Thetownend.com

I want my fucking knighthood back.

Today is when we start to play well enough to earn it back for me.

Back in Plymouth, In from the SU half 3 in the morning.


We're gonna fucking win.

2-0.


COYR

Today we find out if SWS is a Poodle or a Rottweiler.

No doubt thedarkprince will punch him either way.

Yes this is the start of the next 11 wins in a row

I've got a bad feeling about this. 2-1 defeat.

2-0 to Carlisle. JPM to score a 25 yard screamer :(

I've already been on the crapper twice today - stupid Guinness and Madras - and the game will be the same.

Shit, shit and more shit.

Oh, and a 1-0 win for the Steam!

2-0 Williams, Ritchie.

Just win you cunts.

Difficult 2 games, not helped by the fact they have to leave 10 minutes before full time in order to get to Pompey in time.

1-1

Another defeat today 1-0

2-1 to the Cumbrians

2-1 defeat.

1-0 Swindon.  COYR

2-1 defeat.

Ever optimistic,1-0 scrappy win with a debut goal from Roberts

1-1 to stop the rot and build from there.

Thought he was out for another 2 weeks

2-0 win Collins & Williams to finally break his duck & also so i don't have to listen to the flash moaning about another away game he has been to that we have lost  COYR

1-0 to the town.

3-0 Town

Benson hattrick

Were going to win 1-0, Benson.
Not worried about McGovern, he's slow so should close him down quickly. Easy pickings for Devera.

2-0 defeat and PdC blames blames Paul Bodin,the youth team and Rocking robin because he's run out of first teamers.

JPM plays on the right. Tough Game, Typical League one side, A game we can win, just seems more a mental thing than an ability thing at present.
Confident

3-1 defeat.

Difficult to be blindly optomistic about this game. Never a place to go to restore confidence, so dont believe today will be the day we turn it around, more`s the pity. 2-0 Carlisle :cry:

It's this sort of half arsed commitment that cost you your knighthood in the first place. Taking almost 3.5 hours to set up a thread is League 2 behaviour. I fear that you will only ever be a chihauhau, SWS, a proud one maybe, but only a chihauhau.

Will take a draw today.

If we can just score first confidence will return, on the other hand . . . .

I just want Williams to score, once he gets one i think he will bang them in for fun!

1-1 will be a decent result.

 This game has Jake Jervis written all over it...a scraped point would be a massive result, but unlikely.

:D  Loving that Smeeton optimism - that's the best one since 'Winning at Morcambe would be a major surprise' :clap:

Nah I'd have said winning at Morecambe would be a major surprise...

Because creating threads at 00:01 was working so well?


Took this one back to basics

Got a feeling we'll win by a sneaky 1-0 today.

Fuck off you negative bastards, we'll win 10-0, Foderingham will score a hatrick and dedicate it to Di Canio, Caddis will be at the game and announce he was only joking about the whole Birmingham thing and Simon Ferry will get a haircut.

Oh, and Williams will assist all 10 but not score.

3-2 swindon

0-2

If we don't lose or draw we might win

1-0 Town. Williams to get the goal he's deserved.

dull nil-aller which I will happily settle for.

1-1.

I've decided to go. Might think about leaving soon :D

Looking at Carlisle's results so far they seem to have done alright, but they're below us on GD. I'd take a draw, but with the interview from Paolo on thisis today I'm feeling much more optimistic than I have all week, so fully believing we can snatch 3 points. Won't be easy though.

Some interesting points from Carlisle fans, they really don't like Paolo :D

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=121&fid=18&sty=2&act=1&mid=2114112757


I somehow do not think he will be shitting himself and comparing Carlisle to Galatasaray is like comparing Chippenham Town to Real Madrid.

Please win you sods, I've had to endure enough barracking from various friends of awful teams already.

2-1 Town. McGovern to piss us all off in the first 5 minutes, then Williams to bang home a brace in the last 10.

Di Canio runs full length of the pitch. Is banned for life from pitchside by the FA. Steve Evans laughs as he slips them their backhander.

Oh, this again. Why does every League One side think that a man who played in the Lazio/Roma and Old Firm derbies would give the slightest shit about some abuse from three men and a dog?

This about sums it up. It was aimed at Steve Evans but can apply to anyone or any set of fans...

"I will go there and do exactly the same job I do in the County Ground because I'm not worried about anybody.
"I've played in front of mafia people. People like him make me laugh - I laugh in the face of them. I laughed in the face of 70,000 Man Utd fans when I scored, you could imagine what it would be like if I was worried by the words of him who I've never heard of before.
"I only think about my team. I'm not worried about the touchline. They are fans if they are talking about me."

Sounds like most of our fans are stuck behind an accident on the M6, so perhaps they'll delay the kickoff.

Can't see us getting anything today, so 2-0 to the jocks.

 >:(  stuck on m6 still 60 mile away. trouble is gone 5 mile last hour and half. Any others stuck ?

Foot down chap, you can make it, stadium just off the junction, hope you do not miss much!

In Carlisle staying about 10mins from the ground - but traffic may explain why not seen one town fan yet!

Did the just say on radio that flint did not travel with the squad to Carlisle and its not thro injury.

M6 is closed between J34 & J36.

Diverting traffic off motorway onto A683 & A65 according to BBC travel.

Aden flint has not travelled with the squad and no obvious news of an injury. Anyone else know anymore?

That's a dreadful diversion which takes ages - feel for anyone who has had to endure that

No team news on twitter yet

Vic Morgan stuck on the m6?
We saw the M6 was closed when we were on the M5 at Glos......and saw the coaches in the services at Stafford
....so why are they stuck???

Or is Vic on his own in radio car?

Added an hour and half on my journey.

Here now.....in the rugby club....

Flint not travelled and Bostock still in civvies so probably not playing.

Just been reported on BBC wilts.

OK, so a couple of minutes ago Ian Longden reckoned Bostock would be starting...now he's not even on the bench ???

Flint's not in the squad....Devera to CB and Thompson at RB? :hmmm:

Navarro injured

We will get beat. What the fuck is going on Paolo? Sort it out, we cannot win promotion without a team playing in unity.

I think that troy will start at cb.

Fuck me, we've not even kicked off yet and you sound like we've lost. We're not even in October yet, give it time for fucks sake.

5 changes.


No De Vita or Bostock in the squad.

Foderingham; McEveley,Ward, McCormack, Devera; Ritchie, Ferry, Miller, A.Rooney; Benson, Williams

Subs:  Bedwell, Roberts, Thompson, Henville, Bessone, Collins, Coke

Ferry starts though, hopefully we'll be playing it on the deck today.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Ward starts. Roberts and Troy on the bench.

A Rooney starts on the wing.

No Collins?

3 ex Town players playing against us today in Thirwell, McGovern and Jervis.

Is Luke Rooney on the bench? I swear I saw him in Tescos car park this morning in a black merc.

Like the bench

Not so keen on the pitch

No he isn't on the bench today.

Ha was pretty OTT, just seen the lineup and its competitive, I massively rate Flint, solid last season, just wish that Paolo could get on with key players yet keep them in line without publicly slating them.

Not on the bench from what I heard.

Bench is Bedwell, Bessone, N Thompson, Coke, Roberts, Collins, Troy if I've remembered right.

So why doesn't somebody post what the team/subs are

Pete Venkman did earlier I've just seen it.

Coke and Roberts are supposed to be injured

looks a shite back 4 to me

I don't get why he doesn't play L.Rooney on the wing, he wasn't cheap and does ok when he starts.

I am fully prepared to be wrong but that team looks pretty weak to be honest.

Ward needs a big improvement on his debut. He was God awful against Oxford but I know better than to judge a Swindon player on one game alone and the personal abuse he got was pathetic. Rooney on the wing is a strange one because he was completely ineffective there against the Pox. Would have thought Williams, who has played on the wing before, would be a more logical choice. Other than that, decent enough team. Glad to see Ferry, Ritchie and Benson all start and the bench looks strong. Troy and Roberts fit again and on the bench is a huge boost.

Wonder what the story is with Bostock?

All the hoo-hah about getting Bostock and he hasn't started a game.

Not even on the bench.

cant believe it

Yep, agree with that. I can't believe he doesn't stick him on the wing.

Is de vita injured?

For me I would have brought him on last week instead of Benson as a way of changing the formation that wasn't working against the O's.

Yeah, quality player. Wonder what's gone on with Flint as well

I wonder why they can't get the kick off put back? Shit decision for our supporters stuck on the motorway.

At Oxford he was man of the match and only played 15 minutes and the end of last season I thought he was great.

Williams would be a better choice on the wing. Rooney was interviewed after the Orient game and said himself that wing was not his favourite position at all and lets face it he has no pace at all.

I don't like the constant changing of our team over the last few weeks, but hey ho.

Glad Ferry is playing, wish we had a proper left winger, would like Bostock to be more involved (even from the bench)

Get the feeling PdC almost has to play A Rooney to justify hounding Caddis out of the club

Bostock must be the bad influence then?

To be fair to PdC I just don't think he works like that. He must see stuff in training and be happy with everyone he selects. V interesting selection today, no idea how it'll pan out but I still trust the man with a plan.

He would have been sent back, shirley?

I'd be fucking livid if I was missing half the match after going all that way.

Or Flint. Or L. Rooney

tongue was firmly in cheek.

I think there's a long list of people we could suggest are bad influences...

Get the feeling our manager doesn't know what the best side is. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong today as he has a master plan

Fuming

Oh, sorry.

I am more inclined to think its Flint.

First game I've been awake for in Japan. Is it worth buying STFC Player or is it still really shite?

We went through the whole of last year without a steady top 2, this year it's a steady 8.

Flint was absolutely dog shite last week. Utter gash. Given out squad I'm not suprised he isn't in the squad

Check your PM

Williams is starting wide with Rooney partnering Benson up top.

Sounds sensible

Makes more sense.

A new strike partnership (Ok they had 10 mins or so last week)...I was going to say A Rooney on the wing doesn't make sense so Williams who has played there for Yeovil makes a lot more sense

Me too - what harm would it have done to delay KO for half an hour?

Only 60 odd fans there. Complete joke.

I always worry about a centre back in brightly coloured boots.

Leon Clarke just scored for Scunny.

most town fans wont be there until half time. we better win for all those pissed off fans stuck in cars and coaches

And Carlisle will still charge them full price for getting in !!

Really surprised they didn't delay the kick off.

Ironically, Barrow v Newport has been delayed by 45 minutes as the Newport team coach is stuck in the traffic jam.

I hear groaning or whistling in the ground and the commentator is talking about someone's boots or Jake Jervis' hair colour.

Fuck I'm glad I don't pay for STFC player.

Fuck you you northern bastards for not dealying the kick-off too. Half an hour means nothing. Feel for all the people on their way.

Bostock is sat with the town fans

Fuck sake.

Mistake in backline. I wonder who?

I would think it's down to the referee to delay the KO.

Fucking Jervis.

Ferk.

Oh dear


Oh dear


Oh dear.

Ahhhh, another defensive fuck up.

Just heard on Soccer Saturday!...One rule for one, one rule for another!

AND JERVIS...ARGHHHHH!!!

Here we go again

Oh dear. Had to be Jervis didn't it.

What a ridiculous decision not to delay the kick off. I hate football at times.

balls. sounded like another fuck up in defence

Flint, obviously

 :D

Don't have STFC Player and can't listen to radio, can anyone describe what happened?!

Might go to bed, it's 11:15 PM here.

Why does it always happen -we are so susceptible to former players scoring against us its uncanny

Wards clearance hit Carlisle player and fell to Jervis apparently.

This is who PDC will blame  :D

I didn't want to say it but it had to be him.

Cheers...but fooks sake! Long way to go....

Thats what all our fans on the M6 are saying...

The start of Ward's Swindon career hasn't been all that brilliant...

You're being nice

Well it's not really is it? In the Barrow case, the Newport team coach is struck in the traffic jam so they can't start the game. Whereas in our case they can. Although they still should have waited, I agree.

Goal was Ward's fault wasn't it?

On the positive side, we sound well on top at the moment.

what have i missed?

I've not seen him play yet, so I toned it down a bit...

You should give him twice as much abuse if you've not seen him play. Have you not been on the Internet before?

Shall we boo?

I apologise... HE'S WORSE THAN CRAIG TAYLOR, THE USELESS SACK OF SHIT!

Seems rude not to. I think we should boo the M6, followed by Lucien

Much better. But ... still .... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

But hoorah for Burton!!

On a brighter note, Burton Albion lead the scum.

I did a quiet boo cos my little girl's sleeping.

Yaaayyyyyy!!!!

Roooooooney!!!

 :D :clap:

Get in!

boom

Woooo, it hasn't happened yet on player but yay anyway!!!

Get in!

Boooooo!  He's rubbish.

Fucking Rooney, BOOOOOOOO!

Oh wait, hang on a minute.

Roooooooney Roooooooooney booo  :D

Pooooooom!!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooollllll


thank fuck for that, can't wait to see that on Th FL show tonight sounds a cracker

Rooooney, Rooney, Roooooooooneeeey

Booooney!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

Bet Caddis couldn't do that.

Fuck sake.

Gotta be Ward's fault

Oh FFS.

Jervis is the new Revell.

what the fuck?????

Oh FSS!

FFS what the fuck is going on

Here we go again

Ferk.

Once again the STFC Player is fucking days behind the actual footage!!

Twitter timeline way ahead of it

What the fuck happened to our rock solid defence from last year.

(I know, Ward in, Caddis out).

Fuck me that lasted long.

GET THE FUCK IN! ROOOOOOOONEY!

*EDIT* FUCKS SAKE!

booooooooooooooooooooo

We are running out of people to blame!

Odds on Foderingham being subbed? :p

I'm going to do a little boo again, last time i did that we scored.

hope this isn't going to be another  Peterborough

Yessssssssss!!!! Get in there!

Yessssssssss


Beno
Benno
Benno

2-2 fucking hell

This is wierd, we seem to be pretty much on top and still have let in 2 goals.

Get in! Ha ha neither side can defend for shit!

Fuckin get in there Benno

Yessssss.... Fuck me wtf is going on?

2-2 Benson, this game is a bit mental.

It was still rock solid until two weeks ago at Preston !!!

Woooooaaah sometimes
I love Paul Benson, yeah

BENNO BENNO BENNO!

Bloody hell!

boooooooooooo booooooooooooo booooooooooo

This is uncanny. More little boo's please Flashheart. One every 5 minutes would be handy :)

Get in!!! Shame there is no one there to enjoy the game!

I hope we're first up on lg1 on the fl show tonight.

You can keep doing that all game then

Bet Wes is regretting taking the piss out of Jervis this morning for a shocking miss last weekend...

Oh, gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaal!

YYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

I almost heard that one live! STFC is completly shite.

Keep fucking boooing!

[url width=356 height=275]http://i.imgur.com/XTB0h.gif[/url]

Here we go again

The dirty Fokker
[url width=500 height=370]http://www.rollmodels.net/ninbox/airplanes/72revellfokkerdr1/revell_tripe_1.jpg[/url]

So, how long until Jervis scores again?

About 2 mins. And 2.45 until we do

He must be due another about now.

Jervis trying to prove something? - He was still rubbish no matter how many he scores today!

Sounds as if we are the better side overall but defensively there is something amiss.

Benno doing what he does best!

At 1-0 I storm out in disgust.

I come back in to hear Jeff Stelling say, "there's been a fourth goal at Brunton Park" Not surprisingly I feared the worst.

All I can say is,

Fuck Me ???

And as a curious aside - Revell has also scored for Rot herham

No thanks !!

at least we're not Southampton

I'm going to put £1000 on Austin to bag at least against us. It's easy money

Glad to hear it ;)

Afternoon all, just got in. It's 2-2?

Well bugger back off out then. While Flashheart quietly boos you

That's correct Samdy! Jervis (2) for them and Benno and A Rooney for us

Rooney? Fucking booooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Apart from the 3 we let in at Stoke ;)

Is TA-H fit enough to come on at HT? I don't think I can listen to Ward being turned inside-out by Jervis for another 45 minutes!

We should send Ward back to Millwall...They need him !!!

Ward is sounding like he's probably not Di Canio's best ever signing.

And now he's been booked.

Fodders saves our bacon there.

Edit: and Twitter tells me he's about to do the same again, STFC player at least two minutes behind!

I think I'm going to do just that...see you later

sounds like we need big troy

Oxford have also conceded 2
(yes who cares, blah blah blah)

Burton 2-0

Heh, heh

Good excuse for him to be subbed...even though Di Canio never needs a good excuse !!

Wovers are getting thrash by the Pikeys.

Thank fuck for half-time

Right. I am now off to pub for second half with radio ear pieces well and truly in. Would take the 2-2 at ninety minutes.

 :headhurts:

Town fans before Kick off at Carlisle

1st game I've missed so far this season, sounds like an enthralling 45 minutes...2nd half is anybodies guess...time for a beer  :pint:

STFC requested a delay in the KO but Carlisle turned down. That's just plain cunty.

Agreed, especially given the distance people have to travel as well. Fuck off Carlisle

So techinically the score today is Birmingham 3-1 Swindon :D

My mate says still town fans coming in now

would we have agreed to a delay in the same circumstances?

can we change the kick off to a midday un when they come down here? just to be spiteful etc

I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't agree to delay?

Anyway - it's good to see Boateng working his defensive magic for the yellow piss

yes, i'm sure we would also have laid on sandwiches, with the crusts cut off!

I'd suggest he's substituted, as there's a risk his frustration at being given the run around could lead to a second yellow.  From the other side of the coin, he feels a bit like we're playing with 10 men already, so maybe him being sent off wouldn't make any difference?

And Carlisle's refusal to delay the kick off is a disgrace.  It's hardly like it's only a couple of hours up the road FFS.

We should do exactly this.  And move the game to a Sunday.  Stupid cumbrian cunts.

It's ferry and benson with yellows.

 :D :clap:

Afternoon chaps! Spent 1st half gardening with number 1 son shouting updates out the window. Thought I'd enjoy the 2nd in the pleasure of your company.

P.S. Have been a good boy and read all 17 pages...Gis a little boo Flash!

Roberts is coming on, didn't hear for who though.

Edit : For Adam Rooney.

Roberts coming on, that's good news.

Police not wanting to pay overtime id imagine

Roberts debut.

Thats what I thought, not ward.

stupid ward can't even get booked properly!

Save from Williams x 2

Get him off Paolo!

Who

:D

315 Swindon fans travelling, well done to them all even though many never even saw the goals.

I'm gonna boo in a minute, boo in a minute. I'm gonna boo in a minute.

A few more chances missed......Collins on for Benson

We've started this half very well (by the sounds of it).

Williams - Missed 2 chances

Will count for nothing if we don't take our chances.

We sound much better then last week. We're gonna score in a minute, gonna score in a minute.

Stelling keeps saying Jervis is a former Swindon Town Trainee?

Corner...Ritchie freekich headed away

Bloody hell.  He really needs to score.  The number of chances he's had now is becoming ridiculous.

Connell just scored for Bradford on a vaguely related subject.

Connell scored for Bradford. Creepy 2 up against PNE

Another attack peters out...........We're dominating but not scoring...Flash?

Just said that  :D

Also prepare for more mongs from Crawley appearing on here later.  They're now leading 2-0 at Preston.

Burton 4-0

Remember to boo guys, we're letting our standards slip.

The scum have imploded they're 4 nill down  :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Pox have started their season ending collapse early. Burton 4-0 up.

4 for Burton and it's sunny.  Now's the time for us to take the lead.

What's the Burton score?

Another piece of commentary for the Darren Ward Fan Club. Doesn't sound like he's had a good game, but similarly I don't think I've heard McCormack mentioned at all so perhaps he's not getting much help.

Beck gets wrong side of Ward and heads wide!

'Swindon marking all awry there as Jervis was coming in behind Beck totally unmarked'

Hope the referee (Jason?) Drysdale gives Town a lucky break!!

Roberts is sounding a real threat.

According to someone at the game on twitter, they're not working well together at all and appear to have no understanding.

Keeper saved from Collins who was set up out of nothing by Roberts

Coke for Ferry

And why would they?

Allegedly.

Is it McCormack tweeting?

Charlie Austin and Simon Cox have both just scored.

Cox and Austin score for Forest and Burnley respectively

Does the townend keep going down, or is it me?

Keeps going down...

Same for me too.

We are absolutely dominating, be a shame if we don't score!

Not too upset with a point, sounded like we could of won it.

Would have taken a point before kick off and despite the fact it sounds like we have had the better of the play in the second half, it stops the losing run! Big game Tuesday now at Pompey! Special word for all the Town fans that travelled, fair play especially to those who only saw 45 minutes!!!

Would have taken a point before the game but after that second half it's a little disappointing we didn't come away with all three. Sounded like a marked improvement from the last few performances, though the defence needs sorting ASAP (Troy in hopefully). Onwards and upwards.

Not dissapointed with a point. Sounds like there was plenty of positives, especially Roberts.

Bring on Portsmouth!

Not a terrible point, but a defensive lapse has cost us again... bad habit at the moment.

Good away point, and more importantly it sounded a much much better footballing and attacking performance. Clearly our early season Achilles heel of giving away shit goals is still here, but we easily have the calibre of player to get it right.

How did Burton do?

te he.

Sounded like a vast improvement on last week. Would've taken the draw before kick off, we were unlucky not to nick it at the end. Will be good to hear from those that went.

Carlisle is a tough away fixture, a point is a good result.

Happy with that.

If Walsall can go to Pompey and win then we should be looking to do just the same.

Good point in the grand scheme of things, particularly after going behind twice.  Shame about the defensive errors again.  Hopefully Troy will be back on Tuesday, we seem to have struggled at the back since he's been out injured.

Do you keep going down then? I'd keep that to yourself if I were you

Yup. Flashheart's boos saved it for us though

Feeling positive now for Portsmouth away. Defence still a worry but attacking wise Roberts a huge bonus to get back unexpectedly soon. Can't get much better than him and ritchie on either flank in this division. Henville in for Ward on tuesday and would still like Thompson to be given a chance - don't know how Devera did today but aside from anything else surely he is in need of a rest? Hopefully Ferry will also retain his place - just don't want Navarro + Miller as think that midfield is a little bit flat.

Listening to the texts being read out, wtf, they are fairly all positive.

Flashheart's booing the radio. The magic keeps on working

A point would generally be good there anyway let alone after the week we have had.

Honestly I dont think Nathan Thompson should be anywhere near the first eleven.

Suggs reputation partially restored.  Perhaps the knighthood went to his head.  Turned into a big time charlie.  If he works hard, then maybe we can give him an obe.  He is young, still has to prove himself.  Maybe he will get to the point where he is a sir again.

Yet again, I'm struggling with Di Canio's post match interview...

Help us out NMH!

P.S. I got the bit about the 'crappy goals'.

He said something about a player playing with fear, and he loves someone.

Just turned on radio ... Paolo sounds angry ... Like a child at school whos had his lunch money nicked by the school bully!

I think he sounds a bit frustrated that we didn't get a win, not really picking up any anger though.

It sounded like Chris Wise was trying to get PdC to say something controversial.

said we will/should finish 20 points ahead of Carlisle,I think

I was just talking to Mrs Taylor about this...I don't think he is, it's just how he talks normally!

Tippy tappy tippy tappy  :clap:

Got to be happy with a point away at Carlisle certainly and listening it sounded like we should have won it....comeback begins.....where`s Flint? on his way now? Dont bother listen to post match interviews anymore.....really no point...

I think it's obvious-we miss Archie Henners

I agree.

FWIW I think it was a good point that maybe could have been turned into all three with a bit better finishing and maybe could have been turned into a 5-2 win with good finishing.

We're not a bad team, I just think we win our first game of the season and then have our bad patch early in the season. It's not often that I find myself agreeing with the texts being read out, I'm glad PDC wanted the win it shows that he is ambitious and wants to win every game. I'm not a big fan of ward hopefully he'll come good though.

Flint not injured then..

Guys on the radio said he had been left behind...?

Yes that's what I meant.

Rate Flint quite highly (distribution aside), but do wonder about his attitude. I might be totally wrong of course.

Just seen cox's goal on SSN very well taken.

That's a decent point.  We appear to have stopped the rot, we scored a couple, and the Manager kept his wig on after the game.  All small steps, but all in the right direction.  Pompey seem to be there for the taking on Tuesday, so we'll probably screw that one up...but at least there's something to aim for.

Impressive little run Oxford seem to be on in the League now as well.  WWWLLL...Christmas has come early this year.

Still gutted about last week (no, I can't move on!) but overall feeling much more positive.

Switched on the Carlisle commentary after the game when the Swindon one packed up before switching back over again which always seems to get it going again (what the blue fuck is that all about??) and Gregg Abbott was quite complimentary about Swindon and the Carlisle fans apparently clapped Swindon off etc etc...that's always a good sign.

Good point away from home, stopped the rot.

We came back and equalized twice after going behind which I don't think we managed to do once last season (could be wrong, maybe some sad statto bastard can correct me?).

Sounds like a pretty decent all round performance - we could, maybe should have won.

Roberts is back, sounds like he played well, Troy was on the bench - Brilliant!

It's pretty obvious that Flint is the (perceived by Di Canio at least) malcontent in the camp.

Interesting that he's sticking with Williams this season despite his lack of goals (which I believe is absolutely right btw) but had nowhere near that amount of patience with Connell last season. He obviously sees something in Williams which he didn't see in Connell.

Oh yeah, only 6 points off top spot - onwards and upwards!

We seem to have started pretty much the same as last season; new signings still trying to blend in, Paolo still not sure of his first XI and a mixed bunch of results.

I'm (fairly) confident that once we can name a pretty much unchanged side on a regular basis we should start racking up the wins.

This to me is the most important point of all :nod:

I think Flint is pretty decent, but he's looked a bit of a donkey the last few games (the Oxford cock up, and his step-over for Orient's goal). I'm not sure if he's good enough for a top 6 L1 team, as we're aspiring to be.

It was a great goal. Interesting to see bait of caddis in the highlights too.

So with a fit Roberts seemingly nailed on for the left wing position, where does that leave Rooney/RDV? One will have to ship out.

Ward seems a liability and Flint looks to have got the evil eye from PdC - so that's another 2 off.

Coke and Bessone seem decent additions but we do need a Caddis-like replacement to get the best out of Ritchie.

Strikers seem well sorted - no problems there.

For the odd game Bedwell is good enough.

So, need a right back, central defender.

Midfield seems OK - would like to know the ins and outs re Bostock. Not 100% sure on Miller/Navarro.

A couple of interesting comments from the Carlisle forum, sounds like we really should have won.

Went to a PYO farm at half-time, but managed to get a signal on my portable wireless. We sounded pretty decent in the 2nd half so there's hope yet. With Roberts back and Troy in defence, I'm quote hopeful for Tuesday.

I don't get why we chased Bostock all summer then for Di Canio not to play him? We were struggling against Orient and needed him to come on but PDC chose 3 others over him and today he isn't even on the bench unless he was injured? If not then that's poor.

Here is a write up from a well respected Carlisle fan on TFF.  Pretty much sums up what I listened to.

Firstly though have to say i 100% agree on the fact game should have been delayed, I am one of them unlucky fans who has went to Yeovil and Swansea and both times arrived late and expected or hoped in both occasions for a delay which never came.............same should have happened here, while i don't think maybe 30 mins would have been right, at least 15 mins would mean the fans would have just missed 5-10 minutes.

It's disgusting really when it's fans travelling 6-7 well with the traffic 8-9 hour journeys and clubs/officials (as never sure which it is as think both lie) do not at all take them in consideration. So yep it was a shame to see 2 bus-loads turn up after about 30 minutes having missed all 4 goals.

as for game, well totally bizarre, we were pretty much outplayed on most fronts of the game and 90% of it must have been spent in our own half or around our box, but really it was both sides utterly abysmal defending which dominated the game most as each side gifted the other 2 goals, although all 4 goals were well taken the defending or lack of it from both sides on all 4 goals said alot about the game really.

but overall it was a game where Swindon did most of the play, we just dug in, scrapped and hoped for the best, first half started with them on top before we took over as half completed with a frenzied spell in the middle where all 4 goals were scored.

2nd half Swindon upped their game and we frankly offered very little, some of the defending being abysmal on our part and it was down to our goalkeeper and abit of luck to keep the ball out, but as half went on we did dig in abit more and eased the pressure, but created pretty much nothing, but we'll take the point because we really didn't deserve it overall, but i think our fans realised is a big difference in budgets on both squads and not alot more we could do that scrap and battle for something which they did.

Swindon played well, should do ok this season, but their defence looked weak, maybe for them at present it is a case of that old saying when you come up that you can be punished for mistakes you didn't get punished for in the lower division, they will need to improve at the back if want a challenge on top 2 as looked sloppy there, other areas look strong.

At least they came and had a go and attacked, i'll give our fans abit of credit they are quite old school and appreciate when a team comes and has a go and afew did clap Swindon off as they left the field in respect of this, a  hard earned point for us, but not a good performance really.

Good to read that.

Right that was better than Preston anyway.

Positives were we looked better going forward and seemed to have some cohesion

Also they played Carter USM, the manics, morrissey and Ash on the PA.

But the back 4 still look sketchy, both Devera and Jay did Ok, but neither are naturally attacking but in the middle it isn't happening. I wonder if this is a form or confidence thing, Ward can't have played at the level he has without ability to interpret a game and kick a ball straight so i hope its just form and i hope its the same with Alan mac who seems to have lost the ability to pass the ball, which i would hope he could do as a midfielder. The amount of times they were letting the ball bounce was scary.

Roberts looks a player, no idea if Miller did anything as didn't notice him all game, Fodders needs to stop kicking it out, and Williams was blowing out of his arse after 80 mins.

Generally a good day, really feel for the fans who missed the first half, you missed the goals but on the bright side we played much better second half.

And finally - just how overweight/portly was Cadamarteri?

Agree with most of horlock07's post really. It was a vast improvement on the PNE and Orient games - we played more football and looked a lot more of a threat in attack. And second half I don't think Wes had a save to make - which suggests our defending wasn't quite as bad as some have made out.

Shame about the blips in the first half really! For their first, a clearance was blocked and fell to Jervis, putting him through one-on-one. Nice finish, but a gutting way to go behind. Would need to see it again before blaming anybody (Ward, was it?).

Anyway, no matter - a few minutes later a long ball is flicked on by Benson. Rooney is given all the time he needs to bring it down and hit it from 25 yards into the bottom corner. He didn't rifle it, he picked his spot nicely. But barely a minute has passed before we're behind again! McGovern whips one over from the right hand side, Cadamerteri (?) knocks it down on the edge of the box and Jervis rifles a shot straight through Foderingham into the roof of the net. I was surprised Wes didn't manage to keep it out in all honesty, but maybe I'm being harsh. My head would have been in my hands at this point, but before I had time to put it there Benson was being played through at the other end. He was never going to miss. All 50 of the Town fans jumped for joy!

Second half we controlled the play really. As the Carlisle bloke mentioned, we ran the show in central midfield. Ritchie didn't have the game of his life but did well enough, and Roberts looked a real threat. Unfortunately Williams couldn't convert when through one-on-one, and Ferry managed to waste two or three great chances. Roberts had an effort well saved by their keeper too, and Collins almost had a chance when played in but the keeper just got something on the ball.

Fair play to all those who travelled up from Swindon - I had a much shorter journey than most, and was incredibly relieved I'd chosen the train when I heard reports of the M6 tailbacks. Was very disappointed that the game couldn't be put back even 15 minutes, and I hope those who didn't get there until 30 mins or even half time are compensated in some way, as that's a real kick in the teeth.

On the whole though I came away feeling positive - it was a step in the right direction and a bit more work on the training ground could get us playing properly again!

What an awful day. We had a slow moving M6 for ages then hit the trouble at Junction 34, 2 hours to move 4 miles. Came off at Junction 35, some 60 miles from Carlisle at 2.50, my bladder could not hold out much longer and my arse felt like it had been rogered by an elephant. With at least an hour and a half if the traffic was kind from that point, we would have been lucky to see the last 15 minutes. We did a total of 414 miles and got as far as a sign for Morecambe Bay.

Been home in Swindon for an hour now and I really cant remember a worse day football travel wise than this, the only plus point is I planned to pay on the day so I saved £22 on a ticket, but the fuel could have been better used.

In the end I used my free minutes and phoned my daughters mobile in Swindon which was strategically placed near a radio tuned in to BBC Wilts, sounded dreadful but I could work out bits of it.

RIP to the person who died in the accident today

Just saw the goals on SSN. A suitably low key celebration from Jervis for both his goals. Nice touch.

You're probably not the only one who didn't get there today. Sorry you didn't make it, must be infuriating.

Read tweets around 1pm about people being around j21 on the m6.didnlt have the heart to tell them to give up there and then. M6 is a terrible road

Could well have been me as you follow me, we were clinging on to the hope of a delayed kick off, and making the best of being out of the house for the day  :)

genuinely feel sorry for you and anyone else caught in it

We passed a few fans on the way back so we was not alone.

From the wall of feedback I was getting through my rather unsophisticated Nokia E5 it sounded like Roberts played really well when he came on, hope this bodes well for the future.

Got there 10 mins before half time and was charged £11 (after asking tongue-in-cheek) so they can do it if they want !

Well that was crazy crazy crazy day.

Left swindon at 8am.

Saw the M6 was closed and came off and had to drag through Lancaster and then hit the lanes.

Got to Carlisle for 1:30 pm and hit the Rugby club.

Into the ground for 2:45 and sat amongst a smattering of fans.

Did the coaches ignore the M6 signs or was there another crash??

A crazy match followed.....WTF......I thought the goals we conceded were sloppy and thought the second went through Wes????

Rooneys daisy cutter was superb, I was right behind it and it swung away from the keepers grasp.

We really should if buried them in the second half and the keeper had a blinder.

So....the rot has stopped....onwards!

Carlisle ticked off.....and I won't be going there again.....nice people and good old fashioned ground though.

Been out all day so just caught up with thread. Couldn't listen to game but sounds like from posts we were much better today. Feel sorry for those who got stuck in the bad accident tail backs and well done to those who made Carlisle. Think we will now be looking for at least another point at Pompey which should feel like next door for those who made today's trip from Swindon or further.

" Smattering" I like this word  :)

Sorry. Had to go out.

Just seen the goals on FL show....great finishes by Rooney and Benson, I'm not having a go here at all but do people think Wes could have done better with their 2nd from distance, I presume he's seen it quite late and didn't react?

Like....soapy tit wank

Yes he could have, but I reckon he saw it late too. I think McComack may have been in the way of line of sight. The shot was well enough struck to give him not much time to recover.

I hope and expect that to be the case. Wes is too good a keeper to fuck up like that. Last week I had the same.  Apparently me saying shit just before they scored, as a centre back was in my way, wasn't what my defenders wanted to hear.

Comedy defending for their first with 2 centre backs all over the place.

Cracking finish from Rooney, swap with Williams on the wing and those 2 could do well although with Roberts back
the fight will start with the strikers now. I wouldn't want to choose the top 2 at the moment although for me it's Benson +1.

From the highlights, it looked like Alan Mac (who has been way below par recently) hit a shoddy clearance to a Carlisle striker... the radio attributed that to Ward yesterday? Wes should have saved the second (and he looks less assured than normal too).

Interesting 8 second interview from Di Canio on the Beeb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19613779#asset

Interesting point about Alan Mac being below par.  In fact I'd go so far to say he's been pretty crap for a few games now.  Possible reasons:

1.  Chopping and changing of defensive partner?
2.  Just going through a bad spell?
3.  He's struggling with captaining the side at the same time?
4.  He's actually not as good as a defender as we thought and struggling to step up to better strikers in League 1?
5.  Hes the bad influence in the dressing room?

What do people think?

1-4 all possible.

Definitely not 5.

I saw this the same way too after highlights last night. No coincidence that a dip in form has coincided with a simultaneous dip in form from these two. They anchor the defence and when they play badly the whole team looks disjointed and nervous. A bit too early to judge Wes perhaps but Mcormack is definitely the worry for me. Looks shaky and hasn't been setting play going like he used to (just bypassed by Wes with long kicks). Can someone who went give an update on how Ward looked yesterday? An improvement on Oxford?

I think it was Azza who complained that Rooney was starting on the wing and has since suggested that he swap with Williams. That's exactly what happened yesterday, as has been made abundantly clear in this thread - Williams played wide left and Rooney partnered Benson.


1-2 seem the most likely, 3 is possible but unlikely in my opinion - he seemed like a leader last eyar so not sure why anything would have changed in that sense. 4 I doubt highly - we rate him highly because he looked a cut above last year, whether playing Barnet, Huddersfield or Wigan. 5, just no.

As for the Ward debate I didn't see him at Oxford but I'd give his performance at Carlisle 6/10. He wasn't amazing, but Jervis was a real handful and he did well under the circumstances. I think the problem is more that the team just weren't linking up all that well. That said, it was much better than recent games.

Definitely not 5. Don't think he's been up against any real class strikers yet (Hartlepool? Leyton Orient? Oxford? No-one from those teams strikes me as being much of a step up from league 2, and he's played against the likes of Brighton/ Wigan/ Hudds anyway and looked comfortable) so don't buy 4 either. Any of the other 3 possible but probably as simple as a dip in form and the disruption of losing Caddis who was another one who could get things moving offensively. Devera just doesn't offer that outlet (to flog the scarred and flailed corpse of that old dead horse some more). Hope he doesn't do a Jp Mcgovern, going from a previously pretty unexceptional player to an exceptional one for one season before reverting to type the next.

These I'd say. I don't doubt the step up a league takes adjustment, just that the Alan McC we know from last year wouldn't make the type of mistakes he has this.

Hate to say it, but this is the price of the Caddis situation. Not the fact we have lost a good player, but more the fact we have moved Devera out to right back and lost continuity (with Flint absent presumed dead to PDC). Would have liked us to get a new right back in myself.

But I'm sure he'll look his old self once Ward kicks into gear. Ward has to be a better player than we have seen, just failed to settle in yet (much like Devera did last year).

Still got Troy to come back in Batch. Think him and McCormack will be a good pairing

Oh yeah, forgot about him! Doh.

Arch seems to be good on the ball to me, makes space for himself. Early days, could be a good pairing though.

I didn't think Ward was too bad yesterday and no one around me was slating him either which suggested he was doing too badly, however a couple of those following on twitter suggested he was having a stinker so what should I know being in the ground and that!

I think with Alan Mac that he has just lost form, defensively he looks hesitant and lets the ball bounce too much, but its the passing which makes me think its form as he seems to have lost the ability to pass the ball to a team mate. TAH may provide the calmness he needs next to him as the constant changing isnt going to help.

Equally worrying was the fact that when we were bypassing the midfield and going long, Wes kept belting it into touch!

BTW did anyone get what Paolo was gesturing to the fans when he came over at full time (and it makes me love him more when he does that - you can tell how jealous other supporters are when he does that) I got the 'blame me not the players at Preston', but I couldn't interpret yesterdays, I thought it was 'we will move up the league' but I dunno.

Ward getting a slating on Twitter might have been down to the fact that he was blamed for the poor clearance. #mistaken identity

Well, that's cleared that up then. Having not gone and looked at the formation from Orient I assumed Rooney was on the wing. I now feel that it's been clarified, quite abundantly so in fact.

Glad to be of service :D

I read it as we'll be heading up the league one step at a time with this result being one of those small steps.

Having watched the highlights they were 4 very good goals, Alan Mac very much at fault for the 2nd with his awful pass, might be time to give him a rest and bring in Troy who I think looks an incredible prospect at the back.

Wes was at fault for not stopping the long ranger from jervis though it looked like he got both hands onto it, but he did make 2 excellent saves after it so its swings and roundabouts and all that.

Bensons flick on leading up to his goal was class,  he took his goal really well as did Rooney who put in a great placed shot in the bottom corner.

It did look like we made a lot of good chances in the 2nd and really should have buried them but some days they go in and some they don't, at least we played proper football and not hoofball like last week.

What sort of response was JPM given from our lot?

Is Wes' form though down to not really having any viable competition for his place surely any decent competiiton and he knows he has a fight for his place Bedwell is not in the same league as Wes at the moment so not a strong enough challegnge

I think Alan McC is probably suffering from a shaky defence over the last few weeks and is probably trying too hard and not having a settled partner does not help

Been flat out all weekend and only got to catch glimpses of the game on the radio but Jake Jervis coming back to haunt us ! I quite liked him when he was here and wouldn't mind seeing him back here one day in the near future.

I thought Ward was awful on Saturday. I admit I have only seen him in two games (saturday and Oxford) but his positional play and reading of the game was poor, which results in him hugging their forwards and giving away free kicks. Think this is having an affect on Maccas play (trying too hard?) and the sooner Troy and/or flint are back in the side the better. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but not convinced by him at all.

Anyway, heard a rumour today that PDC threatened the players that if he saw anyone of them in town after the Orient game, that he would fine that £5K!

Ward just looks a liability at times and forces others into mistakes.

Easy to say get Flint back in the side but don't forget that he was garbage last week against Orient.

McCormack was superb last season but there was a reason he had to drop down to League 2 and that was because he was very poor at Charlton. I'm sure his form will improve but it is unfair to expect him to be one of the better defenders in League 1.

judging by the highlights on the OS, we're not winning many headers.

is this a fair assessment?

Based on performances this season it should be TAH +1 other.  If memory is correct we didn't start conceding until he got injured.

I would say McCormack and TAH will be the no1 pairing surely? If not that then shove McCormack into midfield and pair Flint with TAH

For me, Devera is a better CB than Flint... but he's having to be a makeshift fullback. He's done nothing wrong out there, but a RB was more important than signing Bessone in my opinon.

Your memory can't be correct then because he hasn't played a competitive game for us yet!

except for the two competitive games he started against Brighton and Hartlepool respectively

He definately played Hartlepool and Brighton as per Swindon-town-fc.co.uk but not against franchise as I thought.

Still he looked very impressive against Brighton

A few jokey boos every so often. He was applauded by Town fans when subbed off.

I wouldn't be surprised to see us sign a RB over the next week or 2 on loan.

Everyone seems to be slagging off Carlisle for not delaying the kick off on Saturday. While I have a lot of sympathy for everyone who only saw half a match clubs also have to think of their own fans reaction to making this decision.
I was a steward at the County Ground during the 90's when Chris Kamara managed Bradford City, around 2pm news came through that their fans would be delayed by at least half an hour due to road problems. The club  decided to delay kick off until 3:30 to allow their fans the chance to see most of the game. Was that the correct decision? Not according to a large section of our fans, when the pa announcement was made loud boos came from all sections of the ground and stewards took abuse for the rest of the match.

Yesterday BBC radio stated it was the ref not the club that turned down the request.

And yes, of course delaying KO was the right thing to do v Bradford and should have been the right thing to do v Carlisle.

Delayed kick off by half an hour and I and quite a few others would have been struggling to make our booked train.

Massive sympathy for those delayed but you can't always cater for everyone. I've been in the same position when trains have been delayed/cancelled but don't really expect them to move the kick off then. There is always the hope though.

Bollocks, you are both right! Apologies.