Thetownend.com

Fancy a 2-1 win here.

Its on ifollow for UK based people this evening for the princley sum of £10

So if you happen to be in America, you'll pay less. Funny that, I'm catching a flight to New York at around 2pm :D

  Tonight should give us a decent indicator of where we're going.... can we do midweek games this year   Can we do away games this year.  :hmmm:

 PB has already had a crack at Crawley back in April, and failed to mastermind a win.  Crawley were a little like us last year better on the road than at home, and they've started that way this season.  The point last year, wasn't what was required at the time, but a 1-1 would be very acceptable this time.

Surely we won't go in with the same centre backs, although not really many options. Romanski isn't ready to play centre back at this level so would probably be my first choice to drop even though Lancashire is awful.

I'm going tonight, probably the most local game for me.

I'll go for a 1-1 draw.

Its what we do at the back and what formation we decide to play, perhaps it is worth giving the Milwall loanee another gamne

Robbing Bastards,  Wiltshire Sound for me,  hoping for the win but like most on here think the draw would be acceptable.

Same here.A repeat of last season would not be disastrous

Be happy with a draw but a 2-1 loss for me.

You'll never make it in time! :-)

I have a two hour private meeting at the same time as the game........

Haha, 2pm UK time. Flight lands NY time at 5pm :) Cashback...kinda  ;)

Edit: Yes I'm aware the game will be finished UK time :crash:

I'm going to get round it all by going to the game.  The old man doesn't fancy it as he's a bit under the weather, we've got him all set up to watch from his iFollow he has for when he's in Spain.

Hoping it's more PDC than DF.  We should score, they should also score, hopefully Richards comes on to secure the win.

Not confident. Will take a point.

Costs me a fiver to watch, I've not decided if I will yet.

Could this be like the whole Julie scenario? Can more than one person log in and watch at any time or is it just one device ?

They've cracked down on that I think. Shame.

Pre match clean sheet mentality in The Downsman.

Hoping for a glimpse of some off duty trolley dollies, but I guess they'll appear when they are good & ready and not before.

Interesting what the selection will be today.
The team that started on Saturday, the one that finished, back three or completely different.
I'd go with 2 holding midfielders to protect whatever gruesome twosome is picked in centre of defence.
Then just let the attacking 4 do their thing.

Should be an interesting game tonight.

Crawley 2-3 Swindon

Crawley play quite good passing football for this level.  Morais is good and might give Taylor problems.  They also have Ollie Palmer (ex-Lincoln) up front who is 6' 5".  Given our weakness in the air at dealing with long punts, I wonder if Crawley will be more direct than usual.

 I remember turning over Crawley 3-0 at their place under PdC... earlyish in the season (Sept) after a couple of home wins.

 Sort of scoreline that makes you think.... hello.  The Baggage Handlers had a young Michael Doughty in their line up  :)

And we had a young miles storey come on and make a difference.

That was the Mehdi Kerrouche show, after we lost the first 3 away games. That game was the kickstarter for the season.

Dunne starts

Alzate comes on and creates 2 goals but thats not enough to start? The young lad must sit there and say wtf does Dunne have that he doesn't.

They are completely different players

I actually thought Dunne looked okay on Saturday when he came on.

Crawley Town v SWINDON TOWN: Vigouroux; Knoyle, Lancashire (c), Nelson, Taylor; McGlashan, Diagouraga, Doughty, Dunne, Anderson; Adebayo.

Substitutes: McCormick, Romanski, McCourt, Smith, Iandolo, Richards, Alzate.

I'd have Alzate over Anderson, but I can understand why he'd put Dunne in ahead of one of those two - we can't go around giving away leads to other teams so easily.  Dunne is in to offer protection for the defence.

Social media pricks labelling Brown as clueless already before the match has started. Oh my

How can 2 holding midfielders away from home be confusing for some people?

They should probably try following a new sport really

Why? because he picked Dunne? they obviously havent seen him play under PB as he is a totally different player to under Flipflop.

Give the defence as much protection as we can.

Brown on the radio saying we're tracking a Championship centre half and that we'll have an "international footballer" for the press conference on Thursday. That San Marinese thing might have something in it, could be a fun one.

good save from Nelson...by Vigs..

Crawley look lively. early days

just wide from Crawley. I'll shut up now

Keep posting batch, better than the adver thread

1-0

gooooooooloooooooooooooooooooooal dunne

They aren't calling for Dunne to not be playing now are they?

Dunne scores!

Bloody lovely to score from another team fucking it up passing it around at the back.

Hahahahha - Crawley have been watching our tapes too closely, right out of our comedy defending classes.

odd one that.  pissing around at the back, full back played a too short one back to the keeper,  Dunne ran in and blocked the clearance, the rebound creeping in!

Not Crawley, just Poleon and Nathaniel-George

Great closing down by Dunne on the keeper TBF.

Brown is a genius ;-)

Lancs nearly scored with a good chance.

Today maybe ;)

Ollie Palmer looks like Christian Roberts on steroids.

should be two. good work and a cross from the bye line inside the area from mcGlashen, Lancashire volley into the ground with goal gaping

Lancashire could have scored 3 already if he could connect properly.

Up to second. If we’re not promoted by xmas Brown out!!

Would have been too much for both Dunne and Lancashire to score  :D

Romanski should teach him how to run into them properly

we are probably on top now. not created much but have improved control of ball

:D

Toums and Nelson both started well today.

Toums doesn't connect at the near post from 4 yards out.

Connolly elbows Nelson in the face in the box, the ref doesn't see it.

lots of little trips leading to free kicks, breaking up play.

don't think mcGlashen is making friends with the locals....

Dunne fires over from 15 yards with an open goal.

pooh nearly 2. good interplay set knoyle away, poor shot blocked by keeper, Dunne skied rebound

Doughty playing right midfield so is cutting inside all the time, not sure it suits him TBF.

If anyone believes we would not be better with Alzate there then they are mentally deficient!

looks like mcGlashen is right to me

McG is right wing but Doughty is playing very wide for him, hes more effective in the middle or left.

Why? If you are playing defensively then Dunne is the better choice

Great interception by Nelson saved a goal.

good block from Nelson as hesitation from Taylor let them in (difficult one for Taylor). bit of a scramble thereafter but we live

Theres no doubt that Alzate is far better going forward but defensively Dunne is better.

2-0 Anderson

goal 2-0

Great goal in at the near post.

adebeyor down, played on to Anderson inside area on right. he's cut in and hit it near post.

keeper should be saving those, but who cares.

Keeper thought Anderson would go accross goal with the shot but Anderson popped it in at the near post from 8 yards.

I'd have played Alzate instead of Anderson   ;)

Since their early 15 mins of pressure down our right Crawley have offered very little attacking.

thought they were just waking up when Anderson scored

Adebayo just offside with just the keeper to beat, didn't look offside to me.

They had strung a few passes together but not really threatened much, Vigs made a few catches from crosses, without Poleon and Nathaniel-George they would have no threats at all.

Lancashire fires over from 6 yards, ref gives a foul anyway.

did they hit the bar. yes. phew

Crawley hit the bar.

4 shots on target from Swindon, 1 from Crawley so far.

Adebayo passes to Doughty far too hard in a dangerous position.

Doesn't look more than about 1,000 there today. Very sparse.

Pretty good half 2-0

Nelson and Toums best players for us IMO.

Lancashire still not quite up to it but better defensively, just attacking at corners hes been awful.

Adebayo not having his best game, his first touch has not been great, I would like to see Richards on fro him this half early on.

Otherwise they have all played pretty well really. Taylors free kicks not quite back to his best yet though.

Do they pay the adver staff?

Although Crawley looked useful early on we started to control it and could have scored more really.

Doughty linking up play nicely, and mcGlashen really drawing the fouls. Nelson looking better and Dave is getting fitter.

I don't think Crawley are out of it yet though.

Good half.  Keep it up lads. 

That was a bit like a lower quality version of the play off game at home against Sheff Utd.  Both teams look just as likely to score as concede at times.  We could have had 4, they could easily have had a couple with some breaks of the ball.

The one Batch refers to where Taylor got caught out.  That's his issue in a nutshell, he chased a player trying to intercept and ended up stuck in the centre circle.  He just just let the player run off him there, trust the midfield to come back in or a centre half to take control.  He plays like a midfielder, gets dragged out of position, loses his positioning watching the game develop at times, instead of focusing where he is and where his inside centre half is.  Not helped by the fact that he gets no cover in front of him, something McGlashan does quite well for Knoyle.

Going forward we've looked a little more incisive I think and they invite pressure on themselves like we would have done under Williams.  Diagarouga has looked a bit better for me in this game, not fully up to speed yet, but he creates a barrier.

Anderson finally delivers something, but still gets caught on the ball.

How Doughty has found himself in this league is beyond me.

Central defenders both look ropey to me - neither of them has any consistency in deciding to drop off or attack the ball, meaning they often get under the damned thing or give the player 2 yards of space to turn.

Overall, a good away performance so far, still very much need to focus though.  Think we have another goal in us, would not be surprised for this to end-up 3-2 again, but hoping more like 3-1.

The ref blowing for any physical contact has possibly worked to our advantage in breaking the game up, as Crawley are looking to play with some tempo.

Nelson very good so far.

Interesting, I thought Nelson looked far and away our best defender so far, getting blocks and headers in which we haven't had this season at CB, Lancashire I agree with you though.

There have been a load of needless free kicks, both teams.  I can see their left back getting a second yellow with our two attacking down his wing.

It's better, lets agree on that.

Nelson blocks a good shot. All Crawley so far this half.

Toums sent off.

Dave off. harsh

Harsh that

2-1

Complete farce in defence again

balls. Smith on, Anderson off

Didn't see it first but rewound it and played it again, terrible tackle by Toums, left his foot in on the players shin, definate red card.

This feels worryingly like the Tranmere game turned inside out

Just thinking the same thing

Oh fucking nora Dunne's gone too

Dunne red card.

fuck Dunne off

shit ref

FFS, understand the situation.

Headline suggestion: Dunne, done, dumb

dick tackle though, given Dave just got sent off for same thing

Another terrible tackle, 2 footed on the shin, definate red again.

Utterly no need for the challenge, Diagarouga looked like bad timing, and it's a risk you take.  Dunne's was asking for trouble, even if he got it cleanly.

Reckless from Dunne.

Time to stand up defensively

hahaha. ok then

This team might win some awards if shooting yourself in the foot was an award.

Watch it again, he left his non tackling foot high on the players shin, definately never went only for the ball.

What a fucking stupid tackle by Dunne!!! Dave was late and looked worse than it was.

At least i don't have to watch Dunne for the next 3 matches.

I thought both were Reds in real time.

I can’t watch any more. Jesus. What a couple of dumb asses.

Absolutely cruising as well.

I would take Adebayo off and get Richards on to hold onto the ball, something Bayo cant do.

What a thick cunt Dunne was making that challenge

Doughty nearly lobs the keeper from 50 yards.

Imagine cruising

they've hit the bar

Crawley hit the bar again.

Goal or not, Dunne is such a fucking liability. Can’t see us holding out here.

Footballers really are a thick breed. 2-0 and cruising and do things like this, can't coach brain cells sadly.

This is going well, just rejoined what have I missed.

Vigs doing a bit of timewasting.

Disgusting lack of discipline.

Vigs you cheat?

down and time wasting?

You know when things are going badly because ‘Processed Beats’ starts posting.

The two dunces should be made, by the rest of the team who complete this game, to walk back in order to make back the mileage they will now have to cover.

If we win this from this position the confidence in the team will be sky high and think we can go on a roll. I fear a shitty 89min equaliser though

Dunne and duncer?

You just couldn't make it up!  Wtf is the matter with Dunne?  He really must be thick as shit

Or the headlines might read 'Tou off as Town hold out for victory at Crawley"
Better get me coat

We've won with 9 before, haven't we?

A corner, nobody has a clue how many to send up :-)

It's kind of funny when a games turns in such a farcical manner...

No?

I'll let you know in about half an hour...

Give things were going quite well in a footballing sense, it seems logical we'd throw this into the mix in comedic fashion somehow.

Worst part is we benefitted from another team doing this on Saturday so not like they haven't been warned about keeping their discipline

What tactics do you employ when down to 9 men away from home?  Best chance of points probably rests with a 3rf goal from a speculative long range effort.

Let's hope they hold out I doubt very much though.

Not sure how we are still winning TBH it feels like we have lost it already.

Some resolute defending going on by Town, Bayo is knackered and needs to be replaced.

We must be one of the most entertaining, unpredictable teams in the League. And one of the stupidest

urgh, this isn't fun viewing

0-0 at Brentford after playing more than 45 with 9 men probably felt like a win
http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19930138

Sent from my moto g(6)

From PV's lips to PB's ears

This statement is similar to a few of my old school reports.

Richards for adebeyo

Promising, albeit with probably the best defence in our history...

Some of our defending is still comical, even allowing for being under pressure.  I think one of the centre halves fell over a minute ago while waiting for the ball to come down in the box.

He reads the forum for advice :D

Seem to remember Neil Kinnock (Brentford fan) guest-writing the match report for that game in one of the Sunday papers.

I think Crawley should take the keeper off, make it interesting.

Norris is on fire at col u ::)

And you turned out OK, so there's hope for the team yet

Don't think I've ever been so pissed off while we're 1-2 up away from home before

we should have won it as well. Bodin through one on one late on. Fantastic day out, that was.

Jeez this is hard to watch, every time we win the ball we hoof it up field.

Nine brave Robins Two silly tossers.

Not all bad. Oxford have gone from 2-1 up to 2-3.

O*ford losing...again

Great save by Vigs.

under Macari on a Tuesday night IIRC, Plymouth??

beat you two it  my cat just ate his one COYR

The wife just looked at the score and asked why do I look so pissed off....I just said "Thats football".

Nelson injured, no subs remain

Don't gloat, we might yet join them :(

Oxford's record is currently 4 played 0 points and -10 goal difference.

Let's all laugh at them to ease the tension.

Sky have just highlighted we've now held out 25 mins with 9 men. Hope that kills you, etc.

Richards will score

Another good save by Vigs.

Another save by Vigs.

On the plus side, Dunne can't play for 3 games.

And, as my lad just pointed out, we've got Doughty's injury time pens to come yet

Vigs is turning into Nicky Hammand of West Ham away fame, wasn't it, or maybe Barnsley?

Foul against Doughty for what looked a fair challenge.

Sat in a darkened room putting the kids to bed refreshing this page every 30 seconds.

Too much drama for a Tuesday night this.

Was the last game where we picked up two reds the Bristol Rovers game refereed by Rob sodding Styles? I remember Sofiene Zaboub lasting about a minute. Of course they had two men sent off too.

Edit: Looked it up - all in the last ten minutes as well. Chaos. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/7099997.stm

they've missed a sitter!

Poleon unmarked heads over from 3 yards out.

And hopefully won't then return to the team after this.  6 of the first 8 games missed due to suspension.  Awful record!

How long is left?

I've just read that McNulty fella is 88kg, I'm 12kg heavier  :(

6 plus a lot of injury time

6 mins plus 5 I reckon

Vigs makes 2 good claims for crosses.

Fair play to them, I even beginning to hope for a draw now

Got to be 6 mins added at least.

This is unbearable.

Any updates on those daddy longlegs chases? Anything that isn't this game reallly...

Point would be marvellous. All 3 would be hilarious.

Alzate knows how to draw a foul.

....and my affections.

Boo, Lincoln have taken the lead

I’m thinking of eating a 4th tea cake. What do you reckon.

I've resorted to ironing!

I've just got the washing in.

8 minutes FFS

I wouldn't even bother aiming for the pitch with our clearances, stick them over the stands.

8 mins?

8 mins added!

I'm avoiding getting up to refill my wine glass for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of ying & yang.

EIGHT minutes of stoppage time. Probably fair but massive.

Gives Doughty time to get his pens in

Plenty of time for us to get a third.

My crossed fingers are cramping up.

I could knock one out to take time up

Oxford lose again.

 :)

The ref is Charles Brakespeare isnt it?  Im not saying anything as IM not there.  Im sure hes reffed it brilliatly, but why do I know that name?  Has he been a wanker to us on another occasion?

FF uuuuuuuuuuck

and tea cake in the other hand?

This is unbearable.

Vigs just got shot by a sniper

that was off the line by a Crawley player, think it was going to be 2-2. fuuuuuck.... come on, hang in there

Is it 2-2? WHAT'S HAPPENED.

The ref who sent Vigs off at the end of the Coventry game last season which was the start of his descent into oblivion.

10 v 9 now. Free kick on edge of area

Shocking forum etiquette!

This is insane!

Crawley red card!

Alzate tripped, professional foul and red card Crawley!

hahahahahahahahaha

We've just managed to catch them on the counter attack with two less players...

red for Crawley. alzate on break, 1 on 1, taken out

And Mayo against Newport

Trying not to choke on my whiskey and lemonade. Yeah I know I normally take it with water but I don’t have any beer and wanted a long cold something with alcohol.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:Fucking superb :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Unacceptable!

Fuck nearly a goal for Taylor, off the bar!

bloody hell. Taylor smacked crossbar

Free kick hits the underside of the bar. Fucking. Nora.

You are fucking kidding me. Pen to Crawley

Sent Dunne off then as well....

Classic swindon

Penalty Crawley. Jesus.

soft penalty

Richards you CUNT

Fucking idiot

2-2. Last second penalty.

2-2

Time for 2-3

Fucks sake.

Richards you utter knob. fuck sake

Ugh.

There’s some symmetry in our games

2 points lost but one gained.

On one hand spirited performance with 9 men. On other hand shouldn’t be dropping points from 2-0 lead at half time.

2-2 feels like a defeat though, wierdly.

At least it's not boring

Bonkers. Thank God for our rock solid defence

Well, whoever's writing the match report won't be short of content.

What a strange game. A great effort from the nine.

That was fucking incredible. Pity we couldnt hold

Anyone fancy one of Audrey's teacakes?  :)

So our 3 most experienced players have cost us the game.

since when was this wrote :eek:

Would have been happy with a point before the game but that feels like a loss.

Still think it was harsh on Dave, especially considering one of theirs could easily have seen a 2nd yellow in the first.

You take a point when playing for 40 odd minutes with 9 men.  Stupid challenge but players are in desperation mode by then, pressure was applied thanks to the two idiots earlier on.  Thought we'd be losing that, even with only about 5 mins to go.  If they got one you could see them scoring straight away again as we'd crumble.  So in one sense, conceding in the last minute was the best way to go.

Let the players sort out the two idiots, management should chalk this one down to experience and just move on.

Soft Penalty. Taylors shot i think crossed the line. Dave's sending off was questionable. Dunne deserved his red and lets face it is shit.

A good point considering playing so much with 9 men. Encouraging first half for the season going forward. Onwards and upwards.

So, in 4 games we've had:

19 goals
5 penalties
4 red cards
Two goals scored from back passes/keepers

Utter madness.

Surely we can't keep the rate of suicidal moments up?

Taking just the 1st half, I remain optimistic about our season.  Play offs look good to me, sort this stupidity and defending out and we might do better.

  I'm not sure tonight tells us much... had I known Breakspear was ref then getting a point is decent. At least with midfielders getting sent off we do have a bit of cover in there now.  Mohsni would fit right into this 11 10 9

Actually, I can take something else from it - Vigs looked good and also seemed ok under the bombardment when it was in his vicinity.  Last year he looked very worrying under crosses.

Mohsni would have probably walked too.

Not sure how you sum that up.

Early season, did well with 9, win at FGR and 4 from 2 away looks healthy. Still players to come in. We're in the play offs.

Positive vibes required. Hope the dressing rooms a bit lively and this makes them tighter as a unit.

Oh and one for luck...the piss stains look in deep shit.

2-2 after conceding between 60-80 minutes in that situation - meh.

2-2 after conceding with the last kick of the game in that situation -   :no:

Football, ruddy hell.

I'd love to know what the atmosphere is like on the coach on the way home.

Phil Brown on now.  Not happy with the ill discipline from the 3 senior pros who have let us down tonight, it's not good enough, unforgiveable.

The 9 showed real character. Vigs was immense. Decent point on the road. Anderson scored. We dug in to defend. All positives

Brown sounds understandably down.

And pissed off with Dunne.

That's putting it mildly....

Bit gutting we couldn't hold on but point is good under the circumstances I guess.

Stupid, stupid challenges from the 2 boys for the red. Especially Dunne. This season is way more entertaining than last season, at least...

I can understand Dunne, already in defensive mode, trying to win the ball, natural reaction. I could also see Richards cogs turning thinking keep the ball for 30 seconds that's it, If I boot it they might get another chance. Unfortunately he messed the pass up. Anyway we like to be entertained, and it was certainly that.

And i would be far more worried if I was a Crawley fan, they were pretty shit really, against 9.

Fucking knew we'd concede as soon as I saw that Crawley had been reduced to 10. Probably sounds like a stupid thing to say but I reckon that was the worst thing that could have happened to us. Players probably subconsciously relaxed a bit, thinking they were that little bit closer to the win. Would have been better to carry on playing against 11 imo. Absolutely gutted with the way it ended but big credit to the 9. Was it definitely a pen at the end & were either of our reds fouls that needed to be made?

Just scrambled for the 959 to Victoria. Extraordinary game. First half they started well but quite quickly we were piecing together our best half of football so far. Dave was excellent, not only destructive but then passing forward with intent. Nelson put himself on everything, sometimes unsuccessfully but always willingly. Knoyle really grew into it. We weren't comfortable entirely but were impressive.

Then bang! Two reds. Both fair on reflection. Then absolute heroics. No faulting any of the remaining 9. Genuinely thought we were going to do it but it wasn't to be. Richards was fouled, didn't get the decision, chased back and gave away a silly pen. No complaints.

Would have taken a point at 55' but the fans and the 9 deserved more.

Brown furious. said players may need to go out re bringing new players in. Dunne's tackle he described as two footed and he was, imo, rightly furious.  Dave he gave some latitude too as coming back to fitness which was fair.  Dave a bit unlucky imo and a reactive tackle to a quicker than expected "bounce".  

Brown asking Andrew Hawes if Andrew was content with tonight's performance had Andrew tensely scrabbling for a response :)

This tonight was a real lionheart performance from the 9 players and can't fault them. Stupid late challenge by Richards but I think it was a desperation challenge after giving the ball away.

If you think going from 2-0 up to a draw was hard for us I'd imagine those 9 players are feeling it too.

I hope we win Saturday. We owe FGR as we played much better than them but no end product

Absolutely agree with your comments on psychology as my feelings were the same. I relaxed when they when down to 10 men and then came the sucker punch.

Remember flipflop said 3 draws equal one win.

I thought they showed a bit of character tonight.

Disappointing to concede in the end,but I would've taken a point before kick off.
And piss stains lost again
Way on and upwards

That was Williams

That was Luke Williams......

With or without a creamy topping? I’ll pass though as you know i’m WW with Mrs LL and I doubt they are wholemeal.

My biggest issue is if ours are reds, which they probably were, then why did one of theirs only get a yellow in the 1st half for a very similar challenge?

Was very tense in there, would have been amazing to walk away from there with 3 points.

Big question mark over their ticketing policy, why should home and away fans all have to scramble into a poorly equipped ticket office to buy tickets?  Travelled for over 3.5 hours to to arrive with 10 minutes to spare and not get in until 6 or 7 minutes after kick off, they must know it's a bitch of a place to get to for a midweek evening game so why can't away fans pay on the gate, or at least have some ricketty old shed just for away fans?

 :doh:
Easy, the oracle thinks he’s not good enough you know.

Apologies,  you are correct,   just so pissed off can't get my brain functioning properly.
Well done to the 9 that lasted the 100 minutes,  showed real grit, showing some real battling qualities this season,  We owe FGR one (or two) so let's hope we can fight as well on Saturday,  still optimistic for the season, play offs at least.

We're a long way off being able to relax with this side..... in the cold light of day, you'd have to say being 2 up at half time and given the experience in the 11, then a decent side would see it out without alarm.

Opposition sides will note the defensive frailty and think they've a chance..... we've already conceded the most goals in Div 4, that needs to stop soon.

I hope we win Saturday. We owe FGR as we played much better than them but no end product


Only in the first half. We should have been out of sight. In the second we were as bad as they were in the first.

As others have said, I’d have snapped your hand off for a point on 54 minutes. Half time we were cruising. Dunne scored after blocking the keeper’s clearance after a poor backpass and then a good finish by Anderson. The best move of the match from us was saved but 3-0 wouldn’t have flattered us.

Second half a bomb scare. Dave’s red, to me looked harsh, just a clumsy late challenge, and then DunneManlooked hard but he seemed to get the ball. People on here seem to think both were Red cards and so have to take their word for it. Annoyingly Crawley’s best players were their wingers, 10 and 15 and they pumped in dangerous cross after dangerous cross. Vigs and the defence somehow repelled everything and somehow we made it to 90 minutes still ahead.

96th minute we broke, Alzate was put through, Crawley’s defender pulled him down, red card! From the free kick Matty Taylor smacked the underside of the bar. Sadly that wasn’t the end of the drama as Richards lost the ball and committed a foul in the box, silly challenge and a definite penalty. Dispatched down the middle of the goal.

You have to applaud the 9 players that battled so so hard and didn’t deserve the ending. Nelson, Vigs and Taylor particularly gutted at the end. Nelson looks just the player we need, hard, brave and determined.

Forgot Dunne was suspended for the 1st 3 games this season, so that's going to be 6 of the first 8 competitive games he's suspended for this season. What a piss take, especially as same ref sent him off last season as well.

Well all in all however you look at it we have 7 from 12 or put another way P4 W2 D1 L1 GF9 GA10 PTS7 and at the end of the season these results will just be viewed on the stats at 90mins rather the the game itself. Look up the A420 and see the shit they’re already in, kind of a nice warm feeling ain’t it?

Fuck me, when you check the score at 96 minutes and it’s 10 v 9 you’d expect a team to be able to hold out.

Annoying no doubt but we’ve had red cards and penalties go on our favour thus far. Good job we got so many midfielders

Ah, but this is Swindon, we never do what’s expected.  You should know that 😊

Haven't read back.

At 2:1 with 9 me, I feared the worst...

I know we got close to a win but it's a miracle we got anything!

Saw the reds...both looked like lunges.

Hopefully Brown will let his immediate frustration subside over night, deal with the discipline and remind them how well they played for 60 minutes and then how hard they worked for those that remained.

There was enough tonight to show the right personnel changes and we will challenge.

A few weeks ago we were worried if we'd be a bit toothless and we hadn't fixed the defence.  4 league games later we find ourselves top goalscorers in the division so we can probably put that one to one side for the moment.  We have also conceded the joint most - area of priority confirmed.  It's more than defenders, the discipline tonight is another factor.  That side can be sorted out, the personnel side we hope gets sorted this week.

Why was that Nelsons first league game? Immense tonight. As said plenty of promise, and also way more entertaining than last years dross!

Not long got back. Not enough cones on the M25, M4 & the A419.
Anyway, a magnificent effort, by the team that is, not the cone putter outers.

Would have taken a point beforehand and a point is what we got.
 :(

First game for about 18 months for me (for one reason and another)

First half showed we've got a couple of players who should surely mean we are in most games in this division. Dave and Doughty in particular.

Second half, fine we shouldn't have let ourselves get in that position. And the defensive/disciplinary brainfarts clearly need addressing.

But the way the 9 battled to hold on and worked their socks off for each other for 40 mins was encouraging and - if not a one off - makes it looks like this side has a bit of the bottle you need to get through tough scrappy games in div4.

The way some of them were pounding the turf, and Nelson (a loanee) was almost literally pulling his hair out after the whistle was something I don't think we'd have seen from certain groups of players over the last few years.

Sent from my Moto G (5)

Can't say I enjoyed the game after the first 45 mins, we showed little, understably after the sendings off, the 2nd half was the longest I have ever endured and really thought we could hold out.

Nelson was my MoM but all the 9 that took the battering deserved credit, silly foul by Richards cost us a game in which I couldn't see Crawley scoring as Vigs had his best game in years.

The players did look distraught at the end, all credit to them and such a shame we couldn't hold out against a very poor Crawley side that didn't create much or really trouble us too much.

Still an away point, it could have been much worse after the 2 stupid sendings off for terrible tackles.

Oh and it did look like Taylors shot crossed the line at the time, haven't seen it again yet though.

I've seen both of our reds and I can't really have any complaints. Have a look at Dave's reaction time for his red. The Crawley player loses control of the ball and Dave takes ages to react and eventually gets there too late. There was some glimpses of him in the first half, but he still seems to be like an old Morris 11 in the shed and is taking a while to get going.

I was right alongside it and it didn't, sadly.

There was a bit of an altercation at the final whistle between Taylor and one of our fans. Not sure what was said but he was probably a twat and none of the 9 left on the pitch deserve anything but praise (maybe not Richards  ;D).

I was right in line too, not in, such a shame the foul wasn't a yard or so further on, a pen surely would have sealed it.

No idea what the stone island, mouth breather had issue with Taylor for, nearly wins the game then gets abuse, definitely a twat.

We have some right numpty fans. I went for a piss and when I was exiting, some guy was going in. Something was happening on the pitch and he craned his neck and said 'what's going on 'ere then' and stood with his arm on the frame of the door blocking my way out. I tried to duck under his arm to get back to watch the game and knocked it out of the way. Of course this meant I had to endure some sarcastic abuse from him. (not sure what was said exactly as I was trying to focus on the game)

I was roughly in line with Taylor's free kick and I agree, sadly it didn't cross the line.

Well my first game of the season and didn't enjoy it.Though it was good to see some passion on the pitch(and I don't mean Diagouraga and dunne).Have to say Kyle Knoyle was outstanding

I was level with it and swore at the time it was In

Funny thing was they scored 2 in 2 minutes with a man advantage and none in 40 minutes with a two man advantage.  

A point is more than Tranmere managed.  Massive credit to the 9.  Some heroic performances.  Would single out Knoyle and Nelson as being able to take something out of the experience.  Great team spirit.

Before we hang Dunne, Richrads and Diagouraga it may be worth recalling we are in League 2.  Look at our gift wrapped first goal.

Not sure why Taylor was shooting anyway. He seems to have avoided the blame

  By way of early season games as indicators.... we've never conceded 10 in the first 4 games in Div 4 and you'll need to go back to 93/94 to find more.... 14 in the Prem.   We ended up conceding 100  :)

 I still occasionally wake up in ther middle of the night remembering Chris Fairclough's 90th minute 5th for Leeds.... FFS 99 is so much better than 100, couldn't you have held on for another couple of mins...

00/01 comes close on 9 in Div 3.... T*dd's ill assortment of cast-offs.

Scoring 9 has been done twice, in the post Prem time frame, but never in Div 4.... in 03/04 the Mooney season, it portended a good campaign.... and bizarrely 15/16, Nathan Byrne on fire and so flogged, it fell apart rapidly and Cooper was sacked.....  so all in all it's too early to mean owt.

You'd rather have had 3 or 4 players go forward and try to keep it in the corner or something? 

Had we done that we'd be very sparse at the back when we would have inevitably lost it, we had a shot, only him and Richards up, nearly scored, we had men back. 

From a strategic point of view, for me, it was exactly the right approach in the circumstances.

Should have gone for the 70 yard back pass to Vigs, who could have picked it up for a free kick a yard out,...everybody back on the line.

Or even better why didn't Richards just boot it out of the ground?

I just remember the Lids fans chanting "100 goals t'season"

If you look at the replay, the ball rebounds to Richards who should have run into the corner to try and win a thrown in/corner/free kick. Instead he loses the ball and we are forced to retreat.

Anyway, its churlish to blame anyone, the 9 men who battled hard last night all deserve credit for their workrate and desire to keep the ball out of the net.

Crawley's first goal however, was absolutely pathetic defending by Lancashire, who had about 3 chances to get the ball out of the box.

Richards would not have to even be there if we managed that free kick correctly. They were both as bad a decison as the other in my opinion. Just seems Taylor is exempt

But we lost it anyway allowing a much quicker break. Let Richards lose it in their half and win a throw in istead

Where exactly would Richards have been if we'd 'managed' the free kick correctly?  We simply could not have had more men forward so wouldn't have been able retain possession from it.

And then if we lose possession and they score you'd be saying we should have just taken the opportunity to shoot.

Indeed, the Rorke's Drift mentality can help some players out. But i order to mount a credible campaign you need to have a strong defensive mindset as a default position.  PB keeps referring to this... I guess the season may well hinge on if he can find someone to bring defensive stability.... somehow you'd think Mohsni won't be it.

No i wouldn't. If you think shooting in the 96th minute of a game when down to 9 men is the right call then fine but i would rather it was tapped to someone else to run to the corner.

Lot's went wrong between then and the goal and he is not solely to blame i just think it was the wrong choice

it never occurred to me at all that Taylor shouldn't shoot. Not for a second.

The mistake was Richards alone. it happens. He's played a fair few minutes in a short space of time after a serious layoff. Fatigue is probably a fair excuse, bit that he used it.

They could have afforded 3 or 4 players to challenge Richards so he'd never have got to the corner.

Mooney play off semi final in the corner still haunts me, Brighton won the ball and scored, knocking us out on penalties moments later.

Suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.  Bottom line is the ball would have found it's way into our box one way or another between the free kick being given and the final whistle.

We should have gone for a third in that game, Brighton were there for the taking

 I remember a 9 v 10 game v Plymuff at the CG in Ossie's good season... we were 1-0 to the good at the time.  Ossie took off Duncan Shearer, and so played with no forwards, we then scored 2 goals.... Phil King from full back and Paul Bodin, both made runs from deep into the empty spaces. A masterclass.

Shrivvy is Kinky Tom's "stone island, mouth breather" who was abusing Taylor after the game and I claim my Five pounds

Just pay your sponsorship money and stop being a shit troll

Enough of the what ifs, there were loads of positives from last night.

El Sid looks like he’ll do just fine as a CB, Vigs is still top class, Knoyle is getting better with each game, Taylor seems to be improving after 3 poor games.

Chuck in Doughty, Alzate and Adebayo and there’s the makings of a decent side.

The last 2 games have shown a real good spirit in the club.

A drab, uneventful 1-0 win on Saturday, please.

Yep tons of positives for sure. I thought Dave had a really good first half too. His passing after winning the ball always seemed positive and decisive.

Best I've seen Vigs play for a very very long time. No outstanding saves... just solid goalkeeping. Kicked well, claimed cross after cross, made the saves he had to make.

We were good up until certain players decided to fuck it up. To be so disappointed with an away point speak volumes. Plenty of positives to take from it, plenty.

This.

His superman save was pretty damn good - I thought it was in.

Funny how we defended better with 9 than we did 11.

Yes his full length dive was pretty good I agree, didn't look close to it until he fully stretched at the ball.

I daresay both Dunne and Diagouraga were asked to get stuck in by PB.

 Either challenge would have been a yellow relatively recently and probably not even a card back in most of my years.  Now it seems getting stuck in is shirt pulling, arms around and then letting go, that sort of thing. 

Seems Crawley fans weren't very impressed with us :D

Behave, Dunne’s has been a red card in the all the 30 odd years i’ve been watching the game

Hardly surprising, I don't think there are too many Town fans impressed with us.

So TBH was Toums, who it appears was after the players bollocks but missed and clattered into the players shin on his trailing foot. Both red cards in any league in the last 40 years.

Which was a real shame as Toums was playing very well at the time.

It was nice to see a team actually worse than us defensively.

Their first half performance was right out of Luke’s Defending for Fuckwits manual.

One of the good things about Div 4, is that there are usually a few proper shit teams about, who can have a particularly terrible day.

So for example both Morecambe and Crewe have gone for a sixer already... to me we look like the sort of side who could dish out the six, but just as easily be on the receiving end.  It's been a while since we administered a six of the best caning...

I thought their defence was pretty shocking all game and if we had 11 v 11 then we would have got several more than we did.

Their finishing was woeful too. They are a very poor side and even though they passed fairly well they didn't make many good chances and defensively they will really struggle this year.

The bloke that came on in midfield called Camara looked like he had never kicked a football before, one of the worst players I have ever seen, looked more like a basketball player.

I don't think we have looked like conceding 6 in any game under Brown ever, even at our worst we aren't anywhere near that shit level. As for a 6....Port Vale in 2008 but we have dished out a few 5's since then too.

That was Col U's first 6 goal win since 1996.

Yep... remember the PV game, last game of season under Malpas, they were down.  We had nothing to play for.... Coxy didn't score. They had a 17 year old kid making his debut, he's now a copper.

That must be a first all 3 of them on the internet in the same day.

Their forum is pretty sparsely populated to say the least, much like the home fans in attendance last night!

Marc Richards started up front as well.

439 Town fans at Crawley. Not a bad turn out, that. I think all FGR tickets have gone.

When watching the goals on TV, our own Matt Taylor is a studio guest. Think the highlights show is tomorrow.

 Interestingly Toumani's red, was his first in just over 400 league appearances.... he did once get one in a Paint Pot game, but that doesn't count

Watched the highlights back & still paused at the tackle he got sent off for, and to be fair the Crawley player was going in more with his studs up than Dave was. 

I guess the problem was that Dave was there just a little bit later so it looked worse as the Crawley player got the ball.

Whereas Dunne (whilst winning the ball) appeared to go in two footed