Thetownend.com

We entertain Newport County this weekend, they are 3 points behind us in 7th. They appear to have a tight defence and have a better home record than away record.

I'm going for 1-1 att: 7,474 (535 away)

Scrappy game. 1-0 to the Town. Doyle scoring

Newport are the type of shithouses to counter act our sexy football with pure brute force and win.

Fuckin' 'ell we've gone early on this one haven't we? Friday's one thing, but Thursday? 2-1 to us

It's called build up  ;)

Tough game but Newport's recent form is poor.

They will clearly play to their strengths and lump it up to the front me, win free kicks, long throws etc and Conroy and Baudry/Fryers are going to need to be at their very best.

I'll go 2-1 win.

All ticket for the taffs.  None available on the day. They have been allocated the Savoy for boozing. Club obv expecting a fair few of them.

2.2 I feel , 7665 maybe even higher.
 :pint:

2-1 defeat with Doyle scoring in front of 7,658 with 887 Sheepshaggers there.

We'll rise up to the challenge of our rival

3-1, 7356

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And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night.

Should of been given Groves as a pub.

It's closed  :)

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/17927359.steam-railway-co-groves-company-inn-swindon-close-unexpectedly/

You attending Saturday?  :sherlock:

Are you going? You better not be!

:D

 :hiding:

Volunteers needed to man the "Stop 4D" County Ground blockade

So i get a hat and car sticker?

(https://media1.giphy.com/media/WrgAGkGrh0MD1Z2gkO/giphy.gif)

I wish 4D no harm, but...

The club will surely be hoping to break 8k attendance for this. Expect Newport to bring c.700,  so 7.3k home fans should be  easily achievable, given current feel good factor and summer holidays finished for most. Will be interesting to see whether Woolery or Doughty replace Anderson if the latter is unfit. Personally would go with Doughty and play him behind a front 3 of Isgrove, Yates and Doyle. Reasoning being that Newport will initially sit deep and Doughtys guile will be useful. Woolery to come on if game gets stretched in latter stages. Rest of the team picks itself imo if Baudry not recovered in time. No need to risk him or Anderson atm with some good squad options. Newport will mainly post a risk at set pieces and as always first goal will be crucial.

And a poking stick.

I think 8k may be a little out of our reach at the moment.

If we had beaten Colchester then I think the "feel good factor" could possibly have contributed another 600 on to our home average I think that has wilted a little and think we will get just a little more than our current home fans average of around 6,700.

Newport have never been great travellers to the CG and rarely bring more than 700 or so even when doing well.

Grinding 1-0 win. 8345 attendance. The Savoy gets trashed.

Think Wellens could be up to his old tricks again - Baudry and Anderson to start. Isgrove has been relatively quiet lately - time for a goal.

What if I attend but leave early when if we go behind?  :)

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4D is more than welcome to attend, but needs to go through a rite of passage to remove the curse first.

This should do the trick.
Might sting a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9b1wHL6zuU

We could set it up next to the inflatable pitch in the FanZone, should entertain the kids while they're waiting

True, I think were 2nd or 3rd when they came down here last season (the game where it was horrendously windy if memory serves) and only brought 600 or so.

Yes the wind was awful that day and we totally outplayed them for the first 45 mins and should have gone in 4 or 5 up.

They never seem to travel in numbers even though its only 55 miles or so, even back in the 70s and 80s when they were known for troublemaking they only ever used to bring 300 or so.

Newport started the season well and until 3 games ago were on an unbeaten run of 17 league matches (not including play offs) 10 games last season and 7 this season, since then they lost 2-0 at Northampton and drew the next 2 matches away at Macc and home to Exeter making it 2 points from the last 9 possible.

Including their play off games their run of results has been WWDDWWDWWDDDL DDWDWWLDD A run of 9 wins, 11 draws and 2 defeats scoring just 21 times and conceding just 11 goals.

Their leading scorer is Poddy Amond on 5 goals and Abrahams on 2. Amond has so far only scored 2 goals against Town in his previous 7 matches despite being Newports top scorer for the last 3 season now.

Amond was their leading scorer last season with just 14 league goal (23 in all games) and Matt with 14 goals (20 in all) the next highest scorer was Demetriou with just 4 goals.

Last season they scored the least amount of goals in the top 18 teams of L2 and conceded the most goals in the top 14 teams.

So far this term they have w4 d5 l1 f9 a6 and sit in 7th place3 points behind Swindon who have scored and conceded almost exactly double the goals they have so far with Newports last 5 games being WWLDD and Swindon WWWLW.

Newport have only won at the CG once since 1955, that win coming 2 years ago a 1-0 defeat in November 2017 a run of 1 win in 15 matches for them with Swindon winning 3 of the last 4 matchesbetween clubs at the CG.

Swindon have had some easy wins in the past vs Newport with a 8-0, 7-1, 6-1, 5-1, 5-2, 5-2 and a couple of 4-0 wins over the years, Town scoring 107 goals and conceding 43 in the 46 previous home games against them.

In total homes games vs County Swindon have won 26 of the 43 games played and Newport only 5 wins at the CG.

A lot of Town fans over the age of 50 have bad memories of Newport after they were the team that finally put a nail in our coffin for relegation in 1981/82 in the away game when a single goal relegated us to Div 4 for the first time ever in our history. Followed my some of the worst football violence I have ever witnessed at a Town match.

Newport currently have no ex Swindon players on their books but Swindon have Danny Rose who played almost 150 games for them and Tyler Reid who played 7 times for them last season and just 3 times for Town so far.

First game in absolutely ages for me. I'm hoping for the least successful Welsh invasion since Owain Glyndwr got stuck up a hill.

2-1 County.

They're a good side.  Right now I'll take a draw, but it's on a Saturday, not Tuesday, so let's get the win.

Who will be our Prince Hal? Can't see it being Will Henry. Who else is there? Could Eoin be the undoing for Owain? How about Henry V's predecessor, Richard...

4-2

Peaky Blinders Lewendowski (2)
5 ft Jesus to open his account
Yet another from the Beautiful Ginger Sex Symbol

Hopefully the Shithouse Neymar will be good to go  8)

Tough side to play, they have a plan and stick to it from what I see. Hard to call as we'll both be near the top end. 1-0 either way. Although i expect us to get the 1

Thats one way of putting it!

Reliant on set peices with free kicks, corners and throw ins being launched into the 6 yard box.

They like to get into opponents faces and harrass and harry opposition players all over the pitch, the don't mind chasing players down and battling for everything, they also don't keep possession and are happy to let teams have a lot of the ball. In fact they have only had the better possession figures once so far this season and against Crewe and Plymouth their keeping of the ball was well under 40% for the whole game yet still won both games 1-0 with late goals.

They are a niggly side who try and provoke opposition players into fouls and off the ball nastiness, and a few over the top challenges. Exeter fans on Saturday were surprised to see the provoking of the Exeter players, Newports physicality and their style of play and gamesmanship for a team so high in the table apparently.

I know some of our players have short fuses so lets hope they arent dragged into a battle of niggly fouls, something Grant, Rose and Doughty have all been a bit guilty of and they keep their heads as Newport chase us while we have high possession, let them chase us and dont give away too many chances with dead ball situations.

As a reminder, if we win this game, we'll have at least matched or bettered every play off and automatic promotion season form over the first 11 games since 1995/96.

2-1, nail biter, two-up with a strong start, they grab one back with 20 to go and it all turns a bit Dam Busters.

It's worth noting that reaching the PO's and not going on to win them represents failure, something we've managed 4 times in your time frame. We really don't won't to be messing around with Div 4 PO's. 

So in the 2 auto seasons at the same stage we were 2 points better off in 06/07 and 5 points worse off in PdC's season.

However in that season by this time we were on the way to stellar home form. Oct 8th we drew 3-3 with Hereford at the CG and then conceded 1 goal in the final 17 home games.

Tomorrow is a massive game, it's highly unlikely that you can mount an auto campaign on the back of away form alone, and 2 defeats in 5 games shows the home form  isn't yet quite fixed... we need to win. This is a proper test.

Wot, another one? I'd hate to be in your Alpine expedition team.

Probably only if we fail to win

 :D

The gift that keeps on giving.

I am going to assume that form in the first 11 games does not influence form in the Play Offs, if that was where we ended, merely that form after 11 games probably has an influence over your chances of where you finish the season.

I also started by saying IF we win this game we'd match the form, not that we were there already.  in 2006/07 we were won 7, drawn 1, lost 2 at this point and then we drew the 11th game.  We then went on to win 2, draw 2 and lose 2 of the next 6, so we could very easily better that form.

Ah but you're forgetting that one season in the 80s when we went down on 52 points #areWeSafeYet

I'm just saying we don't want to consider PO's as some success... it's failure, unless you win them and we know from the last 4 it's a bit of lottery, that I'd rather not go near.

Therefore we need to be looking at what is requred for autos, so far the signs are OK.... but it's early doors and you can't afford too many slip ups over a season. I think an auto team wins tomorrow.

I know!  I had a peruse because Reg had pulled out that one season where we started like this but finished flat on our face.

Now, if I limit it to only seasons we went up, only 1995/96 would have a better start after 11 games when I go back to 1985, if we were to win tomorrow.  So that's equal or better than 5 out of 6 promotions.  In 1995/96, we started with an extra win after 11 and carried on winning for a few more, but then hit a drop in form in November.

To me, the preponderance of data suggests we should be happy, as it happens, the data was not necessary in making me feel happy.

Oh you and your facts! :) TBF I'm minded to agree with Reg that we should be aiming for autos, if only on the grounds that I don't see 3 teams better than us in this division.

It's OK Paul,we'll be matching two of the three Automatic seasons if we win tomorrow, and the two we would be matching or beating were at this level.  I hear a win tomorrow and Reg is hosting a street party, with bunting.

There's just way too many imponderables to be thinking about bunting designs just yet. I mean, who the hellas going to bake the saffron buns!  :hmmm:

Audrey?

I was thinking more of my sweet Verona  :)

:D Superb work! Still banned from the CG, though.

On the nail!

Class. Any of you ever tried Madeiran brewed beer; Coral?

Newport have sold 650 out of there allocation.

Their. Shame on me!

Still undecided on going  to the game, probably stay on the piss.
1 nil to the town and the goal wont come from a corner.

I'm going - HOORAY!

1-1.

0 - 1

Ian (or the Ginger Messi) with a belter of an own goal. Floated from 36yds intended as a back pass to LMc in the 3rd minute. Only for it to get a little more wind under it, float higher and catch the keeper too far off his line. Newport will then allow us to have all the ball and soak it up with a combination of dirty tackles, play acting and parking the proverbial. No one will come out of it looking too great. Except Reg of course. Well, that will be what the history books say.

I'm tempted, plans have changed.

Wife away again.  Another all-dayer.

Very optimistic that we will win.

2-1.  Good crowd.

This has got 0 - 0 written all over it

Change of circumstance, so just ordered tickets for this afternoon.
Very mean defence in Newport so just the 4 for town today.
 :pint:

My 4th game on ifollow, won the previous 3. Do we ever get figures on how many people watch town on ifollow ?

No. I don't want a four hour round trip for defeat.  Stay at home.

"Is that all you, is that all you, is that all you get online!"

That made me smile.

I have been ghosted by my son or whatever the term is today and he is going with a couple of skool buddies, which to be fair is nice to see on a number of levels not least a younger generation of hopefully future regulars.

Depends how we deal with the high ball, sometimes we are a bit indecisive and lack a bit of height. Expecting at least a draw though....

I don't even see one team better than us this season  ;)

Really looking forward to today, got a little crew of mates all for whom this is the first game of the season, and my daughter is going to her first match too. Going for two nil to the town, one apiece for Doyle and Yates

Only until 15.00 Hrs.

Let's hope you are correct

Does the fire station car park still get opened up? How much is it? Tesco or street parking is getting a little busy, ha!

(2-1 win for Town, FWIW)

One nil win

Fiver for the fire station.

1-1 doughty

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFjYkT0XoAEOGCJ?format=jpg&name=medium)

Woolery in for Anderson and Broadbent on the bench in place of Sidy.

Shame Anderson isn't fit as he will be a big miss.

Definitely, but still having a front four of Woolery, Isgrove, Doyle and Yates is pretty ok - and Doughty on the bench!

Damn right, thats a strong attacking line up. We just don't seem to create quite as much when Keshi isn't playing, lets hope that changes today, Isgrove has also not been great since Orient, hopefully hes back in his early season form as the creator.

I do think somebody will get absolutely spanked by us soon, a 4 or 5 goal win.

I don't think it will be today unfortnately as we are playing the team with the 2nd best defence in the league, but they don't score many either being the leagues 3rd lowest scorers.

Newport leading scorer Amond only on the bench today.

Decent turn out by Newport by the look of it.

Isgrove early deep cross blocked for a Town throw.

Conroy bundled over for a free kick to Town in the corner of our own half.

Newport hassling and harrying us when we have possession all over the pitch.

Conroy looks fucked. hope it's not that knee

Woolery puts in a decent cross for Doyle but hes out muscled in the box.

Conroy in real problems down on the half way line. Not good news.

Looks like his knee again.

Are we going to have to face them for 85 mins with Broadbent and Fryers?  :eek:

Conroy in tears with his hands on his face, this is not going to end well for us.

he's gone. hobbling off with 2 staff very gingerly. not great news

Yep.

That does not look good the way he went off.

Rose takes over as captain.

Grant slotting back at CB for the time being.

Newport win a corner off Iandolo.

Looks bad enough we could be months without him.

May on for Conroy!

Town have to face 80+ minutes with no recognised centre backs.

Another corner for them.

LMc bundled into the goal from the corner.

poor Broadbent. feel for him. Grant in back 4

Corner 3 for them.

Corner 4 for Newport.

Corner 5 for Newport.

LMc catches it! that was a lot of pressure.

Fryers plays a hospital ball back to LMc good clearance under a load of pressure by LMc.

We look rattled

Iandolo skinned on the inside, luckily the cross goes just wide.

Very much so.

May poor ball down the line.

They are hoofing it forwards for their massive 2 strikers at every opportunity.

Understandable with our stand in CB's.

Great ball from Fryers, Isgrove wins a header! the ball comes back to isgrove and his cross is lovely onto Yates head but its saved from 3 yards.

How did Izzy win that header?

Town have stopped doing the basics with their passing, trying to play it too long rather than just finding a red shirt.

town being put undfer a lot of long ball pressure in the box.

Nice break but the ball outruns Iandolo down the wing.

The keeper hoofs it with 2 bounces straight to LMc.

Newport leaving the boot in all the time against us.

How to build someone confidence when it'd already down ! #clueless

Grant loses possession as he brings the ball forward but luckily they shoot inches wide from a great position.

I think not bringing on a CB could work against us.

This is exactly why i said last weekend that I would have started him.  He needed the confidence and dropping out of the squad last week is a big negative for the guy and now we really need him confident

Isgrove wins another header!

Not just you mate, I felt the same.

Fryers clears into the stand under little pressure.

We look flustered at the back.

My stream has the Newport comms. They're a bit fucking weird.

Newport player looks to have a handball but the ref gives them a free kick.

Clearly he’s not right, but if you don’t bring him on in these circumstances, you wonder why on earth he was on the bench.

So true !!!

Post a few Welsh gems, I listened to the Carlisle comms and they were wierd too and very critical of Town.

Superb run by Iandolo beating 3 men but he cant get a cross in and the ball runs out for a goal kick, great move.

He’s beginning to change our minds isn’t he?

Woolery has given the ball away a couple of times so far, hes playing far too deep for his style.

We still aren't just doing the simple quick passing we have played so far this season.

As long as he keeps it up I will be very happy. I just don't like to rely upon him defending, hes far better going forward than at the back.

Woolery plays a good long throw and the ball comes back to him and his cross finds May but he loses it on the edge of the box.

Oh the irony of Chalkie White criticising Yates for being offside.  :D

Massive throw from Newport but luckily the Newport players header is 20 yards wide.

:D indeed, wasn't Chalky the player that was caught the most times offside in a season when we were in the Premier promotion season?

Isgrove not having much luck today, hes trying to do the right stuff but they are marking him quite closely.

Div 4 football at its worst  :suicide:

It was his trademark move. 

Isgrove what a mazy run and shot but its well saved by the keeper.

They've completely stifled us so far.

Nice corner from Rose, clumsily dropped by the keeper, he doesnt claim it well.

That is the Newport way. Just hope we can break then with a few seconds of skill from our attack.

Newport player diving and rolling around like hes been snipered after a little kick by Isgrove.

Labadie gamesmanship.

Foot was high from Isgrove but it didn't catch him much, not how much he is saying he did.

Not a very good match so far, we have had the most of the skifull moments but they look mor elikely to score against our makeshift defence.

The fuck is going on with Oxford? They're hot shit at the moment, which is incredibly disappointing.

May is a yard behind every ball in midfield.

bollocks. too easy

Another corner for them.

0-1 easy header at the far post.

Can't say it wasn't coming.

Doyle lost his man at the far post and it was almost impossible to miss from 1 yard.

More gamesmanship by Newport.

Cant see this going well for us. Like Lincoln last year a bunch of dirty fuckers . Officials dont help. Blind cunts

Is 4d there today?

Some very poor refereeing.

I have a feeling he could be.

Their standard of football is dire but effective

grant makes a good challenge but his pass is blocked by the Newport player who shoots well wide.

Much like Lincoln last season.

Labadie is a dirty fucker.

LMc miles from the cross, easy chance from 1 yard by the striker, awful miss...luckily.

At last the ref gives us a decision.

Really poor game of football so far, Newport are rubbish to watch but very effective, we can't defend to save our lives.

Lets see if he get slagged off by Wellen's like others have !

We are not winning any headers or barely even a tackle at the back.

We need a proper CB and get Grant sat in front of them again. Hes just not a CB, Freyrs is struggling too.

Another corner to Newport.

Ooh a new type of iFollow fuckup.

LMc makes a good low save.

Newport comms are cooing over their shithousery, but bemoaning the fact that Isgrove and Doyle haven't been booked for innocuous challenges.

Whats that RF?

Great ball played to Isgrove from LMc who runs 40 yards  but his shot is saved at the near post.

Oh was is just me who lost the picture? Back now.

Terrible game to watch so far.

We are struggling to find a red shirt with any pass, LMc our best  attacking outlet.

Mine never :)

Grant doing ok as stand in CB, but we lost him from midfield, that's not helping

HT 0-1 poor.

If ever there was a game where I could do with the commentary staying off this is it.  Charlie is horrible to listen to.

Horrible game, seems to have been made worse by the wind behind Newport who kick everything long.  The centre back situation is a problem when set against that.  Hopefully they are less effective in the second half into the wind and we can begin to get some posession in their half.

The stats show Newport have less than 50% passing accuracy which tells you everything about the type of balls they play.

Dire game to watch.we arent helping ourselves but they are niggly dirty bastards. Officials missing far too much holding,pulling etc. Be a struggle to get something from this I feel. May be effective but fuck watching Newport every week. Fuck all football about their game.

It's as bad and as effective as Cambridge in the 90's.  If they keep doing well, they aren't going to change.

Newport are an effective Division 4 team playing a Division 4 style.

We have to change our game plan. Similar games against Northampton and Col U prove we can't play against this style.

LMc made a couple of poor choices for crosses and was at fault for the goal but his distribution has been excellent.

Hunt is having is poorestgame so far, being run inside out by the winger.

Fryers looks like a left back at CB, hes done ok but never looks comfortable.

Iandolo looks under pressure when they attack but has made a few nice runs going forward.

Grant looks ok at CB but hes not winning any headers against a massive striker, we need him in midfield.

Rose played a few loose passes and not his best game but hes not been that bad.

Isgrove has made a few really good runs and had a good shot, looking lively but they are trying to bully him and he has responded with a few fouls himself.

May looks a yard off the pace and his passing is wayward, was not the right player to bring on IMO.

Woolery and yates are both running around a lot but they are getting no service and any balls played to their strengths, both coming back to win balls which leaves them out of position.

Doyle is running his socks off up front, chasing down everything but getting no service from midfield at all.

Changes are needed this half.

Newport are horrible to watch, they are dirty and nasty, they play only long balls, but it is effective, they are so much like Lincoln last year, difficult to beat but dull as dishwater to watch.

We won't get anything from this if we don't make massive changes.

Well, bar Ian looking pretty good going forward. I wasn't far off on Newport's tactical approach. Unfortunate for Conroy. Might but just me, no doubt I'll get attacked for saying this but has anyone else thought that Wellens put Broadbent in, hoping to put him on for the last 15mins or so? If suitable to do so, just to test the waters? He owned up for chucking him in the other week (when we all know something is a miss) as being wrong. Both he and Broadbent probably shit themselves on 5mins when Conroy's knee went (ACL or similar?).

That's my thought anyhoo. I think he wanted to ease Tom back in but not throw him into an emergency scenario. If and I must reiterate the if, TB is suffering with his mental health then putting him into a match scenario like will not help him right now. Imo.

Don't fucking shoot me! Pew pew!!

More gamesmanship from Newport trying to get Isgrove booked.

Matt thumps LMc in the rib as he punches clear.

Exactly as my pre match thought suggested they would play too.

Woolery elbowed in the neck, the ref doesnt give it....terrible reffing.

Some of the worst refereeing I have ever seen.

Town picked up the pace a bit so far.

Newport commentator laughing at Town not getting the freekick on Woolery.

Igrove lovely run and crosses to Yates but hes inches away at the far post.

Its so obvious, it was laughable refereeing.

Labadie leaves the boot in on Grant again.

Hunt bad ball given away puts us under pressure, corner to Newport.

The commentary is about 1 second before the video which is frustrating.

I am sorry but May is not good enough.

Woolery really badly felled at pace, dirty fucking Newport defenders.

Rose FK 25 yards out on the angle.

Doyle pushed down in the box.

Going to be a frustrating afternoon I think. If we can get a draw out of this it'll be something considering the scenario at present. Wind will assist us/deter them this half and we may grab something. I don't see Newport offering much more now, maybe from a set piece so we might as well go shit or bust and attack the shit out of them. They'll be happy to sit on 0-1.

Alamo time Town. Just go for it lads. 0-1 or 0-4 history will record it as a loss either way. We can then just move on to the next. We have bouncebackability or whatever in abundance!

Isgrove so far has played more attractive football in 1 half than Newport have played all season!

Matt pulls down Grant again, he is such a dirty bastard, must be the 4th time he has done that.

Isgrove hits the bar from 15 yards totally unmarked!

He is but the ref is a complete cunt. You don't miss stuff like that four or five times. Consistent though...

Strong pressure by Town, ends with Iandolo hoofing it well over the bar, Isgrove, Doyle and Iandolo all foule din the process.

Labadie kicks May in the face, the ref just gives us a FK.

Isgrove cross just over Yates head, Woolery was pulled down in the build up inside the box but the ref missed it.

Doyle pulled down and the ref gives it to them!

This is a fucking joke, Newport are the dirtiest side so far this season, only matched by Lincoln last year.

The ref is weak and giving us nothing, utter gamesmanship by Newport. And its working against such a poor ref.

Good run by Iandolo and cross but its blocked and goes out for a corner to Town.

Iandolo a shout for our MoM so far.

Isgrove running rings round them but without much end product so far.

More gamesmanship kicking the ball away from Newport.

Key latest in L2:

Exeter 0 - 2 Grimsby
Numb  1 - 1 Crewe
Salfor  0 - 4 FVR

FVR gaining the most from this currently. Manage a draw and we can go 3rd. Win (hmm) we go top.

We're mounting pressure. Playing against a 12th man in the ref. But keep chipping away Town. No one can fault them for effort. Just got to unpick these fuckers somehow. Be nice if the ref finally gave us something but I won't hold out.

Hes done quite well so far especially in their box, made a couple of nice runs, Isgrove for me though followed by Doyle.

I said the same but got shot down. I'm not there by the way

Hmm :)

Attendance: 7,843

Woolery off Doughty on.

Think I’d agree. Don’t know why May came on rather than Doughty in the first place.

Absolutely.

Doyle header from Hunt cross but hes just offside.

Newport allowing us to have a lot of possession.

Reid coming on for Rose.

I’d hate to watch Newport every week.

They ain’t half effective at what they do though. Totally reduced us to long ball football all game.

Out two first-choice, ball-playing centre backs being out is very concerning. Adam May is awful. Humpf.

0-2

Outdone by shithousery today.

Deep cross onto the 6 yard box, Reid cant cut it out, easy goal in the end.

Reid’s first action is to lose the striker and arguably score the og.

And Wellen's !!

Exactly the same as Northampton and Colchester.

Wellens needs a plan B.

I agree, May is nowhere near good enough.

They capitalised on the confusion in our defence as Reid came on and Hunt moved to CB with Grant going into midfield. Fryers should have cut the cross out though.

6 posts every one anti Wellens. Hmm.

The only useful thing I've gleaned from the Newport comms is that the ref spent 4 years in non-league. Explains his uselessness and willingness to let some of the physical stuff go.

The best display of shithousery we have seen all season.  Even their Manager getting in on the game by kicking the ball towards the corner flag.

Horrible side to watch..

I truly think without Conroys injury we would have gone on to win today.

Newport are just doing what you have to do to try and get out of our division

Isgrove 35 yards easy save for the keeper though.

Its not pretty but it is effective thats for sure, worked for Lincoln last year.

It is what Flipflop tried to turn us into as well, although on a smaller scale of shithousery than this.

I must admit I thought Grant looked a big old unit....until I saw Newport!

4 mins added.

It's massively frustrating.

A huge physical team, and they fall over and roll around with the slightest touch. The ref buys it every time.

Reid nice cross to Yates but he can't get enough on it to trouble the keeper.

One of the worst refs I have ever seen.

Difficult for the lads who had to deputise last minute. Grant can do a job a CB but it fucks up our assured CM. Which he controls. Am I right in thinking Baudry is back next game?  Broadbent might have to be an enforced insertion next match otherwise. I feel Baudry &Grant would be ok for a game or two. Then have Doughty&Rose in CM.

Can we apply for an emergency loan (exceptional circumstances rule) if we disclose to the league what is going on with the Broadbent situation (whatever that might be), thus not having a recognised CB? Emergency loans are usually for GKs but I was certain you can apply that to outfield, when you have no recognised player for <<insert position>>.

humph :(

Good run and cross by reid, corner to town.

FT 0-2.

Not often I leave early but when our sub scored with his first touch that was enough. Horrible afternoon.
Meh

Intimidation. The refs are psychologically scared of it. They think if they don't give it, the player will get up and jackhammer him into the hallowed turf. Of course, they could grow a pair and just send the cunts off. Until the match is postponed and awarded to us by default.  This league is part of how it is. It's the acceptance on our part to deal with it sand get the fuck out and away. That's the difficult part.

PROOF that 4D should not be allowed to leave his house on matchdays

Tough old game that one.  I'd be very surprised if they are not in th hunt come the end of the season.  Most effective team we have played.  Their style and approach is an abomination but it works and you cant argue with that.

Thought we were OK second half and if Isgrove had scored who knows.

Very frustrating watch, it's a shame teams still play this way bit you dont get points for style and fair play.

Well, that was shit.

Disappointed to lose of course but the table still looks handy based on today’s results. Only 2 points off top. If we could get a consistent run of home wins we’d be well away.

Bradford away next week is going to be tough and injuries piling up.

I just noticed that. Results around us really went our way today.

We've got a run of tougher games coming up. If we can at least be in touch with the top when we come out of it then things will be looking good.

Exeter lost, Cheltenham and Crewe drew, only FGR in the top 5 won.

Still very early doors, might be time for Curran to step up if Wellens thinks he is ready.

How long's Baudry out for.

Grant didn't do badly in defence today, but he should really be in midfield.

I think Bradford have played their last 4 or 5 games against 10 men.

I think we’re fucked what with the CB injuries.

Back soon according to Wellens pre match, but what soon is I don't know.

Grant did ok at CB but as you state hes our best midfield option, certainly defensively and May is not fit to lace his boots in the same role. If Lydon was back then maybe Grant would be worth sticking with there, as it is I would rather Broadbent in defence and Grant in his natural role.

Broadbent MUST come back to form soon. I doubt Wellens will play him again until he has a couple of Mickey Mouse cup games under his belt, blood him back gradually.

Wellens says the Conroy injury looks a bad one. Baudry might be back next week but we're looking thin at the back.

 ??? I didn't go

He surely can’t though can he? Otherwise he would have come on today, surely?

(https://media3.giphy.com/media/3oriffNpegCh56AsvK/giphy.gif)

:)

Unless Wellens had a "plan". Which obviously didn't work if he did.

Lame excuse!

 A good test then, but sadly we failed it. Not quite terminal, but it's not looking good. We're just too easy to beat at home, this has been the problem for 3 or 4 years and Wellens hasn't yet addressed it. OK some mitigation with injuries, but it's a bizarre situation when you start the season with 5/6 centre halves and end up with none.

Possible ACL rupture for Conroy apparently

He did look in a lot of pain when he went off, sat in tears so he knew it was bad, especially after coming back from the same injury last year.

He's back, yipee

He’s not wrong

I was nearby looking at cars. I could hear the crowd singing "you don't know what you're doing "  :)

Which you clearly didn't, coming into Swindon on a Saturday against specific instructions to the contrary.  >:(

Poor first half, better in the 2nd although still had trouble  getting through Newport's defence. The ref was a fucking joke. He didn't cost us the game but it was a performance of gross incompetence. Fair play (sic) to Newport, they had a game plan and stuck to it.

Good points:

- When I labelled Grant a 'pointless signing', I clearly meant a great signing. The guy is solid, and performed brilliantly.
- Iandolo deserves his place in the team.
- For 15 minutes we looked OK when passing it around.

Bad points:
- Hoofed it too long anainst a strong and pysical team
- Front 2 did not much all game. Isgrove hit and miss (and that shot), and Woolery did nothing meaning we didn't create much.
- The ref was on the wrong side of 'let the game flow'. Incompetent and weak.
- What's the point of the 2 CBs on the bench if neither are going to play when we need a CB? Not overly keen on May.

Massively bad points:
- Conroy

Look, its not a disaster in terms of result. It happens (too much at home). But the obvious worry is how the hell we solve the long term central defence question. Any free agents of league 2 quality around?

I sort of understand the Broadbent situation - If indeed the speculation about trying to get him back in form is to put him on the bench and bring him on for the last few mins when there is no pressure. But, Curran is there as well. Was he not an option during some part of the game?

Just come back from the pub. A couple of friends who have only been twice came in earlier and the opinion "well that was sh*t".

Cannot really argue with their premise, we were undone by a team that closed us down quickly, were not interested in playing any type of football as we have seen from the Town this season but played to their strengths of physicality all over the park aided and abetted by a very inept referee and his assistants and we did not rally look like breaking them down.

A bit concerned about RW's rejigging of the team when Conroy went off as it beggars belief that there are two players on the bench that could slot into a back four but instead he put on May as opposed to Doughty and moved Grant from his best position into the defence. Chasing the game late on he then went with a back three that held Iandolo back whereas he had been pretty good in the pushing forward role and that move almost immediately conceded their second.

Early days, but all a little concerning, need some defensive cover from somewhere and wonder whether there are any out of work centre halves kicking about that could be of assistance?

Haven't read back..

When the school bully who is twice the size as you says he will kick the fuck out of you at 4pm you have three options, you run, you talk you're way out of it, you put coins in your knuckles, show up and and smack the fucker first.....and then see what happens.

We tried to talk our way out of it... and got smacked to fuck.

Newport (unlike Colchester) play like this week in, week out.....why oh why were we not prepared?!

You fight fire with fire....why were not hard challenges going in!? Why was the fucking inept ref asked, why he wasn't in charge?! At every dive and every late challenge!?

We deserved all we got....fuck all...

Horrible, nasty, non football side and we played into their arms hook line and sinker.

Of the three defeats, this has fucked me off the most...shows Wellens short comings....and you can fuck off with the open goal...we would of lost 2:1 anyway.

Just waiting for someone to use that shitty phrase "we go again"

beautifully fucking illustrated :pint: :pint:

We've lost 50% of the first 6 home games, you can only find 2 worse seasons of losing > 50%, since I started in 62/63. The Prem season and the Admin season of 99/00.... certainly it's a long way from looking like an auto outfit.

The one saving grace is the Wise/Sturrock season when getting the final auto place we lost 4 home games, 2 of which were between managers. So we probably have already got very little wriggle room. It's more that we look just too beatable for any half decent Div 4 functional outfit.  Of course a PO spot FWIW is achievable by fairly average sides in Div 4

We tried to play them at their own game which was a mental idea. Should have been looking to outplay them on the deck. To do that we needed Doughty to start, let alone come on ahead of May.

I thought James Dunne had gone in the summer. But he seems to have a smarter haircut and changed his name to May. Still wearing number 8 which at least provides continuity

Isgrove (how did he miss though?!) and Grant excellent. Front two never able to compete off long balls. Rest mediocre playing the wrong style/system

Very well put. There's areas we've been very unlucky - losing our 3 first choice CBs in a matter of weeks is very bad luck and it clearly caused us a problem today, not just losing Conroy but losing Grant from CM. If Isgrove buries his one v one instead of trying to be a clever dick, then it's a different game. Not counting the ref's poor decisions as bad luck because he was pretty much a bog standard League 2 ref, that's what you get and you have to plan for that.

But then there's the bits where we make our own problems in the way we set up - as Flash alluded to above. It looks like we set out to "play our football" irrespective of the opposition. Which is admirable and all that but we're not Man City. Sometimes we need to look at the opposition and work out how we're going to beat them. That's twice now we've been found out by this kind of side (not counting Northampton because that was just so ridiculous) playing effective anti-football and plenty of others will look to do the same in this league. We need to come up with a way of beating that kind of side, because there's plenty of them in this division. We looked better when Doughty came on, so why wasn't that change made earlier? Don't even want to talk about the final sub

And on the positive side, once we have Baudry and Anderson back, we know we have a decent side. Hope Conroy isn't as bad as feared

We were crap, beaten tactically and in terms of individual performances. We seem to struggle against physical opposition that are good at closing us down and we are going to lose more games like that this season.

Overall this season, though, we've been rather good. We are just 2 points adrift from the top and 1 point adrift from an auto spot. Not all teams in this league are as physical or dirty as Newport and, of those that are, not many will be as effective at it. We will win more than we lose, and somebody is going to get a hiding from us sooner or later.

We go again (yes, I went there). The league is decided on our points tally overall, not the points tally of one match. Bradford next, and we're playing away! It is not beyond the realms of reality that we go top, ya know?

Yes you fucking did!

Hear fucking hear, no need for alarms bells yet. Our away form is brilliant. Our home form has got better from shocking in previous to average under RW. This was always going to be a shithouse game. We are essentially a L1 side trying to play our way out of L2 with L1 football. Unfortunately, sometimes we gotta get down and dirty with the shithouses of L2.

I actually think Newport will slip out of autos and finish in the POs. We are good enough for Top 3. Of course th final season total will tell us the actuality of that. Too many imponderables at this moment  :hmmm:

Our home form needs addressing, 50% defeats and conceding 1.5 goals per game.

Apart from those suggesting, just a few weeks ago, that every game would yield 3 points, most supporters will be delighted with the current league position and will be mature enough to realise that there will be some 'bumps in the road'.

We're 2 players off from autos, that's evident. One experienced shithouse at the back and a big lump or solid lower league target man.

One positive is that we don't get to hear the Newport players girly screeching again, as they hit the deck after phantom contact, not until the return fixture anyway.

They do what they do very well. It works for them. Good luck with it.

The solution to the home form is for RW to stick to his principles.
He'll make mistakes, but will learn. The team can get better.
It's still a good start to the season.

Not sure we need a target man, that is obviously not our style of play.

Would much prefer a proper left sided midfielder that means we aren’t completely reliant on Isgrove to create chances

For me, the worrying thing is in those 3 home defeats they were all to ‘nil’. Not only are we getting outmuscled, we’re hardly creating a chance either.

It is also difficult to attract many more fans as they turn up on the back of a great away display to witness some poor stuff.

Yates and Doyle don’t work as a duo - which sounds stupid - but they make the exact same runs and don’t play off each other, and if they don’t get any help from midfield are very easy to defend against

Adam May needs to be sent back to Pompey reserves where he belongs (and that’s probably too high a level)

I have no idea what Wellens fascination is with persisting with two central midfielders standing on the centre backs toes while we’re trying to get back into the game. It’s so easy to defend against

Men against boys stuff yesterday. I’ve said it before, lack of a Plan B will be our downfall this season

Devastating for Conroy if it is his ACL again. I can’t think of any players that have had that twice and played again - I’m sure there are some, but probably not many. That could be it for him. Fingers crossed it is not that, and we see him back again.

Didnt bother looking at TE last night, too pissed off!  My one concern was what the fuck was Wellens thinking with his substitutions, we are only one down and he completely rejigged his back four whch meant Iandolo was playing centre back - with two centre backs on the bench!!  Second goal came from that rejigging, players still trying to work out who they should be marking.  Thought Grant was immense yesterday, he didn't deserve to be in a losing side.  Just out thought, out played and out muscled all over the pitch.

Agree with most of that but don’t buy the Plan B stuff. There is no team in the world with an effective plan B. The cure is to improve plan A or actually play to it in the first place - which we didn’t yesterday - or grind it out whilst retaining your core principles of play - as we did v Cambridge a week ago.

Looking at Newport ‘s results to date, they are a good bet for the title. Done well in all games against other top sides. Don’t be fooled by their lack of attractiveness. Lincoln won no prizes in that department last term. We’re still likely to win more than we lose but would be a nervy play off against anyone physical.

Yep. They have lost once in their last 21 games.

Twice if you count last seasons play off final. Still a good record at any level.

Newport will always been found out in a final...refs on telly tend not to stand for the heavy stuff..

The ref yesterday was up there with the worst, he misses all their gamesmanship and shithousery.

We certainly have struggled against extremely physical sides who also defend well whithout playing a high line - Col U and Newport the obvious examples. Put in perspective however,  if Isgrove scores we have momentum and are favourites to go on and win the game and top the table.

As many here have said, we dont need a plan B as such - which we dont have the players for anyway - more an even increased focus on plan A, with some slight tweaks if needed. We were missing Boudry, Lyden, Doughty and Anderson who are some of our best exponents of playing through the thirds on the pitch, transitioning from defence to attack. Additionally losing Conroy was a bitter blow - more of that later.

Again like many, I didnt understood Wellens substitutions at all. Why have 2 centre halves on the bench if you aren't going to use them when the opportunity arises. Also if Grant is moved back, then surely Doughty rather than May is the obvious replacement. I also wouldnt have replaced Woolery who looked our most likely threat other than Isgrove. As an alternative, I would maybe have sacrificed Doyle, who was responsible for their first goal  by losing his marker and where clearly two up front wasn't working as the delivery wasn't there. The Reid switch for Rose was also a strange move and backfired almost instantly, although Fryers was mainly at fault for his weak header and Reid did go on to show some power and pace attacking wise and produced two pretty decent crosses.

Moving forward I fear Conroys injury will be have far more serious consequences than the loss to Newport. He has been superb this season and it's a crushing blow. Unless Broadbent regains his and Wellens confidence in him, we are down to relying on Baudry and Fryers as our only real options, with an untried - and not ready - Curran as back up. Iandolos form has at least meant that we aren't wholly reliant on Fryers as the only left back option. I suspect Wellens will look to pick up an out of contract centre half, although unlikely to be of similar quality to Conroy.

On to Bradford and assuming Anderson and Baudry are back then would go with this team:

McCormick
Hunt Baudry Fryers Iandolo
Rose Grant
Isgrove Doughty Anderson
Yates

We missed Anderson yesterday as well as the defensive problems, Doyle will be a big miss against Bradford too.

Conroy will be out for at least 6 months you would think, massive blow for him and for us!  :(

On Conroy, does anyone know if it's the same knee as last time? If it is, he's in big trouble. If not, he's just incredibly unlucky.

Callum Wilson came back from multiple ACLs and is playing his best football - it is possible. Rumour has it Dion's isn't a season-ending ACL but we'll hopefully find out today.

On to Bradford. It's a blessing in disguise Doyle can't play as it means we'll probably revert to a 4231.

             Benda
Hunt Baudry Fryer Iandolo
        Grant Rose
Isgrove Doughty Keshi
             Yates

The commentator on Saturday seemed to think it was, I couldn't remember which it was he did last time though.

I think by the way he say in tears with his head in his hand I have a feeling it must be the same and that he knew straight away that it was serious again.

If it is the same one then it could be career threatening, which is such a shame for him just as he started to come good.

The Adver suggests its 6 months out.

could be the medial ligament, hurts like fuck tackling with your instep

Yep, Keshi frustrates the hell out of me at times because he's still capable of performing so much better than he typically does, but we've suffered without him this season.

I agree totally, but saying that hes twice the player and half as frustrating as he was last season!

he's looked rejuvenated this season to me.

he's not perfect, but with better players around him he's looking better himself.

imo, obvs

Keshi is out of contract in the summer, he'll need a good season if it's not to be back to non league for him. The penny looks to have dropped.