Thetownend.com

The Opponent: Preston North End

How the legend of Thor began. Thor, also known as the Thunder pants, was considered to be a son of Fjorgyn (Jord) and Odin by some, but among many tribes in the poorer parts of Lancashire, Thor actually supplanted Odin as the favourite god as he enforced compulsory beard growing and the eating of Greggs sausage rolls dipped in the cheapest white cider Patel’s stocked. He is considered to be the protector of all Preston, and he wields the mighty mini hammer, his pink truncheon. His battle chariot is drawn by two giant whippets, and his violent bowel eruptions cause the lightning that flashes across the sky. Of all the deities, Thor is the most “barbarian” of the lot, hobo-like in appearance, rather smelly, boss eyed and lives by the rules laid down by his mentor, White Dee from Benefits Street. The day Thursday (Thorsdaeg) is sacred to him as it has now been his Giro day for nearly 30 years. Due to his inability to find work, the benefits agency point him in the direction of the numerous Preston Foodbanks to feed his wife Sif, daughter Thrudd and 27 stone mistress, Our Elsie, who lured Thor in with her renowned Kebab, Pigeon and Gravy Pie.

Thor was considered a good-natured, careless, simple soul, always practicing his own personal hygiene version of Ramadam, and never tired of trying his great strength, legend says that Thor once bench pressed 350kg of smack before it was distributed amongst the ‘charming’ estates of Moor Nook and Brookfield, via his Grandmother. He could shoulder giant tasks with the greatest of ease, especially with his 22” neck and he could slay bulls with his bare hands, despite having 6 fingers on one and 3 on the other. More recently, Thor proved his strength to the repressed folk of Preston by braving the great hurricane of 2014 and stupidly battled through winds that wouldn’t even blow one of his many King Size Rizla’s over. Once the Thor household managed to steal the identity of someone with a debit card (Mr A. Ademungo from Ghana in this case) they finally opened their very own Youtube account to show Thor’s powers off, but like the rest of the UK, the Prestonians worked out that Thor is simply several sandwiches short of a picnic, more of a loveable bear type creature that’s studs and leather on the exterior but more Donnay and Lonsdale on the interior. And so the Legend of Thor ends. As scary as afternoon tea at an old people’s home and as sexy as Giant Haystacks in a thong.


Where the opposition gather -

http://www.pne-online.net/forum/showthread.php?85805-Swindon-Away-Pubs

Last 6 – WDWWDD (Currently 4th on 69 points) The last time PNE lost in the league was way back on January 11th away to Wolves.

They have served us both – Wayne Holmes. Billy Rose, Jake Jervis, Arthur Beadsworth, Marlon Broomes, Freddie Fox, Harry Lowe, Frank Becton, David Lucas, Dick Rowley, Simon Gibson, Tommy Miller, Jimmy Chalmers, Tommy Green, Leon Clarke, Fola Onibuje, Tom Bradshaw, Alan McCormack, Lee Holmes, Steve Finney, Andy Lonergan, Harry Stringfellow and PETER KIDD.

The Odds –  Swindon 9/4  Draw 9/4  Preston 5/4  The bookies have very little confidence in us improving our form it seems. PNE goal machine Joe Garner leads the way scoring first at 9/2, Michael Smith around 6/1.
  
The Son Says – A resounding 3-0 victory, ever the optimist.

The Prediction – Amongst the doom and gloom gathering around The County Ground I still predict victory. 2-1 with goals from Smith and Nathan Byrne in front of 7’455 with 566 making the trip from up North.

And Finally – Preston has the highest density of traffic lights in The UK. I found this summary from a Preston local, it kind of sums it up nicely really. “The place is filled with aggrandising freaks, witless bozos, the smelly, the one eyed, and assorted pond life. If there was a part of the world that needed carpet bombing, this is it”.

COYR COYR COYR

Marlon Broomes was a decent centre back. was around the time we had Shay Given in town too who was fucking AWESOME between the sticks and clearly destined for bigger things.

As was Michael Carrick when he was here and oddly David Thompson.

0-2

Great write up!

2-2

0.2 with 990 making the journey here
7854 overall

Watched pne v sheff utd the other day , look a big strong bullying side. Cant see us getting anything

Once scored an absolute screamer for us against Brum.

Sorry...but I think we might get smacked today.

Everything I said has gone wrong so far.........

I think it might be a case of 'they came, they Thor, they conquered' today. Unfortunately.

1 3

One team on the ascendancy and looking for a playoff position versus a team faltering in mid table. It's got a Swindon written all over it, 3-1

It will be a bruising encounter and Swindon will finally surprise us and get a draw 1-1

Dusting off the ST & making the trip down today for the first time in a while.  Hoping for a win but settle for a good performance 2-2.

What a wonderful opening post Shaw Rosso! The only thing lacking is a glamour shot of Thor!

Difficult to predict. Can't see where goals are coming from for us. Could be a 0-0.

Hopefully a win to celebrate my birthday 2-1 us! 7466 with 612 from up't North!

and did so well on loan at Swindon Town that he also made his England Under 21 debut whilst at Swindon.... in an U21 friendly vs Switzerland at the County Ground funnily enough! 0-0 bore draw, seem to recall Darren Huckerby being one of the better England players... ouch!

I feel another battling performance, 1-1.

It's the first time in a while I feel optimistic about a win - cant explain why.

They will be a man down early doors, we put away the pen paving the way for a 3-0 win.

Got us in an 8-team accy that pays over £8000 for a fiver!!!

2-0 to them. Unfortunately.

0-3

2-1 defeat.

SR I'm surprised there's no mention in "they served us both" of Brian Kidd. I often wonder when seeing Man City, what exactly it is that he does....nice work if you can get it.

His Preston side of 85/86, was simply the worst visiting side I've ever seen at the CG, and in today's money would have gone to the Conference....his Blackburn side of 99/00 weren't a whole lot better, we beat them 2-1, in what was a hopeless season. Our main weapon  being Frazer McHugh hoofing the ball in the general direction of George Ndah, and it proved surprisingly effective....the winning second goal that night was scored by Bobby Howe..sexy football.

The opener was an OG by Simon Grayson....I'm posting this in the likely vain hope that it's a sign that the footballing gods have decreed that the CG is his bogie ground.

Well I'm going today as it's my birthday. Not expecting a treat, but we might just scrape a 0-0. Off to the pub  :pint:

1-1

3-2 win. Storey to grab a pair.

Masters of the pointless 2foot pass NIL        Lily white sleeping giants THREE.

Horrible watching 700 pne fans celebrating

1-1 today.

Yes we spoke a few weeks back about Kidd being our assistant under Macari for a while.

I wouldn't say the Preston side in 85/86 was the worst but they were poor in a 4-1 defeat.

For me it was a totally inept Stoke side that got hammers 6-0 costing Mick Mills his job in 89 or the appalling Swansea side in 96 that barely got a kick of the ball in a 3-0 win by us.

Ironically both got relegated in their respective seasons and are both now in the Premier League.

As for today, I can't see us getting anything unfortunately, a 1-3 defeat with 7,823 with 585 Prestoners there.

You must have missed it Reg?  :wink:

Foderingham; N Thompson, Stephens, Archibald-Henville, McEveley; A Smith, Kasim, Gladwin, Luongo; Storey, M Smith

subs: Belford, Barthram, Branco, Reckord, Reis, Barker, Waldon

Storey starting will make a few town fans happy.

Storey starts, but unfortunately looking at the rest if the team I think we are playing him wide rather than up front with Smith.

I am not so sure, there isn't a lot of width in that team at all.

With all the will in the world Gladwin and Storey are no wingers.

I was assuming Alex Smith would be playing on one wing & therefore Storey on the other.

Unless we are playing 5 at the back

The radio did say they thought it was 5 at the back but I am not so sure.

There is a lack of width throughout the team though but we do have flexible players.

Whatever it is I hope that Storey gets a chance up front with Smith.

Thats one thing I am not keen on Cooper doing...playing players out of position like DNG etc, Storey is a striker...end of.....he needs a chance in his natural position.

Sheff Utd 0-1 Wolves at half time.

The 2 early games at Chelski 6-0 Arsenal and Derby 5-0 Forest were unexpected it has to be said.

For a generally very good side, and they are, Arsenal have had a few serious tonkings over the last few seasons.

The Chelsea score was totally expected if you watch the Baker & Kelly programme on BT Sport. The toasters predicted it. ;)
They also predicted that Wigan would beat Man City in the Cup - they have an astonishingly high accuracy rate :hmmm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S_Ait_endE

At the moment it's looking suspiciously like 4 4 2.

They just said on the radio we are lined up with 3 centre backs.

Are we starting late today? Or is it just that player is 10 minutes behind?

Also the Town End Ultras are either trolling or muppets. Why does the radio read texts and tweets out for crying out loud.

I don't appear to have a delay on player, are you listeing to "old" player or "DVR"? I always fine "old" player is quicker with less lag.

Storey starting! what are the mongs on RS gonna say now if we lose?

I expect they have already got their after match and half time txts ready.

We've had enough of those pre-match already.

Preston sound like a dirty bunch of northern bastards.

Sounds like we are doing ok!

Enjoyable half but absent chances from either team. Ref is a cock, gladwin man of the half

Sounds ok, not good, not bad, no clear cut chances but a few chances to each side none the less but both keepers making saves.

blimey-thought Reckord had gone back after the Orient debacle

Decent first half, Miles had one good chance from a great ball from Luongo, but their keeper made a good save.
They had one decent chance from a header from which Wes made a good save.
Draw probably a fair scoreline at HT.

And Yes they are a dirty bunch of Northern Bastards.

However their nice fans keep singing about flowers :)

Gladwin seems to have come good all of a sudden- penalty and Kilkenny could be off..

WHY NO 2ND YELLOW?

Good lad Mr Smith

Now dont sit fucking back!

Which one of our players will that dirty bastard Davies injure today.

I do hope that Nathan Thompson returns the favour after the bloody assault from Davies at their place.

How long a contract did this Gladwin fella sign?

Branco warming up just in case we need a scapegoat later.

Wahey, Gladwin comes good, well done to the lad, he's been trying and trying but not been given a chance by many.

Branco on, let's just hold on please boys, I can see this being a draw.

BLOW THAT FUCKING WHIISTLE

Yay. Great win, and scapegoat turns hero! Nearly safe now Reg!

Great win that, only Prestons 5th defeat this season!!

Well done Cooper.

 :clap:

Wonder if he will get any credit on RS?

Cracking result against one of the better sides today, sounded like Gladwin and Storey both played well.

Nice to see Smith get another goal even if it was a penalty....they still have to be put in the net.

Apparently not-still plenty of pricks texting in!

doubt it, we lose because of him and win despite him.

Who are the Town End Ultras and why are they such morons?

Bet these were the same pricks booing Thompson.

Ha!ha!

We won in spite of Cooper and the fact that he played Storey and he did well means that he is an idiot for leaving/loaning him out in the first place, no credit for bringing him back.

Some knob called Bepe :suicide:

Bopard.

I thought flash sent that one in?

Yep...removes the pressure, so we should be able to play with some freedom, between now and season's end.  Looks like pointing out Grayson's OG here for Blackburn did the job....

Great game, played really well against a strong side.

Special mention to Gladwin, who looks like he has the makings of a good player, albeit slightly unorthodox and runs like he has two broken legs, but somehow manages to keep the ball, some great crosses and passes from him too.

Nice to come away from the County Ground in a good mood for a change :)

I don't understand why BBC Wilts put some much focus on reading tweets and texts out after the game. Who gives a fuck what these morons have to say?

HEY! They read mine!

Successive clean sheets. Cheerio Ward.

Plan B ......and the B Team.

At last an entertaining game, keeping the 2 foot passes to a minimum.

If I thought for one second, we would play like that for 70% of next season I would renew my season ticket. This was the best game since Carlisle home.

No surprise that the Spurs players was missing and Luongo was one of the more average players on the day.

Come away from the ground entertained and happy (for once)

Oooooh...more Twitter comments.... :popcorn:

What was going on with Yasser straight after the final whistle?

Spot on Ginge.

I've supported The Town for nearly 30 years (shit that makes me feel old!) and in all that time I have never felt the need to contact a fucking radio station. Bizarre!

Proud of my team today. Stood up to a typically ugly Grayson side. I wouldn't say we outmuscled them but we matched them for strength and therefore won the right to pass the ball. Which we did better than them IMO. Get the fuck in there!

Yay! Spent the afternoon at RUH with dad, so getting home to this scoreline was a big bonus.

Be Interested to hear more on Gladwin, thought he had something but was being asked to play out of position before. Did he play standard central midfield? Or pushed up a bit more behind the forwards?

Fantastic performance today. When PNE weren't fouling they were cheating falling over at any contact. I really would hate to see that kind of shit every week no matter how successful. They were a fucking horrible bunch of spiteful bastards. A special mention to the ref who was a complete cunt of the highest order. How he missed the push on Smith for a second penalty is beyond me. Would have been a straight red and probably game over. How their no 17 never got booked for being a persistant cunt is also  beyond me.
MOM was Gladwin. It was also nice to see corners being taken that made it past the forst man. He also put in one glorious cross in the 2nd half. Troy and Stephens again were excellent as was Fods who made a cracking save in the 1st half.
Now for Smith and Storey who both had bloody good games. Given that Smith was arse raped by their centre half all game he did very, very well but it helped that he had Storey up front with him. They also played well together, occupying the defenders and could make a good partnership....if allowed. Storey looked pretty sharp and his pace caused problems for them.
We got the ball forward a hell of a lot quicker than we normally do and that was thanks to Gladwin.
I'm well chuffed with this performance but more so because football won today. PNE really are a bunch of cheating, diving, whinging cunts who deserved fuck all.........but we stood up to them.

The formation worked today.

Was good to have two up front, as even at the end when they threw on extra attacking players when we cleared the ball we had two up front challenging for the ball.

I have to say I wasn't 100% convinced about him before today but always argued that he was being played out of position too. I suspected he would be better in his more natural/preferred position but didn't expect him to be as good as he was. All about confidence I suppose and the lad started off well and just got better. Very decent set pieces too which I wasn't aware he had in his locker. Personally would say he was an orthodox midfielder today although probably player slightly higher up the pitch than Mass and certainly Yasser.

I think that's a fare assessment of today's game

Really enjoyed that. Especially as it was a bit of a bitty game in terms of flow.

Stephens impressed. Sure he had two dodgy kicks but other than that solid.

Gladwin bossed midfield.

Having two up front  caused them more problems than smith would in his own. Shock.

The penalty was lucky. The offence started outside the box. But he should have had another later on. Karma.

Can't really see how today could have gone better.

Agree with that on every point Chalky.

First game for yonks so nice to see a battling win but that was pretty dull for large parts, given I've almost become a neutral over the last few years.

Thank god the playoffs are out of reach because either of those sides would struggle to make 20 points in the championship.

5/10

Optimism.

(http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/DANCE+PARTY+1+1.+POST+DANCING+GIFS+EVERY+COMMENT+GETS+A+THUMB_574d8b_3093492.gif)

All rather easy bar the last few minutes wasn't it? Preston were shite. They had the defence and midfield so close together it gave us acres of space in which to pick passes out. The complete opposite of Franchise who didn't give us any room at all.

Didn't think any of our lot played badly and should have won by a couple more.

Good performance today. Storey did well second half and Stevens looks like a class player. Gladwin MOM.

Two-foot passers 1, two-foot tacklers 0

Harsh. Very harsh

Good win....where is that loud mouth Preston twat today then :D

Two clean sheets against form teams bode well also.

Well, that was good fun.

Can't disagree with MOM for Gladwin, he was pinging balls about a la Glenda, but I also thought Troy was immense.

Missed nothing in the air, or on the floor and brought the ball out of defence with aplomb on numerous occasions.

Of all the top end teams Preston were by far the least impressive I've seen and the pre match forecast of them being a cheating, dirty bunch of wank stains was proven to be correct.

JMac was elbowed in the first half and I think the same fella did similar in the 2nd half.

We could, and should, have knocked a couple more in which would have been well deserved.

Storey did well, despite the tosspot behind me being constantly on his back throughout.

More of the same please Cooper

Really enjoyable game!!  Thought they just about edged the first half - only just mind - but we were the better team for long periods of the second half.  It was never a penalty, but we should have had one later on when Smith was pulled out of the way as he was about to head it in!  This was always going to be a physical game which worried me beforehand, but we stood up to them well and dished a bit out ourselves.  Wouldn't argue about the Gladwin mom decision, though Kasim played well and t he whole defence stood up to a good examination towards the end of the second half.  It makes such a difference when a player like Storey runs at them with pace, Gladwin  also showed some superb pace and play on the edge oft heir box.

Oh and their keeper was a cunt at the end, getting halfway up the pitch and turning round sticking his fingers up at the Town End!!  Dickhead!!

More of the same please Cooper
[/quote]

Yes, yes thrice yes

Is it me...or does Gladwin run similar to how Chris Waddle did...similar kind of style

 :hmmm: :hmmm:

We'll never know now

Great result.  Better performance but still pretty dull, one shot on target in first half.

Thought ref was not as bad as others have said.

Completely agree re Preston being a nasty dirty bunch of northern scumbags.

Having Miles gave us an "out ball" today. Also for the first time in ages we had movement at throw ins and decent corners. Smith looked a lot better having someone lese up front and they kept a good distance between themselves. Well worth persevering with these 2 to see whether they can forge a good partnership. I'm still wondering where the fuck a performance came from like that from Gladwin. I'd also be inclined to get Stephens back here - a couple of passes in the 1st half were pure Hoddle.

I dread to think what you would have made of some of the utter garbage we've put up with of late.  In comparison this was excellent.

Really good to finally see a battling performance and a bit more urgency in our play.

Defensively we looked so much better.  Troy is a beast and his runs forward are fab.   Stephen's distribution is excellent (a couple of dodgy passes aside).  Is Ward injured to not even be on the bench?

Gladwin my mom as well, he looks so clumsy at times, I think Preston thought he was harmless.  Onto Preston, who were a bunch of nasty cheating wankers.  Their number 14 spent as much time on the floor feigning injury as he did standing up.  Smith and Storey were manhandled throughout.  The ref as usual got sucked in at times and as the game went on got worse.  

All in all nice to leave the CG happy and good to see the players get a decent ovation at the end.

This is the shit I text radio Wiltshire:

Did we get out of our own half for the first 20 minutes. PNE famous physical style roughed us up a bit...oh for Ray McHale or Kammy today! We held our own without really matching them. A good half from me considering they can also play the ball around a bit as well as lay the boot and elbow in. Need to show a bit more in the second half even if we see a few more wild tackles to lift the bored crowd.

What a great start to the second half.....it was all Swindon and a defo pen that Smith did well to bury. Needed a second when we were on the up and getting all those corners....Galdwin was impressive during that patch and I was sorry to see him go off at the end. Good shout for a pen when we were under the cosh but I will forgive the ref because a weak one would of cost us the game as PNE would of conned him. If only Chuckles had realised that Smith cannot play alone, Storey shouldn't of gone on loan, play two up top at home etc etc...then the end of the season could of been more interesting. so far there had not been a team I didn't want to go up...until now....i hope we see cheating PNE again next season.

I pretty much stand by that ....apart from that the pen shout looked blatant.

PNE were cheaty petty fuckers...

Good strong ref though...didn't get conned by them at all.

I read back....

Disagree about the first half.  Thought we were comfortable, and we created the best chance when Smith was clean through.  Not saying we dominated, but we were comfortable.

Second half we were by far the better team and, in the end, we thoroughly deserved the win.

Yes.

I just thought we struggled with the physical bit.

It was the PNE keeper that had to make the big saves in the end.

Fods save with his feet (offside) was epic as he didn't know at he time.

Charlie Henry in the CGH was impressed after.....

That was much better with no Harley in the team, playing no needless sideway passes.

Preston were 'dirty northern bastards', who moaned and complained about everything. A special mention for their number 6, who manhandled Smith every corner, but took a massive dive in injury after running into Troy to try and get a pen.

Talking about pens, we should've has a blatant pen when Smith was about to nod in a Storey cross from two yards, when he was pulled back. It was a decision the lino should've gave, as he was looking straight at it, but chickened out.

Mom Troy, with Stephens and Gladwin not far behind. Gladwin's best game in a Town shirt...so far.

Still buzzing about today's game. What a difference plan B, Team B can make.
Storey will find a decent team next year as he will never make it under cooper/power.
I can't wait for next Saturday, I only hope after giving the crowd what they want and it being fairly successful we don't revert to type out of sheer bloody minded ness.

Just saw the pen on SSN. Looked fair enough to me. Don't think Preston can really complain about it.

Saw the stats on BBC site.

Us 10 shots, 8 on target. Impressive.

Decent performance, good signs for next season.

Fods - Decent
TAH - BEAST
Stephens - Decent (if we'd had this partnership all season we'd be comfortably top 6)
McEveley - Solid
Thompson - Solid
A Smith - Solid
Kasim - Decent
Luongo - Poor (Shadow of the player we used to see)
Gladwin - Ok (I think people are getting carried away with him, for all the good passes/runs he made he also gave the ball away or got caught in possession quite a few times. Struggled with the pace of the game first half. Definitely has potential but shouldn't be starting games in League 1 yet)
Smith - Solid (Does a lot of the donkey work and doesn't get a lot of credit for it)
Storey - Decent (looks a better player than pre-loan spell)

Atmosphere - tragic

Total pro appearances for entire stfc starting XI: 876. Kevin Davies: 772

This surprises you?

I thought it was a solid 'League 1' performance rather than over playing the tippy tappy stuff . Working hard, competing physically with a robust team like Preston and playing a bit more direct using space in the channels. Troy was immense and loved Gladwin's Bamberesque run and tumble in the box for the pen although he was clipped. Just frustrating the points we let slip over the last few weeks as 6th place could have been up for grabs as the Posh slide continues

I agree with your player ratings.
Interesting that all the Spurs players were missing. Luongo still struggling to find any form at all. But good signs for next season? How do you work that out?
He played two up front today. That is not part of the grand plan. How many of today's players will be there next August.
If Power comes out of the closet and tells us Cooper will play two up front next season then I'll rush out and renew my season ticket.

Won't disagree with that anology but I'd lump in the ref for the MOTM award. Compared to some of thecRodbourne Sunday morning refs we have gad he was very good, not perfect but gery good.

So all of a sudden its the Spurs players that have cost us a play off place? Total crap,they were part of the reason we had such a good start to the season

So, did the widely anticipated "kick-off" happen in Mancy Road ?

The players on show today can only get better with age, with the exception of McEveley.

"Preston had the best of the first half" ..shut up football league show. If you had a reporter in the ground you'd realise what total bollocks this is.

Just an observation Adge. The first honest performance at home since Christmas and not a Spurs player in sight, except Luongo who is struggling.
I will say that I'm a great fan of Pritchard and enjoyed a couple of displays by Masson.

I'm pretty sure Luongo's not a Spurs player :hmmm:

Can't see the point in apportioning blame on the recent slump when we really have been ravaged by injuries and suspensions.

Probably more the case that we have struggled because of Mason's absence in midfield and Pritchard's injury and suspension.

And then, of course, there is Ranger (or not as the case may be).

Three main players absent for long periods will do for most sides.

But what is apparent is that, the top couple of teams notwithstanding, the league is actually pretty poor.

With us not picking up many points in the last dozen games we are still 8th. What does that say about the rest?

Total bollocks indeed. I thought Gladwin did surprisingly well, although Troy was my MoM. So solid, nothing went past or through him. Can we keep him pleeeeeeease? That was definitely a penalty, I didn't know that rugby tackles had been inserted into the rule book.

A good game, enjoyed that, given that PNE are a dirty bunch.

He came from as you well know.
Obtuse or what?

Of course if you can get Mason to play a third of the season he would be a major asset and Ranger two thirds of a season and you've got yourselfs the nucleus of a strong team for a bit.

Not really obtuse.

Your inference was that the Spurs loan players don't give a shit cos they are not Swindon players.

Lluongo is a Swindon player

Hall has had an awful season. Not sure we'll ever see enough of Mason to know. Pritch is a good honest skilful player with an attitude problem.
I would always play Pritch and always play Mason for the8 - 10 games he's available
Still the best game since Christmas at home and none of them were on the pitch.

Agree with the point that Spurs players don't seem fully committed. Gladwin worked his bollocks off yesterday & showed how much it means to him to be playing professional football...

Alex Pritchard? The guy highly rated by the entire league? Ryan Mason? The guy that can't get a break from injuries? Grant Hall? Who has been injured for months? Massimo Luongo? The guy on a 3 year contract with Town? Or Nathan Byrne? Who works his bollocks off?

Byrne and Luongo are Swindon players. Mason always looks disinterested to me. Hall tries, fair enough, but isn't that good. Pritchard is the best out of the lot, but over-rated and looks like he thinks he's too good for us a lot of the time to me...

Can't see what you base your opinion of Pritchard on.

Whenever I've seen him he always puts in a shift whether he is actually playing that well himself.

Chuck in his goals and those he has created for others and what more could you ask of him.

He is a fine player at this level and would do well in the Championship also

None of them look like they lack commitment.

Just smacks of people trying to pin the blame on someone, loan players are always an easy target

Actually it's the one thing that I wouldn't direct at the Spurs players.

Although in fairness it's hard to say about Mason as he has hardly played for months, but ask anyone that went to Wolves where he was the best player on the pitch from either side & worked his nuts off.

The same with Pritchard, even when he's not having the best of games he puts in a lot of work. If you were to accuse him of anything it would be that he has too much chat & has picked up too many bookings for dissent.

And as for Hall, you are right he tries but just hasn't been that good. However, as we have seen in the last two games get Ward out of the team and we look much more solid at the back. I guess we won't know if the problem was Hall, or the fact that he was playing with Ward.

Just saying, but if we win Tuesday and Posh probably lose at Preston we'll only be 4 points behind them.

Beat the Blades at the weekend and Posh have no league game and . . . .

Have we won 3 in a row at any point this season?

stop it...

It's the hope that kills you...

League games, then yes in October we won 1-0 (Tranmere at home), 4-0 (Rotherham away) & 2-0 (Notts Co at home).

In fact, in the middle of that we beat Plymouth 2-1 in the JPT.


But I get your point, it's not likely

People will probably disagree but I can see what inept and crass means, to me the Spurs/ex Spurs contigent do seem to lack a bit of mental toughness when the chips are down.

that would apply to all the players not just the spurs ones. We need a leader and we haven't had one all season.

Totally agree, and although people don't like it this is why Cooper is PARTLY right when he talks about this being a young team. Few of them have managed to get through a long hard season yet.

It's not a coincidence that the players who have performed better in the last month or so are either those (like Troy) that haven't played that many games or (like Jay Mac) that have the experience of getting through a long season.

Spot on! For some reason people always need a scapegoat.

God help us when we have a shit season, then!

As an aside, and I know it's mentioned fairly frequently, but 1 0 up with 2 minutes to go and people leave. Whhhhhhhy, whhhy. Is getting out the car park quickly really more important.

Yes, he did give the ball away, but so did plenty of others. He was mom for good reason (Troy up there too) so I struggle to see how he can be dropped for the next game. He deserves to start against Tranny, and if he has a stinker then reconsider for the Blades.

No, but getting to the bar in the Tap before the scrum is...

From what Ive seen Pritchard's commitment is unquestionable and early season Mason was fantastic-Hall maybe not so good but Luongo and Byrne-no complaints overall

Chuffed with the result yesterday, great to leave the CG with a winning feeling - forgot what that felt like after our superb home form in the 1st half of the season. We matched them and felt we deserved the win over the course of the game!

Mason away at Wolves was one of the best individual performances I've seen from a Town player.

Good plan, but if the 200 people that seem to leave early all go to the tap then its a bit futile.

If I'm honest i find Luongo a bit half arsed when it comes to winning the ball back. Not a natural part of his game I suppose.  Mason is a bit the same at times.

Both technically good players when attacking though .

Luongo has gone backwards as the season has progressed.  You're right he does look half arsed and is so slow on the ball at times.  I wonder if he's just absolutely knackered and needs a rest?

That was the game where Rambo, carried the ball into midfield....noticed his laces were undone, so put his foot on the ball bent down and did them up....no Preston player was near enough to make a challlenge....so he just carried on with the ball when he'd finished.

Macari went ballistic at him....saying such disrespect would fire them up when we go to Deepdale....we beat them 3-0.

Yeah now you mention it I do remember that and Macari really laying into him.....I went to the 3-0 win at Preston that year, the only time I have ever been to Preston, it was an early KO because they had no floodlights at the time, it was the day after my 20th birthday and I remember I had a hangover when we got the 7.30 train from Swindon to be in Preston by 12.30.