Thetownend.com

As the excitement builds up with the visit of Morecambe.
I'm not going.
3-0 to Swindon att 6,300 (195)

2-1. They will struggle to break 3 figures support wise.

Thank fuck for that.

:banana: :banana:
4-0 to us then.
1-2 if you change your mind

2-0

No offence 4D but I concur.

 If we have any pretensions for upward mobility this season, then a game we need to be winning.  A 3-0 to Morecambe would take them above us, which wouldn't be at all good.

 We need to see some evidence that Wellens has got to grips with the home form, and Cobbelers was just a ref/lino induced one off, and nothing to do with formations/tactics etc.

Morecambe sit in 18th place (Swindon 10th) they have played 5 won 1, drawn 2 and lost 2 so far scoring 5 and conceding 7 in the process (Swindon w2 d2 l1 f8 a6 in 10th place).

Striker Lewis Alessandra has 3 goals so far and ageing New Zealand international centre back Steven Old with 2 goals for them so far.

Morecambe have the oldest professional footballer in the league in Kevin Ellison who has come off the bench a couple of times so far this season at the ripe old (footballing) age of 40.

They got a 2-2 draw away at Mansfield and won 1-0 at high flying Macclesfield this season.

Morecambe don't have any players or staff with a Swindon connection and visa versa.

In our 7 previous matches against them we have won 6 times and drawn once with them yet to win a match, with us scoring 12 times and  conceding only once. The 1 draw and one goal conceded came in the 1-1 draw at the CG in 2017/18.

2-1 defeat with Doyle scoring in front of 6,855 with 87 shrimpy people there.

Selection headache for Wellens or easy decision.

Does Yates go straight in. Who drops out if he does.
If Yates plays, is it two up front with Doyle or does he play wider with Doyle staying central.

Would playing with two strikers upset what has been a pretty good balance so far.

I'm assuming Rose in for Doughty.

I would play Yates sat behind Doyle in an advanced attacking midfield role as Doughty often plays.

Not sure after last week that Rose is fit enough to start though, nice to see Fryers and DJ are progressing faster than they were with the injuries.

I would be temped to play Iandolo at LB and Hunt at RB but I doubt Morecambe will have a  winger that will exploit Reid as much as Hussey did.

               LMc
Reid Baudry Conroy Hunt
        Lyden  May/Rose
Anderson               Isgrove
        Yates  
                    Doyle

Is probably what I think we will line up as.

Going by Wellens' comments earlier this week, he'll be playing both strikers.

My first game for ages, looking forward to it.
3-1 Town 👍🏻

Another 'must win' game,   3-0 to the Town would do nicely.

I missed that interview, what did he say?

I know in the past he has wanted us to play with 2 strikers but never had the personel to do it, I like Woolery but hes not a striker, he would be a good impact sub though, and theres no way he can drop Anderson or Isgrove unless either is injured.

I forget exactly, but something along the lines of wanting to have goalscorers on the pitch when trying to win games.

Makes sense, to most of us anyway.

The table may be embryonic in Div 4, but already you can see that the sides doing well at the top are mainly doing so because of strong defence rather than having goalscorers as such.... so Exeter at the top leading scorer Nicky Law with a couple their goalscorer Nicky Ajose yet to notch.  Plymuff similar and FGR have Joseph Mills usually a FB as leading scorer.

The Div's laeding scorer is Danny Rose at Mansfield who are below us, mainly on the basis of shipping a couple of goals per game.

We look OK going forward, but still not quite convincing defensively

Yet in the Championship table every one of the top 6 scorers are sat in the top 6 places. Also Man City in the Premier League have 2 players in the top 3 scorers.

Yes of course we need a strong defence but without a goal scorer you cannot win games. You don't score...you don't win.

You stop them scoring then you will draw games but clean sheets don't win matches, just just stop you losing them.

I would rather we win 2 games out of every 3 than draw all 3 0-0.

What is this madness?

Unless you're Northampton.

If you add the word "legally" then I agree.

We need to be more clinical in the attacking third of the pitch - whilst we should have beaten Northampton a combination of poor final ball, wayward shooting and blocked shots meant their keeper made 2 saves in the 96 minutes played.
To score more goals we need to improve this part of our game.
I’m encouraged by our start and optimistic that we will win tomorrow.

Darren Drysdale is ref, he sent off Wade Elliott at our place a few years ago  :)

Not true...

It's been done many times, yes you need goals but they can come from a variety of sources.  It would be very unusual in the modern game for a gaffer to play 2 goalscorers in the same staring XI..... for that reason, I would expect Yates to have to do a somewhat different role to accommodate Doyle, that seems to be what he's done in the past, but he might not be too happy about it.

Didn't Carlisle play him at left back?  I think he'll be OK with playing a number 10 role with Doyle in the 9..

I also think you’re onto something here.

5 of the 7 teams who won automatic promotion last season within the FL had a striker who scored 20+

I bet they had an experienced Right Back though.

I think Wellens sees him as a goalscorer, perhaps not something seen by others, besides a little run he had at Carlisle.  Anyway we'll see, should be interesting.

I'm sure they did, Numb highlighted why that is important.

He's much more mobile than Doyle and naturally comes out wide to seek the ball anyway.  The trickier bit for me is getting the wide left right and getting the best out of Anderson if Yates goes central.  Isgrove, if fit, would be the number one spot right and on form Anderson would probably be ahead of Woolery, but would that mean he doesn't influence the game and goes back to bad habits?  Maybe Isgrove needs a rest and it will solve itself a little?

Let's not do this again eh? Yes, it would be good if our front men notched, and it would really help if midfield chipped in, but we could really also do with them helping out our defence, who also need to tighten up and stop letting goals in. That about covers it, doesn't it?

im sure wellens said he wanted to play 4-4-2. So why we can't get that with both yates and doyle up top?

Anderson behind, woolery left, isgrove right + a cdm. it may seem too attacking but they are all full of running and can track back and sit into a 4-5-1 if defending leaving doyle up top.

And yet the season before there were only 2. Both in Div 4.  Last season Championship was the place for goalscorers, there were 7 20+ men who didn't go up automatically.

:nod:

That is surely to much of an attack minded team, the problem with attackers that don't always do their fair share of tracking back when they need to prefer staying up pitch, we need a happy medium.

Our issue at the moment is not scoring goals, I would leave Yates on the bench tomorrow and continue with the formation we have been playing as we have been scoring, I think we need to focus on getting the defence that big tighter and a clean sheet will do wonders for their confidence.

Morcambe are not likely to have the players that can run with pace at our full backs so hopefully they can concentrate on helping the midfield and getting back into position

I have watched every game they have played in highlights this morning and their strength seems to be through the middle.

They have scored a couple of long range efforts from midfield so far and a couple of slightly flukey striker goals from long balls played early into the box, they also attack set peices strongly.

But they looks slow and ponderous at the back and the defence has been badly at fault for every goal they have conceded, they don't have much pace at the back at all, like Cheltenumb, when Exeter and Mansfield ran at them they couldn't defend the balls into the box at all.

The Grimsby game they were beaten in the defending by them was farcical.

They do defend in numbers but seem awful when any ball is played into the box, ponderous clearing their lines too.

Burton exploited their slow fullbacks in the LC game and thrashed them 4-0 with soft goals from half decent crosses each time.

Also most of the goals they have conceded seem to be in the 6 yard box, exactly where Doyle is at his best.

https://www.skysports.com/morecambe-videos

They're going to sit deep and in numbers like Nor'ton to stop us breaking aren't they? Won't be pretty unless we can unlock them earlyish.

I have now put the link for the goals, for Morecambe fans must be wincing at the goals they have conceded so far, if you have a few spare mins watch them, especially the Burton and Grimsby games!

(https://media1.tenor.com/images/e2743e0d6f1cadddacbda79126f329df/tenor.gif?itemid=7698362)

But it's interesting, Abrahammer mentions last season as 5 of 7 auto sides having a 20+ man, however if you look at the preceding 7 seasons back to PdC and 11/12, you find that of the 49 auto FL clubs only 17 had a 20+ man, about 35%.

Going for a 5-0 thriller. Doyle two, Yates 1, Anderson 1 and Isgrove 1. 

You're really stretching the definition of "interesting" there, Reg. In this weather, you should be out putting a Balkan filly through her paces. You won't always be able to count on your statistical wizardry to charm the pants off them you know.

Diamonds are forever...forever

Had one been available, I would have.  Nevertheless you never know when a little knowledge might come in handy, meeting my Bulgarian, she was mighty impressed that I could put the Letch in Letchkov, and knew of Boncho Genchev and Bobby Mikhaelov's wig. There are sapiosexual women about  :)

6-0 Town (abroad and a bit pissed, if this works I am happy to keep doing this !)

Yes, but as ever, it's identifying the reliable scorers that's the real challenge. I hope you've been doing your homework.

Increasingly so in the days of #MeToo

Don't panic Reg, there are plenty who aren't as well

Get an early goal and we should win this comfortably.

3-0

1 - 0

2-1 town (Baudry & Woolery). 6785 (82 shrimps).

Re yates: Is it a case of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' as by all accounts we've been playing and started the season quite well.

On the other hand we haven't won in the last 4..
Could go 4-4-2? keshi, lyden, rose, isgrove across midfield. Yates, doyle up top. Woolery to come on. 

7263, with a coach load of cockle pickers.
4-0 so long as we get an early goal otherwise a frustrating match of 11 men behind the ball hoping for a smash and grab.
Back up into the playoff spaces at 5 bells.  :pint:

On the Morecambe forum they are not very hopeful of a win in their prediction thread, in 26 predictions so far 15 have said a Swindon win, 6 predicting a draw and 5 a Morecambe win, only one has a prediction of the crowd and that is a lowly 5,290, a figure we will easily beat.

A crunching 4-0 to the Robins.

We're 11-8 on with the bookies, they're 11-2 to win. for you reverse psycho gamblers..

First game today for about 20 years and wishing for a Town win whatever the score...... :)

COYMR's

Enjoy, whatever. Not much has changed ground wise..

As Sutton says, you won't see any change TBH, fingers crossed you see a big win for Town.

Doyle and Rose for us in a 2-1 win

First game was in 1963.................. The Town end seemed to be huge when you are just a Nipper.
Seeing the likes of West Ham, Arsenal, Liverpool and those itaiian lot all come and go with their tails between their legs made me think Swindon were world beaters.... Today as long as its Morecombe I really don't mind. COYMR's    

I havent been to a game this season, but from what I hear from you lot on here, and from the game the Northampton game I watched on I follow, and highlights, I think at some point we are going to hammer someone badly, be good to get that today to really arrest the 3 games without a win run

Yates and Doyle. Iandolo for Fryers. No Woolery

Iandolo did well when he came on last week. Better then Reid anyway.

Woollery is a great option to have on the bench.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDTKpgYXUAAeV9m?format=jpg&name=medium)

442 I guess

Archaic

Looks about right to me.

Except for Reid/Iandolo

Hopefully we’re in a position to sub Isgrove with Woolery after 60 mins or so

Liking the look of that team. Iandolo to take his chance, Yates and Doyle the start of a beautiful partnership up front.

2-1 Morecambe.

Once Doughty is back and Fryers along with the Norwich lad are fit again in a couple of weeks the bench will look half decent.

I considered that as an option but chose Reid for his physical presence, and the fact he won't have Hussey up against him.

Interesting that Wellens went on record saying that May was a primary target this Summer, but has hardly got a 1st XI look in.

He has looked pretty poor when he has played so far, which is a shame, I had high hopes for him after what my Pompey supporting mate said about him.

Big chance for Iandolo, he did well at 'Numb last week when he came on, chance to impress which for me he hasn't very often so far in his 50+ games for us.

(https://i.postimg.cc/t4WG6Jqd/Screenshot-2019-08-31-at-14-23-52.png)

Listening to the Morecambe comms...thinking they are off microphone....OMG they are funny as fuck!

Apparently they had chicken, ham and leek pie for lunch!

Luckily Wayne O'Sullivan is shit

Is this on Ifollow video? If so anyone recomend a good vpn to use for it?

There must be 20 Shrimps there today at the moment.

TBF these Morecambe commentators are funny as fuck, they have no idea we can hear them taking the piss out of Radio Wiltshire!

Hilarious. Sounds like John Cooper-Clark riffing!

With that team it's at least6 goals for us with a tate hattrick

That's almost a wokful.

They just said "here we are at the County Ground being listened to by nobody other than ourselves!" how wrong can they be?

They seem to have swelled to about 30 now!

I think the lines are crossed. Morecambe fans seem to have BBC Wilts, and we've got theirs. They think no-one's listening, and it's priceless.  :clap:

My stream doesn't seem to be working today, so it's TEF updates for me.

I just txt them to tell them we are all listening when they gave out the mobile number!

Good defending by Hunt.

Keshi fouling on the half way line.

Morecambe playing well so far.

Your moment of fame JJ. They think they’ve got it sorted now, but I’m quite enjoying the end of the pier show.

Yeah they read it out! :)

1-0 Doyle.

Yay. Yates. Oops Doyle. They said Anderson.

Keshi 20 yard shot defelcted into the path of Doyle who slots in under the keeper.

And that's why it's so good to have a poacher.

Chance for Morecambe, goes wide.

Another good break by Keshi cant find Doyle in the box.

Have we found our 20 goal a season striker?

Poor challenge by Rose, got away with that.

It seems likely if we keep getting balls in the box as we have.

Keshi shot blocked from 20 yards, then Isgrove finds Hunt and his cross goes out to Iandolo who hits it high and wide on the cross.

And if we get to keep him for the season.

Anderson looks really up for it so far, hes getting in shots where he didn't previously.

Town kept possession for about a minute 20+ passes. Poor final ball though.

Conroy poor clearance but finds a red shirt, luckily.

Loads of tidy passing, but not getting through their lines the last couple of mins.

1-1 not great defending.

ER, not the best from Rose. Gifted. Neat finish mind

All because Iandolo can’t handle the passing. Bad error.

Town stood off him as he came down the right and the finish was nice in the corner.

5th goal of the season for Alessandra.

Awful defending by Conroy who gifts the striker who volleys it and a great save by LMc.

More poor defending by Town, they have a shot just wide.

We have lost our heads a bit at the back.

They are pressing us well and we're struggling with it.

We’re looking over-confident and getting sloppy here. Given them three shots in two minutes.

And we finally get BBC Swindon.

2-1 Yates

nice.

2-1, Yates

Ball threads thro from Anderson to Yates who whacks it under the keeper.

Great goal, good link up play by Anderson and Doyle

Now tighten up at the back and keep pressing them, they are weak at the back...as we are today.

Created by Keshis aggression again.

Anderson and Doyle are playing so well, Yates took his goal so well too.

Best player on the pitch so far.

Poor cross from Isgrove from a lovely move by Anderson and Hunt.

cracking cross! 3-1

Isgrove hasn’t got his passing or crossing quite right yet today.

hehehe

3-1 Doyle

Morecambe playing the offside trap very badly. Two great finishes from Town.

Great cross from Isgrove onto Doyles head from 6 yards, poachers goal, brilliant.

I’m going to leave the comms to PV.  :-[

Another fab cross from Isgrove. He’s so good.

Sign him up.

We are playing some decent football so far, and against the wind too.

He has done everything asked of him so far since he signed on loan.

Lyden felled in midfield after running into problems.

Long ball from Hunt finds Yates in a good position on the wing but hes just offside.

Put a bet.

Doyle first scorer and Swindon to win 3-1.
Be nice if stayed this way.

Great move from Isgrove to Anderson and his cross/shot goes out for a corner to Town.

Not a great corner from Rose, Baudry down injured in the box.

Clear foul by their number 5 on Conroy but these are never given.

In midfield they look ok, defensively though they are slow and keep playing the offside trap, we are playing well against it so far, the keeper also looks a bit suspect.

Iandolo being drawn well out of position by their winger leaving gaps in our defence on the left.

Rose moved back to LB letting Iandolo move forwards.

Lovely move from Town finds Isgrove who cuts inside and lets fly from 20 yards with his LEFT foot with power and the keeper saves it.

Iandolo to Keshi who finds Hunt in the box but his touch is a little hard, Hunt should have dived it would have been a pen.

Northampton 3 Plymouth 1, that is a bit of a turn up

What Hunt was doing in the striker position in open play though is beyond me!

Anderson good run and is brought down 25 yards out and central, FK.

They can’t cope with Keshis direct runs.

Anderson straight at the wall.

Hes best player on the pitch so far easily.

We look fucking ace

Surprised we’re not leaving those to Isgrove today.

Hunt 50 yard cross/shot saved by the keeper ;)

Going foward we look excellent, great football, defensively still a bit weak though.

Doyle chasing everything down, one of them will work and he will win the ball and get a goal.

Hospital pass from Rose. He’s struggled a bit with the close passing.

Town deflect a shot wide from a free kick. We still look a bit loose at the back.

Jeez Rose error again.

Good punch from LMc, the follow up shot wide, not defending well again.

We look better with Rose at LB than Iandolo but we still miss a proper LB as neither are good there.

Isgrove great cross inches away from Yates as the keeper just gets a finger to the cross.

HT 3-1 decent so far.

Yates and Doyle working well as a pair on the shoulders of their slow centre backs, with Keshi making dangerous runs through the middle behind them - I'm liking him in that role. We've got a diamond with Lyden and Conroy playing the out-balls. All our defensive problems are coming on the left where Rose is struggling and Iandolo isn't really either helping him out or offering much going forward. I just don't get the point of Iandolo. (Cue match-defining half from him.)

Very enjoyable. Slack as a yak at the back.

Glad I don’t have to listen to the Morecambe fella calling Lyden Linden any more!

It's almost too easy, we have given them a few chances through over confidence or switching off.

Going forward we look a real threat, could be five or six if we switch on here.  Doyle looks a good signing, Yates plays the 10 role well and Anderson has the freedom of the pitch today and is reveling in it.  Isgrove is still not 100% I don't think, but even at 80% he's classy.  Iandalo got pulled out of position a fair bit, and that wing is a worry for us today, fortunately we have most of the ball though.

Lyden is a big upgrade on what we've had for the past couple of seasons.  So composed and not afraid to get stuck in.  Knows his role.  Rose looks a bit off the pace today, which is to be expected.  Probably a good game to get some rustiness out though.

Overall, this feels like the McMahan team in 95/96 - we look better than the opposition in every game - but that doesn't equate to winning them.  Today we are showing we are a cut above when we want to be, but it has also exposed we can be our own worst enemy as a result.

Based on the first five and one half, we look like we could be on for a good season, it's in our hands.

I agree I am afraid to say, I don't think hes good enough.

Rose is playing well out of position most of the game and is unfit TBF to him, not having a good game though, Conroy also not playing well at the back, Hunt is playing really well though.

Big half coming up, if we can use the wind behind us to shoot at every chance then we could score a hatful.

Corner to them 15 seconds.

Better defending by Town then cutting out a good ball in the box by Conroy.

Iandolo poor clearance puts us under pressure.

Morecambe bringing the game to us so far this half.

Isgrove wins a corner.

Nearly. Clever corner.

Isgrove to Doyle who hits it over the bar, nice different corner, didn't qute work.

Anderson long pass really bad when we were attacking, his first real mistake of the game.

Hunt makes a good run from fullback, finds Yates but his pass to Hunt is not good, I think he should have shot with the wind behind our backs.

Why won’t Yates shoot?!

Keshi wins a tackle who then finds Yates but his pass to Doyle is well over hit in the box.

I agree with Phil King, why the hell arent we trying long range shots when we get space.

Morecambe defence looks so slow and ponderous on the ball, we should pressure them a bit more, they are full of mistakes.

Iandolo totally wastes an attacking free kick giving it away.

Yates being bullied off the ball quite easily this half, not holding the ball up well, but hes still linking up with Doyle quite well.

We arent keeping the ball as well this half and our passing and breaking not as slick yet.

Funny all their moves are coming down our right this half.

slow start to the half from town.
inevitable Morecambe would come at us, but it's slow, lethargic and error prone from us.

still think we'll get another though

Iandolo turns attack into defence when he refuses to cross.

Yates puts in a good low cross but its cut out in the box.

Much prefer having Phil King as summariser rather than Hockaday, enjoying this so far but would love Anderson to get on the scoresheet

I would get Iandolo off and bring Reid on and put Hunt to LB.

Iandolo just isnt good enough.

Isgrove wins another corner.

Woolery on for Yates.

Corner onto Baudry head but its wide.

Positive move. Back to our usual formation. Taking more pace to them.

Good ball from Lyden to Anderson but his pass down the line to Woolery is short.

6,877 with 83 Shrimps.

Wow that was a good guess :)

not a great half

LMc misses a cross totally but the Morecambe player misses a sitter.

We’re fannying around in our area.

Some very poor defending by us today.

Iandolo...get the fuck off the pitch FFS.

Hunt nice cross to Anderson but its inches behind him and he cant connect properly to the cross, nice move.

End to end stuff this last 10 mins, corner to them.

All scrappy though.

Woolery good dribble and run but his cross is blocked for a corner.

Yeah little quality but there are still goals in this game, for both teams.

Anderson so many sloppy touches this half.

Good move by Town but it ends with Isgrove shooting just wide.

Great first half not so good 2nd, still playing well though over all. We haven't made as many good chances this half as we should have.

Has the defending been better with Rose at left back?

I would say that 3/4 of Iandolo's passes have been either backwards or gavin away today.

Rose has been back in midfield this half.

Rose has hardly had a touch. They’ve barely tested us at all that side this half. But I wouldn’t say that was a judgment on our quality.

Anderson off for May.

May fells Woolery when he had the ball and running at them.

Iandolo down holding his hamstring.

Reid on for Iandolo.

4 mins added

Woolery 25 yard shot easy save though.

LMc makes a fingertip save from a cross/shot.

FT 3-1.

Solid professional performance, better in the first half than the 2nd, never looked like losing.

Doyles goals the difference today.

How much was that worth then?

Disappointing 2nd half, but I think it's a good sign we can say that despite winning 3-1.

Too sloppy at times, we need to tighten it up. Looking good, though.

A mixture of being a bit sleepy and deciding to take the foot off the peddle of a second half.

Iandolo got worse as the game wore on and Anderson became a non event.

Job done.

30/1

All my bets came in today.
That has never happened.

Gonna get myself a lottery ticket.

3 points, no injuries, no cards, not too much effort needed playing in 1st or 2nd gear most of the game and week before we next play so ideal really. We didn't even bother playing second half as they posed little or no threat.

What cumulative odds?

Wasn't there some talk after the fixtures came out of us having a tough start, and we could risk being in trouble by the end of August?  5th, three points off the top and looked comfortable today.

I was going to comment on this.  I looked at our fixtures and was predicting 5 points and potential meltdown by the end of August.  Just got to hope we push on and build on a good start.

Also worth mentioning the officials in a positive light today. They got nothing important wrong. I even checked Yates's goal, which was very borderline, but just onside.

Can’t seem to put 2 halves together. That was dreadful 2nd half - sloppy, lackadaisical and loads of individual errors. A better team than Morecambe would have beaten us today.

And, tbf, they looked a decent outfit on the ball.

But they weren't a decent team, what's the point in over doing it and risking injuries. We won the game first half so second was a non event. When a team has no threat it's inevitable that the performance drops.

I wonder if Wellens told then not to over-exert themselves in the 2nd.

Morecambe looked half decent in midfield, they had a striker/winger that looked ok, the rest of the team was shit TBH.

They never looked like turning us over at all today.

We did our job, we didnt need to extend ourselves or turn up a gear, the defence still worries me at times but that was a solid professional performance, we won, we didn't need to do anything 2nd half even if that does upset us as fans.

I pointed out that Scunny a recent graveyard, and them being pundits favourite, followed by 4 games against teams we failed to beat last season was a tough start.  Happily Scunny seem poor, and we edged Carlisle.... didn't beat any of the other 3 mind.  That's OK as it's the sort of start that Scunny have had that needed avoiding 8 points was fine.

Without a poacher (Doyle) today would have been a draw, he is the player up front we have been missing.

They had a lot of the ball second half but thought we contained them for the most part. It was a bit of a non event. Decision making wasn't great from us. Think the frustration comes because it was evident from the first half that we could have created and scored more if we went for it.

I'll take 3 points off top at the end of August all day. There are many positives for us to take moving forward. Not least having a proper goalscorer in Doyle. Doesn't do massive amounts in general play but stick him in front of goal and it's likely going in. Beggars belief that Bradford were playing him as a 10.

Just need to supplement the squad with a couple. I'm confident we're looking at top 7 minimum.

Had the feel of a freindly about it if i’m honest. Good start, let them in with a gift but had that something to get back in and secure the points. Last season we would have struggled to win that.

I think more a case of ' game won, keep it tight' and Morecambe getting a half time rocket and not much to lose.


Odd game really. Very much controlled the game first half yet could have gone in at 3-2. Guess our defending wasn't that good, but we moved out around well.

Second half felt frustrating and disappointing, yet we kept them out so we did the right thing.

Somebody boo'd in the DRS, which caused somebody to rightly tell them to STFU. Was amusing because it led the latter inviting the boo boy for a scrap :) Youngsters!

3-1. Up the reds

Yeah I heard that, along with some other fucktards loudly complaining when we had possession but chose to pass backwards. This was in the 2nd half when we're winning 3-1 and keeping the ball is the important thing.

Bizarre to find fault with that. 3-1 with out breaking sweat. Move on to the next week and then back-to-back home games.

My lad wondered if perhaps the persons concerned hadn't watched any football before :)

Second half, yes, but first half we were electric

Fair play to Doughty today, saw him before the game playing with the kids in the inflatable pitch in the FanZone. Great experience for them - until he two-footed one of them from behind and sent him flying (he didn't).

Cracking first half, dire second.
Still its 3 points.

Let's hope we see more of the first half showings and lot less if the 2nd 45.

Off to Lorient next week  :pint:

Oh and spotted Doughty on his scooter leaving the CG

I meant that the teamsheet had already been announced with Iandolo starting in preference to Reid.

Nice little stat, we have the joint top and joint 3 top scorers and their minutes per goal are 82.  No one else in the list is below 100 minutes except Andy Williams (97 mpg) who we can discount as at least one of his goals was an outrageous cheating nonsense!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/league-two/top-scorers

Oh, and Oxford lost. Again. At home.

They drew 3-3

They didn't.

Anyone who was upset by the second half doesn’t understand football.

Oh, that must have been a late flurry

That kind of sums up a number of fans it seems, was shocked by how many were starting to have a go at the players in the 2nd half but I probably shouldn't be surprised!

See, this is what makes football so great. I wouldn’t say electric, lively yes most certainly. I thought both Carlisle and Northampton we were electric for large parts of both games though we did fade away for parts during those games like the second half today. What pleases me is we are still gelling and will get better plus there are more players to come in before Monday PM. And then the Jan window to dabble if we need too.

They did, Fankaty Dabo with 2 own goals in the 85 and 94 minute.

There’s so much wrong with this post I’m not sure where to begin...

Indeed
+1

Highlights are up

https://youtu.be/izTSdy1pOcA

Nothing of the second half  :no:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90-1c9o3uLs

They are two corking own goals too - striker’s finishes

What a transformation in Keshi Anderson's performances since being transfer listed. Involved in 2 goals yesterday and certainly seems to be more focused on end product rather than just running in to trouble. His movement in combining midfield and attack is very impressive and opposition defenders really struggle to cope with his pace, control and direct runs. He was our best player in the first half yesterday and although like the whole team his performance was much less dynamic in the second half, he was my motm. He is an automatic pick now so well done to both Wellens and in particular Anderson for the change.

Anderson has been our best player this season, when he hasn't played we struggled to create chances.

It could be a master stroke by Wellens to shock him into performing(which it has so far), or Wellens may really want rid of him, we will see in the next day or so.

I would keep him for sure, hes playing now like we all hoped he would after the glimpses he has shown in the past.

Maybe Woolery needs similar treatment to get the best out of him?

Enjoyed the game.  Some nice football in first half.

Consensus on here seems to be that we were never in any danger of losing that game. That's true from 20 mins & 3-1 onwards but after gifting them an equaliser we gifted them another great opportunity which luckily they didn't take.  If they had then game might have taken a less comfortable course.

Agree that taking foot off gas in 2nd half, controlling game and taking no chances made sense.

It's a long season.  3 points, no injuries and no bookings makes a good day.

 

To be a bit underwhelmed after what was a comfortable 3-1 win is much better than the times over the last couple of seasons when we have been the better side but have drawn or lost by the odd goal.
Yes, Morecombe were more forward looking than many teams, to an extent the fact that they went behind after 5 minutes then conceded 2 more within 5 minutes of having brought it back to 1-1 did somewhat force them to do so.
Positives for me (at risk of restarting the Groundhog Day debate) - both strikers on the scoresheet. Once we decided to protect the lead the defence was largely comfortable, apart from a couple of individual mistakes - the fluffed clearance from a corner just before half time, LMc missing a cross which hit their number 5 about a foot from the far post and rebounded to safety - we kept them at arms length. They looked most dangerous when they pressed our defenders in possession and turned over leaving them 3 on 2 (their goal the obvious example, there were a couple of others, the main one being when LMc saved after Conroy caught in possession with score at 1-1). They had only 2 shots on target so defence largely did its job.
In the first half hour we looked as though we could score at will - their defence was poor. Once we decided to sit tighter second half we inevitably created less.
A couple of players not quite up to speed yet - Rose (understandable as his preseason was disrupted by injury), Iandolo (at times he and Hunt were like wing backs with Rose dropping back). I am also not convinced about May - each time I’ve seen him he seems to be getting in a team mate’s way.
What I am unsure about is how tricky the wind was at pitch level - there was a corner on the Arkells side at the Town End 1st half when the flag was almost horizontal, and a couple of instances where high clearances seemed to hold up a bit.
A word for referee Drysdale - whilst it was not the trickiest game to referee (no bad fouls and very little diving around) he let they game flow where possible and unlike some wasn’t looking to wave yellow cards around at the drop of a hat. Nice to have a game where wee aren’t complaining about officials, but we ought to acknowledge he had a good game.

I remain optimistic we will be in the mix come the end of the season. Style of football is good and Wellens seems to know what he’s doing, and in post match interview generally seems to have seen the same game as us.
Onwards and upwards!

I think that’s what we’ll see. Hunt aside, I’m not sure we have a full back that’s a good defender (based on reports here and the 90mins I’ve seen of Reid and Hunt). The holding players are arguably better defenders than our full backs.

I’m looking forward to seeing who we bring in tomorrow. Interesting (and a relief) to hear that he is after a keeper. Hopefully a long term first choice. I wonder if it’s Trevor Carson?

I dunno. I've always believed there's been this level of quality in Anderson, whereas I have absolutely no faith in Woolery to get any better

Sent from my CLT-L09

@FLASH  :girlgiggle:

https://youtu.be/WxV8NkqDLWs

Without starting a new thread, I see our 2nd lot of tickets for Orient on Saturday has sold out, will be 1k+ there, great turnout by Town again. 1,100 already sold.

Embarrassing....left him for one match...

Is that Jutty?

Someone who rarely posts now  ;)