Thetownend.com

The Opponent:  Peterborough United

For the 4th time this season we meet Peterborough, this time its winner takes all. We have played them 3 times this season,  the record is Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 1, goals for 4, goals against 4. Tonight is the night when something has to give. So our 2 normal starting strikers are injured/cup tied, so is Nicky Ajose for them. When someone told me we had signed someone who has history for exposing themselves and a fondness of wearing gloves I thought we had signed Michael Jackson, but no, time to step up to the plate George.  Personally I would put N’Guessan  up front with either Tijane/Jacob  and Pritchard bombing forward. If the right Pritchard turns up I honestly believe he has enough to single handedly take any team in League 1 to pieces, which most certainly includes Peterborough. Of course we will miss Ranger and Smith but everything is still to play for.  I have faith, we need every other red soul that turns up at the CG tonight to have the same faith, if I was that way inclined I would even buy some red and white rolls of crepe paper, but I’m not. We are 90 minutes away from Wembley, now I appreciate the Wembley novelty value may have worn off for some but we still want our team to win every match, and all the better f we get the chance to do that on football’s biggest stage. Come on Swindon!

Weather or Not? – Well done to all concerned for getting the game to go ahead on Friday night, a truly brilliant effort again. Despite Sunday’s generous sunshine,  its back to showery and breezy conditions today. Fairly mild for the time of year though with a similar daytime and evening temperatures of 7-8 degrees.

Where the opposition gather –
 
http://www.theposhforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24547

Last 6 – LWWLWD

They have served us both – Cup tied Nicky Ajose,  John Sheffield, Kevin Dearden, Claude Gnapka, Mark Cooper, Don Heath, Steve Jenkins, Lloyd Opara, Fred Laycock, David Ball, Bobby Barnes, Kenny Alan, Graz, Trevor Benjamin, Sol Davis, Jim Barron

The Odds -  Swindon 11/8   Draw  12/5   Peterborough   11/5   (To qualify we are 8/13 and they are 6/5). As far as the bookies are concerned its advantage Swindon. Bet 365 have Kasim at 20/1 to score the 1st goal. Its written in the stars. Someone at Bet 365 is on a wind up though, Alex Smith first goal at 5/1. Please.

The Son Says  - Phase 2 of banishing the Wembley demons begins at 7.45, he thinks we will be on our way to Wembley, via a penalty shoot out.

The Prediction – None of this squeaky bum time stuff. We will win 2-0 on the night, goals from Kasim and Luongo seal a day out at Wembley, in front of an embarrassing 5’877 (388 from Peterborough)

And Finally – Darren Ferguson, you are still a cunt.

COYR COYR COYR

0-2

Darren Ferguson's a cunt.

3-1 Swindon: Pritchard 30yrd stunner, Kasim, Luongo. If we can draw 2-2 with them at theirs when down to 10 men we should beat them tonight, even without Ranger and Smith.
 
It's our competition this year, I can feel it. YOU REDS!

I've got a good feeling about this! 2-1 Swindon COYR

I couldn't make the Colchester game but I'll be their for this one.

2 0 to the Town and another trip to the shithole.

I'll be mid-flight, I hope it's a shit game so I don't miss much.

We are lacking options up front so tough to call this one not to mention the  others missing thru suspension/injury.
Hate the lottery of penalties so hoping we see them off 2 nil in regular time

Oh fuck

I'm pretty certain no away goals and no extra time. Straight to pens if we're level after 90.

On the one hand you want to see your team at wembley, on the other it's a soulless bowl and an expensive day.

1-0 town, last minute thunderbolt from Darren ward.

Do I think we can win tonight? Yes.
Do I want to see us lose to Chesterfield at Wembley again? Nooooooooo

0-1

Two Jekyll and Hyde sides - anything could happen. At the very least make it a decent game of football after the turgid load of dross served up in the last 3 home games.

Penalty lottery.

Think this one will go to pens. Although unlike the Town fans pretending they don't want us to get to Wembley, I really do. We've been "spoilt" a bit recently but it could be years until we get the opportunity to do it again, and it's probably our only shot at some success this season.

COYR.

You selfish c**t

I'm full of confusion about how I feel about this game.  Obviously it would be nice to see your team lift a trophy at Wembley but the competition is no more important than a pre-season friendly to me.

Pretty confident we will get through, 2-0 (Pritchard & Mass)

Not feeling confident, especially as N'Guessan is likely to be our only striker. Ranger and Thompson both massive losses, going for 0-1.

feel the same way.

Really want us to go to Wembley.  I consider anyone who doesn't a bit simple, though I do understand they may not want to go themselves.

I feel the same, so we are now more dependant on Pritchard to come up trumps.
Bring back Storey !!!!!!

Too much talk of Wembley - Don't want it to jinx us!

FLash said he felt it in his water, I trust this   :hmmm:

Off to the pub for this  :)

Selfish cunt.

1-1. Take yer pick from the lottery of the pen shoot out.

0-0 with Posh winning on pens

Pretty poor ticket sales by the looks of it. Can't see there being more than 5-6k.

Quite an exciting game this one. 90 minutes (plus possible pens) from one team not being bothered because it's a Mickey Mouse cup, over-priced, waste of time, day out. The other team will be practically holding aloft the silver ware on the famous old Wembley steps.

I hope we smash them 5-0

DRS was weirdly sold out when my mate tried to buy tickets last week, so I can only imagine it's because they held onto ST holders' seats even if they hadn't bought them yet.

Strange, I bought mine last Friday and could choose seats in the middle section of the DRS.

That's really disappointing, especially considering we got over 10K when we played Barnet at the same stage 2 years ago. Di Canio factor I guess.

So is Murphy eligible to play ?

I thought I read somewhere that because he hadn't signed before the 1st leg, he couldnt play in the second leg. But both BBC & Adver seem to suggest that McQuoid will play for Posh even though he signed last Thursday. Is there a difference ?

Edit: actually looks like McQuaid signed on Wednesday last week, so before the 1st leg. Bugger.

Thats if you believe the BBC transfers list that is, that has Miles Storey joining us from Shrews, so maybe he can play instead !

Some fucker has got my ST seat.

As I have always said my piss says we go though and win it.

Hit em on the break....

Wednesday last week wasn't before the first leg, though

They said on the radio on Friday that he was eligible. I can't see why it'd matter if he signed before the 1st leg or not when we had 2/3 debutants in the final.

Same with me, they should have more respect.

Not feeling this game, P'Boro have their top scorer (and the league's top scorer) available - unless Mceverley is fit again and wants to do a job on him, and we have no real out and out striker available.

I expect Record to come back into the defence tonight as well

I hope not.

Byrne and barthram?

Isn't he suspended?

Nope, he is cup tied, played against us for Plymouth.

Reckord is cup tied.

Do we have another full back we can spare to take out Assomabinladena?

There are a few Peterborough fans at work, none of them are coming down for the game.

Based on that (limited) straw poll, I'm not expecting many to travel.

Spot on (on both counts)

That's a git PR,  you could have had your petrol covered.

Has Ranger definitely been ruled out tonight?

Not ruled out, which gives us hope. They could pump him with drugs (legal ones) to get him through. We might only have him for one more game so worth the risk.

The lack of an update on his injury makes me wonder if he'll be taking part tonight.

Be careful! That could be seen as giving inside info to the opposition and you could end up getting banned from the ground  :D

if it actually is as serious as it looked at the time I've got more chance of playing.

You can't give an injection for a ham string injury.

That said, I've seen it happen where it looked bad but had merely tightened and the player played soon after  (just in case Fergie the lesser is reading this ;) )

Was it confirmed as a hammie or his groin?

any online links for the game live?

http://cricfree.tv/live/index.php

merci

What time is KO?

Isn't it supposed to be early for the JPT?

Somebody told me this is a link that works if the other doesn't

Town starting XI: Foderingham, Byrne, Archibald-Henville, Ward (C), Branco, Kasim, Thompson L, Luongo, Pritchard, N'Guessan, Murphy #STFC

Subs: Belford, Reis, Harley, Barthram, Gladwin #STFC
===========================
POSH v Town: Olejnik; Little, Brisley, Knight-Percival, Alcock; Rowe, Payne, Bostwick, Swanson; Assombalonga, Vassell

 subs: Day, McCann, Newell, Anderson, McQuoid

 TAH to score,Town to win 1-0. 105/1  :thumb:

No goal scorers on the bench. Three centre backs? Bit worried about this.

This is by far the best live feed, no pop up adverts etc works for all Sky Sports all the time not just a feed that starts when the game starts.

http://www.stream2watch.me/live-tv/sky-sports-1-live-stream

Think we will lose 0-2

I vowed to never go to Wembley again after our last 2 debacles.

Here's hoping I have a dilemma in a couple of hours time.

this one seems ok http://firstrows.biz/soccer/swindon-town-peterborough-united-frscda03#

No cunt there!

We're saving our pennies for official Wem-ber-lee 2014 t-shirts, obviously.

The drum wanker has come back again for Posh :(

And this one:

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=247660&part=sports

Blame the club
He tweeted earlier he had the go ahead from town to bring the fucking thing

It's very empty round by us.  None of the usual ST holders seem to have bothered.

Why do we sit so deep and not press the ball high?
Not quick enough to try to stop the crosses either.

That should've been a pen.

How is that not a penalty?

Stonewall pen

Easy pen, possible red as well

What a joke - clear pen

Shit refs, we always get shit refs

Was it a penalty?

Should've been. Wasn't given.

(http://www.mymaido.com/4127-large/pilot-hi-tec-c-coleto-2-color-combo-pen-clear-body.jpg)

Get in!

Get in Pritchard.

Get in....

Their left back is hilariously bad.

Deserved goal.

GET IN THERE!!!

i am delighted pritchard is up against him... let's just keep getting the ball to him

Beautiful!

allcock and no balls :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I'm suitably pleased.

Kasim took the ball there?

He was nowhere near the ball.

If we stop their crosses they have fuck all. If they stop pritchard neither have we.

Really liking Louis Thompson.

I think Kasim was lucky not go get a red, many refs would have given it.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. He's getting better every time I see him play.

Agree with Thompson, but not in a million years would that be a red card.

agree with point 1, point 2 goes to show how mental refs are and on principle i disagree!

Looked to me like he dived in with two feet from behind, I could change my mind if I see a replay though.

you're a madman BR :D

I fell asleep. What did I miss?

I'm a fucking lunatic me :)

You missed quite a good half actually. And we're winning.

Nothing. Go back to sleep.

Argh! So close from N'Guessan

Evening. Nervy.....

They are shite. Nice to see them getting pressed as they are there for the taking. Force the mistakes

Keith Stroud. We already had him down as a fucking useless cunt with his own whistle and cards, right?

Could do with some fresh legs I think

posh starting to boss it now, defending well but can we hang on

Mistake from Murphy :(

Oh for the sake of fuck

Murphy you're a div

Murphy looks wank and just gave that goal away with a bow on it

Young Murphy's had a shocker

It's been coming, hopefully we push up the field now

Stop the crosses !

pritchard closest man to assombalonga there, that's not a good indication

Fucks sake Troy get your fat arse up

Troy has looked decent much as it pains me to say it

No striker...

Substitution does not compute :/

Why do we try and sit on a one goal lead? We were better before we scored  :(

ward :doh:

I see Gladwin hasn't learned any new tricks since the first leg

Don't fancy our chances if it goes to penalties.

Gladwin looks like he's won a competition for a run out

This Gladwin lad looks like an early contender for most laughably shit striker we've ever had

in fairness he's not a striker and wasn't signed as one

ref=cunt

Oh fuck.

This is ours, I've no doubt at all

Lottery time
 :smack:

Fuck me that was shite.

You made me think they scored a late winner.

Yay, penalties   :emo:

I love penalty shoot-outs really, they dont mkae me teh slihgtets bit nervuos

Ah it's the JP Trophy, fingers crossed and all that. What shall be, shall be.

Relaxed  :toocool:

If Wes saves a pen, the ref will let them take it again

Season-defining few minutes, this.  Probably.

Such a shame as we've looked pretty solid at the back. One terrible mistake and they score.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's that.

Good lord

Good start Mas  ???

HIT THE FUCKING TARGET

Better.

Get in Wesley.

It's a Swanson Swan Song!

haha, he looked nervous

Just walked in. Wish I hadn't.

Wesssssssssssssss

Haha unreal Troy

Fair play Troy

Oh.

Oh my lord.

Awful

Fried Reis.

Truly pathetic

Send him back to Benfica¬!

It's only the JPT, fellas.

Thought I'd get in there first.

Ah well

Over the 2 games we were much the better side.  Just stupid mistakes cost us so dearly

That was undoubtedly one of the worst penalties I've ever seen, truly shocking

On a positive note, our defensive error wasn't by a defender so I guess that's progress.

(http://annakie.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/Computer-trash.gif)

Awful penalty from Reis.

Should not have gone that far though. Posh should have been a goal down, and a man down, early on in the game.

I wanted a day out :cry: :cry:

hmph. ref didn't seem to be a homer (or proficient at reffing)

F******* c***

£100 saved. Shame though.

We don't like wembley anyway!

At least we don't have to go to Wembley

Fuck knows how people can watch that shit every week. Awful

That'll be poor ol' Tijane Reis' legacy sealed.

NO NO PENALTIES ARE NOT A LOTTERY

You were doing so well at not saying that.

Should not have sat back on a 1 goal lead, when has that ever served this team well?! Brought the goal upon ourselves i fear.

Should have had a pen though.

Penalties a bit of a lottery, Reis wasn't that far off target in fairness to him.

Sky having posh chairman on in box was a disgrace, especially after having the ex posh player first leg as well. A little bias!! Then have to see the cunts gloaty face at the end of the game.

Come on Chesterfield i say!

p.s save me £100 from a day at wembley at least

Troy is getting better every game as well, glad he is back playing. Good Pen from him.

Somewhere out there, there's a parallel universe identical to our own in every respect other than Reis' penalty going in and setting up another trip to Wembley.  In that universe, there's already a thread on the TEF discussing day trippers and Wembley and how many we'll take there and why tickets cost £50 and why most of us don't really want to go back there but kind of feel like we have to and that it's all going to be shit anyway and that we'll probably lose.

So we're well out of it, if you ask me.

Ah well a day out a Wembley is always welcome but can't say I'm that fussed, a 6k crowd shows the empathy towards this competition.
In terms of the game the Storey loan move looks an absolute master stroke right now! We only had Ranger and Smith as strikers before he went and now we had no one.
Also what exactly is Murphy meant to be? On Friday he just seemed to play where he liked which was anywhere but the wing and tonight well he was anonomous in the middle and didn't really look fussed. He just seems to play like another Pritchard but without the ability. I'm sure there's more to him than that and that I'm just annoyed because he looked completely non-fussed when he fucked up for the goal.
Cooper as he usually does left the subs too late, DNG had been dead on his feet for about 15 minutes before they scored!

Next few weeks could be interesting in terms of how the young players react to this, my worry is a couple of defeats on the spin and heads could really drop.

he is a twat, he was on sky deadline day and thinks he's the mutts :smack:

And in that alternative universe, STFC will miss out on the opportunity to make the playoffs because the players' minds were on 'that' trip to Wembley.  :)

Why would you do an outside broadcast in the car park you plebs?

Listening to it was bad enough.

lets make brizzle shitty our big day out then :pint:

Thought we applied ourselves well, given the fact we were very limited. Absolutely gutted and Ranger out for 8-12 weeks is a massive blow.

A professional footballer should never miss the target from 12 yards with a stationary ball and no one challenging them, they just shouldn't (unless they fall over due to conditions). It annoys me so much. I'm not actually that bothered by missing out on Wembley, more the pathetic attempts of Luongo and even more so Reis. Penalties are only similar to a lottery if they're all on target... if you sky it ridiculously you deserve to lose.

Yeah, it's a bugbear.

Think that's very harsh on Murphy - he's an 18-year-old winger who was asked to play out of position and didn't do a bad job of it. He showed a good touch, made some good runs... real shame about that poor pass for their goal.

Also harsh on Cooper - DNG was left on because Barker was the only other option. I thought Cooper did alright tonight. We did well in the first half to go a goal up then contain them. Second half we played very much on the counter but we were still trying to score, and really didn't look like conceding until one individual error.

I wanted us to win, of course I did. But now I don't have to worry about getting off work for the day of the final, and saving up for another rip-off defeat to Chesterfield.

I fucking hate pens that aren't on target, professional footballers seem to over complicate a kick from 12 yards, more and more are going over the bar at the moment.
I thought we looked solid other than the mistake, Troy makes a big difference back there.
I can't see us getting in the play offs, but with Mason due back from injury this week, Kasim finishing his suspension, we may as well give it a bloody good go.

Better players than our 2 have missed in penalty shoot-outs - feel sorry for them.

One big positive out of that game was that Louis Thompson is a cracking player - my MOM.

Centre backs played well for a change but it was a bit disconcerting to see Branco surging down the right wing in the second half - although TBF he did well.

It is getting boring banging on about refs every week but this fella - and the lino - were a fucking omnishambles.

Over the two games the officials cost us. The one at Peterborough was bad enough but this one took it to another level with his two linesmen. Over the two games we got just about nothing from the officials, but should've had at least one pen tonight, and the ref gave them virtually everthing. A number of times we won the ball in a fair tackle, and gave them a free kick.

Even though I've pissed off...I'm not as pissed off as losing a play-off semi on pens.

We always get shit refs !!

according to twitter ranger is out for the rest of the season :badmood:

Let's keep this simple,  it was anyone's game, we were better before we scored and after they scored (for a while). Sit back = invite pressure. Pens?  No, it never goes for a team I support (i.e. Swindon and England).  Back to the league.

Definite pen for us though. Usual result

Agree with the comments about the ref - a few baffling decisions. Had they had to play the whole game with 10 men, and quite possibly gone an goal down, we could well be on our way to Wembley. That said, we lost because we gave the ball away in a bad position and then put two pens over the bar - it was in our own hands.

A red as well

The ref was a cunt. We were pretty poor 2nd half though and offered next to nothing.

That's why de didn't give the pen really - bottler

 :nod:

Architects of our own downfall, they never looked like scoring until that stupid mistake and to put two pens over the bar said it all!!  How Reiss was allowed to take one after his very poor cameo performance is  mystery!!  And that had to be one of the worst reffing displays for many a season.

This.

One mistake, an abysmal referee, two shit penalties and losing Ranger and Thompson have cost us the game tonight.  Peterborough never really looked like scoring until Murphy handed it to them on a plate and we didn't do enough to put the game to bed.

At least it all saves us a bit of money I suppose.

We'd better get used to life after Ranger as well.

Thompson and Byrne outstanding tonight.With the resources we had that was a decent performance.The team have been criticised for lack of commitment but not tonight.How people are blaming Cooper on RS is beyond me when the ref becomes all Webbesque in denying us a pen and a one man advantage and then 2 pros miss the target from 12 yards. Have to say our reaction to losing the lead was creditworthy.

We lost this game, and our small chance of making the play-offs last Friday when Ranger got injured. Costly game that.

Decent effort tonight. Atrocious refereeing yet again and a blatant penalty. Tigane's penalty attempt was totally gay. I've got no sympathy for him for showboating.

[edit] And sending Storey out on loan was the stupidest decision of the season.

Thompson, Byrne, Pritchard, DNG all deserve credit. Thought the CBs did well too, as Posh rarely had a sniff all night.

Loved Thompson.

Reminded me of a midfield version of his brother.

Yes he made the mistake but to say Murphy was shite isn't true, his pass after ten minutes should have resulted in a penalty and possible red card and I thought he did very well.

Disappointed but I wish I had put money on my prediction before the game. Will have to do something productive on the 30th instead!

Thought that was wards best game for a while, very solid tonight (apart from one awful attempted header). Subs added nothing and our lack of depth is gunna hurt us through to end of season.

Think we should have got through, without murphys fuck up they created very little. Cooper too negative in second half.

The ref, jesus christ. Every decision he made was wrong. Didn't use the advantage rule,didnt give any free kicks for pushing in the back. Oh amd the two stonewall fucking penalties as well CUNT. The standard of refereeing this season has been absolutely atrocious. 

Just smash the fucking penalties down the middle! Get them on target, Peterborough scored 3 doing that.

Now orient away.....

If we hold on to the nucleus of this team - Fods, Thompson, McEveley, Luongo, Kasim, Ranger and possibly Pritchard - we'll piss this league next year if we get a couple of good young centre backs.

Of course, there's little chance of that happening but we can live in hope

I thought we were very good, excellent in the first half - Thompson, Pritchard, N'Guessen particularly and Byrne were all superb. Branco is a bit wild, but only Luongo disappointed me. He was presumably asked to play the point of a diamond in midfield but largely ambled around doing very little and devoid of effort. He did improve in the second half a bit.

They came at us in the second half, because they had to. They looked most likely to score but it took a colossal cock up to gift them a goal. Murphy will be a very good player, he won't be the first or last to cock up, but it was a howler.

N'Guessans legs fell off after 70, and with a lack of options up front Coooper deployed the King tactics and put a big man up top. Didn't really work but we did rally after their goal.

Penalties are a lottery as we know. Fods nearly had one, and one hit the underside of the bar. A couple of inches is what stopped them missing 2 more and us going to Wembley. Luongo went for it and blazed over, but Tigane needs the mother off all kicks in the bollocks for the way he took his. Fucking pathetic. He deserves to feel bad for trying the stupid.

I honestly think the best team over the tie lost. But good luck to the Posh, for they are there and we aren't.

Very good performance, and I will no doubt break the TEF record for "fuck offs" but in my opinion our season is over.

I'm pretty fucking angry after that. Game pretty much won then on the hour we shut up shop and start fucking around time wasting and forget about attacking. That's alright if you're fucking AC Milan but we're not. Story would have been a cracking sub for the last 20. Wouldn't have needed him to score just chase the fucking thing and keep their knackered defenders in their own half or hit it long. Instead we get a fucking big non league midfielder.
Pritchard MOM - again, someone is having a laugh. Adje Byrne was bollox. How many times was he out of position, wrong side of his man or just fucking nowhere. If he's a professional then I'm fucking Twiggy. Spurs have somehow screwed £500k out of us for Luongo and Byrne and given us Hall who is fucking useless, Mason who is pretty good but made of straw and the show pony that is Pritchard. I think they've had the better part of the deal.
Cooper was naïve, the players were naïve and power was fucking naïve in letting Storey out on loan.
We'd won the game and threw the fucking thing away.
The ref didn't lose it for us. We weren't unlucky Nate Dog picked up his 10th booking. we weren't unlucky Ranger was out. We were plain fucking naïve.
And cooper instead of waxing lyrical about how fucking hard done by we are with refs get your gobby fucking players in line. 10 bookings is not unlucky, its fucking stupid.
We really need a Foley, McHale, McCormack next season. Someone the players can turn to as it isn't Ward who didn't seem to give a fuck or try to console reis or Luongo when they missed. It was actually big booty Troy who did.

In Portugal at the moment, logged onto BBC and we won, log on here and we errrr didn't!

 :doh:

Strange game, DNG did what was asked of him, was he the lone striker? Not sure if Murphy was supposed to be his strike partner or a winger. Pritchard,  Troy, Kasim,  Byrne, Thommo,  and Wes were fine and the others were ok. Ref was poor. Can't blame cooper unless he told the team to sit back. Could,  maybe should have won that. Posh had a good deal of possession but were tame in attack.

If Ranger was fit and Smith not cup tied would people really be banging on about Storey?

I can't really fault Cooper today. The only criticism was when he took Murphy off because i thought he had a blinder (minus the error that led to the goal). Other than that you can't blame him

Fuck off. Beating City and sending them down will be a minor highlight, but yes you are absolutely right.

Peterborough looked more like scoring in the first half than the second, and it was only an error that let them do that.

I don't see anything wrong with the mindset of the team in the second half

About half the time I saw N'Guessan on the screen he was being man-handled by the posh defence. I think N'Guessan did well not to react.

Cooper is not blameless, in my humble opinion, as we should not have sat back on such a slender lead. Especially considering that we don't have the sturdiest of defences. We were looking quite good before he changed things around and I'm a big fan of not breaking something that is not broken.

Some of the stick he has come under for tonight's result though is frankly ludicrous. I also found it to be an enjoyable game, despite the result.

Fuck yeah, lets hope their lack of form returns and gives us something to play for.

I f*ckin told you!!

Look on the bright side lads, Vince McMahon from WWE is buying Newcastle United. That's going to be incredible.

I agree but Posh had to come at us. Had to. I'm not sure it was a tactic we deployed on purpose. They went 3 at the back from the start of the first half.

Should Cooper have covered it somehow, not sure how with the personnel available to be honest.

That's done the rounds before hasn't it?

Since about 2011

When he walked up to take it he had slumped shoulders and hung his head. That's not a great mindset for someone about to take a penalty.

No but given we knew they were both out, he's a better bet than fuck all attackers or playing a midfielder up there with even less experience than Storey has.

Flash get yourself to a doctor. There is something wrong with your piss!

To be honest that pales into insignificance compared to hid 90 degree run up. Just smash the cunting thing.

What a splendid load of cobblers.

Pritchard rubbish? Storey the great white hope? Ward not caring?

Reassess this post when you've calmed down/sobered up.

Fair point.

We shouldn't forget that Posh are actually quite a good team.

They are, and I maintain we were the better team over the two legs, not that it matters.

You're normally balanced. Did you watch the game, was it a pen in your opinion? Looked stonewall to me from my South Stand seat but we were quite far away.

I...

I think...

I think I just agreed with DMR  ???

It'll need to be when I've calmed down as completely sober. At the moment I'm happy to stick.

The defender's made contact which knocked DNG off his stride when about to run through on goal. It's a penalty and a red every time.

Miles Storey has suddenly become the best thing since sliced bread. A lad who has scored an astonishing 4 career goals. I do find this strange.

I've only just finished watching it. The main points I think from the match are:
- N'Guessan was definately fouled and it was a stonewall penalty in the first half
- N'Guessan ran his socks off for the team but should have scored when put through to make it 2-0
- Thought P'Boro were going to play all night without scoring. No threat whatsoever
- Stupid mistake to concede (I thought Byrne had played well until that point. It wasn't his fault but he lost confidence after that)
- Gladwin is big, lumbering and out of his depth
- Worried that we seem to have no spark other than Pritchard. Reis lifted us for a few moments, but I didn't see anything else 'special' that might finesse a goal
- Knew Reis would miss the way he addressed the ball

Fair point. Short run ups are never the answer.

I did watch the game, yes.

Stonewall penalty PLUS a red card for a professional foul. The Posh chairman was a pundit and even he agreed.

I think he desrved more of a chance. El Gabbas was shit, Barker had a poor game then went AWOL. Yet Storey was given little game time to prove/dissprove himself.

Shit cunt ahhhhhhh!!!! I'm gutted, my prediction of mid-table/JPT winners just gone up in smoke! Managed to get back for the game having left my appointment in Lancaster at 3.15, so getting back was an effort in itself.

Where's Luongo gone? Missing in action - please return when found!

He was used quite a lot at the start of the season wasn't he?

N'Guessan was knackered because he was expected to play the whole of the second half running round on his own up front as we tried to defend a 1-0 lead. I know we lacked options to sub him, but I really didn't see what was wrong with leaving it as we had been in the first half (with apologies if that's been explained elsewhere)

No they're not. They're a skill that can be practiced like any other. Only the English think they're a lottery so we don't practice them nearly enough and then we're suprised when we're shit at them (and yes I know our two misses tonight were not English, but it's the general attitude in the English game I'm talking about). It really shouldn't be asking too much for 5 professional footballers to be able to get a shot on target from 12 yards out.

Bloody hell, was hoping you'd say 50/50. This makes me even more pissed off. Stroud was fucking shit at as a ref. He gave a free kick for winning a slide tackle FFS.

Peppered with the odd mention of Kayden Jackson.

Personally I thought he disproved himself last season when he was found wanting in the run in, and the playoffs - never threatened to turn a game.

I am with Gnasher as I had that horrible feeling that playing last Friday's game would backfire on us and so it has proved. A fit Ranger and Thompson's ability down the right would have given us a far better balanced team but we went with what we had and it nearly paid off.

Not sure what Murphy or Reis add to the team, would much have preferred Storey but................

One again the Refereeing was abysmal as so many games this season, not helped by assistants who were bordering on inept as well.

Unfortunately what we are left with now are play off hopes at the best - just need some luck and points away from home as well as the CG.

I feel a bit sorry for the Flash. His piss let him down and mislead him.

Two English sides Pauld,  but it's my side that failed again  :(
I will now use my Wembley money to go to bristhole and hopefully see us helping towards the return of a bristol derby  ;)

Luongo's penalty pretty much summed up his performance over recent weeks -shite.  He's gone backwards as the season has progressed.

Reis didn't look like scoring from the second he put the ball on the spot.

I'm with you in thinking that our season pretty much ended tonight.

Also, N'Guessan ran his socks off tonight.  He was completely isolated up front in the second half.

Our fitness in general is shocking. After 70 mins the whole team was struggling. Been a big problem since Christmas and our form has dipped in line with it.

Yep, will have a good day out in Slave Trade Central now - will push the boat out a bit.
Wembley would have cost me around £200 so that covers most of the ST.  

His legs had clearly gone, he'd run himself into the ground. Unless you mean why Murphy and  Pritchard weren't helping out as much. In which case fair point, but Peterborough were pushing us back.


Ronaldo, Messi, Baggio all missed pressure penalties. It happens.

What I don't have sympathy with is fucking stupid penalty attempt. Stupid chips, or stupid 90 degree going for top corner shit or bust run ups.

I think I will use my potential Wembley money for Froch v Groves tickets now, not all bad.

Completely agree!

Its a fair argument. He looked to have beefed up a bit since then. I guess I just don't get why he wasn't given a chance. Cooper sees him every day in training and obviously agrees with you.

I'm sure N'Guessan picked up a knock/got winded at some point. I think that's why he was so knackered.

Either way.. 10/10 effort from him.

Yup. He was shit hot earlier this season, but he lost the hot bit.

Tonight it looked like he was told to stay as the front of the diamond. Perhaaps he was doing exactly as he was instructed, but it came across as being a bit half arsed really. Plus my 5 year old puts in harder tackles than he did.

I'm sure he'll come good again.

He really was superb. Held the ball up, wasn't caught offside and not sure how it translated on TV but he ran and ran to put the Posh defence under pressure.

He was the complete opposite on Friday!

Yes of course it does. As can missing a decent chance in open play. But it happens a lot less if you practice the situation, as with any skill. Just because sometimes even the best players don't always pull off the skill under pressure as they have trained to do, doesn't make it a lottery.

Totally agree on that.

Our penalties were immaculate in the last round, they weren't this time around. Sunrise, sunset.

Let's not over think it.

Sounds like we need DV to pull out some stats to show % winning on penalties that practice regularly v % winning that don't!

Did I miss something in the post match that said we didn't bother practising by the way? I'd assume both teams gave it a go in training.

I haven't read back yet...

I'm fucking distraught!

Apologies to you all...my piss is off tonight...we aren't going to Wembley!

We had the game in our hands despite the ref giving us fuck all...it was in our hands.

On 60 minutes we went to rat shit....lost our shape and looked fucked....THIS was the time to change things, not sit back deeper and deeper and deeper...you could see the goal coming...BANG....too fucking late as usual and NOW we make changes....too fucking late!

Cooper wasn't brave and we paid the price......there was talk of two up front on the radio after.....when did that happen? All I saw was Danny running his big black bollocks off up front...my MOM....he was like Kamara tonight.

Special mention to the shit ref (again).....just because the manager is called Ferguson you don't have to give him everything...fucking dire.

Didn't watch the pens, I cannot stand it.....Luongos hit me on the back of the head as I left...seems he's got away with the flack and poor old 'bend it not like Beckham' Tijane is getting his nuts chewed...

Season IS over...no dreams of play offs, we start building for next season now.

I don't like Cooper, I didn't want him and he got the job by default.....his attitude fucking grates on me...and tonight he proved he is inept at changing games....no real tactics....but im sure he's here to stay and thats my tough shit. He was brave v Coventry and it paid off....it was too much to ask tonight. With Ranger now gone with a level 3 hamstring tear ( I bet level 5 hurts).... I hope we don't slide down the table.

Saturday could go two ways.....

I fucking hate this game sometimes.

What apart from the back heal he scored against Aston villa?

We looked worn out after 70 minutes, DNG, TAH and Louis Thompson were fantastic.

Having to talk the boy out of crying his eyes out at the end wasn't much fun, he's a sensitive soul. It's an emotional business this football malarkey. Onwards and upwards.

Again, I wasn't specifically talking about us tonight or us at all, I was referring to the "Penalties are a lottery" attitude in this country generally. I keep hearing it and find it annoying. They're not, they're a skill.

If a 'keeper saves a pen is that because the striker didn't practice enough?

Well I disagree, except if you are German. And even Bayrne lost to Chelsea and I bet that was despite practising them 24/7.

Eh? You don't think penalties are a skill?

I think penalties are like many disciplines in many sports. You can practice the mechanics all you want but it's different under pressure.

Think about a golfer knocking in 200 6ft'ers on the practice green, then needing to knock one in to bag a major. It's not lack of practice that kills you, it's bottle.

It isn't down to skill, it's down to confidence.

I could score a penalty and I am fucking atrocious at playing football.

I could score a penalty against the best goalie in the world. I could also be an atrocious goalie (which I am) and save a penalty from the best striker in the world just by the sheer luck of getting in the way. I might not even have to save because the best penalty taker in the world could hit the cross bar.

Of course being able to kick a ball will improve your odds but all professionals should be quite good at that by default.

It's a lottery.

That's exactly it.

What difference does that make.? I take it he signed Barker on the back of a reference from Stevie Wonder...utter shit ( so far)..and not scored a senior goal..and doesnt look like he ever will..and yet...Storey is bombed out on loan the morning of a game which Ranger gets injured and we are lacking forwards...THEN Cooper goes on the radio after the shit 0-0 lamenting lack of forwards for our biggest game of the season...FUCK OFF!

What difference does what make? I agree with you.

I want to start a fight!!!!!!  Even offered myself outside at the Babo shop...Victor Mildew had to hold me back....

I don't dislike him as such, but I don't think we'll go anywhere with him in charge if I'm honest.  His attitude about Ranger's injury irritated me slightly, it came across that he wasn't bothered and Michael Smith ia a more than adequate replacement.  That remains to be seen.


Power has clearly laid out in the comms around Season Ticket prices that we are pushing for promotion and if we don't get it this season, it will be the aim next season.  It will be interesting to see how much time Cooper is given if we start the season poorly.

Cooper has the 4th best win ratio as Manager since Hoddle.

Interesting to see Wise (in much fewer games), has an almost identical record to PDC's.

We ultimately paid for a 15 minute period where we dropped to far.  Up until the 60th min we were letting them have possession in their own half, but we started to give them the ball into our half and it cost us.

Generally we were controlling it apart from that.

Mind you, should have been playing against 10 men for the majority of the game.

Think Murphy needs a few more sub appearances to get into the swing of first team football.

Thought TAH looked good.

Just got back, haven't bothered to read through so apologies if I repeat...

First half, cracking, good game of footy to watch and whilst we weren't as good as we have been (Kasim and Luongo are not playing like they did at the start of the season), we were still miles better than the last game I went to (fucking Oldham). Best team we could have put out under the circumstances, played very well, Posh looked poor. Should have had a penalty obviously, but that's probably been said over 9000 times so I won't go into it.

What I will go into is the fucking appalling refereeing on display in the rest of the match. Even in comparison to the stuff we have to put up with week in week out, tonights offering was one of the worst refereed games I've ever seen.
-Advantage? Never heard of it.
-Seeing which player touched the ball last before it went out? Nah, fuck it, let's just give it to Peterborough, they're losing...
-Player gets stamped on repeatedly after a corner? Eh, give the free kick against him, it's probably his fault, giving a penalty would be too much like hard work.
-Booking for real offences instead of petty things just to assert your authority because you're a tiny tiny man who obviously has feelings of inadequacy in the crotch department? You get the jist...

Fucking useless, and the linesmen were just as bad. Should be happy with a job well done when the brown envelope stuffed with cash falls through their letterboxes tomorrow.

Back to the football, and whilst we should have been two/three up by half time (Pritchard missed a couple of opportunities to put people through on goal and shot instead, not surprising with the Sky cameras there, and also missed a free kick in the first half he normally would have buried from that distance), I was happy at the break, hoping we'd come back out firing and score another to kill the game off.

Whilst we didn't park the bus in the same way that I heard some people moaning about on Radio Wiltshire driving home, the attacking threat was a little diminished in the second half- partly because Posh had had time to regroup.

Danny N'Guessan would have got my MoM tonight- he ran his balls off, and was obviously knackered by the 65th/70th minute.  Cooper had no real options to replace him when he was forced to take him off, and I can understand why he waited. Gladwin should have gone into the middle instead though and pushed another player forward (Pritch with Luongo/Thompson on the Wing maybe?), and he had absolutely no time to get into the pace of the game before he was being booed by the usual cunts.

Posh's goal, for those of you radio-bound tonight, came about because Murphy was trapped by a Posh player just outside of the box and so passed it back to Kasim and Luongo who were coming towards him. The pair of them watched it roll past each other and Posh picked it up and stuck it in the back of the net. Not Murphy's fault IMHO as he was being quite heavily molested.

Penalties... Oh don't talk to me about penalties. I have decided after tonight and Brentford to never watch them ever again. Anyone who thinks Reis is shit because he missed one penalty can go and do one. Massimo should have buried his, unfair to lump all the blame on Reis. Coops said post-match that all the players volunteered, so Reis was unfortunate.

Stupid competition anyway...   :doh:

I stick by my 'Win JPT, not quite make the playoffs' prediction from earlier in the season, but will be pleasantly surprised if we do make the playoffs. Let's just kill off games when we're in the ascendancy from now please, okay boys?

EDIT: Oh, forgot to say, Cooper's a far better manager than people give him credit for and whilst we should not be deferential to him we should be fucking happy we have him and are still in with a shout of the playoffs instead of being like, oh I don't know, Bristol City, a club with much bigger resources and spending power who expected to ping straight back up but are still fighting relegation. I for one am more than happy with what he's done and want him to stay.

I like his attitude on the radio, and he doesn't make any bones about the fact he's not Ranger's biggest fan. Anyone remember how Jed used to say Ranger behaved better if you kicked him in the arse from time to time? Cooper may well be like he is about Ranger because of that.

Luongo and Kasim didn't watch it roll past, it was a poor pass right between them, wont knock the lad though as he didn't do it on purpose. Knew the number was on the door as soon as the ref didn't give the penalty. Specsavers? he needs to go to Jodrell Bank.

I shan't argue with that as I was sat at the other end of the DRS to the incident. I'd like to think one of the two of them would have picked it up mind, they are our more 'senior' central midfielders.

They were running forward and didn't expect it going right through the middle of them. It was a defence splitting pass, unfortunately not at the right end.

Mas tried to bury his , he just stuffed it. I don't blame Reis for losing, I do blame him for trying to be too clever with his shit penalty. It wasn't unfortunate, it was plain crap. If he'd smashed it and missed he'd have got the same sympathy.

Several have commented on a lack of fitness for the last 20 minutes, not surprising really when you consider we have no training facilities now, Liddington is out of bounds and we appear to be training on HALF of a 3G pitch courtesy of a local school - whatever happened to the Calne idea?

They put a fuck load of effort in for 70 minutes though. We were tired, but that doesn't make us unfit.

Either one of two things.

1) It was a figment of Jed McCrorys imagination

or

2) It costs money. And we dont have any 8)

Like the roof on the bank and the Town End bar, it seems to have been pure Jed.

That roof will happen, after all Jed told us on more than one occasion that planning permission had been applied for!!  Like Jed, a fucking joke!!

Not disappointed at all if I'm honest. Thought we played really well for most of the game and if it hadn't have been for that individual mistake that gifted them their goal...
Some of the comments after the game on the radio and social media are baffling, what a load of fucking idiots.

That's probably best post I've seen for a while. Murphy got a little unlucky, and wrong footed Kasim, probably because he didn't look up as he played the pass. Think play-offs has to be a target, but surely not quite good enough.

EDIT: Agree with ref comments 100%, he was absolutely atrocious, and the standard of referring is getting worse, throughout the whole country.

By the same token, then, you could score a worldy from open play by sheer luck (e.g. slicing it into the top corner when you meant to smash it low and hard). Maybe 1 time in 100. But, as you put it, "being able to kick a ball" and working hard in training to improve your technique, will greatly enhance your chances of doing so. By your argument, we could save a substantial amount of money on the wage bill and on hiring coaches etc and just field 11 vaguely fit blokes who can run around a bit because the rest of it's just a lottery.

Yes and that's just as true of (for example) a striker breaking through one-on-one with a keeper, all the time in the world to pick his spot etc. In training, he'll nail it 9 times out of 10 but in a match situation, , will he hit it sweet or will the pressure get to him? Just because pressure plays a part, doesn't mean it's not a skill. All the more reason to train for it actually, so that it becomes more automatic, less chance of letting the pressure get to you.

Losing on penalties is never pleasant but its 'only' the JPT and so the disappointment of losing only really lasted a few moments to be honest.

First half I thought we generally bossed the game. Assombolonga had a swerving shot that Wes did well to save but apart from their right winger who got into good crossing positions, the Posh didn't actually look very dangerous.

I thought Pritchard looked good, still a bit greedy but definitely more positives than negatives. L.Thompson and Kasim were tidy in midfield and DNG was superb up front on his own, he looked strong, willing and came off the pitch absolutely drained. Troy and Ward nice and solid at the back, still not sure about Branco, he's very raw and not afraid of a challenge but I stick by the fact he's a bit of a bomb scare.

60 minutes we sat back deeper and deeper and it was too long for us to hold out. Murphy, who I thought looked promising playing (I presume) out of position played a sloppy pass and Assombolonga was never going to miss.

Of the subs, Gladwin as Sonic correctly said, looked like he had won a prize to play 10 minutes of a professional football match! Reis did slightly better and put in a belter of a cross that was begging to be finished.

Pens, meh. Did Reis really try and bend the ball into the top corner? Quite a bizarre effort.

Of course we should have had a penalty and them down to 10 but it wasn't given and we should have been braver and tried to finish the game. DNG was a whisker away from doing it and the Posh were definitely there for the taking and we paid for being too cautious.

Hopefully this will be the catalyst to try and end the season strongly. I think we have a squeak of the play-offs if we can put a run together starting with Orient away. I'll be at Brisbane Road so no doubt we'll be hopeless again!

Or it could hit a bobble.

Simple lack of communication - put a name on it! It does happen unfortunately with players not used to playing with each other, but he could still have given him a shout.

Didn't look like they left out to each other to me. More that Murphy played the perfect pass for the posh. Hey ho.

I think Murphy looks a good prospect and has a good work ethic. I hope he isn't scapegoated for it by our fans. I don't think he will be.

Agreed Batch, he looks talented and I thought he worked hard as well.

Murphy on one wing and Pritchard on the other is a frightening prospect for opponents.

+1 for the "Murphy looks pretty good brigade" :) He looked better first half than when we started to sit back in the 2nd though. But then he would.

Having slept on it, I think Reis was perhaps a bit silly with his penalty. Any scapegoating that is done is ridiculous though seeing as he was crying when the lads led him off and he's played very little all season. He was good at the start of the year and lively for his cameo at the end of the match, so I've got a good feeling about him.

A moment that's really stuck in my mind from last night that I didn't mention was in what must have been deep in the third or fourth minute of extra time when Posh won a corner, as it was put into the box and there was a bit of a goal mouth scramble and the crowd went deadly silent- the sound of nearly 7000 people breathing in at the same time is one I will never forget.

Murphy was good first half, and I felt happy with him and N'Guessan as two strikers.

Just watched the highlights on Sky and tbh we looked far better than them in most respects which I did not think so during the match itself, it is strange how one views a game.

Could not see definitely whether it was a pen from the Arkells but looked and on TV there was no doubt. Just not going to be our season methinks but will take play-offs if they can be achieved.

I thought we looked better balanced with Pritchard on the right and Murphy on the left, but once we scored Cooper changed them over and I didn't think we looked quite so menacing going forward after that.

I love how N'Guessan, Reis and Troy have their own beardy black guy club.

haha, I said this last night at the pub that Reis had to be brought on as we had to have at least 2 beards on the pitch at all times!

And magnificent beards they are, too.

Better side for 70 mins with their only real threat by crosses from the right. If we got the pen and nunguesson looked before shooting wide then it would have been game over.
Thought it was a shit game though and if they are two sides chasing promotion then that is one piss poor division.
Pritchards quality and Thompsons tenacity the only positives for me.

I didn't think the game was that bad, really, and both sides could only truthfully be described as on the fringes of the promotion race (and outer fringes in our case).

The sides really chasing promotion are about 20 points better off than us....the beauty of the PO's is it gives a dog's chance, to a clutch of pretty average sides to keep their season going.

I thought Pritchards attempt was poor, my 14 year old son has a better bum fluff beard than Pritchard.

DNG didn't shoot wide...it hit the goalies foot and just missed the post. The ref decided, in one of his baffling decisions, to give a goal kick !!

Yeah, Danny shot on target and was then bundled over, which would have been perhaps excusable to ignore if the ref had then given a corner.

But of course he didn't...

For a game where both keepers hardly had a shot to save I enjoyed it - fuckwit officials notwithstanding.

Thought the defence played well but we were obviously lacking up front.

Looked to me as if we're playing like the away side.

People really need to think back to the doom and gloom before season's start and realise we've had a decent season (to date).

Cooper's turned out to be a decent manager and the loanees have, by and large, looked good.

Has KMac surfaced anywhere yet?

Probably on a golf course somewhere.

I don't normally criticise Cooper and up until this point I haven't felt the need to but I think he got it badly wrong in the 2nd half last night.

 Firstly we should never have sat so deep hoping one goal would be enough, with the firepower Boro have we were always going to need to score at least 2. We were trying to hold onto a one goal lead for 45 minutes, far too much respect was paid to them. A 2nd goal for us would have killed the tie and sometimes the best form of defence is attack.

 Secondly he should have made changes at the 60 minute mark. We started to look really tired quite early into the 2nd half as Posh began to take a stranglehold on the game but instead he waited and waited and waited until the inevitable happened, they scored and then he made 2 changes! You don't need to have coaching badges to work out that had been coming.

 Cannot fault the players effort they really did the club proud, penalties are a lottery so no blame attached to Mass or Tijane either, just wish it was us going to Wembley instead as I cannot see us going via the playoffs.

And that bloody drum.

Can we just ban drums and any musical instruments coming to ALL football games at the CG?

It was always going to be a tough half when they had the likes of McCann and McQuoid to bring on, injuries and suspension really hampered us and all things considered,  we were very unlucky.

I can pretty much take or leave Cooper, but in defence of last night:

Despite allowing them possession further up the field in the second half we were dealing with Peterborough pretty comfortably until the mistake, which no tactical tinkering by Cooper could have foreseen or prevented.

As for not making the substitutions earlier, well it's easy to see why he was prepared to leave N'Guessan on as long as he did when the only change available was sticking Gladwin up there. I'd have been tempted to leave him on for the full 90 minutes, however tired he was, he's the sort who'd run himself into the ground willingly.

I thought that the obvious swap would have been Mass or Thompson off for Gladwin just to give us some legs....L.Thompson had a great first half but his legs were well and truly gone after 55\60 mins.

Whilst Boro didn't look a major threat, as the game wore one they were going to get chances as the tiredness crept in, with tiredness comes mistakes.

Can't really fault this post. After a tough game on a heavy pitch on Friday we needed desperately needed fresh legs earlier. DNG could barely run off the pitch at the end such was the shift he put in.

But if the fresh legs aren't as talented as the tired legs they replace, it's a trade off as to whether they offer an improvement. We started with our best side under the circumstances, and I can understand the manager wanting to leave that side out there as long as possible.

I think you have to be able to give some trust on the replacements. Gladwin has played a handful of games and looked reasonably able to keep hold of the ball. Reis could have provided an outlet and Barthram and Harley are no mugs. (although I am not sure Harley should ever play again after his horror show against Oldham!

Not having a forward on the bench was a killer as we had nobody to hold the ball up in the final 3rd and so Posh kept coming back at us.

We have a forward out on loan  ::)

True, but he's not exactly renowned for his hold up play!

But even if he did nothing but harry the defenders it would have put them under pressure to release the ball earlier and maybe hoof it rather than allowing them to pass out from the back at will.
It would have given us an out ball to hit the ball into space and let him run at it. With tired legs who knows he may have done a Coventry.
What I do know is that in the position we were in he was a better option than what was on the bench.

We looked at our best in the first 20 of the second half when we went after them as they were making errors and were there for the taking. Tired legs and shit subs put paid to that. They got better, we faded.

we also have a forward who wasnt even on the bench.one who looked decent when he came on at gillingham

Post again....excellent.

Don't care what anybody says Storey upfront would of been a godsend on 60 minutes...use his pace to ping the balls into the corners and harrass the defenders..... Fuckwit decision to loan him out.

Gladwin was a fucking hinderance to us......

Loaning out a player who doesn't fit the system we currently play so that he can get some game time at a similar level makes perfect sense. The timing sucked but you can't really account for your main striker getting injured the same night.

You can account for it.  Especially as everyone is a fantastic manager who knows everything about the world of football from the safety of a keyboard.

Maybe money is a bigger issue than many may think.

indeed.  Playoffs, 3 pts for win, elimination of back pass together with much less violence in and around grounds has transformed football since the 80's.

(http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m51aiuvrlS1qfelxu.gif)

Yes..

I will meet cooper for a friendly face to face chat anytime he likes....

I told K Mac that we were shit at Donny and it was unacceptable to his face at the Sponsors night....he agreed...blah blah blah.

I once told danny wilson that david prutton was a bad signing  after an horrendous performance at MKD. He told me I didnt know what I was talking about and he would score loads of goals. DW 0 me 1 I think

Hereford away 08/09, during the pre match warm up I shout down to Jerel Ifil, 'Jerel' (he looks up), 'you're gonna score today' (he looks at me like I'm crazy). SCORES SCREAMER

Why didn't you do it more often then

Thought it was stupid...need as many players as possible at this stage of the season....all this guff about the system...Storey should be getting the match time not loanees....in my opinion.
No disrespect to Murphy by the way.

Storey is not the same sort of player as Ranger or Smith and regardless of whether you think it 'guff' or not, we have been playing most of the season with a lone striker and Storey simply cannot function effectively in that role.

As you say, Storey needs the game time and loaning him out will give him that. We can't accumulate players just for the sake of it and with the lack of reserve fixtures it's a struggle to keep them near match fitness anyway and working within a tight budget means we need to get the most out of it.

I don't care if a player is contracted to us or on loan to us personally. I'd rather see an XI of talented loanees than some of the lazy shits who have been collecting their wages for nothing in recent years.

Storey's wages would be fuck all. The saving on a month's wages of fuck all would be fuck all but could have cost us a trip to Wembley.

I'm not a miracle worker, Ifil was a lost cause.

The wages saved are irrelevant. It was more of a general point about using the budget to incorporate players who suit our style of play and are immediately useful to us rather than simply having a surplus of players just in case. Quality over quantity. Of course, Storey would have been useful subsequent to Ranger's injury but nobody could anticipate that.

I'm not sure whether Storey will be a massive part of our future or whether he'll gradually drift away like a lot of promising youngsters over the years but the fact is that although he would have given us some fresh legs on Monday, he's realistically not going to step in and replace Ranger for the month/rest of the season.

Good points but I still think it was a fuck up given we had rested players and had prioritised this over the league. I think on this one Power/ Cooper came up short.
We're still well ahead of where I thought we'd be but we didn't get through due to our naivety not because Pboro were better.
We didn't get through because of Murphy, Reis and Luongo we didn't get through because of Power and Cooper.
I'm still with them and think they're doing a good job given everything but they fucked up.   

You've missed McEveley for getting sent off in the first leg, Branco for scoring an own goal in the first leg, Nathan Thompson for getting too many bookings this season, Foderingham for not keeping out a penalty he probably should have, the referee and the football league.

True , storey cannot function in the lone striker role but isnt the idea of substitutes to change things up ? Not just swop like for like.
Plan B if you like...

I think the point is that Ben Gladwin cannot function in the loan striker role. I'm pretty sure Miles would have showed more than he did.

(That's far from a dig at Gladwin btw, thought he tried his best in a totally unfamiliar role).

How anyone can write off Gladwin/Barker after seeing them play 1/2 cameo performances is beyond me. Some players need a run of games, and to be played in their right position. Fair enough, they may not be good enough, but I trust Luke Williams judgement to believe that Barker is a decent enough player, if given a chance.

Also, with Storey - Cooper said he was begging to go out on loan, and we had no idea that Ranger was going to get injured for 8-12 weeks on the same day we sent him out on loan. Plus, as said, doesn't really fit into our system.

I'm not writing Barker off.....far from it...but fact..fact...is..he hasn't scored a senior goal...so loan HIM out and not somebody that has and has a bit of pace.

AND what is this famous system that I keep reading about...utter fucking bollocks....you might not of gone to Sheffield United, Stevenage or Pikeys but I did....if that's a system it's shit and needs looking at.

Never read so much bollocks In all my life....the only system Cooper has is Central Heating in his house. He picks the team on the day and he sets his stall up before kick off and very rarely changes it after that.

He did v Coventry and we won a game we should of drawn.....not brave and I'm not convinced he has enough about him to change a game mat any stage. However , we have enough in the bank early doors to be comfortable and he has been our manager since the start so that's a credit to him.

As an obvious yes man so he's got the job until he fails epically.

I'm renewing my season ticket so I'm ok with it but....a system? Fuck off!

Ajose, el gabbas and barker are players that don't hold the ball up and so work better in a 442.

I took coopers comment on not fitting the system as a polite way of saying he thought storey was shit.

The system being a big guy up top who can hold the ball up and our other 'technical players' work off that. Hence brining Smith (6 foot 4) in.

There is no spoonsystem.

There are four lights.

Wasn't sure where to post this but Sam has just tweeted that Pritchard is out for about 2 weeks, L.Thompson is out also for Saturday and DNG has a late fitness test on a groin strain. N Thompson and Jay are suspended.

This is a real test of our squad now!

Just saw that, Mason training but wont figure Saturday either

So what does that leave us with?

Fodders
Barthram Ward Troy Branco
Byrne Kasim Luongo Harley Barker
Smith

...ish

Me and you on the bench..

Is Reckord still here ??

Murphy? Reckord?

Orient will going straight in my accumulator Saturday then

I am going as well so double your stake!

Flaming eck, thst's not what we need.  Orient away was always going to be tough, now it's sounding nigh on impossible. What's the matter with Pritchard and L Thompson?

I would have thought Reis, Reckord & Murphy would be in for Barthram, Barker and Harley. and they would line up a bit like this:
            Fodders
      Ward Troy Branco
Byrne                        Reckord
               Kasim
Murphy                  Reis
               Luongo
                Smith

We usually win when there seems to be no hope. And let's face it, the situation is pretty hopeless!

If only were true...Brisbane Road is another STFC graveyard....one win on Boxing Day a few years back in the last 40 odd years. Orient had a bit of a dodgy patch up until winning in midweek, which suggests we're probably getting them a week too late.

In the scheme of things, in our quest for 52 points, you really wouldn't expect anything from this fixture, so nothing to lose ..

He meant In general Reg, not Orient specifically.  I'm going but not looking forward to it, the 0-3 the other year is the only time I have ever left early and can see that  result happening again.

word!

I hate going to Orient...really dislike East London...and invariably it's a tiny crowd and a shit game...even seen us lose there in 68/69 and 85/86 with statistically 2 of our finest sides of all time.

Is that like one man and his dog? Or are you just singling out one of the tiny crowd in particular? :)

I went there in the 85/85 season, almost half the crowd of 3,100 were town fans (1,400+), we were rubbish, the away end was open and rubbish, the ground was rubbish in a rubbish part of London.

I dislike it there a lot too, never a happy hunting ground for anything STFC.

Only 3 wins in the last 23 games at Brisbane road.

Wes, Byrne,Troy, Ward, Branco, Murphy, Gladwin, Luongo, Kasim, Harley, Smith M subs Ty, Bartram, Reckord, Reis, Cox,  NGuessan, Barker. Assuming Alex Smith and Harry (am I still at the club now my dad's mate Jed has buggered off) Agombar are still not fit that must be pretty much everyone not injured, suspended or out on loan isn't it?

I lived in that area around that time. In fact it was a decent area of London, plenty of friendly local pubs, O's supporters who were genuinely fans of their local club as opposed to wannabe Hammers, the Leyton Orienteer was one of the best fanzines of the time and they had the legend who was Tunji Banjo in their reserves.

So I've always had a soft spot for them. It would be easy to just throw in the towel and head over to WHU or Spurs or Arse, but the 4k don't. That deserves some respect, no?

We'll get beaten, no doubt.

There is nothing to dislike about Orient, bar the fact we never win there. I'm 0-5 and expecting 0-6 for times I've been there.

You make a good point...there's an inevitable irrationality about football, on the one hand, they provide a counterpoint to all what's wrong with the game, but on the other those A8 programs they churned out were proper shit, and enough reason for  calumny in my book.