Thetownend.com

I predict same line up as at Salford except for the fullbacks with Donohue obviously coming in. Also wouldn't be surprised if Caddis comes in for Hunt as he could possibly do with a rest and hasn't been at his best for a few weeks now.

Back to the league  :)
I reckon this will be a tough game, Mansfield seem pretty good on the road.

I'll go for 1-1 att: 6,581 (198 away)

I get the Caddis love and it's nice to have him back but no way does Hunt get dropped right now. He was class at Salford and has been our most consistent player this year.

Thought they’d come good this season after ditching Flitcroft - poor internal appointment has scuppered that.

Still got good individual players so always capable of throwing in a good performance. Getting slated by their fans but unbeaten in their last 6 away games - W3, D3.

Never confident playing at home so I’d be happy with another lacklustre, win by the odd goal game.

7332, 298 Stags

He’s also played pretty much every game and it’s a long season. A bit of a rest before the busy Christmas period would help long term in my opinion.

He’s also played pretty much every game and it’s a long season. A bit of a rest before the busy Christmas period would help long term in my opinion.

If he needed to be rested (some players do, some don't), midweek against Cheltenham would have the time to do it. Wellens doesn't strike me as a manager who likes resting and rotation, but rather one to play his strongest team at every turn and then deal with injuries/fatigue with a deep squad and good short-term acquisitions.

If he needed to be rested (some players do, some don't), midweek against Cheltenham would have the time to do it. Wellens doesn't strike me as a manager who likes resting and rotation, but rather one to play his strongest team at every turn and then deal with injuries/fatigue with a deep squad and good short-term acquisitions.

Caddis wasn't available as he signed after the original game.

I'm aware - point still stands that if Hunt needed a rest, I think he's more likely to have been rested on Tuesday than in a tough league game this weekend.

I'm aware - point still stands that if Hunt needed a rest, I think he's more likely to have been rested on Tuesday than in a tough league game this weekend.

All fair points - we'll see. I guess I'm not convinced Caddis will just be thrown in, or is even good enough anymore, but he'll get game time at some point.

It should be noted that Flitcroft got the Stags to their highest position for 17 years, and would have got auto but for Bury's misdemeanours.

It should be noted that Flitcroft got the Stags to their highest position for 17 years, and would have got auto but for Bury's misdemeanours.

When did we last win 5 league games in a row?

Not tomorrow

Not tomorrow

When did we last win 5 league games in a row?

Under PdC, winning Div 4... we did 10 in row.

Consecutive league wins was.
10 league games under PdC in 11-12.
6 league games under Wise in 06-07.
5 league games under Macari in 85-85.
5 league games under Smith in 78-79.

Other than RW’s statement after the game on Tuesday, unless I have missed it the club still haven’t officially confirmed that Donohue’s contract is sorted. I had assumed Reid’s loan means it probably has, although you could argue signing Caddis covers that position. Does anyone have any news on that - as presumably there is a deadline for confirmation today if he is to be available to play tomorrow?

I don't understand the Reid move, back in the summer when I suggested his inexperience wasn't the sort of thing needed for an auto seeking squad, I was told I was talking crap or trolling, and he would do just fine. Similarly, I don't understand Donohue.... it seems accepted by similar voices on here that he's signed, but I can see no actual evidence of it.

Glad you changed the PdC one, thought you were going to argue that because we lost a cup game in there it was a 6 and a 4  :)

It does show how difficult it is to string together a lengthy run of wins

They're unbeaten in 6 away from home and are super defensive by all accounts. Another one of the those home games that we think we're not very good at.

1-1.

Is Donohue back as I've not read anything to suggest he is?

Apart from Colchester I’m yet to see a good side in L2 this season, I think Swindon look the part and score goals for fun.
If we turn up like we did at Macclesfield it could be a long afternoon.

Any chance we could poach the Swindon manager again?

I want us to sneak something but I can see this being very one sided. Hope I’m wrong.

This weekend is going to be painful Stags 0-4 Swindon

we've lost 1 game by more than 1 goal this season. The most likely result is a narrow defeat or a draw, certainly not a heavy defeat.

Depends on the team. If it’s the same as Macclesfield then it will be 90 minutes of being on the back foot as we don’t have players that can keep the ball. 3-0 Swindon if he carries on in the same vain.

5-0 We will probably line-up very defensively which will invite Swindon to attack attack attack

Seige mentallity prevails 1 0 to the stags

We only lose by one goal, mostly, because we are so defensive we have the bodies to be "odds on" not conceding. The opponents have more chances to attack us and laws of averages say they are bound to score once.

We barely attack (I'm not saying we don't at all) and so when we do venture forwards we have to be on our game because the attacks are fairly rare. Like I've said before, I can stomach a loss if their keeper is a strong contender for man of the match. This season we've drew or lost and logan is a contender for man of the match. There were a few games last season and a few the season before where we've won and come away thinking it could have been more if it wasn't for the opposition keeper, who hated playing against us because we kept them busy. This season opposition keepers hate facing us for a different reason, because they will freeze through lack of having anything to do.

We haven't been good enough this season, not by a long chalk. But the suggestion that we're likely to get spanked seems way off the mark to me.

The only teams we’ve beaten are currently in the bottom seven.

1-0 Swindon. Our defensive setup will keep us in the game, however Swindon should at least score once considering how clinical they’ve been this season. I can’t see us causing them many problems.

I just cannot see us turning Swindon over at this moment in time. Who knows it may be also the end of Dempster’s reign.

The Stags will go to Swindon with a defensive line up and sneak a 1-0 win to edge us up to 13th.

I really hope JD gets them to play the way we all know they can and show Swindon up.

Swindon lost 0-1 to Cheltenham last night and missed a penalty. They can be beaten.

Did thry put first 11 out ??
yes, apart from Eoin Doyle who was cup-tied. And Dion Donohue has left the club after his one-month contract wasn’t renewed.

Maybe he's being sent down. Hopefully. But he probably won't be. What has happened with that case?

Donohue should be in the squad tomorrow --- according to Wellens.

Very quiet on here this morning. 1-0 to the Town. Doyle scoring to keep us top of the league

Caddis in fro Iandolo the only change from last weeks league game.

No Donohue.

Anyway, Caddis is a more than adequate replacement. Unfortunately for Iandolo I think the fact that he isn't deemed ready to be full time replacement spells his last year at STFC.

Chances of Preston seeing red? He’s an easy wind up, too.

Chances of Preston seeing red? He’s an easy wind up, too.

Swindon are capable of arse fucking an average team who come out and try to attack, especially at the CG if the crowd get behind them which to their credit they have done recently. Could see a load of rippling onion bags this afternoon.

They have a 20 year old in midfield (Smith) making only his 3rd appearance and full debut for them, only played 26 mins of 1st team football so far.

Caddis having a blinding start. He's not lost his mojo.

Preston crudely brings down Doughty just inside their half, cynical. Yellow for him.

So I presume Caddis is playing at RB and Hunt has shifted to LB?

So I presume Caddis is playing at RB and Hunt has shifted to LB?

This guy is a fucking joke

Who?

Doyle. The guy is a machine.

Some half time ska:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eClAL1LCRk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eClAL1LCRk)

Cross after cross after cross after cross after cross... they had to score eventually.

Swindon have looked very tidy so far.

Doyle is on fire this season. Surprised Bradford don't recall him.

Great play again by Swindon. We need to wake up, could be 4-0/5-0 if we carry on

Swindon are 10x better on the ball than us so far, movement leagues ahead

The best thing that could happen in the 2nd half is we go and lose 4 or 5-0.

We have had the chances to score three, they could have scored five. Entertaining end to end. We are hitting them on the break and causing them problems. Swindon are a tidy team lots of triangles. Will be more goals.Cj and Smith doing OK.

Very open first half. End to end at times. Could have ended up 3-2 to Swindon. Kellan Gordon did not block the cross for Swindon's goal and Krystian Pearce and Ryan Sweeney left Doyle unmarked for him to score an easy goal.

Jacob Mellis and Nicky Maynard both should have scored. Jacob Mellis is playing well in the advanced midfield role. The position he should have been playing all season. Kellan Gordon is getting forward well down the right but the final ball has let him down. However Swindon are finding lots of space behind him and they are getting plenty of crosses into our area.

Andy Cook and Nicky Maynard need to do better up front and try and hold or keep possession of the ball.

Swindon are finding lots of space behind Kellan Gordon down their left.

Swindon look dangerous, lots of crosses coming into the box. They’ve done their homework

Benda at fault there. He flapped it unconvincingly onto the post rather than turning it away.

Did comms completely miss those yellows?

Did comms completely miss those yellows?

Blimey. Broadbent.  :eek:

We are not going to try and defend 1-0 like this are we?

Brilliant cross from Doyle. Yates should’ve finished that.

in front of 6,725 with 211 Staglettes there.

Unexpected subs today.

Not a very Swindon way to win. Streaky, hanging on all second-half.

Talk about grinding out a result.  Happy days  :)
Flash's arse stinks

Oh, my first time in the glue pot. What a great pub. Cracking ale  :pint:

Half the time Benda looks brilliant half the time he is a flapper, the same applies to his distribution. LMC is still the better keeper IMO.

What was the talk at the start of the second half from the commentators, sounded like some sort of news? Donohue? (My wife chose this moment to come in and tell me about something, so missed the detail)

I like Yates as a player, but I find him wasteful in front of goal... Yet he is still the joint 2nd top scorer in league 2. He's still getting enough opportunities to put enough away to be joint 2nd despite him not being clinical.

I don't mean to take any credit away from the ginger Pele, he's been phenomenal, but I think a lot of credit must go to the service he is getting. Will he be getting that service at Bradford? A look on their forum suggests not.

It also suggests that another fox in the box will do well here if Bradford recall Doyle.

Weird to think that only 5 consecutive league wins ago we were being tipped as a shit team and no chance of the autos after the Crewe game, not being a very good team, no 2nd plan of tactics from Wellens when things not going our way.

All the players signed were not good enough, Worst performing side in English football etc etc..

How quickly things can change in football.

I assume you go onto fB and other sites?  Seemed to me most people on here after the Crewe game said we weren't very good, on the day and needed to turn things around starting with the Stevenage game. That was why Doyle's added on time winner was so important...

Having a break now may help a bit as we looked to be flagging today agoinst albeit a physical outfit who are difficult to beat on the road.

I’ve had suspicions so far this season, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that we aren’t actually very good, and will likely be scrapping out for 7th at best

When the going gets tough, this team has literally zero sense of what to do - not through lack of effort, but lack of shape and lack of a plan to counteract an opposition, and that lays at the door of the coaching staff

No way is this team good enough for autos

The summer recruitment never really looked like a serious try at auto... and now we're having a bit of a regroup by plundering the out of work pool.

We’ll lose because we aren’t actually *that* good

1 win in the last 6 now and 4 points from 18

Not good enough- team not fit or strong enough

Wellens will be under pressure soon

Sounds like Broadbent did well. Hopefully he will gain confidence from this and be more involved with the first team. Wellens showed faith in him today and it paid off.

We don't want to get too carried away yet, eh Reg?

We don't want to get too carried away yet, eh Reg?

much more take each game as it comes and hope for the best in Jan

We are still 17 points off the magic 53 points target to ensure safety this season. No room for complacency in our ongoing relegation battle.

Blimey. Broadbent.  :eek:

Nah Benda is a much better keeper, gets to stuff McCormick wouldn’t get close to and his interceptions outside the box have saved a few goals this season.

Broadbent looked much better today and definitely helped us look a bit more solid at the back.

As for the rest of the game we just about deserved to win but it was streaky. Both Fryers and Baudry were pretty poor defensively especially in the air barely winning anything hence the Broadbent sub.

Don’t get the Woolery criticism, he was a good outlet and set up the goal. Yeah he makes wrong choices but he also made a couple of big headers in our box and good flick ons to set up attacks.

Oh, my first time in the glue pot. What a great pub. Cracking ale  :pint:

6741. Would have expected more.

any news on Lyden? injury or tactical?

Injury. Wellens said in his post-match presser. We missed him a little in the second half I think.

Very happy seeing us win today but will be happier still when we finally prove we can beat a top ten team. FGR will be our next chance.

Not tomorrow

this looks like one of those days where a hard fought 1-0 win is a good result. I would settle for that now and am optimistic we can get a narrow win.

The debate re how essential keeping Doyle is for us is a microcosm of the wider question of are we good enough to still be in the autos come May.

We're stringing together wins in a division where other clubs have tended to flounder as soon as they start to look like potential champs. 

On the other hand we are winning each game by narrow margins which is a difficult trick to sustain for a whole season.

I'm going for the former.  It won't alter the outcome so why not think positive and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Not sure FGR are that bothered given that they are effectively a village team punching massively over their weight.

We need to be very hostile at the game next month, with our form I’d imagine we’ll have many in the home ends as well so won’t be far off a 50/50 split. But after Cooper’s antics yesterday he deserves some real sustained abuse for once as he is one of the more idiots individuals around.

For those of us who don't follow what goes on at Forest Green very closely, what happened, please?

Thanks.  Cooper keeping it classy, I see.

Apparently comedian and town fan Ivo Graham was being filmed at the game doing a piece for the EFL show on Swindon.

It wasn't on last night programme so should be in the near future.

Video clips look good

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/competitions/league-two/11868455/swindon-1-0-mansfield

14:20

We've got Pele,  (Who)
The Ginger Pele,
I just don't think you understand,
He's Ritchie Wellens' man,
He's better than Zidane,
We've got the ginger Pele
---
Oh Eoin Doyle,
You're the love of my life,
Oh Eoin Doyle,
I'd let you shag my wife,
Oh Eoin Doyle,
I want ginger hair too.

What bloody tunes are they being sung to?

Surely the first one is achy breaky heart?

Is that acceptable terminology in this inclusive forum?

Yid

‘An Eastern European Jew. The term is often interpreted as offensive, which is a major misconception. The word Yiddish is not offensive, so neither is Yid. The word Yid is used to differentiate between an Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jew and an Israeli, Hebrew-speaking Jew.’

No goals in league 2 tonight so that’s us top properly now.

Yid

‘An Eastern European Jew. The term is often interpreted as offensive, which is a major misconception. The word Yiddish is not offensive, so neither is Yid. The word Yid is used to differentiate between an Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jew and an Israeli, Hebrew-speaking Jew.’

Noice.

Bradford could still catch up on games on hand, but they'd have to win both of their games to do so.

As good as could be expected  :)

Really? So I can assume the term 'Paki' is acceptable too, as it's a contraction of Pakistani?

A lady at work this week used the term 'chinky' to describe a recent meal, which I thought was out of order, but she seemed to think it was acceptable.

People find offence in everything

No goals in league 2 tonight so that’s us top properly now.

With a thread about racist terms taking over from the actual thread....

I was shocked to see that FGR sat in 2nd place in the table 1 point behind us who were playing at home to Crewe the 3rd place side in the table only had a paltry attendance of 2,192.

Thats a measly 1,976 home fans and an equally poor away following for Crewe of just 216 last night.

Not exactly a surprise is it that FGR get small crowds for a midwek in late Nov.  You don't play crowds, Accy won Div 4 recently with crowds often not many more than the 1110 they got when playing Wycombe, who also got auto.

Wycombe themselves are well clear in Div 3, yet get small crowds.

Yes but a top of the table clash in front of one of their lowest crowds of the season at home.

Maybe not shocking then but if I were an FGR fans, which fortunately I am not, I would be very disappointed with that attendance.

Neither was that Stevenage game Reg mentioned. Don’t know where he got 5500 from.

Neither was that Stevenage game Reg mentioned. Don’t know where he got 5500 from.

.....people will pick up on other differences.... for many men, it's women, and as we know this is now a toxic environment, or it could be simple things like red hair, baldness, or physical shapes beyond the mesomorph.

With a thread about racist terms taking over from the actual thread....

I was shocked to see that FGR sat in 2nd place in the table 1 point behind us who were playing at home to Crewe the 3rd place side in the table only had a paltry attendance of 2,192.

Thats a measly 1,976 home fans and an equally poor away following for Crewe of just 216 last night.

Our game with them in a few weeks is going to be entertaining. Realistically with a fair few in the home end due to many Town fans having GL postcodes it's going to be a 50/50 crowd split at the very least.

Not sure what the away allocation is, I think its only about 1,300 normally, if we are still top then we will sell that out and as you say there will be a a lot in the home end again.

If they only get 2,000 home fans then yes we could well have 45% or so of the overall attendance.

It seems I may of offended a few people with my post on the Tottingham fans Deli Ali song.
Life is too short, get over it ya gobshites , no offence to the Oirish either.

Don't worry about it.mate, being 'offended' is the new national pastime... this is my 'go to' video clip at times like this... I've put it on here probably 3 times before...

http://[https://youtu.be/ceS_jkKjIgo] 

I'm offended that you can't add links properly.

I know... it wouldn't work properly on my mobile 😵

What’s worse are those who are not directly offended but think they should be on behalf of someone else.

Fixed for you.

Aye. A lot of it is just virtue signalling.