Thetownend.com

Tonight's opponent is Virgin. Branson, if I ever meet you I swear it will be messy. Normal service resumed once the call centre in Lahore re-opens at 8am GMT. BASTARDS.

3-1

It's an omen I tell you ! Still going for a Win, don't care how we do it or by how many, just want the win :)

Up for this, first home game of the season after being away for the summer.  I've got a good feeling 2-1 Swindon COYR

Hoping for a win and lots of updates from the County Ground on Sky Sports as Im working.

Another luxuriously good performance without a win would be a worry.

I'm a bit like you Nmh. bar it think we'll tank them 4-1. Flint for them, and flint for us x4. Then he'll be arrested  for bumming Nuns.

Hoping today will be O'Driscolls 'Brian Tinnion' moment and we utterly gubb them. Their defence is appalling. Red card for Flint to top it off!

No proper matchday thread opener from Shaw Rosso and no daily 'Morning Gents' tweet at 4am from Jed.  Should we be worried?  I'm not normally that superstitious, but this is making me feel uneasy.

Last night, I actually had a dream that had Roger Malone in it.

'We're going to spit on our rivals' (anyone know which song that line comes from)

Fancy the 4-1 with 11,102 in attendance


I'll be in town for  drink dinnertime so should be an eye-opener!

Over 13,000 tickets sold by yesterday morning, so think your attendance is some way off.

Really!

Didn't think that many extra Town fans would bother.

I was thinking of the Bury 8-0 followed by the Arsenal 3-2 scenario of '79 - I don't know why!!

Coming up for this one, not sure about the result - city will be desperate for a win after a poor start.

OK, Jed now saying we're still a little short of 13,000.

https://twitter.com/JedMcCoy/status/381131428505071616

But it sounds close.

Quite simply if we play like we did at Wolves it'll be a smash up. Flint's gotta be a dead cert' to be sent off.

4-1 with a crowd of 13,010 and City fans to start leaving at about 16:20.

Way way too much positivity!

0-2. Flint will probably score and celebrate like a madman as well.

Rest easy, fellas.  Just had the following breakfast table predictions in from my boys:

Swindon   10 - 1 Bristol
Swindon 108 - 1 Bristol

Only aged 5 and 3 respectively, but it's clear they really don't rate Flint.

Agree, it will be a tough game, heart says 3-0 head says 2-2, should be a great game hope we don't play 4,4,2 COYR

3.1 win to town
13200 in the ground to watch Flint get sent off
Then trampled by horses as shitty invade pitch
 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:


Seriously looking forward to today
Lets make some noise

2-1 defeat.

3-1, 13380 in attendance.

I may be being a bit pessimistic,  but does anyone else think that today's bumper attendance has more than a little to do with people trying to up their points tally, enabling them to secure a Chelsea ticket?

Who gives a fuck? That's the whole point of loyalty schemes.

You really are a miserable fucker Herthab.

1-2 City

Er, yes!   :D


Precisely!

I'm miserable too....

You are all plastic with the exception of herthab, me and Reg......so fuck off.

Let's smash these fuckers!

Gutted i'm missing this today.

If we play like we did at Wolves, we will destroy them.

We are going to fuck em up on the pitch. Can't be arsed with any off pitch shenanigans that may arise.

Lovely to see that even at that age they have noted towns ability to shed a shoddy goal however well we play.

1st game of the season for me today, I have a bad feeling that Shitty will be like a wounded cat and hit us on the break and cause us problem at the back, hopefully we will convert a few more chances than we did last week at Wolves, 12,965 crowd today with 2,451 Shittyers.

Yeah - you have to look out for those wounded cats. Right fuckers, them!!

 :D

Town 1 wurzels 0 art: 12,888

Artendance.  Bristolian for 'attendance'.

What a good ideal!

I never said I gave a fuck, merely pointing out that the attendance has more to do with people wanting to watch Chelsea than a local derby against city. Sorry if I ruffled any delicate feathers.

God I've missed this particular derby, think it's going to be a bit tasty this one.

It seems too obvious that we are going to win, this worries me.  1-1 unfortunately.

Well they are hardly wounded lions or tigers are they :D

2-0 Ranger, N'Guessen

I agree, I'm not having a dig at points system but reckon it's put at least a thousand on the Att, plastic twats :)
Which ain't a bad thing, 4.2town pitch invasion  :horse: :horse:at half time with Jed and co getting stuck in COYR
Anyone in the merlin today :pint:

Swindon 3-1 Slave Traders, Shitty, 1982Ltd...12,483 and they didn't even sell out! C.O.Y.R!!!

The memories mate the memories.

Swindon 8 Bury 0
Swindon 4 Arsenal 3.
The games against Swansea, Watford and the Gills.
0-1, 2-1 and 3-1 respectively all remembered.

Watford MOTD with a Rowland's beauty.
Then the Gills game that made history.
Witnessing a mini bus turned over on its side.

In those days the TE was loud, very loud. nothing now compared to then.

You will always see an increase in derby gates - plenty of plastics come out for those games - always have even before loyalty points

As for the Merlin
Yes am there  :gathering:

Was the 8.0 bury game on a Friday night, if so I was at that one

Looking forward to this one.....definitely 100% a home win - 4 - 2. Don`t care how many other people will be there or if they are made of plastic...Red Army

No Saturday.

'Twas at a game in the early 80's on a fri night, we won 7/8 nil but can't remember who we beat

KOL-Back Down South

Aldershot? I climbed the clock when the 8th went in against Bury  :)

First game at the scg for me for months means it'll be a drab affair with my mate telling me after 'we haven't been playing like that all season mate, honest'.

1-0, Hall.

Found this little ditty on Twitter, would love to hear this from the TE

Mike Dixon ‏@PnoTuna 2h

Flint, flint, whoever you may be, we are the kings of the west country, city paid a massive fee, but you'll be sent off by half past 3!

Oh and a 4-1 win for town

Even the chairman retweeted that song :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Come on Branson, get your act together

My lift arrives in 10 minutes.  Let's do this!

COYR

Looking forward to a big attendance and hopefully a big win today.

3-1 and a crowd of 13,253.

Flint to get battered by Ranger, try and fight back and get red carded.

1st prize!

If you can catch me in the Legends I'll buy you a pint.

I'll be wearing a red carnation in my lapel - as is the style of the day

Perform half as well as last week and we win. 3-1, Ajose, JMac and Ranger

Uh oh. Mason and Harley doubtful

Bugger, from what I have seen Mason is a great ball player. Don[t think we have anyone else like him.

Hmmm. I'm not so confident without Mason...

Saturday 8th December 1979

Swindon 8 - 0 Bury
                        

Oh no.  I was already feeling a bit nervy based on the fact City have yet to win.  If Mason and Harley are missing as well as Byrne and Pritchard, my nerves aren't going to get any better.

I'm calling mind games

That's what I thought.  A bit of psychological imodium for Flint's arse.

I'm unsure about this. With how we've been playing we should dick 'em, but you can never predict a local derby, and with Flint back and the fact they haven't won yet this year I am slightly concerned.

I'm going to be positive and go 3-1 Town, but I reckon it could go either way. Attendance of 13,242 with 2,625 shits.

Surely if mind games, they would be saying ranger was doubtful?

That was my first thought (well, hope) but seems unlikely having read the article.

Fuck it, we'll dick them anyway.

I'm not gonna make a prediction, having got it right for the Wolves game  :( . Just remember that this is a local derby, we got 4 players out and City haven't got a win yet. On a positive note, Flints motivation should give us an edge after he gets sent off.... On paper of course, we should piss it. COYR

Flint will have a stormer today, Mark my words!!

SWINDON TOWN v Bristol City: Foderingham; N Thompson, Hall, Ward, McEveley; Kasim; Ajose, Luongo, L Thompson, N'Guessan; Ranger

Substitutes: Belford, Barthram, Branco, Wood, Walsh, Storey, El Gabbas

Pack and Flint playing for City.

Mason and Harley definitely injured.  Bench looks a bit weak.

Who are wood and Walsh?

Wood is 15 and will be our youngest ever player if he comes on, apparently. 

Ed Hadwin is reporting on the game for BBC Bristol, what a judas.

Fucking hell.

Had to be.

1-0 Flint.

Flint 1-0 City

Cunt. Fucking inevitable.

well that didn't take long! :(

Cunt.

First time they've been near the goal and Flint fucking scores.

Always going to happen. Fuck.

Why is it that a game like this comes along and we're without half out bloody midfield?? Typical.

Well he's ticked goal off the list, now for the red card.

It's a funny old game, innit?

Collins scores for Hibs.

1-1

YES.

1-1

Ajose

1-1. Nice.

Get in Ajose!!!!

Get in.

fucking get in

get in there!

Who the fuck is Ajose?

BOOM

Hit the bar!


Seems we're starting to turn it on now.

N'Guessan rattles the bar with a scorcher!

2-1 City Fuck

Balls.

ffs

Fuck it.

Shit defending for their second.

Little cohesion from us.  They have done their homework.  Breaking us down and making the more dangerous runs.  Frustrating.

2-2 Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss

2-2 Ajose.

Come on Town!!!!!

So weird, radio is a bit behind real time. Seeing goals come up 20 seconds before I hear them. I gather this is normal for regular listeners though?

Fucking get in!

That's good, for Wolves mine was 5 minutes behind.

I shall be on hand to make further timely pessimistic comment later in the game.  If it helps.

Yaaaay, what posistion does this chap play?

On the left wing I think.

HT 2-2

Think he lives next door to Alice

What's the TE bar like anyone? Any good?

Sounds, again, like we're the better team, just failing to make it count. The referee is apparently a Premier League/FIFA international one, so be interesting to hear people's opinions.

COYR!

Yessssssssssssss 3-2

Edit - disallowed?

Or not.

Balls. Goal disallowed. N'Guessan.

Who scored?

I hate football by radio

Referees fucking us over as usual. (has no idea what it's been disallowed for)

Some bloke called Lingard's scored 4 for Birmingham.

Ref signalled for a shirt pull, linesman never flagged.  Ref is giving them everything now. Thompson booked for a perfectly good tackle.

Ettiene Esajas scores for Scunthorpe.  Remember him?

Esejas just scored for Scunny-is it the same one?

Oxford down to 10 men.

Mostly City at the moment. Need to get back on top.

I'ved backed-

 Both Teams To Score & Swindon to win @4/1
 Both Teams To Score & Bristol City to win @5/1


I need a winner. The Draw will kill me.  :cry:

Charlie Austin nets a pen

Bristol have def raised their game.   ;)

Yep, Same one, just spelt wrong.

Esajas, it's Esajas! :)

fuck off with your "City to win"!

As long as one of the two come in, I couldn't give a flying fuck.

I've covered the Draw too. Happy days.

Caddis scores........























For St Johnstone.

Flint goes in with a nasty challenge. Gets booked.

If you can make money from backing a home win, away win and draw, someone needs to have a word with your bookie.

3-2 Ranger YEssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Can't you read? BTTS + Home Win/Away Win.

Fucking get in there!!!! Fuck off City!

RANGERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get the fuck in Power Ranger!

fucking get in you beauty

Yesssssssssssss 

NILE RANGER IS GUILTY OF BEING A HERO RIGHT NOW! FUCKING GEDDIN!

We only sing when we are winning #townend

Heard that cheer from here!!!

Hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Yes, get iiiiiiinnnnnnn  :D

Well, these next few minutes will be fun...

5 mins of stoppage time!!!

5 minutes. Eek.

Swindon till I die!  Class!

Where the fuck did the ref pull that from?

Att: 11,598 (2,538)

S'all gonna kick off outside the CG tonight!

Liverpool screw up my Accy!  Thanks

COYMR's

City hit the woodwork

City hit underside of bar. This is torture.

FFS. Horrible.

PDC getting sacked in the morning!

Come on the Egyptian!

Must be time now...blow that fucking whistle

FT 3-2

FT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLLL1KxpYMA

Fucking hell ref, what's wrong with your watch?

Fucking get in!! What a win.

Haha, PDC staring out the Sunderland fans after the game as they chant "you're getting sacked in the Morning!"

FT Get in there town.  Now lock your doors people, it's gonna get mental.

Fucking MASSIVE. Get in town!

 :D  ;D  ;)  :bye:  :clap:  :soapy tit wank:

Get in there!! FT

Beat them with half a team!

Sunderland will need a lot of nerve to stick with Di-canio... His new team just aren't gelling are they.  

Someone tell Christian Roberts that Louis and Nathan aren't twins, just brothers.

Great result. Was worried when I tuned in at 0-1. Tough month for us and could do with the boost of a win before everyone gets all negative

I like this winning malarkey

Sounds like we didn't play so well but got the win.

Absolutely beautiful.

Well done...now I can go back to sleep.... :)

YESSS!!!! That last 5 mins were absolute torture!!

So good to beat Shitty. Fuck 'em!

By the skin of our teeth.  Classic derby game.  Big relief.  Thank you.

 :pint:

I resckon he won a bet with that quote.

Does this make us the undisputed champions of the westcountry?

Nah, Yeovil are!

BOOM. Get in there.

Fuck right off.

 :nod:

Important points from the post match interview with Cooper:

Harley and mason out for two weeks each, Harley possibly three.

Nile Ranger put Ryan Wood (our 15yr old sub) in a jokey headlock in the changing rooms and frightened him to death.

We didn't play that great (talk about letting City players do what he'd deliberately told the squad not to let them do),  but we won, which is a contrast to how it was against Wolves.

Defence looked shite.

Ranger is a brilliant center forward. N'Guessan is a beast. Ajose looked busy.

Really enjoyable game of football.

What a cracking game!

Putting rivalry aside Jay Emmanuel Thomas was the best player on the pitch by a mile and TBH it's hard to see why Shitty are in the bottom 4 - looked more than decent to me.

Still, who gives a flying one about that!

Apart from the injured players  (and I think we may have another 2 after today), Fodders looks well out of sorts.
Poor distribution and nearly a carbon copy of the Wolves cross into the goal.

High entertainment and a cracking atmosphere

Squeaky bum time at the end but a good 3 points. City hitting the crossbar and out again was too close for comfort.

Not a convincing performance for me but 3 great points. If it hadn't had been for Flint I think we would have won easier - we needed to keep the ball on the ground cos he was just winning almost everything in the air.

Notable performances - Ajose, 2 good goals (should have had 3), the usually reliable Luongo, Kasim and a solid performance by Ranger. We missed Mason although Ann Guessan did ok.

Hall at the back is very suspect and we need to learn to defend better.

Edit - didn't know Pack was playing for them (doh!!)

Great game, great win and a great amount of humble pie for some on here re Flint.

Ranger -

Great to get a goal in a derby game
Lads are confident
Aden Flint big and strong, good player

Interview ends (assumingly by Rangers agent) when interviewer asked how he is settling in at Swindon!!

Wouldn't surprise me if that's a representative of the club tbh- I imagine there are media related clauses in his contract to stop him making a tit out of himself.

That was really odd

"Describe the role that the manager has asked of you?"... Interview ended.

OK lets start with the negatives to get them out of the way. Fods*, Luongo** and Hall*** were below par. We were probably a bit lucky to win in some respects, yet we should have scored more.

* Looked flappy an indecisive all game. In no mans land for the first goal.
** mixed game. Tried to play some silly passes through the middle when simple balls out wide were the better option, ran into a few blind alleys. Yet also did very well at times.
*** Turned/beaten by his man far too easily
------------------
But forget all that.

It was a good derby game. They were on top, we responded, they were on top, we responded, they were on top, we were on top and scored the winner.

Ranger is a beast, strong and good in the air. N'Guessen ain't exactly a 10 stone weakling either, great shot that smacked the bar. Thought J Mac was a MOM contender. Ajose did well, but why didn't he take it on to complete his hatric!? Kasim looked good again. Louis Thompson did well under the circumstances.

But most important. We beat the slave trading scum 3-2. yessssssssssss.

And, as far as I know, a trouble-free game

Although there were some of our knuckle-draggers out and about afterwards

More likely to do with a certain court case that is coming up.

A few City got truncheoned after, didn't see it myself but I doubt it was many.

I thought there would have been more City but apparently they weren't letting anyone in with more than 10 fingers

Took my mrs for her first ever Swindon game. She was so pissed she fell asleep for the last 20 mins.

I saw a Forest of Dean flag in the away end, they slipped through the net.

this team got balls s well as skill. Never played City off the park like they did v Wolves. But 3 points very welcome. Ranger led line well and had real old ding dong with flint. Plaudits to Louis Thompson who is never going to fully replace |Mason or Harley but battled brilliantly throughout. Wes was so casual today and is a bit of a worry at the moment but great to comw away with the win after such a terrible start with the inevitable Flint headed goal.

That was a proper football match. Both defences were fucking shocking and it was who fucked up least would win. All 5 goals were due to absolute bollox defending.
Their no 10 was a class above anything else in the City side and they'll do well to hang on to him.
Not sure about MOM for Town today - possibly Ranger more so for his 2nd half performance.
But as Batch says its bloody great to beat the Slave Trading 82ers.
Also yet another cunt of a ref. their no 11 should have got a 2nd yellow card when he flung himself to the floor and their no 22 went down like a sniper had hit him. How the fuck Louis got booked for a brilliant tackle was beyond me.  

I wouldn't expect anything less from a girlfriend of yours. Good work.   :beers:

Not a quality game footy wise, but a great game to watch.  Not sure what is going on with Fods, didn't want to come and collect in the first half at least and I thought Ward looked a bit out of sorts at times.  Not well, not fit?  His body language at one time in the first half was of a player not at all happy with himself.  Enjoyed the Ranger/Flint battle, 50-50 at the end for me.  What was going on in the Town End corner at the final whistle?  The titties did not like the ball played on the floor, they panicked every time we got it down around the box, sadly we didn't have our usual midfield control to test them further.

Oh, and whoever said the floodlights had been repaired was lying!

I thought N'Guessan, Ranger and Ajose were excellent today, along with the ever reliable Kassim. The Thomson twins did well, but poor performances from Wes and the rest of defence. Luongo didn't have a great game either.

Obviously delighted we beat them, but it's a shame we didn't play the football today. We really missed Mason in that respect.

Bring on Chelsea.

N'Guessan showed today if needed can fill in for Ranger up front. Quality by everyone today. Mceveley left me shaking a bit when he let the full back get past him a few times.

As I always say, don't believe anything STFC until you see the evidence of your own eyes, and even then a degree of scepticism is worth maintaining.

Nevertheless beating Shitty however it is achieved is worth dining out on  :)

Our front 3 were brilliant, thought N'Guessan was the pick of the 3. The strength in depth we have at that end of the pitch is frighteningly good plus we haven't seen what El Gabbas has to offer yet either.

Special mention to Louis Thompson who looked the part today as well.

The less said about the centre of defence the better, Ward's legs are going in front of our eyes.

Get some billy wizz for next time  ;)

and I think we should mention our yellow friends fucking it up at home today in their big match. All in all not a bad day.

The start of their usual and inevitable slump hopefully.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

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

Totally agree with all of that.  Defensively we were lapse and work needs to be done there.

Thoroughly enjoyed the game, although the last 5 minutes were nervy.

Will be interested to see the disallowed goal again.  If anything, Ranger was being pulled about in the run up.

Thought Kasim was excellent again, but does the yellow he picked up rule him out on Tuesday?

Got caught up in a bit of scuffling by the CGH.  A little girl got knocked over by a Police horse.  Luckily other than being obviously upset, she didn't seem injured.  

Just got in. Too many desperados to type properly. Worst seen midfield play all season  but front line did great. A win v slavetraders always welcome. Town end rocking and bar was a great crack. Quality game quality result . Tuesday will.be a let down after that

I think you have to give some credit to Bristol.  Yes, they will have raised their game today.  But they did match us in many areas.  Game really could have gone either way at the end.  They do seem rely heavily on a few key players, but will prob not be in the bottom four for long on today's showing.

Said to my mates there no 10 was class, what a great atmosphere, say what you want about Jed and co but they have IMO created something which is exciting, that took me back to the 80/90's, football wise it wasn't great but we deserved it as I thought city were poor, officials were awfull, the bar in the townend was superb albeit to Small

glad to say I got that wrong. Really enjoyed watching that, especially as I was with 6 City fans in Exec. Harley said he tweeked his knee in training on Monday and will be out for 2 weeks btw.

Shame about all these injuries, all in the same position aswell (Cox, Harley, Mason and Navarro)

Excellent result but no way should the shitheads be down there....a lot better than the position they are in..

I think that's 17 league games without a win for them. I hope they Driscoll more time.

We were slack in the first half letting each other make the tackle and city pissed all over us down the wings.

Let's raise a toast to Ranger being a bit of a dick because if he wasn't he would be playing a higher standard than Swindon Town....the ball through his legs was fucking mint and I nearly shot in my pants...

Please practice corners , we were no threat and hit the first man every time.

Dannyboy seems to of have had a rebore and suddenly the big cunt has pace too....excellent.

Bring on Chelsea....nowt to lose :)

The fucker that kicked the ball away 30 yards in the first half was my favourite.....instant yellow.

Can't disagree. I'm not sure we did enough to deserve the win, but who cares.

I worry a little about our defence and from what I have read, wes does a little also!!

That said with the firepower we have in n'guessan, ranger and ajose we have as good as anything in the league.

Play-offs seem pretty realistic if we can sort out the defence. I note Carlisle have picked up since troy has gone there, don't think Ward is going to be able to last playing every game this season and we have no clue what this Brancao fella is like.

Think people are being a little too generous to BCFC'82. Their defence is awful and I haven't seen such an awful goalkeeping display at the Cg since Phil Smith days. Fielding is truly terrible and it sounds liek City fans hate him, which means the bloke is going to have a torrid year, especially at home.

Yes their 10 is good (when he has the ball) but he looks very lazy off it.

City are where the deserve to be, they need to toughen up.

Word of praise for Flint, he had a good enouh game and clapping the entire crowd afterwards was very noble, respect to the bloke.

Agree with this

I'm not sure why someone suggested people should be eating their words about Flint. He did pretty much what people suggested he would; score at one end and not be able to keep goals out at the other.

They conceded their 17th, 18th and 19th league goals of the season today in only their 8th game. That's not a good defensive performance is it?

Quite refreshing to hear we weren't as good as we have been, but won. I know I feel better tonight than I did last Saturday when the reverse happened.

This. It was a fucking great tackle

Good old derby tackle, nowt wrong with it. Ranger then had exactly the same thing happen to him 2 mins later in their box and result, corner.

Probably worried he was going to rape him.

Impressed with Flint applauding all sides of the ground after the game today, showed a bit of class that.

Ref had a mare, agree with Batch's comments about Wes and Hall, and whoever said whatever it was about Ward looking a bit shakey, BUT with quite a few key players missing we went into a physical derby and took the fight all the way. After that and holding on with 10 men for 40 mins at Franchise away, think we can put the worries about "they can play but have they got the strength/fight/balls for League 1" to bed, surely?

Loved it last week, loved it today, two very different games and styles of performance but thoroughly enjoying this season so far.

I don't buy into the whole biased ref thing, but fuck me the one today had me seriously revising my position. Did he come from Oxford?

Flint's Uncle. Or at least his Mum told him it was his "uncle" :)

From Manchester, he's a premier league ref you know,  :eek:

Enjoyable day today. Great derby game played with a good spirit and delighted we got one over the shitheads! Cant really add much more to whats been said, but I've got to say some of City's players were very impressive. Emmanuel-Thomas was a constant threat and took his goal superbly and Nicky Shorey showed a lot of class on the ball. Flint played quite well I thought, had a good battle with Ranger (who I also thought was excellent today) and showed a bit of class to give us a clap at the end.

Thoroughly enjoyable game though, particularly enjoyed listening to some stories about Town in the 80's from what I believe is a fellow forum user in Sir Dans before the game!

Might as well have. He gave Ranger nothing all game despite having his shirt pulled all game, et we have a goal disallowed for said offence, and how did Cunningham not escape a red after punching Nate T in the TownEnd corner.

Saying that what was the lino doing?

The big positive today (aside from the result obviously) was certainly our capability to utilise a more direct style of play, AKA we now have the much fretted over Plan B for when the passing game isn't working. Ranger and N'Guessan were both outstanding in that respect (imagine Andy Williams in that game :ohmy:), and for the extra dimension he offers and his interplay with Ranger I'd have N'Guessan over Byrne as first choice on the right wing any day (he also has a thunderbolt of a shot).

Midfield was mostly bypassed, with the City players pushed high up the pitch, but I thought L. Thompson did extremely well alongside the slightly off colour Kasim and the okayish Luongo.

As for defence, Hall remains, despite the torpidity of Ward, the biggest concern for me. He seems to switch off totally at times (also my long-standing gripe with McEvely, who is otherwise a perfectly capable right back. On the subject of McEvely, why is it that he always seems to blame everyone else for his own mistakes? He's supposed to be one of the senior players and setting an example. At one point he was lying on the floor beating the ground like a petulant child throwing a tearful tantrum!)

Our disallowed goal was a beauty and didn't look like a foul from what I saw (certainly not by the standards already established in that game by the referee, in which a great deal of shirt pulling went unpunished), and L. Thompson getting booked for a perfectly good challenge was even more ridiculous.

Bristol City were a decent team (especially their no. 10: his control from one 60 yard pass was absolutely exquisite) and will probably feel they deserved something, but we finally had the footballing gods back on our side after that surreal game at Wolves.

Finally, classy from Aden Flint at the end to man up and face the home fans, and be the last City player to leave the pitch. It was a great battle between him and Ranger today and both will have a few scars in the morning (though Ranger will wake up with the 3 points  :)).

Roll on Chelsea.

Good report, but no carling. for the schoolboy error on where Jmac plays :)

Oh Kasim ooaahh
Oh Kasim ooaahh
He flew in from Iraq
He plays it from the back.

Not the walkover I was partially expecting so credit goes to the traders in the respect that they played better than Stevenage and Crewe (away for the pikies game) so I'd be surprised if they are at the bottom come the seasons end. Indeed I would expect another tough encounter at their hole.

Kudos to Flint at the end.

Not as big a crowd as I would have hoped for.

Really pleased with the performance especially for coming from behind twice. I felt that had the woodwork been kinder to us after we equalised at 1-1 we may well have torn them a new arsehole. Fods needs to get to grips other than that it would be harsh to criticise individuals.

Nice win overall. Roll on the sloane rangers selling paraffin  ;).

Very, very happy.

How's the Mrs?

Not so.

We're away at the moment, I would have loved to have been there.

That's go to hear :)

Can anybody tell me whether it was a penalty in the second half when N'Guessan robbed the keeper and the keeper went through the back of him? Did he get the ball?

Radio didn't seem to think so; didn't even mention the prospect.

Thanks for the reports all. I was driving all afternoon so only heard the goal updates on 5Live.

Worrying reports about Ward.

Not a game for defenders today, on either side. Ref was inconsistent, especially second half. We looked good going forward, but a little sloppy in defence. Missed the vision of Pritchard and Mason, but got the win so happy and entertained.

fls about to start  :)

It was right in front of us and he took the ball cleanly. His momentum just flattened N'Guessan. Everyone was a bit heated at that point so we all just shouted for a pen anyway.

Agree with this, but if that Thompson challenge was a free kick then the challenge on N'Guessan was also a penalty.
If a ref is going to be shit the least he could do is be consistently shit.

?  Ward was excellent yesterday, gave nothing away.

I didn't think either of the central defenders had a particularly bad game. Although it's great to watch, an all out attacking side will inevitably lead to vulnerability at the back.
Thought Kasim was immense yesterday, only saw him miss place one pass and his skill on the ball is unbelievable.

He caught tackled by JET for their 2nd goal. I know not many would point that out though. Overall decent game, luongo was AWOL. Front 3 were brilliant and elgrabbas although on for 2 mins looked very fast as well.

Exactly...the chairman said at the start of the season we'd be a 4-3 team...well atm we're a 3-2 team, so a little way to go, but personally I'd rather go with an attacking mentality and ship a few, rather than "keep it tight and try and maybe nick a goal" entality.

Surprised nobody has mentioned the fact that the lino had his flag up when they scored their first.

Ignored by the ref and he didn't pursue it

After a game like that I don't think it's fair to point the finger at anyone - it was helter-skelter stuff and immensely enjoyable

Fantastic entertainment yesterday. Most has been said, but a few more thoughts:

*N'Guessan was fantastic. I preferred him coming in from the right wing onto his left, but he hit the strike in the first half pretty well with his right. Should Ranger ever be unfit, I suspect he'll fill in well.

*We played far more narrow with that front 3 than if Byrne and/or Pritchard play. At the moment I criticised our lack of width, Ajose waltzes through the middle and was clean through for his hattrick and underhit it! Thinking back, N'Guessan was central for the disallowed goal too. Ranger just sucks the defenders in and if they play narrow, it's like having 2 unmarked strikers buzzing around him. On more than one occasion Ranger played some lovely dummies, and just let the ball run. He was superb too.

*Ajose is a bonus. Interesting comments from Cooper about getting his confidence up after it's taken a bash at Peterborough. If there is more to come from him, he could be a handy little signing. I wonder if they'll want a fee.

*Kasim's first mistake in Town shirt - letting JET go for the 2nd. It was far too easy. Otherwise, they gave Kasim no time on the all, but his pass completion must still be better than anybody's.

*From the first minyte City pressed up higher and harder than any team I have seen this year, but this came at the cost of their shape - leaving gaps aplenty at the back.

*The abuse Flint got, although entirely expected, was pathetic. This is the guy who scored a last minute header for us at Brentford 4 months ago. He, like everyone else on a 'last season wage' was told he could go. Personally, I like players who put everything in for us - and I'll continue to appreciate their contribution during their time with us when they have left. Alan Mc will be cheered when he comes back. Quite right too.

*Why was Ranger marking Flint for the corner? Their biggest threat, and he was given a free header. We didn't even swap so Ward or Hall could mark him afterwards. Very strange and no excuse really.

*I'm enjoying this season far more than I expected to.

I was hopeful when he stuck that flag up. Unfortunately I think he was just signalling that the ball had crossed the line and subsequently legged it back up towards the halfway line.

Agree with most of that Frigby but Flint quite rightly received some stick IMO. He was under contract, told he was wanted and stuck in a transfer request in order to instigate a move to our local rivals in the same division. I haven't forgotten the good times but we're football fans. I don't even think Flint would have expected a standing ovation for his actions during the summer.

Always great to win a derby game, and an entertaining one too! I think we shaded it on the chances we created, but the display wasn't as good as Wolves...not moaning though, just observing. We missed Mason, and a couple of the players had off days...defence looked shakey but as mentioned City pressed up the pitch quite well. I thought our front 3 of Ranger, N'Guessan and Ajose played really well and we're going to cause teams a lot of problems if they stay fit!

3 points bagged, team confidence overall is growing and we can now look forward to Tuesday night, bring on the Chelsea!

As now seems likely, The Chosen One will play Luiz, Mata, Torres et al on Tuesday, there could be the chance that instead of them saying 'I'll try my best to get back in the 1st team', they could equally think 'Fuck this, I aint hauling my arse round Swindon for that egotistical twat'

Straw-clutching, I know but the 3 points yesterday allows us to adopt a 'fuck it' attitude to the game

Hope we score at least

So are his legs going or not? I thought he looked good at Wolves last weekend so was surprised to read a few comments here and elsewhere that he looked poor, off the pace and that his legs were going.

If incorrect then I retract my statement!

I think the flag was raised because Thompson handled it as it went over the line... Thankfully the goal stood and Thompson wasn't sent off....

Hopefully the Spanish connection will make the same mistake as Real Madrid did a few years ago playing in the cup against Toledo (Div IV then) when they played out a narrow defeat thinking they could make up the deficit in the second leg. There was no second leg, matches being at the one-game KO stage.

I can dream, can't I?

COYR

Darren's Ward's legs are the same as they were last season IMO. The guy keeps himself super fit but has never been blessed with the greatest of pace. The way our team has been playing has been a joy to watch but it was inevitably meant a few more holes at the back meaning that Ward and Hall have looked exposed at times.

I would suggest Wardy would have struggled to keep up with a player like Emmanuel Thomas when he was 21. He brings a lot of other attributes to the table and is vital to our team this season I think.

Just watched the football league show.

Thought fods looked flappy for flint's goal, ajose looked very lively for his goals and as for Ranger, strength, control, composure and deadly finish for his goal.

Not the best have seen town play this season in fact the midfield was the worst have watched.
Deffo missed Mason and Pritchard - Luongo seemed to go missing in parts so left only Kasim to have a decent game tho cant criticize L Thompson, thought he played well enough.
Defence just seems to be missing something.Cant quite put my finger on what tho,
We made city look better than they were ( dont forget they havent won since march ) by bypassing the midfield and punting long. Gave them every chance to win the ball in an aerial battle. Though they did press the bal and close down well which does quicken/stifle creativity.
Having said that the front 3 had a blinder esp Ranger, he held the ball up very well and dummied/played some great balls off to his fellow strikers.

3 points is what matters and after getting none playing Wolves off the park last week will take them.
Cracking atmosphere in town end just like the 80s in fact, never even looked for our seats just stood in the gangway and for a change the usually anal stewards let that slide.
Bar is a piss poor design really but was a great laugh - nice touch to see the signed players shirts on the ceiling, hope that gets replenished before Chelsea  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: ( both the ceiling and bar )

Atmosphere wont be anywhere as good tuesday despite being a sell out.

Sill, onwards and upwards

The big black lad Thomas was superb.....hit that shot like a thunderbolt and even without a slight deflection Fods was fucked.

I think that Ward & Hall struggle partly because Nathan & Jay Mac are almost playing as wingers, leaving them quite exposed.

This, too many times Jay and Nath were pushing on leaving us open to fast strikers hitting us on the counter.

That said.....JET is too good for shitty, he was head and shoulders their best player, Pack on the other hand was annonymous, I am glad we didnt sign him and certainly not for £100k+ give me Kasim on a free any day who was excellent and only made one mistake letting in JET for the 2nd goal.

Ranger and DNG were outstanding all game, Ajose should have scored with the easy chance 1 on 1 with their keeper otherwise he looked very handy indeed.

Oh and a mention to Louis T who looked like he was playing his 100th game not just his 10th game, looked comfortable on and off the ball and older than his 18 years.

Highlights on player now.

Nile Ranger looks like a great player in the making. 

I don't think I have seen a player with such a jump on him, hes like Tigger.

The more I see of him the more I think that our season could hinge on the verdict reached in a Geordie courtroom in a few months time..

Special mention to Louis Thompson yesterday, never been impressed with him before but he was excellent.

There's no need to call him the T word ;)

Oh pooh

I thought Thompson looked a bit lightweight yesterday in midfield. Elliot and Pack were in danger of over-running us at times in the second half, and did so for a 10-15 minute period.

That said I do think L. Thompson will be a better player than his brother (difficult to directly compare, I know).

Really? :hmmm:

Don't see it myself. If he goes on to better his brother we'll have some player on our hands.

Just a great result against the Shitty...living around Corsham area it's fill of shitheads and gasheads so have been dishing it out to them today...

Oh, one more thing. I am not buying into this 'Flint was classy at the end thing'. He is a complete northern twat who knew exactly what he was saying when he left us - which is exactly when he should have showed a little class.
I'm honestly glad he got a lot of shit yesterday.
As one poster said, they have let in 19 goals in 8 games... Considering how much they allegedly paid for him it looks like good money for us by the looks of it.

Didnt stop him celebrating his goal either

Agree. That said I'd still have him in our team over hall who just looks like the weak link to me. I'd rather have had devera or recall troy and play him too.

Ranger took his goal extremely well, excellent strength and composure

what was the song shitty were singing about ranger, made I laugh, but I forgot it

'She said no'

to the tune of Cwm by yar

:nod:

Got to say, I was disappointed with the Shitty fans yesterday.

I know it's not the best thing to be in an open end but comparing them to the yellow fuckers they didn't exactly generate much noise/passion

As much as you hate Oxford, their fans do stoke up a bit of an atmosphere

agree, I mentioned this in another thread a few months ago, the ones down the a420 do get it going

Precisely.  You can't expect every key player to do everything.  At this stage in his career, Darren's worth is as a thinker and a lynch pin.  You need a mix of attributes across the side.  And his reading of the game means he can probably get away with being one of the slower players on the pitch anyway.

YES!!! Goal!!!...RANGER!!!....My bad....I just Switched on BBC Wiltshire, just realised how far behind they are!....

Seriously though, I know it wasn't the Swindon we've known of recent weeks, but the thing is, we weren't likely to play with the same fluidity that we would without the players we had out suspended. Also, it being a derby game, the form and playing style go out the window...it was a gritty, nervy, hard ground out win. I'm somewhat more confident about the season now as we seem to have discovered a 'plan b'.

I think City looked dangerous going forward and Emmanuel-Thomas is a different class, too good for this league, let alone City.

One other thing, the 15 year old on the bench, what a great experience, something that should move him forward as a footballer. The headlock he was in by Ranger was clearly banter to see if the lad would step up from being a scholar/youth into the matchday squad. The boy clearly has something about him to be included, even if it was only on the bench with the view that he would only be 'making up numbers'.

Finally, the thing that seems to be overlooked is that it wasn't until the 94th minute until we made a sub. I thought around the 70th minute we could've done with a change or two. Hey, that's why I'm a fan and not a manager though...we won, that's all that matters.

Onto Chelsea on Tuesday, one that we can all enjoy with no pressure.

Yeah, a few of us mentioned the same thing during the game. Louis looked really tired, the lad got through some work mind.

Definitely, was disappointed that he got booked for a perfectly good tackle though..

Goals from youtube - its a bcfc official tho so commentator is biased

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYR5JZRmfxo&feature=player_embedded#t=82

Goals are also up on sky sports web site.  :beers:

Yes he looked shattered well before the end, The game was played at a frantic pace for a lot of the 1st half and we didn't get as much of the ball as of late so had to work extra hard to get it and keep it. We played more football 2nd half although it was still end to end and at a quick pace. There was plenty of tired legs on both sides and having got through it we will probably be better for it. Still on a high after yesterday and can't wait for our return trip to that place near Wales to do it all again  :)

"25 yard screamer"?! He must think his cock is 3ft long

You mean it's not?

 ::By that shitty commentator :hmmm:

Should Wes really have been beaten at his near post like that? Can't really see the angle from the DRS.

Probably not from that distance tho Fielding got beat there for the winner

I suppose if you're being kind to Wes he's probably expecting a clean header back across goal and not a fluffed bundle off the shoulder. That's if you're being really kind. Don't think he had a chance with the JET goal.

A wonderful thing is a Ranger;
A Ranger's a wonderful thing.
Their tops are made out of rubber,
their bottoms are made out of spring
They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy,
fun, fun, fun, fun, fun,
The most wonderful thing
about Rangers is:
I'm the only one!

Just seen the goals on Player- Ajose's first was well provided by Nathan (I think). Ball goes out of play and he takes an immediate throw in as opposed to our frequent slow wait for someone to get into a position to recieve it.

He is great from goal kicks and long balls up to him in the air, he seems to judge the flight really quickly then position himself where he can take a running jump, enabling him to get some serious height as you say.

I am surprised by how long he can hang in the air after jumping too, skills that would not be out of place in a basketball player.

Nike Air Ranger

After Ranger's goal I love the guy with the one armed 'windmill' running along the front of the townend.

Go go Nile Ranger, goal scorin' Nile Ranger-err

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Wt6XlVob_E&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7Wt6XlVob_E

Anyone know what happened with the players at the end of the game by the TE corner when it kicked off?

A little birdie tells me a certain city player might have had a bit of a sore head after being headbutted ;)