyone could see there was to many Town fans for the North terrace and plenty more were still queuing to get in. Why leave it until the teams were out on the pitch before opening the section behind the goal? The female steward who was holding our supporters back was knocked to the floor but it didn't stop the chavs from trampling over her ! The road works were a pain but got home about midnight so not to bad. Agree about their number 8, jumped up little man syndrome springs to mind.

They just gave up in the end and let anyone through

The people waiting at the front were being pushed in to them by the people behind so they didn't have much of a choice. I was in the ground fairly early and could see a massive queue outside and there was nowhere to stand in the side terrace, said to the woman steward "May as well just let us through now surely? There's hundreds outside still and it's pretty much full already" The response was the same old frustrating "Head Safety Officer hasn't given us the go ahead" which seemed to be some mythical creature who wasn't actually around to be seen.

This was repeated from other stewards as people got pissed off and started having a go at them telling them to open up minutes before kick off, it's also the same thing that stewards were coming out with at Plymouth when being abused for not moving the segregated netting over a couple of rows.

The question I would pose to the head safety officers of Plymouth and Barnet is what exactly are you doing when fans start having a pop at your stewards because you're clearly too busy to actually be watching the safety of the ground to make key decisions?

Are you aware thet people that you employ are on the front line, trying to do a job for you and are getting called cunts and pricks by aggrivated football fans because you're sat in an office with your finger up your arse not making pretty easy common sense decisions?

Good to meet the London Reds last night. Not sure if it was a good idea to get the 263 bus to the ground though!  :hmmm:

That was the highlight of the night! Mind you Brian the quiz master will get some heckling for telling us to get it instead of the tube next time i see him :)

Highlights , well highlight from last nights game here, filmed on location at Underhill. Our GOOAALLL !!  Quality of goal better than the camera but hey   :clap:

Looking at the Barnet results they haven't lost many at home you know. Their away form is poor and why they are where they are in the league and lets hope they carry that form too in the away leg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTf5Nk9tRl8

Was thinking about this earlier, if we scored a winner in injury time would there be a pitch invasion ?

I happen to like underhill, perhaps im biased but i prefer it to these new identical souless stadium!! and am dreading the day we actually do move.

The people waiting at the front were being pushed in to them by the people behind so they didn't have much of a choice. I was in the ground fairly early and could see a massive queue outside and there was nowhere to stand in the side terrace, said to the woman steward "May as well just let us through now surely? There's hundreds outside still and it's pretty much full already" The response was the same old frustrating "Head Safety Officer hasn't given us the go ahead" which seemed to be some mythical creature who wasn't actually around to be seen.

This was repeated from other stewards as people got pissed off and started having a go at them telling them to open up minutes before kick off, it's also the same thing that stewards were coming out with at Plymouth when being abused for not moving the segregated netting over a couple of rows.

The question I would pose to the head safety officers of Plymouth and Barnet is what exactly are you doing when fans start having a pop at your stewards because you're clearly too busy to actually be watching the safety of the ground to make key decisions?

Are you aware thet people that you employ are on the front line, trying to do a job for you and are getting called cunts and pricks by aggrivated football fans because you're sat in an office with your finger up your arse not making pretty easy common sense decisions?

Barnet fan in peace.

Firsty 1400 travelling fans, thats the level of support we can only dream of, and it certainly helped to create a good atmosphere. We know we have a shocking stadium (believe me, we have been trying to move ground for 15 years, however have had no luck with the council) i happen to like underhill, perhaps im biased but i prefer it to these new identical souless stadium!! and am dreading the day we actually do move. The stewards are also clueless, however no excuse to push over a female steward, again i should imagine Barnet didn't expect 1400 to travel.

Im not sure what happened in the pub (the red lion), the pub usually caters for away fans and gets rave reviews, i can only imagine they severly underestimated the level of support from Swindon, however there were plenty of your fans in the queens arms.

The game itself was awful at times, devoid of any real quailty, and i am fully expecting a tougher game at the county ground, i should imagine we will bring 500ish (which is good for us!!) however i believe we have a real chance and i look forward to another good atmopshere (and hopefully some better football aswell!) atleast it's not £25 this time, daylight robbery springs to mind  :D

see you all on the 7th oh and i'm suprised that Joey Devera isn't in your starting 11, he is class!

. No idea what the crowd will be for this one

I liked the ground, it's the pitch I have an issue with.

Ouch, dislocated kneecap. Against Swindon. Again. Hope he recovers soon.

I really do hope he recovers and plays again.

Chesterfield 2  Oldham 1. Looking at stats Oldham were unlucky and will still fancy their chances in the second leg.

If we get there. neither holds any fears. Think I'd rather play oldham as we know what they will be like, Chesterfield are more of an unkown. Cue 2-0 Barnet win to make my comments irrelevant.