Thetownend.com

Surely we must win this one? Then again their last 5 results have been better than ours, and Michael Rose is bound to score.
2-1 Macclesfield

2-1 to Sol’s boys. One of our new loanees to score.

I’ll be switching my phone on after a long haul flight at about 6 o clock so a load of WhatsApp messages saying how well we played would be lovely.

9-0 to wigan. Pfft we'll lose there yet again.

0-1 late winner, Ben House.
 

Candy to cane it in from 5yds. It'll be sweet justice and (s)he'll bring the milkshake back to the yard for the Town!

0-1 Candice

8-0 Swindon, Sol Campbell hat trick

Our record at Moss Rose: P3 W0 F1 A8

This has got defeat written all over it.

Prove me wrong, Swindon.

difficult because we are up against the best manager in the universe.

1-1

Massive game today.... can we change the course of history and get at least a point at Moss Rose?

Macc have certainly picked up of late, so I suppose start as favourites, as we seem to be sliding again. 

A draw would be highly acceptable.  Looks like it'll be an all change XI, which sometimes works, but more often than not doesn't.

1-0 Swindon.

Pre match isolation in The Society Rooms.
As a new dawn fades are we faced with the prospect of decades in L2 and a club where Power has never lost control.

Lose today and Wellens will be in a lonely place that's for sure.

There is hope though.
We have House in the house and Canice (a red Ken of sorts) who can't wait to get stuck in. Music to the ears. I like him already.
Hopefully they can contribute some atmosphere and it's all not just a means to an end.

Was Candice in Soldier Blue (old git alert)?

Anyhoo, I’ll go for a sneaky win based on nothing at all. I’ve lost the faith.

We have lost all 3 matches at Moss Rose and I can't see that changing today.

2-1 defeat with Anderson scoring in front of 2,755 with 312 Town fans there.

We should win, we get triple the crowds they do!

However we have a skinflint chancer as an owner so probably we will lose

Yes, that is indeed how football works

We'll win against Macclesfield when comparing attendances.

Surely that stands for something?

2-1 maccs

Surely we can 'sneak' a point here,  1-1 for me.

A convincing 3-0 victory with Ben House scoring 2, being proclaimed the new Charlie Austin,and everyone talking about making the playoffs again,followed by 3 defeats in a row,House scoring once more before being returned to the Royals and we finish 19th in the league.

Raise a memorial glass to The Him for me. Never forgotten.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwJwB1JXgAAjYqD.jpg)

Ah, the old non existent midfield gambit

buy a million midfielders, play none!

if it works, great

edit: ok, one.

Looks like a 5-1-4

is adebayo gone or injured?

4-2-4?

Gone

oh. ok.

the House signing makes sense then, like for like. More to the point makes me more optimistic that we'll get another striker in

God, I hope it’s not like for like!

I didn't mean in ability! big youngster for big youngster

Good that they've opened the terrace behind the goal.
Although appeared to have just paid for the seated bit.

Never mind. Hopefully a silky display will see off the Maxonian's.

We did a shot

We are looking the better side, although I said the same at this stage last match..

1-0 Macclesfield, lost a runner

I am going to shut up.. 

for heaven's sake

Game over

Carroll has not had the most positive of starts, playing very nervously.

Carroll booked.
This is shit

Beauchamp mark II

This is an absolute pile of shit.  When you think things can't get much worse, it does.  Pathetic.

There's just no movement in the box when we are approaching it..  frustrating to watch

GTFI! Old Man Richards equalises

1-1 Richards from a McCourt free kick

never in doubt

Fucking Hallelujah

:) another post that went tits up :pint:

Old Man Richards. Fucking brilliant, I spit my tea out!  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Well that's shut up  the over reacting posters for a few minutes

No, that's still valid.  In open play there is no movement.  Our set pieces are a lot better under Wellens, you can see they work on it.

Hell of a hit by Carroll, deserved a goal.

:sofa:

 >:(Oh nasty tackle on knoyle >:(

Anyone else notice the Silks only have 5 on the bench? Do they really have that small a squad or does Sol just think it's 1999?

Candy Canes looks up for it now too. Come on Town!

If it was 1999 he would be playing in all positions and be the best player on the pitch, in his eyes..

I haven't seen any over reacting posters?

So what are golden boys, Woolery and Anderson doing then.

Well that was a shambles of a half of football.

I feel sorry for Woolfenden because he's not that bad but he is playing next to a fucking Asda Smart Price Trifle, without the sponge fingers.  Conroy is a mess of a central defender I'm afraid.

Iandolo continues to look bloody awful at times.  He has a wicked left foot but seemingly the concentration of a kid with ADHD.

Knoyle looks ok, as he usually does.  Offering a threat when going forward, seems competent enough with not much going down his channel.

New guy looked very nervous to start with, seems to have a good pass on him though and that shot was a cracker.

McCourt reminds me a bit of Nalis - there seems to be a footballing brain in there, but it just didn't find it's way into a footballing body.  He's too slow, not in sheer pace terms, but in the way he plays going forward and defending.

Anderson - I just don't see the point in him.  Nice touches, but he drags our players out of position at times.

Woolery - so much pace, looks awful at decision making.

Richards - good finish, but his open play football has been Shaun Close esq.  he offers nothing at the moment outside of set pieces it seems, a real shame we can't find a foil for him.  Must have given four or five free kicks away in the same position as the one he did for their goal.

Twine - typical youth player.  Spurts of energy, nice touch, no idea where he supposed to be half the time and goes missing in the game.

Vigs - just offers me no sense of control in the backline, and with defenders lacking any experience I think you need a controlling keeper.

oh, and could be 3-3

Not making enough runs in the box when we are approaching it

Other than that all good though Rob?

Iandolo and Twine are currently not good enough for this level, unfortunately..

Twine needs to be on the bench and coming on to add some energy, not starting.

Knoyle looks fucked

oh great. at least Candice can shoot back in there if needs be

Good effort Anderson, good save by their keeps

Woolf winning a lot of headers at the back

He's got to be thinking about House surely.  Switch with Twine for me.

Carroll has gone back to pub player mode..

Bernie knew...

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day :)

how we playing?

According to Sky, the back 4 have looked more confident as the game has progressed and we look the more likely to score again.

We are better this half than we were in the first, still no cutting edge in front of goal.  Good speculative effort from Woolery, decent save.

cheers

But "he's one of our own" therefore twice as good as Adebayo

All of these yellows are out of frustration.. 

House showing anything?

1,964 with 381 Town fans

A show home?

House is showing a bit of energy but not much else so far.  It is a horrible game to watch so probably just as bad to play in..

yeah, you can't judge him properly for several weeks. just wondered if he looks strong/quick/good in the air or anything really

Boom  :)

Get in!!!!1 fuck yes!! :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint:

Hahahahahaha!!

Get in mcourttt

Yes!

Well looks like i picked another good game to miss today! Hardly any goal action by tbe amount of updates on here. Cant even listen in while a stay at the Goddard Hotel as they have tuned tbe TVs into BBC Oxford.

Superb break.

have it

Haha and with that we seem to have scored.

GET THE FUCK IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint:

result

fair play mcGlashen, great run and cross

Assist by House.

Really unbelievable 400 Town fans up there. Power doesn’t deserve them.

Big goal. Should keep us save for the rest of the season now. Onwards and upwards.

Horrible game, but will take that all day long..

 :doh:

Come from behind win away from home. Not high quality by the sound at but will take that very happily.

Is it over? Bloody difficult to follow with no radio and few updates on here.

Poor game. Neither team deserved to win but fuck it, I'll gladly take the points.

He is a stocky unit, but fairly quick and not going to be pushed off the ball easily, but has not had the opportunities in front of goal to judge him by on todays showing.  Not a great game to make your debut in.  Good nod down for the goal which was his main contribution.

Yep

Ta. Great result not the best game it would seem.

An assist for the winner 😁.

What a load of crap that was, but it's the result that matters!

Be fair.  At 3.23pm, that was a fairly accurate state of affairs.

Always lovely to win like this, even if it is only in front off less than 2,000 in Macclesfield.

Ace. Don't care how it happened, the main thing is we wont have to read repetitive drivel on here for the next few hours..

6th best away record in the league, it really does all come down to our shit home form, just like last season.

Will Evans just scored a 95th minute equaliser for Chesterfield..  Fair play

I take it Doughty was one of those chastised by Wellens - unless he’s off.

What an absolute farce of a game.  We will not play a worse team in a league game in my lifetime again I doubt.  We were "better" second half but that could have been Macclesfield getting worse to be honest.

Iandolo was awful today, switches off so often.
Conroy turned our defence back into the one we started the season with at times.
Midfield was too slow in possession, pourous out of it.
Woolery can run but falls over the ball, runs into players and generally looks to have the composure of a kid in Catholic Priest Convention
Anderson is all over the shop, meaning we never seem to have much shape
Richards missed a sitter, scored a goal and did jack shit besides
House - not enough to judge, did well for the goal

Overall, you take those points and pray we get some more players in quickly.  The performance today was one that Flitcroft at his worse would have been proud of.

Mansfield lost their second game this season

Re: Doughty - I get the feeling that the "some players think they are better than they are" comment was aimed in that direction

I think he probably needed a rocket up the arse for being a stroppy fucker the last week or two.

He has been poor for weeks and has just seemed intent on arguing with team mates. I honestly don't think he's been putting the effort in either so not surprised he was dropped.

This. 100% this.

Doesn't seemed to have stopped the negative drivel though  :)
If we had played superbly and lost that I would have been more upset

Wellens on the wireless

A win at Moss Rose!  Fucking "ave it".

Can we put to bed any talk of "Football League black hole" for the rest of this season at least now?

15pts from Silks who are on 21pts
15pts from Lincs who are on 51pts

Hell it's only 10pts to Bury in 3rd and only 7pts from 2 PO places. We should be getting behind this and formulating a charge on the play-offs. Couldn't give a fuck if we played crap today but neither did Macc. An abysmal record put to bed in Cheshire, so anything there has never been easy.

I'll take this and bring on the fucking Imps! Hopefully with Nelson  :D

Nelson was sorely missed, even though I think he isn't quite as good as made out (gets a lot of slack for his effort, which is amazing to be fair), but he left a whole that Conroy did not fill.

Trying to sign Sid or get him on an extended loan

Didn’t look at the time of the post, just the content. It’s one of our more negative posters though, and the biggest culprits don’t seem to be posting today. Wonder why.

deservedly dropped which I saw with a wince having prayed for his return to the side. player downing tools ready for January? conspiracy...

don't care how we play. 3 points is always brilliant to have. I don't think anyone in this league can be fussy  to win and play well. personally haven't seen any team dominate a match that I have been to this season. 

Power is in the House. Probably to discuss Jan Transfer budget options with Jewell & Wellens. He says there is money to spend. Also hints at saying transfer dealings are in the hands of the manager as has been the case before with Flitcroft & Brown.

Seems happy to have Jewell in to co-ordinate as DoF so he can go back to his Swiss Chalet to count his Aden Flint money in "owd powwnd notes"

Come on Town, lets have this 2nd half of the season!

He didn't hint, he said it outright.

Also said it's not necessary to sell to bring more in, and that they want to add to the squad not take away. I think he sounded a bit miffed that money's not been spent will int he past, sort of pointing fingers at Flitcroft and Brown.

You will, it will just be more positive drivel. But it will still be drivel, that's what we do :)

Apparently the Chesterfield GK then got sent off in the 97th minute, Will Evans goes in goal, Penalty awarded in the 99th minute and he only goes and saves it...  what a day for him, probably just put himself in Chesterfield legend status

Our particular brand of consistent inconsistency was enough to get the job done today.

Added time winners are always good fun.

The challenge now is to get home with the tortoise poking its head out of the shell.

Superb! Will never have to buy a drink in Chesterfield ever again! Although why you'd want to might be another matter :)

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11599756/macclesfield-1-2-swindon

Just seen the replay of the winner. Several times. It gets better every time I watch it.

Excellent work by McGlashan to get free, great cross to House who heads down superbly to McCourt who tucks it away on a half-volley. Concise and clinical. One of very few moments of quality in the game, but it was very good quality indeed.

I'd stop at the services if I were you

On train. Cheeks are clenched.

Surely they have bogs on trains don't they?

not on northern, you crap out the window

Fair enough. Will also double as a review of their service

Nelson will train this week and be available for Saturday. Trying to sign on a perm - if not season long loan.

The fella who ends up upside down on the hoardings when the winner goes in, was that you WB?  :D

Yes, I meant that. I don't know why I said hinted. Yeah was definitely a little dig at careless spending from previous managers. Especially when he's trusted them to spend it.

Although the contrast of opinion on money to spend though...RW said "to get in experience we need to spend a little bit of money...but we need to look at that" and seemed a little hesitant in how assured he was on funds available. He then went on to say "if" Richards comes in to form then he might not have to explore that (bit risky I'd say, Richards is on his way out career wise). Of course Power followed that up with saying there are funds but it's mostly on things like wages in terms of fees but said funds are available to RW & PJ if they need to buy.

Chesterfield aint too bad for a drink. Nice little theatre too.

I never noticed that the first 2 watches. Funny.

Got to say, the headed nod back into the penalty spot by House was brilliant. Even then McCourt did his best to miss (in off the post). All good, everyone loves a late winner and away is even sweeter. Even more so against the "World's Best Manager"  :pint:

Nah, stayed at back of terrace. Economy of movement matters when over 50.  :)

What aboot the one who falls down the terraces behind the goal, in a rush to get to the hoardings after McCourt scored?  :D

They do, but the ones with the sliding doors look a bit complicated.
Basking in the glow of glorious victory has helped to ease the pressure.

Dragged out a Hoover repair and Xmas Tree back into storage dragged out for 90, ET and Half time. It was difficult to listen to at times but I stuck with it..

Good to win and build a bit for next week's toughy...any result next week would be superb.

The way that House got to the back post to head back for the McCort goal shows that he has a bit of pace about him methinks.

Onto Carroll.

A very nervous performance, understandably. He can't have trained much with the others either. Definitely some signs of him being a class player at this level, though. Hope he settles. I also think he's a round peg in a round hole in that DM position.

Even better when it's in front of the travelling fans.

Think today is one of those where getting the points is all that mattered.... it wasn't pretty, and probably raises more questions than it answers.

Not really. It clarifies that we are better than the dross in this league and not good enough to challenge for the POs.

We are a bang average mid table team.

Thinking more of where we're going with the available personnel... Can Wellens get that bit extra out of some of the lads we have who flatter to deceive? Or will tey have to be binned off as no good and start again?

Didn’t travel on the team coach bus to Swindon. Doughty and Vigs on the 1756 back to Euston. Suppose if they are London based it would make sense.

If Adebayo learns how to use his body up against a defender he will go on to be a very good championship striker

He saved a penalty too!

Isn’t that the same for every game?

Not really.... take the Lincoln game coming up next Sat, nobody would expect us to get anything, so anything a bonus. No today made that free hit possible because a loss and when we were a goal down and Vigs fucked up, that was a distinct possibiity we'd have been back closer to the drop zone, than PO's albeit on GD with oppo having games in hand.  Further would have been no win in 6, you need to break these poor runs, which happily we did.

We find it difficult to beat teams in this Div 4, think it's only 1 win v a top ten side, and that when 9th placed Tranny were reduced to 10, so it becomes more important to beat the clutch of teams below us to keep them there.

Interestingly of the remaining home games where we struggle, after Lincoln, they're mostly against teams below us in the league 7 of the 9.  So a possibilty for improvement, although Cambridge who are looking poor beat us easily, so perhaps a bit of a strtch to hope for too much

That Cambridge game got brown the sack - I wouldn’t use that as a foolproof barometer

Does anyone know where i can listen to Wellens & Powers interviews please? Cheers.

Still no posts from the cast of Sesame Street, what a surprise, we must have won.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06vfw80

Plus we’ve won the remaining 6 of the 7 games that we’ve played against the current bottom 6 sides. A point which has been conveniently ignored, in order to focus on the negative.

Everyone has their opinion of course and I'm accused of being a "happy clapper" or "rose tinter" but the fact several still harp on about fucking "relegation trapdoor" or "FL Blackhole" is beyond me. We're currently a middling L2 side with an segment of fan base which feels our rightful FL position is possibly in a division above, challenging. Right now we aren't but I see no reason why we shouldn't be getting behind the team (especially after an away win) and giving the lads a boost to mount a play off challenge. Toxic environments go hand in hand, which creates a vicious circle of "who can we blame", whereas a little bit of positivity now and again can help to achieve great results.

7pts from 7th & 6th, 10pts from 3rd. If we have people still bumbling on about relegation, some 15pts away then we can fly the flag for fucking POs and auto until it's not mathematically possible  :pint: :pint:

It's pretty great isn't it?

I have no idea what your point actually was in all of that?

Why is our result against Lincoln not the only thing that matters against Lincoln?
Are you suggesting you’d be happy with a defeat but a good / entertaining performance and that points don’t matter because Lincoln are above us?

Most of the relegation stuff is just egotistical bullshit.

Let’s apply some logic. As you suggest, we are slap bang in the middle. After 24 we had won 8 drawn 8 lost 8. After 27 we have won 9 drawn 9 lost 9. Consequently, we are in the top half... by 1 goal.

If only the top 2 could get promoted, and 4 of the bottom 7 could get relegated, then yes, there would be absolutely no chance of promotion, and an outside chance of relegation. Fortunately it’s the other way round. So, as you suggest, we have no chance of relegation, but an outside chance of promotion, and should enjoy this for as long as it lasts.

This is not a difficult conclusion to draw, but sadly some drama queens will still prefer to keep dropping hints that we are on the verge of some kind of implosion... without going so far as to predict that we will lose a match in the process.

I can still make no sense of that game.

Having seen Macclesfield in action twice, how Reg could ever have been worried is beyond me.  He could have a go up front for us and we'd still be ok, in fact, a few Czech females standing behind the goal and he might score more, and celebrate with a good hand shake.

The point is, were we much better than Macc?  No not really, a bit, and good to see it out at the end. In order to get the desired upward progression we need significant improvements.... how do we do that?  Seems two ways, work with what we've got and improve them or bin them off and try and repeat the procees of getting in some more kids and hoping for the best.

That's where we are, while this process plays out we need some points.... now it's axiomatic, that they're more likely to come v Macc  rather than Lincoln.

Simply, we're more likely to get points off the lesser lights.

Does that go down as a McGlashan assist?

Great result.  Not too bothered about the performance.  At this level the margins are pretty fine and if we can string together a few results, regardless of how we do it, then we can get the confidence and momentum to make the POs from here.

All a good win means on this forum is that the moaners are simply replaced by people moaning about the moaners. 

Not that I'm moaning about moaning about moaners you understand.

Meta moaning.

The assist will go to House, but that was probably JMcG's best bit of work for us so far.
Did really well to stay on his feet and keep going.

Wish he’d try to stay on his feet more often, I think he is capable of more of that. Goes down too easily usually.
Great result though.
I’ve grown from grudging admiration to total dislike of Lincoln and would love to see us do them over next week, you never know ?

They looked better in first 20, after that I thought we were relatively comfortable defensively. Their keeper had to make 3/4 really good saves.

Deserved the win, Carroll had a shocker for the most part but hope that was rustiness. At times there looked a player in there.

We have so much pace, we just need to use it correctly/effectively. The winner being the case in point. Great win

I understand there are games we are more likely to win, can’t argue with that.
Doesnt make any game worth any less & doesn’t make any result less important.
3pts is 3pts regardless of opposition & performance

An example of how some games are more important than others happpened in the week in the Prem.  Had Liverpool won then the title was effectively their's.... they've still got a nice gap, but it's the psychological impact. Of course that is the bit that from the outside we can only guess at and where the best managers earn their corn.

It's also the guessing bit for us fans where the fun lies.  

We only need 4 more wins to be safe, if they come on the bounce this month/next then I could be thinking of the playoffs.
Such a tight league, lose yesterday and its grim,win ugly as we did then up the table we're all looking.
Anythings possible in the next 3 months but looking at our results in early October, before pugwash was sacked, we we're in danger of joining the relegation scrap. As for Liverpool its important for English football that they never win the prem, ever.

No because it was House.

Sent from my CLT-L09

Regard to football at the "highest level", with my opinion that most sports slide further towards dissociation of belonging and a more targeted entertainment service. It begs the rather long winded question;

With Liverpool in control and a two team battle for the title receding at the time, does it not question, considering the circumstances, that Liverpool did score "that" disallowed goal? Yet for the sake of entertainment purposes and to fit with Sky Sports (insert entertainment provider of choice) dramatic narrative, we see it disallowed. To keep the "title race" open?  :hmmm:

We know there is corruption in sport and i'm not about to lay down a whole Premier League conspiracy but many often disregard corruption when the action is pointed towards our own backyard. Take UK Government for example. Many blindly believe our government do all things kosher and would never dream of manipulating the masses, stating we have a legal process and they'd be found out, etc. Our legal system isn't rigged with corruption either is it?

So where corruption is happening in big business, media, courts, government and financial institutions, why then can it not be possible to be happening at an elite level in our sports, and one that many of us love?

The way they go about things makes it very difficult to respect them.

 Football like our Government is corrupt to some degree, but in terms of the argument that some 3 points are worth more than others, I don't think the case is strong enough that the GLT was deliberately manipulated by Sky or other media provider.

They will always just shift their paradigm to suit..... so a few weeks back Man City were the greatest side that had ever played in what we know as the FL, now it's we have a title race.  Had Liverpool won or drawn, it would have been they're the greatest side of all time, and can they go undefeated and do a PL /CL double?

Possibly, however we are only "shown" what we believe to be true. A CGI version of the event that happened. It actually creates more "live" drama than it does post-match drama (which of course the tv companies hate, they thrive on having pundits put the world to rights on a referees decision) to an extent. The irony of "moving the goalposts" here if GLT was/is manipulated in sporting events, would be ever present  :hmmm:

Fucking hell really? You are sounding like the deluded Liverpool fans, it didn't cross the line so there was nothing to give. It wasn't 'disallowed' as there was no goal to disallow.

Yeah, red pill, man! Fake news, black helicopters, tinfoil hats ...

Chill out Theakston! The Liverpool game was only used as reference as Reg had mentioned it. I was just highlighting the ever more draw from sport being something that we all belong to, to something that is purely an entertainment project (especially at the top level). Of course we still feel connections with our "roots" or whatever our association may stand for but even at the "bottom up" level of sport we've seen our supporters "losing the faith/interest" that back in the day they'd have likely gone to every match possible without question.

Money, time, age etc are all factors but how expensive does live sport have to get before the "Man on the street" can no longer afford to go to even one match. It then becomes entertainment for those with privilege to only truly enjoy it. At heart lies the main point - will those that do have that privilege have the same level of connection that some of us have been lucky to have? Further, will they care for a connection or will they just see it as something to do? To say "I was there", referring to things like the FA Cup Final, Superbowl, Six Nations etc.  Matching half and half scarf with £20 programme to boot (I forget they're doing away with those).


Yes, yes PaulD I understand I'll be in for a lot of flack. Context as always  ;) How do they get those photographs of a probe in space with nothing attached to them?*


*I am aware that they are artistic impressions but there are very many strange people who use this to debunk the wonders of space exploration

So let's think about this  :hmmm:

On Sat I'd have taken a point when their lad lined up the free kick in injury time, had the ref chosen to play no more time I'd have been happy with that, similarly when Michael Doughty's pen just about crept in at the CG for 2-2 in added on time, had that been the end, I'd have settled for that after a poor performance.

Clearly Macc aren't too great, but we're not a whole heap better.... just a bit.  Macc though is a small place, with a short FL history and a longer non league history, so it's kind of understandable. However a decent club and good luck to them, I'd like to see them stay up.

Yeovil are the outfit who seem most in danger atm, if either of Macc or Notts can do something and it would be a shame to lose them, as Huish Park has become a reasonable hunting ground where we take a few.

Agreed. A longer history than our own and the PA system works.

They've been playing at Moss Rose since 1891, compared to our 1896 at the present CG footprint. 

If they go, it might mean we've got the oldest ground in Div 4 next season.... and Mansfield can fuck off, with their claims for Field Mill  >:(

No step overs, no diving, pure pace and a decent cross.

I'm not sure it really was McGlashan!

Closer inspection reveals that as the pitch was lumpy, a welcome bobble, counteracts the usual shank and lands the ball on House's head.  :)