Thetownend.com

Here we go again. Are all our games at home this season?  :)

Lincoln don't concede many goals, but ironically they conceded two against Bristol B. Their form looks to have slipped a bit over the past month. I'm hoping we can keep things tight and get something from this.

Heart says 1-0 but head says 0-2.

Very tough game at home to Lincoln, which in itself is a sobering thought.

I'd be equally delighted and suprised if we come out of this with anything.

Assuming no returnees, I'd go same as Saturday bar Stevens replacing Smith.

0-2

Isn't Grounds suspended?

No fucking idea.

I have every confidence that we could get better. Whether or not that happens is another matter entirely. I think I'd be quite happy with a point.

Under the current circumstances I would be happy with a point, even more so with a point and a clean sheet.

Lincoln have only scored 15 goals this season, 2 less than us. However they have only conceded 9, it will take more than a gimme for PPPitman (he isn't in Pele territory yet) to score and we rode out luck at times on Saturday so can we hope for 2 clean sheets in a row?
As very much as I would like to see us go on an unbeaten run, I would much rather get all 3 points at the triangle of death to start that run off.

We’ve got Pele, Pork Pie Pele,
I just don’t think he’ll ever run.
He likes a currant Bun, he’s weighs a fucking Tonne,
We’ve got Pork Pie Pele.

1-0 Pitman

 :clap: If anything's going to get him stepping up the training, it'll be the fear of us being let back in with this.

Genius :D

Yay!

Zeki Fryers, Diallang Jaiyesimi, Jordan Lyden, Dion Conroy and Tyler Smith are all within a fortnight of potentially returning to Town’s matchday squad.

Sorry, I really hope this is true but where have we heard the old "...just about 2 weeks away." before?  ;)

I suspect that this will be a score draw. As others have observed, that would be a decent result.

A scrambled win over a poor Rovers does not suggest we’ve got much chance against a club that have been on an upward trajectory for several years now. They should be stronger than Accrington who were way too strong for us last week. If we avoid defeat it’ll be a good result. I think we’ll lose 0-2.

A competitive defeat would be progress for me. A great three points against a poor Rovers should give some confidence but as has been said, Lincoln are a different kettle of fish. Hopefully we’ll see something more akin to the Hull performance rather than an Accrington.

Robins 1-3 Red Imps

Gets my seal of approval.

Ditto. Sheridan will struggle to implement his tactics when we are playing Saturday, Tuesday. I think performances will only improve in January when we have less Saturday, Tuesday games. We may get a bounce though once our injuries clear up.

I could never bet against Swindon but Lincoln’s odds for a win tomorrow look rather generous. Swindon will now win 3-1 because of this comment (I hope anyway !)

BTTS

I think they will be of similar standard to Accrington. We are going to have to try to be solid at the back and grind out a result. Presumably no J Smith, but we don't know about DJ or T Smith. Without those, I can't see where the creativity is going to come from to break them down.

Pitman of course, one of his streaking runs  from our own half,.  Easy 2-0 win for the Town.

Only needs a little bit of coke in him and he'll be all fired up. May need stoking first though but that's a miner issue.

#ShitCoalJokes

Defeat. 0-2

Lincoln don't normally score many (except against FGR in the FA Cup where they got 6) and don't concede many (except for the Liverpool game at home in the League Cup where they let in 7).

At least they don't play bully boy hoof non-football of the Cowleys any more.

I have seen all the goals from every game so far they have played and their keeper Alex Palmer on loan from WBA looks quite unsteady with crosses and long range shots so hopefully we can punish him.

I am not convinced that we can cut out all out defensive and goalkeeping errors so fully expect us to concede with a slip up by one of the back 4/5/6 (including the keeper).

I would like to think that Payne has a point to prove after being freed by them in the Summer allowing him to sign for us. If half his shots on Saturday were on target he would have scored a few goals, his connection being weak in almost every shot.

As for line up....I would think we will line up....

                Kovar
Caddis  Baudry  Odimayo  Donohue
          Grant       M Smith
Hope            Payne           Stevens
                 Pitman

Personally I would prefer Odimayo at RB as I think he is better there and Broadbent at CB but I am not sure Broadbent is fit enough for a start.

Hopefully DJ is back on the bench as well as Haines for that little something different if needed.

Broadbent let a cheeky little smile go when he was asked if he was involved tonight on the supporters club facebook thing last night

Can't see us getting much, but would like to see a very different performance from last Tuesday. Keep it tight and we could nick something.

Didn't Wright confirm as much in the pre-match presser?

If he is then keep Mayo at right back with BB in at centre back.

I haven't seen that, I was unaware he had done one!

Yeah believe so

:D

Another of these please Mr Pitman.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1330869963238764545

The way he swoops elegantly at the far post rising like a gazelle so high to head the ball into the goal with a perfect connection is unbelievable!

TBH if he got a goal a game like that I would be more than happy, even if he doesn't even chase one ball down in the rest of the match!

A mate of mine who is a Crewe fan reckons these are the best team they've played so far this season. Solid, well drilled and a big step up in quality from league 2.

Sounds similar to Accrington, here's hoping we give a better account of ourselves than we did when we played them.

I'm going for an optimistic 1-1 draw.

Is that Palmer who was on loan at plymuff last year?

Getting pooh-poohed on their forum!

‘According to their forum one fan has analysed that our keeper might be a weak link after studying all of our goals. Strange as I thought we had the joint most clean sheets with 7 in the league!’

Here’s a question

Would you rather we drew at the piss stains and lost tonight, or

We win tonight and lose Saturday?

I know what the right answer is. But I can't, just can't. 


1 point

Man up, Batch. Man up!

Got a feeling that we will see a dramatic splayed leg crouch and a finger pointing at the spot in our favour tonight.
With Pitman wheeling away (or should that be waddling like a drunken sailor) in celebration.
The Pieman on a (sausage) roll.

Not sure how many they’ll score though.

A game anything like the last time we met would be good to watch.
Edge of the armchair stuff.

Us get a penalty? No chance!

Guilty as charged

With the additional proviso we lose a 5 goal thriller and Pompey smash Oxford big time tonight.

It is, DJ beat him with a 20 yarder last season and he didn't even bother moving for the 2nd goal.

Exactly the same as last season with their neighbours Grimsby who said they had a great keeper....minutes before we put 3 past him and he had an absolute nightmare match!

Oh "man of few words"! ;)

BTW Hail Julius Ceasar! (to the Lincoln fans who like to read my posts so avidly).

I would rather we win both TBH.

Still remember absolutely thrashing them back in 1979.

We stuffed them 6-0 when they had "a great keeper" playing Peter Grotier, an ex West Ham keeper who had a 70s porn star moustache and Brett Pitman build.

It was pissing down and we had 2 efforts stop almost on the goal line with the keeper beaten, in a huge puddle inside the 6 yard box at the Stratton Bank, one from Carter and one from Kamara.

The other 6 scored by Rowland x2, Mayes, Bates, Miller and McHale.

Shame there weren't cameras at every game back then.

Is it another 7pm er tonight or 7.45 er?

7pm

Cheers Tans. I've not just noticed that Pikeys v Real Wimbledon KO is about now.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Enm2cCJWMAAhBSs?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

that bench is weak.

no offense to the academy kids of course

5-3-2 or Odimayo in midfield? Proper odd team, interested to see how that lines up.

That’s some bench!  :jawdrop:

Wheres Pitman

Is the forum time out by around 20 minutes?

2 games in 3 days? Should be on the bench though.

Absolute no reason to think this but Pitman strikes me as the type who may take Wrights criticism the other day the wrong way

Probably just injured

Obviously some more knocks. That's going to be a 343 you'd imagine, and basically putting the best 11 we can from what we have available.

I’ll be amazed if we get anything out of this.

Our most defensive line up so far in the league.

Can only play the players that are fit though, the only slight surprise is that I thought Payne may have started against his old team but I don't think he fits into this formation.

So currently we have Conroy, DJ, Lyden, Fryers, Pitman, Tyler Smith, Jonny Smith, Iandolo and Grounds suspended.

At least 7 of those would probably be classed as regular starters, thats a massive loss of players, and with 3 academy players on the bench, proper bare bones.

Which is why, like last Saturday, we have to play an ugly game. It ain’t going to be pretty.

TBH it hasn't been very pretty since well before Wellens jumped from the sinking ship.

We'll win 2-1

Hope & Baudry

4 yellows, possibly a sending off.
There will be a penalty.
Possibly to them.

The papers will read:

"Robins Peck Away at Imps

Saturday's headline

Robins droppings on Ermintrude.

Crikey the squad is stretched almost to breaking point. Got away win all over it unfortunately.

Unfortunately so, our defence and keeper have at least 1 mistake in them all every game, lets hope Lincoln can't capitalize on the errors, backs to the wall performance, fight them on the beaches etc etc etc :)

At this stage I would happily take a draw.

Keep it tight at the back and get one on the break late on, 1-0 Stevens

Indeed. Get to half time at 0-0 and we could pinch a winner in the second. Big ask mind you.

Possible, however improbable.

A single goal win for Town tonight would be amazing.

Is there any chance of iFollow getting some new ads or are we going to be treated to these all season?

Unlikely, this set of adverts was pretty much the same last season too for the whole season. Sorry.

Keeping it down to a narrow defeat would do credit to that side, I'm afraid.

Notwithstanding that, COYR

Lovely pass by Broadbent.

Good start so far. Played better in these first 3 minutes then in the last 2 games combined.

Caddis playing central midfield so far and 4 at the back.

Kovar came out good and early there.

Smith appears to be playing the 10. Will be interesting to see how he goes.

It’s like watching a new team with Caddis in the middle and Smith in front of him, virtually a forward.

Yeah hes playing a lot further up the pitch than normal, 442 or 4411 so far depending on if we are defending or attacking.

Hope’s running hard again tonight.

Smith shoots wide but it took a deflection for a corner.

We're pressing high again - something we don't seem to have done for a while.

Joel Grant at times has a touch of a rapist.

It is quite refreshing.

Nice win by Odimayo who finds Stevens and he finds Caddis his cross is a bit short to Hope, good move. Wa shoping Caddis would have shot.

Well the early signs for box to box midfielder Paul Caddis are surprisingly positive.

We’re tackling ferociously. It’s been very good so far.

So far Caddis is playing the Lyden role well.

Definitely been working on shape. Breaking in threes down the left or right.

This is not what I expected

Shot by Lincoln player from 30 yards out thats 40 yards over the bar!

At the moment Caddis is playing a leading role and playing it well.

Smith picking the ball up nice and high and pinching it off Lincoln dangerous areas.

Caddis needs to not get over comitted but doing well so far. He can pass a good ball.

Stevens wins Town another corner.

I thought Stevens should have delivered the ball earlier to Hope though, good move, great interception.

Decent shot from Lincoln goes just wide. Half a chance from distance.

Good defending by Stevens there.

Twine gets his obligatory goal.

Caddis is absolutely brilliant at winning little fouls.

Bridcutt almost playing as a quarterback here.

My MotM so far. He looks like he has always played in midfield.

That was not a foul by Smith. And hes booked!

Perfect 50/50 challenge, that.

Joel grant not up with the rest of the team so far

50/50 Salisbury you tit

Mayo rescues us twice there

Donohue and Odimayo definitely staying back tonight.

Hope so nearly sets up Caddis there.

Stevens wins another corner. The pass from Smith to Stevens was excellent.

What a pass from Matt Smith to Stevens.

Another Town corner.

Excellent delivery by Donohue from that corner.

Linesman gives them a throw when it blatantly came off their number 7.

Rubbish long shot by Lincoln straight at Kovar, easy save.

Lovely interception by Baudry there on the break.

Lincoln taking risks at the back that we are spotting early.

That Odimayo cross shows that his left foot is for standing on, hes looking a threat down the right tonight but hes been limited to cutting inside on his wrong foot too often.

Joel Grant is also showing that he has no left foot. He seems to be getting the ball, turning inside and then passing to Lincoln.

Booking for Broadbent a little late in the tackle.

He has been our only poor performer for me so far today.

Ha, play up Pompey  :soapy tit wank:

Odimayo puts so much effort into his throw ins yet they rarely travel more than about 10 yards!

Hope shot from the edge but its a bit poor and an easy save.

1 in added time.

HT 0-0

Pretty solid performance, we have looked the better side so far but not many chances.

Very happy with that.

Maybe not the most impressive or fluid but probably the most complete 45 this season. Solid, tactically smart, threatening in spurts against a very good side, albeit a side that does take a lot of chances.

Just a slight lack of quality. Makes me dream of having DJ and Tyler as options in that front line or Lyden in the middle.

I'd be tempted to do Payne for J Grant earlyish in the hope of getting a bit more quality.

HT 0 - 0

Town have managed to go 125 mins without conceding. defensive crisis - what crisis?!  ;)

Happy with that, so far.

Some half time ska:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLLL1KxpYMA

Yes shame, did well to avoid two muggings in the end of the box.

Good half well in the game, just need to carry it on. Hope caddis can last 90.

all things considered that was a good half.

Lincoln look like they have a Luke Williams cock up in then but we've not capitalised

Surprisingly disappointed with Lincoln - very average.

Surprisingly delighted with STFC - more of the same please

180+ since Accy's third.

Or are we just making them look average?

Where's the PPP?

More of the same please

Payne for J Grant

No more bookings

Good half that. Nothing flash but solid.

Same thing said on their forum - ‘we’re making Swindon look good’

Also, yet again, ‘Swindon are the poorest side we’ve played this season’

Definitely seem to have the tactics right so far. Donohue and Odimayo not pressing forward to nullify their wide forwards. M Smith playing further forward to try and win the ball back high up the pitch, notice Caddis immediately bombs forward when he does. Caddis himself playing a blinder so far. Stevens putting a bit of a shift in down the right and getting back often. Hope hasn't stopped running. J Grant the only real disappointment so far.

Well that was a very pleasant surprise. The effort was creditable, the creativity was unexpected. Almost everyone was on their A-game that half, bar perhaps the Grants.

The challenge will be to maintain that intensity, to stop Lincoln overpowering us. Will be a tough ask with so little on the bench.

Solid yet not spectacular. Neither goalkeeper have been majorly troubled. At the moment I looks like a defensive mistake may give rise to the first goal.

Got to say,  Broadbent has looked handy. One fantastic cross field ball early on, too. Keeping it nice and simple at the back.

Defensively more astute with no cutting edge up front.
Something to build on as we were gifting goals a few weeks back for fun.
Just need that one lucky chance and take it.
Welcome back the players from injury and we can look to change things around. As of now though let’s steady the ship.

Full House! Even better, time for beer  :pint:

I like you really  ;)

I don't think they can handle the passing and tackling of Smith or the cleverness of Caddis at the moment. Appears to be a great tactical move. Caddis looks like he's played the role all his career plus you know he can protect the defence too. Between them if it continues as for MoM.

It's a game of two halves though.

Better team so far, Lincoln very average.

Sent from my XQ-AD51

For their early season form and league position they have been pretty shit so far, making loads of mistakes at the back so far. But that as we all know is likely to change.

I don't think J Grant is offering much to proceedings.

Wonder whether this young kid is worth bringing on at some point to play up top with Hope dropping to left wing, where he seems to prefer

Poor shot by Lincoln well wide but Kovar touches it for a corner.

Another poor shot well over by Lincoln from distance.

sleepy start to the second

Bit one-eyed.

Town win another corner.

Baudry leaves a foot in the tackle and is booked.

We seem to pick up a lot of bookings, and we're not a rough side or anything. That one for Donohue really was nothing.

Good claim by Kovar.

Kovar comes and claims a cross strongly. Progress.

Good take Kovar.

The mannerisms of this referee makes him very punch able..

Baudry fucks up but the cross is pooor which Kovar stumbles but saves it.

Lincoln stepping it up this second half.

Grant shoots but its too close to the keeper. Good move by Town.

If there ever was a remake of Kes, he’d be a shoe in for the games teacher.

Lincoln pressing far more this half but still making mistakes coming out from the back.

Keeper makes a meal of that save.

There's a red card coming

Another pointless booking for Town.

There is if all the yellows are that soft.

Is that our entire back four booked

Yep.

Closer.

And we aren't even a remotely dirty team, this ref would have sent off the entire Lincoln team under the Cowleys!

The collective we in our house think we’ll be lucky to finish with 11 on the field.

Yeah, in the tunnel coming out.

Ref clearly on a card bonus. Salisbury always dishes 'em out like sweets.

I did say 4 yellows and a red?  :hmmm:

Doesn't help matters with such an inept ref, he'll likely book the wrong one of these lot

Tony Grant
Joel Grant
Jorge Grant (Imps)

M Smith (Kovar)
M Smith

H Hope
T Hopper (Imps)

Make that 5 bookings now. All the defence on one. This ref will lose us the game if one gets sent off. They've all been weak bar Baudry, but even then.

Broadbent's turned into Pirlo.

Every now and then Tom Broadbent cracks out a Gerrard-esque massive cross field pass and it's quite the thing for someone who isn't really a ball playing defender.

Not impressed by Joel Grant today, would like to see Payne come on, hes a natural left footer.

The ghost of Doughty living on in Broadbean.

If we lose this, I'll be gutted but this is more whole performance all round. Take a chance Town. We can win this.

Get Payne on for J. Grant.

I was thinking that too, what fucking bollocks, hes made more good passes in 1 match than Grounds has since he signed.

Baudry cuts out a cross for another corner to them.

Another wayward shot well over the bar from distance from them.

The commentary on my Sky Sports App says:

Kick off

28 Yellow Card Matt Smith

43 Yellow Card Tom Broadbent

Half Time

Second Half begins

50 Yellow Card Mathieu Baudry

52 Yellow Card Dion Donohue

59 Yellow Card Akinwale Odimayo

65 Lincoln Substitution..

Sums it up well :D

David Kerslake in shot just then.

70 mins in and Matt Smith still has loads of running in his legs.

We’re a bit under the cosh now. Not unexpected.

We could use some fresh legs here

Our midfield is getting tired and dropping off

Starting to get nervy now.

would love to see some academy players come on and impress.

Cock.

fuck off kovar

Kovar fucks up again.

Kovar mistake. Oh dear.

Kovar missed a punch but a couple of people could have headed it too.

There's the first mistake!
0-1

Flippy Flappy Goalkeeping

These keepers are not good enough.

Familiar tale

Broadbent spraying passes about for fun tonight.

Time to make some changes. I know there's not much on then bench but a few tired legs out there.

Wasn't just the keeper error, plenty of chance for players to head that one. We simply struggle to defend corners very well on a consistent basis.

Such a shame after a lot of hard work really. 210 mins without conceding. Time running out. Result we expected, ref hasn't helped things when all your back four are booked they will ease off a touch. Feel we definitely could have nabbed this.

A draw will feel like a win now, but we will all go away thinking "what if". Also, what if it about Lincoln bloody City and us conceding a weak goal from a corner? I'm feeling shades of RC-C in that pivotal game.

Meh bum bum.

And we get Payne for Grant - surprisingly Anthony edition

Payne on for A Grant.

Great ball from Hoddle...I mean Broadbent! Trouble is it hit J Grant

Came for it late, ran into well positoned centre forward and missed punch. Goal scorer stood on his own for free header.

Grounds might as well bring his slippers for the rest of the season. He’s never getting in ahead of Broadbent again.

Baudry gets away with that miskick.

The same as Fryer for the Accy second goal, if he's going to punch it he needs to take ball, man and anything else in the way..

Gamesmanship by Lincoln, understandably.

Exactly.

What a fucking ball by Matt Smith, pass of the game so far, Doughty esk..

I hope we can get a proper keeper in January, send kovar back. the benefit of doubt expired long ago. kids just not ready

Broadbent needs to learn that the 50 yard Worldy is not the only pass available to him..

This is where it hurts having a kid. He doesn’t have anything like the muscle required to impose himself. 

Another half decent performance undid yet again by a goalkeeping or defending mistake.

Not for quite enough up top to break these down unfortunately.

Shrews were 2 up after 50 mins against Franchise. It's now 2-2, and looking like guess what? They are inviting pressure onto them again.

I think SR will be relieved of his duties shortly.

The yellow stuff are drawing and it is tied at Gas v Pier Boys.

Ale House Trent are thronking South London Reds 4-2.

Northampton and Rochdale drawing.

So only Burton really gaining. 5 teams shitter than us at present.

Town, Pox, Rovers, Dale  on 13pts.

Agree, in which case don't come and punch it, stay on your line and save the second header.

Indeed he does

FFS Baudry 6 yards over the bar. Disappointing end to the game.

What a miss

Desperately need some game changing options on the bench. Have we ever had a pair of keepers at the club so bad at dealing with crosses? Inexcusable as well as something that can actually be practiced on the training ground, it’s like neither knows what they are meant to do.

How has Baudry missed that...

Baudry should have scored

Oh no! Baudry chance.😟

Putain. C’était inratable ça.

A 1-0 defeat is not the end of the world against a side now third, at least we seem to have stemmed the goals against a little.

Centre half's clearence.  :D

PPP would've buried that...

such a shame. a punch/simple header away from an excellent point.

Lincoln were shit at the back too.

Much better performance. Would be furious to be an outfield player, they all put in a shift and were let down by the goalkeeper again.

He does need to but I think that comes more with experience. The error is highlighted but still, players also had an oppo to head clear too. Until then, Kovar was playing a very confident game.

A 1-0 loss beforehand most would agree that would be a measured outcome. However, we've been better and played much more as a unit. Lincoln weren't the world beaters some had reported elsewhere so to lose this is disappointing.

I guess when you play so tight you'll win some 1-0 and you'll lose some 1-0.

That was a damn shame. Didn't deserve to lose. Had the best chance of the game and thrown one in our own net again.

Better performance but the individual mistake yet again cost us points.

Not a bad performance relatively speaking for a patched up side against a decent outfit. Positive signs.

Sick to death of these 2 fucking clowns in goal.
Maybe harsh but every game.
Both shite.

That was harsh, didn’t deserve to lose. One mistake from Kovars and a bad miss from Baudry denying us a hard fought point.

Frustrated yet encouraged. Play like that against teams around us, and even in mid-table, and we're OK.

Makes Saturday less daunting - although they got a good result themselves today.

Not a lot between any of the sides in this division. All a bit league 2 like

Frustrating !  A mistake was always going to be the difference in that game. First half Swindon were the better side and Lincoln took control in the second half. On balance the game should have been a draw.

Surprised Lincoln are in the top 6 based on that performance but they may have had a below par day. Am confident we will stay up. Just need to cut the silly mistakes

Result aside, huge leaps in the 10 days since Shez took over. Fair play to him. Getting nothing from that is gutting but it's night and day from where we were, especially given how depleted we are.

Played better than Saturday and lost....to another total fuck up.

Sick of it.

Clear that we just dont have a decent enough keeper for this league and we need one.

All eyes to the Court cases and January supermarket.

Highlight is Broadbent back...hopefully shown enough that Grounds is in reserve.

Real shame. Good defensive performance. Made Lincoln look ordinary. Shame a mistake lost the game.

However, offered nothing upfront. Hope didn't control the ball all game. J Grant offered nothing.

Stevens seems to tire quickly.
Caddis was awesome in the first half but tired in the second.

Oh...can't be bothered....Thought that would be a heavy defeat. Then was thinking we might nick a 1-0 victory. Can't believe the missed punch...All been said before...Goodnight!

There's a lot of kneejerky cunts jumping on Kovar but you keep missing the point that defenders/other players had a chance to head away.

Kovar had played pretty confidently all game (yes he flapped like RC-C possessed). We've been shite collectively at corners for some time now.

Take stock, this was a disappointing loss but we are much improved  and the team seemed to play well as a complete unit. Can't get too upset about that at all. Against a supposed leading team in the league. We beat Hull and potentially had a chance to beat Lincoln tonight.

Disappointed? Yep. Calling home to mummy in tears? Nope.

Come on, it's all pretty relative. History will say we lost but in the very present, I see it as us making some progress in terms of performance. Plenty of positives to take from that despite the costly and collective error.

Don't lump this all on the keeper. That's the easy option.

Well, we knew where our weaknesses were tonight. What we didn't expect was such a display of guts from our weakest squad of the season. With about ten players to come back, there looks to be enough in this team to stay up. That's all we ask.

 Whilst I agree Kovar’s error was costly, the man who headed the ball back in was unmarked on the 6 yard line.
Baudry should have nicked a point at the end - shocking miss.
Good performance from a much depleted team.
Probably deserved a draw as neither team offered much goal threat.

Need to stop agreeing to these 7pm kick offs as well, not got a single point from one yet!

Agree with all of this. Plenty to build on.

Horrible to lose like that but didnt score either so you run the risk. I was expecting worse tonight when the line up came out.

Roll on Saturday and for the love of god can we have three or four players back for it.

knee jerk? how many mistakes can he make before it's not knee jerk?

here's not up to it right now. I've kept quiet, given him time and there's a mistake every game.

I don't think that is knee jerk. we are in a relegation battle.

Please don't tell me we've got any new suspensions for Saturday.

If it was one or two games I would agree, but it is almost every game.

pitman out for 6 weeks

Never witnessed a keeper in all my years of supporting Swindon that costs so many goals.
Simply not good enough. Sick to death of a howler every game.

I've seen a few (mostly elsewhere) bemoaning our lack of creativity. But we were playing the team with the best defence in the league.

How did we manage to find a keeper who is better with the ball at his feet then he is with his hands? Defensively look a lot better and more organised last couple of games. Just need to get back the attacking players who have been missing and it could hopefully start to look a bit better.

You mean 2 keepers! The other has cost us 3 goals in 2 league games. It’s a sad indictment that Kovar is the least worse of 2 non-league standard keepers. Needs to change in January!

What’s wrong with him now, bed sores.

Sheridan:
- Encouraged by performance
- Disappointed by manner of the goal
- Keeper hasn't had a shot to save all night
- Last 2 performances very encouraged
- Made life difficult for a good team
- Didnt create much ourselves
- Matty Baudry best chance of the game
- Bit of a downer the way we conceded
- The goal shouldnt happen
- Its not about passing the ball about. Its about being tight and keeping a clean sheet
- Do need to take care of the ball better and create more
- Trying to be positive after a defeat
- Shouldnt have lost the game
- Caddis in midfield: Didnt have much to pick or choose from
- A Grant was only 50/50 for tonight. Did well to last so long
- Caddis is a good pro. Didnt let the team down
- Broadbent: Did alright. Part of a good display. Still match short
- We need to be more positive going forward.
- We were at our most vulnerable when we had the ball and going forward
- If you keep clean sheets you have a good chance of winning a game
- Tonight we were solid against a good team. We had the best chance of the game. We should have taken a draw out of the game
- Pitman: 6 weeks out
- J Smith: Have to assess after talking to physio tomorrow
- We havent got time to complain as we have our biggest game of the season on saturday
- Hoping T Smith might have a chance on saturday
- Dont want to risk people before they are ready
- Honesty of the players since hes been here has impressed. Seeing good signs that we are in for a fight
- We are pretending we're in a league of 8 or 10 and seeing if we can top it
- Heard plenty of Swindon Oxford rivalry
- Oxford had good result saturday and tonight
- We go there with confidence from last 2 games.

Unfortunately I think this is true. He might turn out good when he adds a couple of stone, but he looks like a youth keeper getting bullied in the men's game. If crowds were allowed in, I'm not sure the manager would be able to keep him in the side for his own good. Clearly need another option as soon as possible.

Without doubt both have a mistake in them.
Dreadful.

Have to agree, reluctantly. Griemink, Glass are amongst the poorest “first choice” - they gave you a sense of constant unease, but even they didn’t have this many obvious errors in them. Talia, Hammond, the poor version of Rhys Evans, Phil Smith - very average keepers, but considerable upgrades on what we have now.

Every defence has the odd aberration in a game but with us, apart from a couple of games, it seems to cause us to concede and then be on the back foot chasing the game. As we do not have that forward who can find the net every two to three games and the ones we do have not chipping in too well then it makes it all very difficult to win a game. Hopefully the missing players coming back will make us a better all round outfit but it does appear we are in for a long hard remainder of the season.

We also got in some good positions, baldry chance aside, but seem to not make anything of them.

Mostly J grant who was way below par.

Would take every one of those before the 2 we have now and chuck in Scott Endersby as well.
The individual mistakes that have led to goals conceded this season is criminal.
Surely the Manager will deal with this. He has to as it cannot continue every game.

Definitely seeing us play less football and going a little more direct under Sheridan.
Equally looking to scrap for the odd points, but then lose due to costly keeper errors.

I think Sheridan got mixed up on Pitman 6 weeks. I think it's Jonny Smith who is out for 6 weeks and Pitman possibly just a knock.

Still can't believe how negative several are being. Yes Town management likely know the issues right now, yet they can't change that right now either. Considering all that I think we have started to play more like a team that can compete.

We expected to lose tonight and a narrow loss is representative of it.

Plus some of you cunts are conveniently still ignoring that the ball should never have been near Kovar for that one. Outfield players could and should have cleared that beforehand. Sorry, I know he's not ready as a no.1, I banged on about it previously but I'm not isolating Kovar alone for this tonight. Others were culpable too.

I was pretty happy with how we played for probably 95.5mins out of 96 mins (we didn't concede a goal for 210mins).

Fuck off negative nancys, lots to take and go forward with. We'll be top...16 by April
 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

All those names are streets ahead of Lanzano, Charles-Cook, Moore and Belford(s), but even they are above our current choice.

A bit dispiriting that all the worst keepers I can remember have been in the last decade.

It's just not fair on a kid.

Kovar: 5/10. Saved one straight at him in 1st half. Claimed 1 ball in the air. Fumbled 1 shot. Missed a punch. Don't think he had anything else to do.
Stevens: 6/10. Bright in first half. Tired
Baudry: 6/10. Solid enough. Missed the only chance of the game.
Broadbent: 7/10. Hoddlesque at time. Solid in defence
Odimayo: 6/10 Defended well. Had a couple of lucky bounces
Donahue: 6/10. Defended well. Closed down well. Wasted a free kick
Grant: 6/10 Solid defensively
Caddis: 7/10. Excellent in first half. Tired in second
J Grant: 4/10 Offered little. Spent the whole 1st half turning onto his right foot and not using his left. Would have had a 3 had he not improved in the second half. Tried to cross a couple with left in the second.
M Smith 6/10 Pressed hard in first half. Tired, but booking made him more conservative.
H Hope: 5/10 Controlled nothing that went near him
Payne: Not on long enough to contribute

Broadbent:
- Really frustrating
- Feel deflated
- Team worked hard
- To concede like we did is frustrating
- Played well apart from that and need to take it into the next game
- If we can cut out the mistakes we will do well
- Pleased with own performance. Tried to keep it simple
- Disappointed not to get a clean sheet
- Not 100% sharp yet but felt good tonight
- Hopes for an extended run in the team. Hope he is in Sheridan's thoughts for saturday
- Doing his best and giving 100%
- Manager is trying to make us stronger defensively and hard to beat
- Oxford will feel different even with no fans. Will do our best.

P.S. Only posting post match as I can't stand 'I'm a Celebrity....' which the rest of the family are watching.

Bit harsh on Matt Smith, thought he was excellent again tonight.

Would be concerning if we lost him for a few games.
Head and shoulders above anything else we have.
Hopeful to have 2 more available Saturday.

From a purely human pov, must be horrible to be Kovar right now. He's obviously trying his best and these persistent fuck ups must be tough to take. But he's been given enough time now and he's clearly not good enough at this stage. Surely a punt on the free agent market is worthwhile, whatever the free agent market situation looks like. Glad to hear Broadband had a good game. His time for a regular berth in the starting lineup has come

Can't remember as much trepidation before an POxford game.

Not from me, we'll smash 'em!

Kovar is this years scapegoat and although that status is probably deserved, he’s a young lad who seems out of his depth with zero league experience before this season. Problem is, our 2nd choice keeper is even worse from what I’ve seen. A young keeper finding his feet in a struggling side with a poor defence is unlikely to ever end well. He’s also had to deal with some clowns in front of him who have made just as many collective mistakes - Baudry and Grounds have made plenty of mistakes this season - both seasoned pros - yet I haven’t seen them get the dogs abuse that Kovar gets every week. That Baudry miss at the end was a shocker and he should have bailed Kovar out with that late free header from 5 yards out.

Now I’m not comparing Kovar to Digby as Fraser was class and a Town legend, but there are some similarities - young lad from Man U, first major spell in league senior football and playing in the 3rd tier - that’s pretty much where the comparison ends, but what Digby had, apart from the obvious greater keeping ability, was a very good team in front of him which makes life a lot easier for a keeper learning his trade, including probably our best defender in the last 40 years at the Town in Colin Calderwood - stick a Calderwood in front of Kovar and maybe he’d do a little better as none of the current crop of defenders will get anywhere near the career Calderwood had.

Of course all of this could be bollocks and Kovar might just be shit!

I have no idea, kovar could be brilliant in time. Tom Heaton was useless for us and he's had a great career.

it's just the present day I'm concerned with egg l though.

If anyone is really looking to blame anyone regarding the GK situation, blame Richie Wellens for his ridiculous recruitment. Signing one young keeper...ok, a chance to develop and ease into more game time. Signing two inexperienced keepers (lets face it, Fryers season worth of apps over three years was negated by his two year lay off) pretty much suicide.

Spouted bollocks about not being able to afford Baxter (who looked the best available option during preseason) and opted for Kovar. All because it was likely Scholes said he'd let Wellens finger him up the bum if he took him on loan, or because "well... ee's from You-neye-todd inney. Yoh only get qwol-a-teh from them." or something.

The stubborn Norvern Cunt!

I don't think any posters are making Kovar into a boo boy or scapegoat.  We all want him to do well.  But if we don't replace him with an experienced keeper soon, he could be the difference between retaining or losing our difficultly regained L1 status.  IMO.  

Compare the present keeping situation to last year.  A very sound no. 2 comfortable in the first team and a scratchy loanee who developed and commanded his box and spread himself mightily for one on ones.  

Otherwise a great performance with a barebones bench.  It was inevitable that we would fade physically.  Joel  G never got going and Kovar barely merited even rating so little did he have to do.  Otherwise some great shifts with a sound, even creative Broadbent edging MOM for his improvement.

It’s clear we need an experienced keeper - but have we got the money to go and get one and is there a decent one ready to sign? The one bonus of having no fans in the ground is that I can’t help but think Kovar would be struggling even more with the pressure from the stands. Maybe...and it’s a big maybe, if we could get all our players fit we might stand a chance, even with a suspect inexperienced keeper. We also have a big hole up front - it can’t be overlooked that if you are sticking the ball in the net, you can get away with the odd balls up at the back.

Thinking about the other end of the field where we unfortunately and just as importantly, didn't score...I bet Sheridan hasn't a fucking clue who Welsh Burlap is, even though he's banging goals in for fun at Old Quay County.

Looking back at the goal it’s very similar to the 1st against Shrewsbury. We’ve seen 2 completely different approaches by keepers to a similar cross, Fryer just stood on his line and waited for them to head it in and Kovar thought he could wave the wall away. Both completely inept in whatever they were trying to do. I’m not sure what I prefer, one not doing anything from crosses or one constantly coming and missing....

That said repeatedly letting players score free headers from a few yards out continues to raise questions about the defending.

Well, the 10 outfield players didn’t deserve that. Even if we had our 6/7 injured players back they couldn’t legislate for the keeper.

We have zero threat going forward as well.

What a time to be STFC fan!

Can only presume that the poor recruitment by Wellens was somewhat forced on him by Power not wanting to spend much prior to selling up. Thought a decent keeper would be a no brainier, though. What on earth they saw in Fryer during training God only knows. Probably thought they could easily replicate the BFG signing with Kovar - sloppy, lazy recruitment.

Kovar isn't a scapegoat - He's consistently shown he's not good enough for L1 yet. He was a cheap option.

Fryer isn't a scapegoat - He too and shown that he's not good enough for L1 yet. I suspect that he is on a pittance and signed a short term deal in the hopes of getting back into football after injury and earning a better contract elsewhere or whenever the club is sold.

Wellens isn't a scapegoat - He wasn't given the money to get anything better. If we'd been the supporters of another club, we'd have viewed his departure as leaving a 'basket case'.

It will be interesting to look back on this period in a few years time when what has been going on behind the scenes eventually becomes public - I assume there are a lot of skeletons in the closet.

Can we afford not to sign an experienced keeper?

If Power is, indeed, selling up there’s not much incentive for him to spend anything - hence the cheap looking summer recruitment. Let the new owner put his hand in his pocket. Whatever is happening behind the scenes it needs to be sorted before the January window cos there’s only one place we’re going at the moment.

Serious question...could Mildenhall actually be better than what we've got? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be worse...

Reading the comments on here I suspect Sam Burton could.

Lincoln Forum

On the game

Their style of play, if they actually had one, was pretty crude. None of this passing nonsense, just get the bugger forward.

To be fair to them, it almost got a point. If their keeper hadn’t made a mess of coming for that cross it would have done.

It might not win many fans, but if it wins points then it’s successful (I know it wasn’t today but Kovar really messed up that corner.

Can you imagine the meltdown if they had scored that sitter at the end and their keeper hadn’t flapped to gift us our goal. It was our worst performance this season against a very poor side

On the commentary  

Listened to the away commentary for the first time, was excellent. They knew all the players names, although occasionally getting them wrong, and knew a fair bit about our season. No in-jokes and no wafferling about random irrelevant trivia.

Same here - thought it was excellent and very fair (despite the dig about the way we've played in previous visits).
If anything they were over-complimentary about the Imps.

Best comment of the night: ... and in the early kick off, Gillingham are now beating Wimbledon 2-1. This is because Gillingham seems to be in a different time zone to the rest of the country.
 (Possible MOM award for Hawes and Hartley ?  :clap:)

And this coming from a lot that had the Cowleys as managers for years! fucking irony!

We had a team patched together with....
a right back playing in central midfield
4 players (Kovar, Smith, Stevens and Odimayo) with about 40 league appearances between them
no recognised striker
a defender starting his first game for almost a year
9 missing 1st team players
3 U18 academy players on the bench
a manager who took over just over 1 week ago.

How very gracious of them.

Staying up will be a decent season for us. I think that will be achieved just about.

We’ve proved that with the current players available we cannot, and should not, attempt our usual expansive style. Leaving mistake laden defenders even more exposed by pressing forward with no striker available to convert whatever chances we may make is suicidal and entirely counter productive.

I think its very much a case of needs must the way we play currently. After getting spanked 3-0 at home to Accrington, we've very much changed things, there is no more playing out from the back, we've more bodies in midfield and in general we look much more solid.

Of course there isn't a great deal the manager can do if the keepers continue to give away goals but we were 15 minutes away from picking up a point at home to one of the better sides in the league. Grinding out 0-0 and 1-0 wins really is a case of needs must at the moment. That may change as we get more players back from injury and confidence grows.

On a positive note, a few weeks ago we seemed to be setting up like a Keegan side where we had to score 3 to even get a point. Sheridan seems to have stopped that at least, although there's a way to go before you could start talking about "solid at the back". He's done that quicker than I thought he would be able to, albeit at the cost of goals at the other end. But you build from the back. We didn't play a lot of football last night or Saturday, but unlike Saturday, last night we held our own against one of the better sides in the division and we did have chances. Not just Baudry's header but if Stevens had brought down Matt Smith's ball from deep properly in the first half he was clean through and there were other chances too, mainly in the 1st half. There's something to build on here.

Absolutely, pick tactics to suit a team not the other way around when fit players are short in number.

Great post and spot on.

Funny, I don't remember him being "useless". However I do remember the 10 in front of him being generally pretty crap.

He was far from useless.
A few mistakes like any young keeper but you could tell he would have an ok career as a lower Prem / upper Champ keeper.

If you're after examples of crap keepers I give you Jon Sheffield

I must confess I never really got Nicky Hammond.

We knew it already but season has highlighted how the loan market can determine a club’s success.

Last year we had Doyle Benda Grant Yates Ballard/Reg Muskwe

This year. Kovar having a mare, Tyler injured, Jonny good but raw af, Matt superstar & Stevens a right footed Alan O’Brien

 

It's interesting how people see J Smith v Stevens - right now they've had as much impact as each other in my book, and Stevens' ceiling is higher. Just need to get him properly fit.

personally I've enjoyed watching Smith more than Stevens.

I like his directness in getting at the opposition. Neither have shown an end product yet.

hopefully it'll come to both of them

Would say J Smith has had more of an impact. If both players could improve their final product they'd be very useful League One players. Was impressed by Stevens dispossessing Lincoln players yesterday, did it 3/4 times in the first half.

That's good, hopefully he can continue to contribute as hes going to be needed if Smith is out for a while.

Would be a great time for him to step up and take his chance. Much is also mirrored here with Broadbean.

Good news on the scan, it is a Grade 1 MCL, so 2-3 weeks max dependant on recovery, but as he is young you generally heal quicker !! Now, if this was me it would be 2 years and I would still be on my back like a beetle.... 8)

Nice early Christmas pressie. Straight back into the schedule around mid December. Go, Jonny, Go.

https://youtu.be/r7kIK8jRYOQ

Some good news. Just hope he doesn’t come back too quickly and is fully recovered.
Disappointing he can’t feature in the big game, just dreading this with our injury crisis.

Hopefully this Saturday.

I know the feeling!

Really good news. Hopefully he won't come back too soon. I was worried when you initially said about it that it might be a season ender.

Good news Mr Smith. Best of recovery to your lad and hopefully we see him back on the pitch soon. Thanks for letting us know, the clubs info about injuries has been hard to come by recently!