Thetownend.com

Considering everyone has been asking every 5 minutes how many tickets we've sold for this game, I'm surprised no thread has been started.

Bugger it, I'll start it, 2-1 win. Ajose double.

How many tickets have we sold any way?

3-1 having gone our customary goal down would be very nice - Ajose, Obika, Doughty - the usual suspects.

2442 apparently (plus a few on the day I'm sure) - very decent.

close 2-1 defeat. To all those going, have a great day !

Unless the thread title is amended soon, we appear to be due a late disappointment.

I would have gone today but have to work which is a ballache.

Given the numbers going this thread will be quiet today!

Think we'll lose 3-1

Just on the bus heading towards the tap n barrel.... Knowing we are pretty well safe puts me in a good mood for a day on the piss.

A result would be some icing!

Would have gone if I wasn't working near Kinross... Fully expecting a defeat, for no particularly logical reason. Hopefully a few hundred will pay on the day and the away end will make a racket.

Just eaten a pork pie. Hopefully not the only Mowbray to get chewed up today.

2-3 and another late goal against Cov.

Pre match preparation in The Earl of Mercia.

Always get lost in the horrible maze that passes for a city centre here.

The Cathedral will look nice when its finished.
The site is worth a visit though, for any history buffs or for some sober reflection between pubs.

As for today, Super John to start a scoring run and a sequence of clean sheets would be welcome, albeit unlikely.

2.5k turnout is a fantastic effort.
If even another 50 people get the bug for regular away travel, then it's job done.

Currently taunton services on our way up, should be a good day regardless of result! Think it will be 1-1 today which I'll be pretty happy with

the best we can hop for here is a 0 0 draw. I'll miss the atmosphere though, this is a game I earmarked for a boozy away day. not to be unfortunately.

Match day thresd? Really?  :crash:

Thank god for the late substitution. Rescued at least a point there.

Absolutely no reason to believe that our unbeaten run won`t continue today - worst case is we draw but Coventry form of late has been pretty poor 2-2 or 1-2.

2-1 town. customary late goal coming from Ajose, first from a Rodgers free kick. 2442 travelling fans

The area around the cathedral is really quite nice, or it was 4 years ago. The rest of Coventry is a fucking hole.

3-2 win after going 2-0 down. Almost 2,500 is a hell of a following.

Yeah, just went for a wander around there.
Quite eerie, then back to the best of 60s/70s planning surrounding the place.

Two things.

1.  The Longford Engine is shut for a refurb.
2.  I was completely unprepared for the awfulness of Coventry.  It's fucking horrible.

You can blame the Germans for at least one of those.

Most of the awfulness pre-dates 1940, sadly.  Dilapidation and decay on a horrific scale.

And yes, well aware folk make similar comments about Swindon.  But this is something else.

It was already getting like a ghost town 35 years ago. Have all the clubs been shut down?

Belford starts. We lose.

Bit harsh.

oh dear, Belford is shite

Not much choice if Vigs is injured, as who else plays in goal then?

Cant throw the 12 year old that was on the bench last week

With the defence in front i think we'll be ok regardless anyway

Did you bother getting off your arse and turning up in the end then?

What's the full team?

25  Tyrell Belford  Goal Keeper 
 21  Jamie Sendles-White  Defender 
 2  Nathan Thompson  Defender 
 6  Jordan Turnbull  Defender 
 27  Bradley Barry  Midfielder 
 14  Michael Doughty  Midfielder 
 18  Louis Thompson  Midfielder 
 26  Anton Rodgers  Midfielder 
 3  Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill  Midfielder 
 10  Nick Ajose  Striker 
 20  Jonathan Obika  Striker 

Read more at http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/index.aspx#S22Q0HI7VPefVqJd.99

Think we've brought more fans than they have.

No

Two more things.

3.  Coventry's ground is way too big for them.
4.  We need to win this.  Home side are pedestrian.  Three points there for taking.

From Sky Sports live text commentary it seems there are lots of free kicks, mostly Coventry fouls, and quite a few shots by Town. Is it so?

Coventry score but it's offside.

HT 0-0

This is a solid team performance.  We are running the game.  The weak link is between the midfield and the strikers.  Could be linking more effectively.

This is a team on the up, building for next year.

Good result, and well done Belford. Made a couple on here look silly.

Good stuff, a clean sheet away from home. Shame all the fans that travelled didn't see a goal but hey ho.

Would have taken a draw, despite recent form. Not too many "difficult" games left after Wigan. Not expecting us to challenge the top 6 but it would be nice to pick up a decent points haul to end the season well.

No complaints with the 0-0.

Anyone who went able to give us a summary?

Probably edged it overall and could have won. Coventry were there for taking. We looked quite solid and played some nice football but we always seemed to take a touch or 2 too many. Sendles White looked good. Brophy was very dangerous and should have come on earlier. It looked like Obika had a good chance down the other end in the first half but couldn't really see what happened. It was encouraging overall. I think the playoffs may be out of reach the this year but we have the foundations of a strong squad. I think I may have been sat behind Ells too?!

Is this the quietest match day thread ever?

Good performance, great atmosphere  (well done the trust), and a decent game overall I thought. We could have done a bit more in the final third but lots of positives.

Nice to see Stephens get a good reception after the game as well

Should have won that. Will be interested in the possession stats, because apart from a few little spells,  it felt like we completely dominated.  The first real save Belford made was in the last minute of stoppage time, which saved a point.

To be fair their keeper didn't have to make any really difficult saves, but he was far busier than Belford.  Both Ajose and Obika were guilty of being greedy when they should have passed and others seemed to lose their shooting boots when in the final third. Midfield didn't link up as well with the midfield today, which was a shame.  Coventry didn't offer much and were there for the taking.

Turnbull was my MOM.

I guess the vast majority are in attendance.

Didn't listen as I was out but 0-0 is a very decent result.

Hope the boys got a good reception at the end. Done tremendously the past few months. Excited for next season.

Did Stephens come over to our fans?

Aye.

Im looking at you matchworn shirts and PB

Stick to flogging shirts

Interest/activity in the Matchday thread is generally inversely proportional to the number of people at the game.  We should know this by now.

Great football day out.  We didn't get our Andy Mutch Coventry moment this time around, but it was a decent enough away day.

That said, I've never set foot in a ground before less suited to the club who plays there.  If I was a Cov fan, I'd hate it.  The County Ground is half the size, but I'd take it every time.

Was listening to the post match phone in on bbc cov and the fans were praising Swindon fans turnout and said it was the best atmosphere at the Ricoh all season

That's what I thought. Well done to everyone who went.

I think they do - I only met a handful of Coventry fans when I lived up there but they all hated the Ricoh... I expect they're kind of glad to be back there instead of Sixfields though.

On their forum, they said "The pace is their 20 is something else"

With the risk of being called a part timer, who is our 20 ?

Obika

dominated the ball, didn't create very much. we were disappointing in the final third - didn't test their keeper enough.
would be annoyed as a Coventry fan - a team aspiring for play offs who seemed pretty happy to draw 0-0 with 14th in the league.

3 centre backs were terrific today, Belford made a great save at the end. obika had a strong game, maybe could have done better in front of goal.

we're still only 8 off play offs with a game in hand, but I feel like it's probably a step too far now.

Team got a great reception, stephens came over after and also got a good reception

Yes, he did.

Enjoyed that, nip and tuck 0-0, we were in the ascendancy for long periods, created quite a few openings but didn't do quite enough infront of goal. Cov also had chances to win it so draw felt fair. Beeks our MoM for me, came deep loads looking for the ball, a lot of our forward momentum was the product of his work. Deserved a goal to cap it off but not to be. Re Belford, not seen him before, doesn't look the biggest, dealt with most if not all of what came his way, looked OK with his feet or at least cleared his lines, chose to punch clear and that worked ok. The save at the end was a great effort and credit due. Interestingly (well for me anyway), Belford was born in Nuneaton, which is pretty much where we had to go to watch the town today given the distance from the city centre, 2.5k of us making a right racket whilst their 10k rattled around in a ground 40% full. Good day out and looking forward to the next trip.

Both Darius Henderson and Jack Stephens made their debut for us at Ashton Gate.....Darius scored a brace in a 2-1.....so he got a round of applause from me.

Thought that was a nice touch for him to come over.  He walked off the pitch with Williams in deep conversation whilst Williams had his arm around him.  I wonder if he was saying 'I wish I'd come back to Swindon instead of here!'

Also nice to see Vigouroux sitting amongst us chatting away to people.

My bestie got two mentions on the radio which was exciting (for me!)

Did she have the nipper with her? Think I was sat I front of her first half. What a claim to fame.

Ps. I bet I was annoying?! Sorry!

Was traore injured?

Sendells-White>Branco x10000000

Thought I heard something about players getting the shits. Whether this was the cause of Traore and Vigs I'm not sure

was annoyed with a point as I thought we should have snatched a win, great day out tho

Vigs injured, bad knock last Saturday, Traore ill!

Great day out and brilliant to not only see lots standing/singing but also lots of young kids who had massive smiles on their faces before/during the game.

Brilliant away day

The Thompsons both threw up at half time so something going round for sure.

Or they all went out on the lash last night?

Louis threw up, had some water and then carried on til the end of the game.
I'm quite fit but if I am so hungover I throw up I can't do ANYTHING except crawl under a duvet and sleep til it goes away, never mind playing nearly an hour of competitive football!

(I know you were joking, but they are made of stern stuff those Thompson's!)

Even if you do say so yourself ;D

Definitely in the athletic sense of the word only! :)

Disappointed we didn't win but we shot when we should of passed and over elaborated when a strike was the best option.

Obikas great run right at the death was a an example...just wish he would of just smashed the thing...

Sky Blues weren't up to much but solid at the back.

Great save at the end ....that would of gone in at the start of the season.

50 points and virtually in the Reg zone... 60 points wouldn't be too shabby.

A few random observations...

On arriving at Car Park C and seeing the 9 Barnes and 5 Ellisons Coaches (instead of the more usual one of each) I felt like a 10 year old kid again, "Oooh mum, look at all the coaches, look, look, look!"... That gave me quite a buzz - I guess I'm easily pleased.

Stating the obvious but - Fantastic support, really fantastic. Would have been orgasmic if they'd managed to score in front of us but sadly was not to be.

As has been said, I was disappointed not to take all 3 points from a very winnable game. If we had not been so clueless in front of goal and had managed to exploit Barry having the freedom of Warwickshire on the right in the second half, no doubt we would have done.

Having said that, I would have been utterly sick had Coventry nicked it at the end. Thanks to a 'worldy' from Belford they didn't. I thought he was solid over all (didn't have loads to do I know). If Liverpool refuse to sell/want too much for Vigs in the summer, could we do worse than give him the no.1 shirt I wonder?

Sendles White is class - FACT!

I thought their number 14 looked pretty useful and from a distance was a dead ringer for David Speedie, especially in that retro 1987 FA Cup Final style kit. It was only when he was substituted (I don't bother with programmes any more) that I realised it was Joe Cole which was rather odd.

I actually quite like the Ricoh Arena itself but a stadium that's only ever a quarter or third full is always going to have an air of sadness about it.

Any way - An enjoyable day out, not dis-pleased with a point, just a shame we couldn't have made it all 3. It was a very solid, competent performance though and I feel pretty good about how things are going at the moment. I guess the fact that we can take 2,500 odd away from home when ensconced in mid table suggests I'm not the only one. 8)

We didn't realise it was Joe Cole until he was substituted either.  £18 for me and my 12 year old.  I doubt there's a cheaper away day?

The Wigan game is going to be interesting, we can play without any great pressure now, so the young lads should be able to express themselves a bit. The last 3 Sky games have been fairly horrendous, so hopefully no repeat.  Further, I'm hoping that Will Grigg, will be called up by the Ulstermen.

The last 3 Sky games include a win and a draw against Sheffield Utd no?

Yep I forgot those. The point still stands though, hopefully the pressure will be on Wigan, and our lads can play with freedom.

Not a bad point but Coventry were there for the taking. Their defence was pretty solid but if we'd shown a little more cutting edge we would have won.

Some nice football though and can't argue with a clean sheet. Sendles-White was excellent and should hopefully keep Branco out of the team. Belford did very well in goal too, distribution was good and he went long when had had to. Good save at the end too (only one I think he had to make) to prevent what would have been a cruel defeat.

Great support as has been mentioned, shame we can't do it more often. Bumped into the team before the game in the Novotel, had a little chat with Ross who came across very well, Luke Williams also had a quick chat with us.

Final away support total was?

They're giving the final figure of 2442 which was the total number of tickets sold in advance but I'm sure people were paying on the day. It would have made no sense for Coventry not to allow that to happen.

They were. We spoke to some of the stewards and they were definitely selling tickets on the day as the 'away cash turnstile was open'.

The old tax dodges are still the best.

Good away day, atmosphere was superb, game a bit dull.

I thought Coventry were there for the taking but we lacked a cutting edge, play too slow in the final third and too many misplaced passes.

Defence was superb, all three of our CB's were in top form. Turnbull shades it for my MOTM.

Belford made a superb stop in injury time but otherwise he wasn't troubled.

Doughty was a frustration, he clearly has talent but he's a lazy f****r who doesn't like a challenge.

I was disappointed that Williams didn't just throw caution to the wind and chuck on another striker with 10-15 to go.
We had nothing to lose and a win would of kept our slim playoff chances alive.

Well done to the trust and all involved to make the day what it was, it won't be remembered for what happened on the pitch but off of it.

Good points Chrys, unfortunately the only forward we had to chuck on was Hylton!
Maybe Williams made the right decision.
Still a good day out though.

Oh forgot to mention, Stephens came over and clapped the Town fans before and after the game and got a very good reception which was nice to see as with some of our fans, ex player = must boo. He played very well for Coventry too I thought, would love to see him back here permanently.

 :o

Think you've spelt his name wrongly.

It's RODGERS

Just watched the highlights - expected Belford's save to be the second coming of Banks but, alas... If that goes in, you're going to be pretty pissed off.

The huge over-positive description of saves really pisses me off, particularly with commentators. A great save is one you wouldn't expect the keeper to make. Simple as that.

Other than that, looked like we were just slightly off our game going forward but pretty good at the back. Won't be many times Ajose, Obika and Doughty fail to create a clear cut chance.

I wouldn't expect Belford to make a save if it was fired straight at his face

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

That's an excellent point.

Ok I'm probably in the minority here but what has Belford done to warrant the stick he gets? Any player in a Swindon shirt who gives 100% will always get my support. Belford took his chance on Saturday, done what he had to do and the save at the end was top notch in the sense that he had bugger all to do in the 93 minutes before it, he could have easily been caught napping. Credit where due.

You had to be there - It looked relatively straightforward on the highlights (although a good save nonetheless). At the time though, viewed from the other end of the ground, it looked like a 'worldie'.

Regardless of its technical merits though, it was a vital save at a vital time. He did the business when called upon and can't do any more than that.

Just watched the extended highlights on the OS and I thought we looked very good apart from the end result (which is what I thought at the time but sometimes things look different when you watch them back - see the above point).

Just home from a weekend away in Northampton (the wife at a seminar there) so was my first game since Wembley so heres how I saw it.

Obika and Turbull were equal MoM for me, possibly JO just shading it, his pace was brilliant all game.
Both Thompsons class on and off the ball.
Sendles-White very solid and is a good acquisition.
BOO no right foot and got into 2 or 3 good positions when if he had a right foot would have scored I am sure.
Brophey eager when came on if a little off the pace but still good with the ball at his feet.
Barry solid going forward and defending but needs to cross the ball in faster at times, looked solid too.

Impressed with Doughty, is the strong running midfielder we have been missing, gave a few balls away but was not bad overall.
Not one of Ajose best games but he didn't do anything wrong he just was not in the box in his best position to score had to come deep to get the ball before passing it rather than being in the box hoping for a sniff of goal.
Belford played well, saved everything thrown at him and his late save from Henderson was very good, but he needs not to kick long quite so often.
Rodgers was a passenger most of the game and ducked away from tackles and headers more than he touched the ball, keep running backwards away from the opposition and going hiding, was definately our weakest player.
Robert when he came on looked too eager to impress trying a few tricks with little end product, his bicycle kick though had it hit the target could well have been a world class goal but looked off the pace a bit.

Turbull has picked up a bit of pace this season and Armstrong and Forune were no match for our defence as a unit.

We seemed to always be taking one too many pass in front of goal or trying to make an opening rather than belting the ball when the chance arose, Ajose probably guilty most of this.

Coventry fans were very quiet most of the game, the ground is too large for them currently but they have a large fan base so crowds will pick up when they start playing consistantly which they could.
Didn't realise Joe Cole was actually playing until he went off. Fortune for them was an absolute donkey with no control or pace and wayward shooting boots.

They were under the cosh almost all of the 1st half from our passing and running, we were first to the ball in midfield and at our back all the time.
Thier keeper looked shakey at times but all out shots were easily saveable height for him so was not overly bothered and had less to do than he should have had with the amount of possession we had close to his goal.

I am shocked the possession stats read something like 52% to us when I felt it was nearer 65-70%, first half must have been almost 80% to us, and the BBC site saying it was a "dour game" is not exactly true, it was entertaining even if there were few good chances for either side.

Loved the feel of the Ricoh Arena (my first visit there) even if it was only 1/3 full of home fans, but I think the picture of Jimmy Hill put their players off ;)

Special mention to Stephens at end, much respect for him.

I haven't heard Town fans so vocal for most of the game for many years and near 2.5k was a great turn out considering where we are in the table.

Our whole midfield lacks bite, it has done for a few seasons.

Where they the Henderson and Murphy that used to Don the red shirt?

They are both indeed the same. Coventry at the end had Stephens, Ricketts, Murphy and Henderson all ex Town players.

Henderson looks like he still has it even though hes twice the weight he was when with us.

Are you serious? He was dreadful. Probably alarming for Coventry that he had their best chance!

I thought he was overweight but looked their best attacking player, Armstrong and Fortune both looked very poor, only when DH came on did they even look like they had an outlet up front.

Other than Stephens I would not take one of their players in swap for any of ours, they were very poor over all.

Henderson definately deserves the tag "journeyman striker" though.

Rickets!!? Fuck me we still couldn't score?

He was useless for us but I hold him in high regard for the salmon like leap of a header against Sheff United in the playoffs.

A header Shaun Taylor would of been proud of!

According to some Cov fans after the game, that's the best he's ever played for them!

The more I read this thread the more I realise how much I had to drink.

Vigs on sitting in the stands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35871706

Definitely reading too much into it, but I love that he wasn't all OUR FANS ARE AMAZING and TY IS A TOP LAD GREAT TO SEE HIM DO A WORLDIE. I can't remember the last time I saw a footballer say "We get on quite well" about a teammate.

He was born in Camden, Ells. Give him some slack