Thetownend.com

A bit early, but we haven't had a matchday thread for ages  :)

On paper we should win this, but our recent record against them makes "grim" reading.

I'll go for a tight 2-1 away win. Att: 4,112 (away 864)

Grimsby 0-0 Swindon in front of 4,295 with 811 Swindon fans there.

Have you got your Christmas decorations up yet  :hmmm:

We have, tree went up on Sunday.

Christmas Eve

At least it's December.

You surprise me 4D, I'd have you down as an early bird like Jayo

Will take a point, as always away. But I think we should be aiming for 3.

Due a defeat and our record at Grimsby has been poor so I'll go for a 2-1 defeat with 400 Town fans making the trip

Grimbo on a Saturday instead of a Tuesday evening makes a change. Was it last season they got awarded that ridiculous penalty at the CG?

Hopefully Isgrove will be in the Matchday squad. 6 in a row coming up, I reckon.

1-3, 3895 with 720 from these ‘ere parts.

Much as I was never going to Grimsby, think yourself lucky if you are that you aren't stuck in a queue for a popular TV show at 5 in the morning.

And also missing the AJ fight later on

Season before last.... Grimsby had one win in 23 before that, we were terrible them no better. We had McGivern at CB and he was that slow, he couldn't actually get unto the penalty area when the Grimsby lad overran the ball and took a dive.  Probably kept them up.

We'll be raring to go, itching to get out there. 1-4.

0-2 Town

They deserve a stuffing from us as we've outplayed them the last few times but they've come away with I'll deserved points. Heart says 0-4, head says a turgid 1-1.

Would take point.
I don't think we've really done turgid this season as yet.
Hopefully the mid season break won't have had a negative impact on momentum.

There's no particular pattern to resullts after our mid season break..... some good, some indifferent.  For me though there's no escaping that Blundell Park is always difficult.... the weather may well decide. No doubt it'll be cold, but could do without wet and windy.

Gonna be mild and sunny in Grimsby on Saturday. 9°C  :)

The Grim are not on a good run at the moment, 6 games since their last win LLLDLD and only 2 wins in the last 11 league games which brought about the sacking of Jolley on 15th November after an expletive laden interview with the local radio station which tipped the board over the edge combined with the run of poor results.


He sounds a bag of fucking laughs!

Their home form started brightly but went downhill with 1 win in the last 6 home league games scoring just 9 and conceding 12 goals at home they have won just twice and have drawn 3 and lost 3 times.

They sit in 18th place in the table.

Grims are currently without a permanent manager having former youth manager/assistant Anthony Limbrick in charge, they have yet to win a game under his tenure after 6 games in charge.

Grims are without important winger Jordan Cook for a while and probably without the injured defender and vice capt Luke Hendrie and young winger Max Wright for our game. Large lump striker James Hanson was taken off in the last game after suffering injury but could be available.

Not so jolly Jolley.
Almost like he was looking to get the sack.

Then again for anyone who has visited Cleethorpes.
It really is the end of the (railway) line.

For fucks sake,  it's only Tuesday !!.

IIRC last year the weather was shocking, played just over a week before Christmas wet and very windy (it usually is up there!).

We had a lot of the game and had a very disputed penalty given against us in the first half when Nelson chested the ball just outside of the box but the ref said he handled it inside the box, even then Vigs got a hand to it but couldnt stop it going in.

Vigs saved a shot but pushed it straight back at the striker to give them the win. Bayo, Woolery, Doughty and Dunne all had great chances to get a draw or win for us. We had 14 shots and 9 on target last year.

This season Grimsby fans have accused their team of taking too many touches in midfield with little end product, early season they relied on James Hanson's bulk up front alongside the "all elbows" lump Matt Green and the pacey Ahkeem Rose in a 3 pronged attack.

They normally play 4-3-3 with a flat back 4

A fairly defensive minded midfield 3 with holding midfielder Harry Clifton sat behind a middle 2 normally of Jake Hessenthaler and Elliott Whitehouse/Ethan Robson.

Up front they normally play Green as a wide right target man, Hanson down the middle and Cook/Rose was wide left attacker.

Under the caretaker they play a lot less defensively than under Jolley and like to pass the ball around, so they could try to "out football and out pass us" which could end up realy badly for them as it did for Orient.

Midfield is a weak spot for them according to their fans and have poor quality in there but are improving under the stand in boss.

From their forum...

But, but maniac, you mean to say that you're not jumping up and down, bare chested in your living room, chanting and swinging a Town scarf above your head in readiness for the big game?

What is the world coming to.  :(

If hes topless beating his chest surely that would be more like redness than readiness!

I looked at traipsing over to watch the game, with the train connections I would probably have had to make a couple of days of it...

The 9am from Ulverston(is that your local?) to Cleethorpes you can leave at 8am and get there for 1pm with 1 change at Piccadilly and then the 17:26 from Cleethorpes gets you back for just after midnight! with a couple of changes.

Sorry, can't get that enthusiastic with the thought of a visit to GRIMsby. But, like your response !.

Guessing you didnt see us against Crewe. Absolutely turgid.

Its a welcome break for me as its another period of recovering for our big players that our injured.

Plenty of beer opportunities  :)

Yeah, Crewe was poor overall, wouldn't describe the performance as turgid though. Seems a long time ago now.

yh seems almost last season to me as well. a new defence and an early injured keshi. 

was def turgid though- i know stats dont always show it all but... 21 shots to our 3, 36% possession, 68% pass accuracy, 12 corners to our 1, we made 18 fouls with 4 yellows.

its up there with the worst i have seen in many a year. 

but again now top of the league and we are all enjoying it again!

Wellens confirms Isgrove will be involved Saturday - obviously from the bench.

He’s at Tranmere tonight watching the game against Man U in the Winky Wanky Cup - youngster coming our way in Jan?

Or he could be watching his son.

Not sure if he is likely to play for them but its his 17th birthday tomorrow so could well be up there for that.

Just for comparison, last season after 19 games Lincoln were only 2 points better off than us and they ran away with it in the end.

Based on nothing at all I fear our run will end up in Cleethorpes.

Defeat. 2-1

Think all we can do is take each game as it comes, get as many points as poss in Dec and then see what the squad looks like in Jan.. 

Just got to cling on to reach that magic 53 points and hope we can survive the inevitable relegation battle

I think that tomorrow’s game will be tricky - let’s hope the week off has refreshed tired legs and minds, and allowed the injured to recover, rather  than slowing or stopping the momentum of a winning run.
I know that previous results at Grimsby have no bearing on tomorrow, but the superstitious part of me worries about our awful record there. However these runs all have to end at some time, why not tomorrow.
I would take a draw tomorrow, and think we will take a point. Probably a low scoring affair -  0-0 or 1-1.
In the context of the whole season that will probably be ok.

Let’s be positive - if in August we had been offered early exits in all 3 cups but our current league position / points and the fact that  our challengers winning their games in hand would still leave us on top, we would all have taken it. The football has been good too. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season with optimism.

Blundell Park always is.  However, if we are ever going to get a good day out there, tomorrow looks a shout.  Even the weather looks OK, little wind and feel like temp of 5 C, which is sub-tropical for Cleethorpes.  What can go wrong?  Blundell Park isn't Whaddon Road we've had 3 wins there in my time, but one of those in Aug, one in Sept and one in April... nothing in winter, in fact 12 defeats since the  (Bert) heady days of 63 and a first elevation to Div 2.

The sort of norvern outpost where even our decent sides have struggled....a point would be massive.

TBH with out shit run of results up there I would be happy with a draw but there is no better time to play them than now, no perm manager and on a shit run.

Recent data (i.e. results this season against bottom half sides) suggest we win this.

Being a Swindon fan means we all expect we won't.

2-1 win - Doyle and Doughty (p). 480 away fans.

If this is the case I would like to think Doughty hands over the penalty duties to Doyle after Doughtys poor penalty last time out.

10 wins out of 10 games so far

BTTS & O2.5 Gls

 :bullshit:

This is where superstition meets fact and data I think.

Grimsby is not a bogey team, previous results have no influence on the result this weekend. BUT....

...it is a tricky place to go for us.  Clearly Grimsby would win the league every year if it was just because Cleethorpes has a Hex on teams, so why?  Maybe because the type of football we have tried to play in the majority of seasons is not as well suited to the conditions you find there.  It would interesting to compare our performances vs. team who play like Lincoln did last season for example.  That probably also speaks to Reg's comment about the three wins, in times of the year where better conditions are possible.  Is it a combination of factors - most games being Autumn/Winter, us playing the wrong type of football for those conditions and, obviously, we tend to play them when we are near enough each other in ability.

Clearly this type of analysis is presented with Cheltenham and concludes witches must be involved in that one, there is nothing else in Science that explains it.

Grimsby away can probably be considered a bit of a bogey team TBH.

With just 1 win for Swindon in the last 15 matched played up there, a 2-1 win in 2003 when Mooney and Gurney scored.

That is also the only time we have come away from there with any points in the last 7 meetings between the clubs in Cleethorpes.

I don't like the whole "bogey team" thing as I think its bollocks, but Cheltenham have the evil eye over us so there could be elements of the truth in some clubs struggling in games against certain other clubs. Why that is quite frankly is anyones guess.

Good win that one.... I thought a win at Blundell was a good sign for that outfit, but ultimately like a few of our decent sides lately came up just short.

I remember the previous win 4-3 in 67.  Well exciting you don't get too many 4-3 away wins, but just the 03 win in the last 52 years

 It's a slightly strange stat that the FL have sent us to Cleethorpes 9 times for a midweek fixture.... it's almost like they don't like us.  We've won our games all 4 of them on Tuesday nights.  We've never won on a Saturday.

That is a very interesting and unusual fact.

until now !!.   2-0 to the robins,   all records are there to be broken.

You fucking heathen! All vinyl should be preserved. There's not a lot of good things left, thanks to this godforsaken species and you want to go around snapping LPs in half!

Well some of them,  Val Doonigan, Mrs Mills etc.   :) :)

1-2 Doyle with 2, 550 Swindon fans.

2,550 away fans is optimistic  :D

 :girlgiggle:

Not confident, based purely on our track record there.  Shades of Cheltenham.

Hopefully I'll be wrong.  I usually am.

Grimsby are winless in seven, we’ve won our last five league games. We’re top of the league, they’re 18th. We’ve won all of our games against bottom half sides so far this season.

Grimsby Town 1-0 Swindon Town

Wakey, wakey!

It’s 6-in-a-row day!

This. So if we want to stamp our authority and quality on this bottom of a barrel league we go there with a winning mentality and determination. Away win for me, normal services resumed.

Pre match Saturday night is probably still alright for fighting in The Coliseum Picture Theatre.
The feeling of anti-Saxonism is palpable.
The beard and drinking horn are helping with blending in.

So, positively balmy here today.
The wind turbines are spinning lazily as opposed to going round like the clappers as they normally do.

UFO sightings have been more common than Town wins here.
If the team can show the same approach and attitude as for the opening game up the road, then a historic victory could be on the cards.
Easier to reflect back and appreciate what a good performance that was now.

The residents of Great Grimsby could be waking up to a blue dawn for the first time next Friday.
Hopefully they will be dazzled by a red sunset today.
Imagine that.

I'm not sure normal service is what we require, more abnormal. A dozen trips on a Saturday afternoon since 1921, W0 D2 L10

Our record against lower half teams this season (all of current squad influenced) or a select record going back 100 years (handfull of current squad influenced 1 game)?

I’m struggling to decide which stat is more relevant

A score draw seems likely

Why does a Stone Island label always look as if it's about to fall off?

Why do all coppers look overweight?

Not sure another 20,000 fat bastards is going to strike fear into the hearts of the criminal underworld.

Why are all birds behind the make up counter or in fashionable retailers really attractive!

Because they discriminate against the short fat and Ugly

Probably because they use copious amounts of said product

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELME9M4XUAACA1o?format=jpg&name=medium)

Unchanged starting line up again, Isgrove back on the bench.

what's up Doc?

did we not sign him in the end?

Not gone through yet the FL are still holding it up. Wellens said hes waiting for a phone call from them.

Just a bit of fun today see's this rack up odds of 2800/1

Good vibes needed brothers and and Eoin Doyle goal :)

I’ve done a piss easy bet. All games in L2 BTTS.

Nice ball from Hunt to Doughty in the box, unmarked his cross is blocked for a corner to Town.

Town playing some neat passing football so far, looking fairly confident.

Hessentaler down injured holding up play.

Hes up and the game carries on.

Not a great clearance by Benda into touch when under pressure.

Doughty and Grant have 2 men on them every time they get the ball.

Game being played at quite a quick pace by both teams so far.

Hunts passing letting him down a few times so far, Town wanting more time on the ball than Grims are giving us.

1-0 Doyle!

Woolery cross finds Yates who cant connect the ball bounces out to Doughty and his cross is up onto Doyles head from 15 yards he loops it over the falling keeper.


8 in a row.

Will be his slowest moving goal of the season.

Poor keeping TBH, but I will take that!

1st Town player to score in 8 games in a row since Harry Morris in the 1920's.

Great tackling by Grant who is then fouled half way in their half as he broke away from the Grimsby player.

Doughty takes a shot from 40 yards straight at the keeper.

Fryers good interception in our box to stop them attacking.

Yates takes in down and turns then runs forward and tries a shot from 25 yards, well wide.

We've got Pele!

Grimsby comms on ifollow today.  :suicide:
And I thought BBC wilts was bad.

Poor pass by Doughty puts us under pressure at the back, he gets away with it though.

Not for me.

Grant and Hess have a falling out in the middle :)

Grant heavily shoulder barged Hess!

Tenner on Grant

Cambs 1 up on the Pilgrims

So far Grimsby are 1 trick ponies, hooooof to Hanson at every chance.

Bit of a size difference!

And 😁

Game has gone a bit scrappy but Town well in control.

Wierdly Grant actually came off worse!

2-0

Woolery beats his man then passes a shit pass to Yates in their box, he did the hard work.

2-0 Yates

Heavily deflected shot after a long run by Yates inside the box.

Do I lose my Tenner? 🙁

Do you think Yates is a little narked that Doyle is completely overshadowing the fact that he too is tearing this league up?

Bloodly good start this.

Not a great goal...again, but I will take that all day long!

Two goals worthy of a December afternoon in Grimsby.

Town 2 chances...2 goals by the 2 top scorers.

Rob Hartley on comms "Swindon have been functional".

Thats an understatement mate!

So glad we have not got two 20 goals forwards this season.

Yet.

Hunt is not having his best game so far, disappointing by him. Luckily Yates is covering him well.

By the sound of things Grimsby could well be fucked if we get into 3rd gear.

Free kick down the line from Grant to Doyle who finds Hunt but his cross is poor.

We don't need to yet TBH.

Corner to Town.

Just flicked through the red button/radio on the box. Radio Humberside has comms of Fish v Robins.

Listening to their comms, I think they are just miffed more than anything. They can't see why they are losing 0-2 but appreciate that they haven't even created anything. They are fairly complimentary towards us, with the obvious home bias. It seems they only know the name of Caddis for us mostly. Don't seem to know any names.

Town could win this by 4 or 5 if we fancy it. Swindon free kick on the edge of the box.

Lyden fouled on the edge of the box.

Wouldn’t hurt the GD TBF.

Lyden went down holding his face right on the edge in the corner.

Doughty short ball sideways to Yates but his shot from the edge of the box is well over the bar.

Their comms are now turning on their own. Saying Grims don't look awake to anything.


This is a walk and we haven't even got started yet. Sounds like Grims fans are also turning on their own.

Caddis felled on the half way line, takes it quick and the ball from Doughty to Doyle is good he crosses and Woolery knocks it just wide off the defender, corner to Town..

Grant being chopped down every time he gets the ball.

Could be some cards soon then?

Nice cross from Caddis by Lyden cant connect well enough in the 6 yard box.

Should have been 1 or 2 for them already.

Woolery nice shot thats defelcted to Doyle and his shot is just wide after a defelction, corner to Town. Great run by Doyle to start the move.

Grant wastes a good attacking move giving it away just outside the box.

Yates chooses the wrong pass to Doyle in the box, great chance.

Town are at times treatign it like its a training match, some of the touches are amazing.

Woolery robs the fullback and his cross is inches away from Doyle in the box.

Woolery injured in the challenge, hes hobbling.

Corner to Grims.

Shit corner :)

Ha, Grimsby have a player called Waterfall. What a shower!

Town not really looking under any pressure at the back, still haven't got out of 2nd gear and haven't needed to.

Caddis playing well but hes not getting the crosses in like he was in the last game yet, disappointingly.

Fishy fans getting very frustrated.

Grant gives away a needless corner.

Another shit corner from them, out for a goal kick.

Hunt tries a cross/shot from deep and it goes well wide. Great break by Doughty then.

HT 2-0 Solid.

Good first half then. 2-0 lead and a decent chance for a 3rd. Got to be happy with that

Decent first half.

Some half time ska:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhH1Lxv-8sA

Hunt not having a great game but hes not playing badly just his passing is poor at times.

The rest of the team have looked a division higher than anything from Grimsby. They look a side lacking in quality and confidence and not really causing s any problems despite them having 2 massive strikers they are hoofing the ball up to at every chance.

Grant, Doughty, Lyden, Doyle and Yates all having very good games, nobody playing badly really.

Town have no needed to get out of 2nd gear and have controlled midfield.

The emphatic nature of seeing the net bulge is great.
But a gentle ripple is just as good.

You’re right though. Hunt’s been disappointing this half. Doughty probably our most influential player. Yates has been working extremely hard. Slightly sketchy half, but Grimsby have looked nervous and under pressure from their crowd.

From the fishy forum...

Oh lord iFollow have switched off at half time. They don't often do that, but when they do it's a pleasant surprise if it comes back on before the hour mark...

Not for me

Grims made 2 subs at HT.

Nor me.

Grims have their first real effort of the game, well wide.

Would like to see Woolerys pace used more this half.

Great ball from Fryers to Yates who finds Doughty and he puts a low cross, out for a corner to Town.

On the BBC it states it was a header from 35 yards, can anyone aat the gane confirm that?

Grant flattened by Grims player, again!

No more like 15 yards.

Still no booking, Grant being targetted.

Poor Doughty FK out of play.

Another shit corner from Grims.

3-0

Get in there

3-0 Yates.

great finish.

Rifled into the corner from the angle 15 yards out.

We seemed to have so much time to play the ball in the area.

Should be aiming for 4 or 5 here.

We're actually really rather good, aren't we?

Looks like Yates' goal broke comms.

Doyle volley inches wide after a Woolery flick on from a Caddis throw in.

Yates' finish so good that it's broken iFollow. I wish half my posts weren't complaining about the service, but it really is quite dreadful. I think their hold muzak adds to the pain.

Lost commentary on Iplayer, although I still have live match sound

It has.

I knew it was too good when it came back on before the second half kicked off.

We have stepped up a gear since the last goal.

I’m not sure today is the ultimate test of that tbh.

Football is a strange game, remember Plymouth fans telling us they’d be ahead of us in a couple of games when we drew with them, we’re now 10 points clear of them as things stand. Forest Green game could be very interesting as things stand with the pressure on them as they may need to win to keep in touch with us. In the meantime imagine the Oldham game will be another game of 11 men behind the hall from the away team.

FGR losing

It is indeed Greavsie! its a funny ole game!

Fuck me I'm deaf and shit myself at the same time

No, but 6 on the spin (and let's face it, we're going to be hard pushed not to take 3 points from this one) is testament that something's going right. FACT!

We are good but Grimsby really aren't very good TBH.

Fucking Bristol Rovers shanked my bet  inside 40mins. Cunts. Anyway 0-3 and ...here's L2 as it stands;

   
Swindon     20   12   3   5   35   22   13   39
   
Forest Gr    20   10   6   4   24   14   10   35
   
Cheltnumb  19   9   7   3   29   15   14   34
   
Crewe Alx   19   10   4   5   32   22   10   34
   
Exeter City  20   9   7   4   25   21   4   34
   
Northampt  20   9   5   6   29   20   9   32
   
Bradford     19   9   5   5   26   18   8   32
   
Plymouth A 19   8   5   6   27   22   5   29

Getting feels of 2012 all over again as I hear the Town faithful singing E-I-E-I-E-O....  :)

Yates wins another corner.

Poor corner by Caddis under no challenge.

Jingle bells,  jingle bells,  jingle all the way...

Last Grims sub coming on.

Hanson is a diving bastard!

Benda fouled as he tried to claim a cross.

A laughable dive - and the ref gave the free-kick.

Ah well, came to nothing anyway.

Att: 3,723 with 318 from Swindon.

Carry on like this and we might yet be safe from relegation. By Easter, maybe!

Corner to Town after a long ball to Woolery.

We want 4.....

The game has a similar feeling to the Crawley away game.

Us being much better than the home team and we look like scoring every time we get the ball in their box.

On this showing Grimsby are relegation fodder.

Close to being a penalty on Yates but he made a bit too much of the tackle.

FGR 2 down

Those bamboo shin pads clearly are not working

Bad foul on Grant by Hewitt, that could be a red, ankle kick.

Is it even worth risking Isgrove today?

Get in you Scunts!

Get some minutes in his legs ready for next week?

Definately worth giving Isgrove some time, they seem to be targetting Grant.

Terrible free kick by Fryers.

But we haven't won there in over 100+ years, it's a sign i tell you

Well until Reg changes direction and comes up with a reason why it's not really a win and we aren't top

There's nothing wrong with my shin pads, thank you very much  ;D

I dunno. It's getting a bit feisty.

More so for Grant though TBH. They know he has a short fuse.

Nice long ball from Lyden to Woolery but hes never going to out muscle the defender.

Doughty fouled now.

Lovely hard low cross from Woolery but Yates kicks it well wide from 5 yards.

Be nice for Yates to pick up a HT

DJ coming on by the look of it.

And game got stopped for racism from the FGR fans, they really are a lovely club.

He has deserved one today, covered every inch of the pitch.

Tinpot!

DJ on for Doyle.

Doyle has also put in a good shift.

Grims shoot from 20 yards easy save for Benda.

Lyden down injured with a twisted ankle.

FK to Town not far outside the box.

If he played on Jaiyesimi would’ve scored.

3 mins left before added time.

Rose on for Lyden.

The home stands almost empty already, they are not a happy bunch of campers.

6 mins added.

Corner to Town.

Great pass from Doughty to Yates.

Rose shoots from 20 yards just wide.

Nice tackle by Fryers in the box, corner to them.

Woolery looks knackered.

Good claim by Benda under the bar.

Curran on for  Yates.

3-0 very solid performance if not a great performance, well deserved. 8 in a row for Doyle, 6 wins in a row for Town, double figures from Yates, clean sheet, top of the table easily.

Can't ask for more TBH.

Job done. Didn't get out of 1st gear really.

3 points clear at the top.

FT 3-0

...But...but...but...we never win at Grimsby, they're our bogey team blah blah blah...how could this have happened??? My head is going to explode  :blowup:

Well that is pleasant.

Grimsby were unbelievably poor - easily the worst side I’ve seen so far.

We never looked like conceding - and that doesn’t happen very often.

Looks like it’s going to boil down to the Jan window.

Poor second half, but that's really down to Grimsby never putting us under any sort of pressure. They just couldn't build anything coming forward, and wasted every attack. MoM to Yates not just for the goals, but for his hard work all over the pitch.

Normal service resumed.

What a lovely time to be a Swindon fan....

Impeccable logic

 98 years of Saturday hurt ended so painlessly  :)

 

Whereas......

 :nod: its been a cloud over my football supporting life. just why can't we beat Grimsby on a Saturday!

One Robin on a shirt
League 2 trophy still gleaming
98 years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming

need to change the lyrics now. brilliant win, the train continues!

Bradford  beat Newport today and stay 5 points behind us with a game in hand, and still all they can ramble on about on their forum is Eoin Doyle.
There's more goals in him yet !!,  for us !!.

Almost safe from relegation now.

Phew.

Winning 3-0 at Grimsby is a brilliant result.
Swindon teams in the past have for whatever reason (complacency, not being prepared to battle hard enough possibly) been beaten there, even when the apparent merits of the teams (current form, league position) have suggested we ought to get a point or better.
Let’s enjoy the win and being top of the table, and continue to accumulate points. With the squad we have (I know January may alter that but we have all expended a lot of energy on that subject) this could be a special season. Also let’s give credit to RW, Jewell and the other scouts whose judgement identified the players we have brought in, and to LP for backing their judgement.

Still 14 points to go to reach the magic 53. No room for complacency next week against Oldham is bound to be a tester because in 1958 they beat us at home on a Saturday in December and .... (can't be arsed, make up some random pessimism yourselves)

Oldham at home next week. That should be another 3 points *touches wood*

Hopefully we'll extend the gap at the top a little more because we have some tougher games coming after that.

Still shit at corners though . . .  could be our downfall .

As an away fan, to see a first win somewhere after numerous visits is very satisfying. More so when it's a pain to get to as well.

It's just glorious at the moment, but feet on the ground and enjoy each game as it comes.

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/competitions/league-two/11881017/grimsby-0-3-swindon

Wow, 2 tame shots at the keeper from the feeeeesh. 
My ifollow disappeared after 3 nil up , looks like I didnt miss much

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: wtf was their keeper doing for doyles goal.

he was back tracking like it was looping back post and it ended going in down the middle of the goal and waist height.

take it all day long obviously

Att 3,723
Our lot 318

The club’s printers could not deliver the golden goal tickets. At the same time the hot water tanks on the backs of the drinks sellers walking around the pitch were deemed unsafe. Meanwhile, P a u l had to stay on at his Saturday job for 6d at the mercy of a bourgeois capitalist slave driving fruit and veg merchant. Then walk home fifty miles in his bare feet only finding out the result two days later from a damp copy of the football pink.

get the fuck in, great win that

Morning all,

What a big win that was yesterday. Looking forward to next Saturday now. No complacency against Oldham.

Shame Forest Green wont give us any more tickets.

Tickets? Pah, we’ll have the three points instead.

Echo...


;)

Had a quick read of the Bradford forum on their thoughts on the Doyle situation.

Fucking hell they are some bitter fans.

Almost every single poster suggests they should take him back and pay his wages putting them under the FFP pressure purely to stop us playing him and utilising his ability.

Almost every one of them says Vaughan is a better player, is that right? a striker with just 7 goals to his name this season vs a striker with 18, ok then!

Many of their fans also suggets making a "cheeky bid" for Yates to properly scupper us.

They are ignoring the fact that both those players are loving it at Swindon and quite rightly would not want to return/go to Bradford anyway, Doyle had his chance and they couldnt play to his strengths and Yates would not want to go there I am certain as thats a step backwards and anyway with FFP they couldnt afford him or Doyle as they are floating close to the limit according to their manager.

I think Power/Wellens should step up and make it a perm deal as well as for Grant and Yates.

Get it done Swindon, seal the deal asap and we could easily coast to the title in this league, yesterday we were never out of 2nd gear all game really.

It's certainly a situation without precedent, it's now a dozen games since one of our own players scored a goal, of those dozen DJ scored in 1, all the others 11 have seen goals by Yates or Doyle or no-one.  Of course even if our own we could lose them to injury, but such reliance on players who can soon be recalled was always likely to cause a problem.

FWIW I just can't see Power shelling out the necessary for an over 30 striker, by way of fee and wages, but Yates could be a possibilty....

In an ideal world we need to sign a ‘Rory Fallon’ ready to come in should one of them loose form.

According to their local rag we are already paying the lion’s share of his supposed £5k per week wages. Taking up the whole amount wouldn’t be a deal breaker, I would have thought.

There’s no way they are going to go back to paying the full amount for Doyle and not playing him. They all know he wouldn’t reproduce his goal return for them - and they know he doesn’t want to go back anyway.

I’d expect Power to dip into next season’s budget to keep Doyle and Grant. Yates, I have no idea what will happen with him. Like Doyle, he is out of contract in the summer so I doubt he’ll cost a lot if we want to sign him.

I can - and I think he will. We shall see come January...exciting times ahead hopefully :hmmm:

I agree, Power can see his worth and the financial rewards of promotion that he could well bring us with his goals.

Despite what some people think, Power isn’t stupid. He should be aware that this is our best chance at promotion from this division since relegation, and I can’t see why he wouldn’t dig deep into his pockets to make sure we hold on to three players who are instrumental to our success.

I just think that as he's committed himself this far, it doesn't make sense for him to not follow through and get him here on a perm.

IF we were to get Doyle, Yates and Grant in for the rest of the season by whatever means along with eventually signing Donohue (who I think will prove to be invaluable in the run in) that would be an absolutely epic transfer window - with the addition of Caddis the squad will be looking the best it has done for years. I know it's asking a lot for all of that to happen but I believe Power will do all he can in his...ahem...power, to make it so...

I can't disagree with any of that, whether or not we will sign those 4 I can't say but it will be pivotal to our promotion push though.

No doubt about it - and Power is as aware of that as anyone  :nod:

Look at it logically... ED will be 32 in March, a contract would have to be for at least 2 years, and I'm sure Bradford would ask for a fee. If he did get us up then, in his last 2 seasons at Div 3 level he's played for relegated sides.  For sure we want to keep him til end of the season, but you have to weigh that against tying up money in an a depreciating asset.  Think signing Yates would be much more of a Power thing.

Then, why did Power stump a large percentage of Doyle’s £5k per week wages in the first place if he thought it was just an interim solution.

Surely he would have told Wellens to spend the ‘x’ amount on someone who may appreciate. In essence, Power has committed to paying somewhere around £150,000 to cover Doyle’s wages for the entire term of his loan.

Yes, and if he signed him it'd be 150K fee straight up, and then something like 300K on wages... in other words about half a mill.

Strange things do happen in football, but we seen no previous evidence in Power's time that he operates in that fashion.

Power has changed his model though.

In the past he has signed only young player worth developing and selling, he quickly found out that for every Luongo you have a Rodgers and for every Gladwin you have a BOO plus many more useless ones.

Would the age 30+ players Doyle, Grant, Baudry, Rose, McCormick and Caddis all have been signed using that model?

I would say definately not, Power has come to realise that you need experience as well as raw youth and if the right players become available and work with our squad then he will sign them, fee or no fee. Power has never been shy of putting up a fee for any player.

There is not one Swindon fan that can say we do not need Grant, Doyle and Donohue for the rest of the season, that also applies to the management and owner too, they arent blind, they can see what and who works in the side and who doesn't.

Its not all about the bottom line of selling a player for proft any more at the expense of the team.

We are not a Youth side any more, we have many players with bags of experience in the side and they compliment each other and are not just a team of raw young individuals after making their way in a career using us as a stepping stone.

There is no doubt at all that every player in this Town side could easily step up a division and perform for at least another 2 years at a higher level, no doubt at all. You state Doyle will be 32 before the end of the season.

Look at Jamie Cureton....shit with us but carried on scoring at a decent level for several years after he left. He even scored 12 goals for Norwich in the Championship aged 35 and carried on playing league football until he was 39.

Steve White who was 35 and still scoring for fun when he left us and carried on for Hereferd and Cardiff until he was 39 and STILL scoring.

Ian Rush playing and still scoring for Liverpool aged 35, Micahel Owen still playing and scoring in the Prem aged 33, Alan Shearer still playing and scoring for Newcastle aged 36, Dennis Law playing for Man City aged 34,

20 goal a season strikers are very hard to come by and worth their weight in gold.

If a player keeps himself fit then he can carry on at a decent level until mid 30s these days easily, Doyle looks as fit as any Town player IMO, even those 13 years his junior.

Plus, if the end game is in sight for Power re his exit strategy, then a L1 club with a young, successful manager would be worth a few more shekels than a L2 club. A bit more cash spent now should increase the club’s value by a couple of million if all goes well.

Exactly.

Power is no mug even if a lot of our fans seem to think he is.

 The experienced players we've signed have been out of contract types looking for a club, therefore reasonably priced, nothing wrong with that it's been Power's way of working trying to get value for money and not splurging.

 Maybe there is a way of Doyle seeing out his loan... I suppose it's possible that Bowyer won't want a disaffected player kicking around his squad

Think you're right that Yates is a better fit for Power, but I still think he'll be prepared to sign both (although personally I reckon Rotherham won't want to let Yates go but will be happy to extend his loan so he'll only need to sign Doyle) and be prepared to effectively write Doyle's 2nd year off as the cost of promotion. L1 club with momentum behind it is a much more saleable asset than a club middling about in L2.

The other variation in recruitment strategy has been those we have signed on perms - bit of a chequered past but too good for L2, a bit of a gamble.

Fryers, Isgrove, Liden - all freebies, got to be worth a few quid now.

 Thanks to Wellens.

He's out of contract in the summer and can only for us or Bradford until then so will not command any sort of transfer fee.  Just by agreeing to take him totally off their wage bill they are getting more than they have now.   Bradfords other options are to pay for all him and play him, but he wasn't effective there, or keep the loan as is. 

Probably down to Doyle as he may want 3 year deal or hope for champ or Salford move in the summer after such a good season.

I’m sure we’ll keep at least 2 of the 3 for the rest of the season.

On the flip side though we’ve got 4 games to go before there is any risk of them going back. If we get a significant return from those games then we’ll be top and have the pick of the transfer market for this league in January as Wellens has mentioned on a number of occasions.

If we keep all 3 then it will be the most boring January window that we’ve ever had in terms of incomings which would be strangely enjoyable.

According to the Adver today Shrewsbury have shown no interest whatsoever in talking to Grant since he joined us. No way they want him back and can’t imagine him wanting to join another club with promotion a very real possibility with us.

Quote ‘According to the Adver today Shrewsbury have shown no interest whatsoever in talking to Grant since he joined us.’ You then add, ‘No way they want him back’  are you sure? The article says according to Grant he has had no contact with Shrewsbury. That maybe true, what about his agent? What about Wellens or our club secretary?

Of course as a fan like me and others, we’d love to have AG stay, bloke is an immense leg end in the making. What you really mean is you hope the Shrews don’t want him back don’t you?

Seeing as he was ostracised at Shrewsbury and made to train with the kids prior to joining us, the fact they haven’t been in contact with him at all points to the fact they don’t want him.

Doesn’t mean another club may not want him.

I would think that watching his performances this season for us then any club in the bottom 2 divisions would be eager to take him on.

That said he says hes very happy at Swindon and has yet to win any promotion at any club previously so hopefully he will want to stay and add a promotion to his CV, he seems to love playing under Wellens so fingers crossed that will give us the advantage in signing him in January from Shrewsbury who just want rid of him.

His track record everywhere else has been mixed to say the least, always seems to go sour on disciplinary issues. Wellens is finally getting the best out of him, he'll be as keen to keep that as we are to keep him

Although it hasn't yet, has it?

We are massively dependent on two goal scorers and a back-up in january could be useful, especially as we don't know what's going to happen with either.

I reckon (hope) Power will bite the cost with doyle and we'll get Yates on loan untill the end of the season to move on there depending on where we and rotherham are. or something.

But whoever said above, the Rory Fallon comparison is apt. Didn't he end up scoring something stupid like 5 goals in 60mins for us coming off the bench. You do need that back up. Not sure we have the youths to make a breakthrough at the moment.

His punishment for whatever he did does point to an ambivalence from the Shrews. If they suddenly changed manager that could change very quickly, not likely so let’s hope not. As for other clubs, well being top of the table does put the club in the spotlight whether we want it or not not and if, if we maintain the form and league position we have along with the players we currently have i’d be surprised if no other club came sniffing around at seasons end for any quality OOC players.

I think that's the most likely thing to potentially scupper a deal for Grant...new manager comes in, wants to assess what he has, recalls the loanees... As you say though, you would think it would be unlikely as Shrews seem to be going well in L1...although this is football we're talking about...

Epic result that - superb!

I know that PV's already trawled a few views from over on the Grim forum, but I always like fishing for compliments after a convincing away win so I thought I'd cast my net this morning to see what the weekend had dragged up. They're not happy haddocks:

Are we a bunch of cheats? Do we - Grant - go down too easily? Are we any different to any other team?

Tbf, Grant has taken winning a free kick to an admirable level!

I didn't notice any diving from us. I did notice at least one noticeable dive from them, though.

Well yeah, but that's the same with any League 2 side, no-one has 3 or 4 20 goal a season strikers so they can sit 2 on the bench just in case a loan gets recalled or whatever. We have 2 such strikers, they're firing and clearly enjoying it here, so should we.

Grant got fouled a lot on Saturday - thought he’d end up lumping one of them.

The problem being we own neither.

Whilst it’s a worse case scenario - end of month we could be back to 0 20 goal a season strikers.

It's fine, you don't need 20 goal a season strikers, let alone 30 goal a season ones.

On our diving, I think that is a reference to Grant's ability to play dead when fouled.  He's very good at it, barely breathes.  He had one in the previous game where he milked it well past the yellow being shown.

A thought on this... if we DID own both, could we be at risk of one (or both) of them leaving to go somewhere else?

We are always likely to lose players in any scenario when they are performing well.

I saw no diving by Swindon players at all, they picked on Grant knowing he has a short guse and he did brilliantly to not be provoked when I thought he would retaliate.

The Hanson dive though is an absolute doozy and without paralelle this season, his reaction was 3 seconds after the challenge.

Later in the game Doughty and Grant went down easier than they probably should but I would think Grant was fouled in excess of 20 times in the game and Doughty was in double figures so I think it was done to make the ref aware they were being kicked by a team that had 2 plans of action all game, 1..hoof the ball to Hanson to win and 2...kick Grant and any midfielder who went past them.

Thats why they were so easy to beat, 1 trick ponies.

No trick pony, surely.

Nearer to a no trick donkey it would appear on Saturdays showing!

I must admit that reading their forum and the quoye myself and RF put, they are a bunch of moaning fuckers who just cannot accept that they are shit it seems.

Almost certainly THE poorest side we have played this season, no quality, no good players, no tactics other than HOOOOOF to Hanson, a team of dirty bastards who just tried and failed to pick on Grant who handled himself almost impeccably.

Relegation fodder if they don't get a new manager in with at least 1 idea, put a rudder on that sinking ship so at least when you sink you are going in the right direction.

Even Macclesfield offered us more of a threat as did Crawley.

Grant was my MoM again for how he handled being manhandled all game and how some of their players got close to actually trying to injure him all game, Hessentaller the worst but not alone in his dirtiness and should have been sent off for 5 or 6 serious challenges put in on Lyden, Doughty and Grant. Looks like the wanker gene has been passed down from his dear old dad.

Yates was very close to MoM as he covered every inch and scored 2 although 1 was heavily deflected past an incredibly poor keeper who saved very little all game.

Doyle again led the line perfectly and is the striker we have been missing for years, he runs and chases things, wins long balls far better than a man of his stature probably should, hes strong and has a turn of pace but most of all knows exactly where the goal is and almost every shot he has is at least heading goalbound when it has left him.

Benda - 7 played well and claimed a few crosses and made a couple of routine saves, his kicking at times still leaves a bit to be desired but hes improving.

Hunt - 6 not his best game with a fair bit of wayward passing early on but he grew into the game and did well out of his natural position in all.

Baudry - 7 coped with Hanson who beat him in the air a few times but never beat him on the ground, his passing got better as the game went on too.

Fryers - 7 played well up against the huge Green who never really got the better of him and was subbed at HT, his distribution too was wayward at times but he played very well again.

Caddis - 6.5 solid as ever defending but didn't threaten them with crosses as much as he did in the last match, didn't get forward as often but was not used as an attacking outlet as much, did well.

Lyden - 8 played really well and made some good runs and passes all game, covered all the pitch as normal.

Doughty - 8 he looks to have lost some of the little pace he had but his range of passing and crossing is superb, created 1 and could have created several more too if we had converted them, needs to improve his dead ball skills, still doesn't look fully fit to me.

Grant - 9 controlled the game in midfieild as he has done in every game he has played, his passes rarely don't find a Town player and he controlled himself under severe intimidation from them.

Yates - 9 chased everything down and got 2 goals, would have got 4 if he kept his head a little better and connected cleaner with his strikes. Even covered Hunt at LB when he was caught out of position.

Doyle - 8.5 great finisher and line leader, chased everything and often won the ball, looked disappointed when taken off as he felt he could score more.

Woolery - 7 wasn't given the ball as much as he should have been, put a few excellent crosses into the box and a couple of headers too, his pace caused them problems all game when he had the ball.

Rose - only on for a couple of minutes but got 1 shot in that went just wide.

Curran - I don't think he kicked the ball in his cameo appearance.

Jaiyesimi - Looked fit and eager and ran a lot but did nothing really of consequence when he came on for the last 5 mins.

Really? Blimey that had passed me by completely, why did nobody mention that before?
I was responding to the suggestion that we should be looking for a 3rd striker of similar ilk as back up if they go back and pointing out that while it would be nice to have such contingency, you don't get that luxury in L2. The same would apply if we had 2 strikers we owned and one or both got injured.

All of our midfield go down easily (not that they do it all the time) but they know how to do it without getting caught, which is fine by me.

Sent from my CLT-L09

We’ve got 6 players for the front 3 - Doyle, Yates, Woolery, Anderson, Isgrove, DJ.

It’s a glut of riches and you’re only ever going to bring another in if we lose one.

Otherwise all the backup is already there

In answer to the last post on there:


Does this person not attend many matches or what? Almost every winning team makes a substitute in the last minute, whether they are 1-up, 3-up or 5-up. Sometimes even when they are only drawing....

I don't reckon having 3 strikers is a luxury for any club, I can think of times when the club's been in worse states than it is now, and even though Jimmy Quinn bought himself off the bench, over any youth players at the time,  at the age of 40 he was still a better shout than Wayne Gray. But still more than 2 strikers.

 99/00, Reckon we still had Finney, Cowe, Gray (loan), and maybe another?

No of course it's not and indeed we have more than that now, if you include Twine and Woolery. But I said 3 strikers "of similar ilk" i.e. capable of scoring 20+ a  season. Which I don't think many sides have in L2, because how many strikers of that ilk are prepared to come either on loan or permanently to sit on the bench in L2?

In 99/00 we had 9 strikers, although obviously not all playing at the same time.

J Quinn
Charlie Griffin
Steve Cowe
Chris Hay
Graz
Wayne Gray
Iffy
Mark McCammon
George Ndah

Gary Alexander?

Signed in the summer of the next season

Sent from my CLT-L09