Hartlepool vs. Swindon - 150th Crunch Match Of The Season

[walrus]

With the lame April fool's jokes out the way, and a clear cloud brightened by a vibrant sun, Swindon head up North to Hartlepool on the back of some positive results.  A credible draw at Franchise, on the back of a spanking of Welsh strugglers Wrexham and a decent performance at Kenilworth Road where decisions went against them, Swindon can go up to Victoria Park with little to fear.

Hartlepool have had a poor March, with just one win at Bradford by an identical margin to Swindon's victory earlier in the season.  This includes 3 home defeats, which can only be a promising sign for ourselves.  They will obviously be looking to put such a bad month behind them, but despite such bad form they still find themselves lying 5th on 62 points, 5 ahead of ourselves with an identical number of games played.  A win today for Swindon would really close up this gap and get the belief going again.

Eifion Williams, John Brackstone, John Ross and Darrell Clarke are unlikely to feature for the Pool, but new signings ex-Newcastle and Man City defender Steve Howey and Thomas Butler are expected to feature having played in the reserve game midweek.  With Swindon without any injury worries, expect no changes from last weeks impressive draw at the National Hockey Stadium.

Whilst the 4-5-1 may serve to alienate certain players, notably Christian Roberts and perhaps Sam Parkin, its effectiveness is difficult to question with many chances having been created last week, but a lack of ability to capitalise on these cost Swindon yet another vital win.  Defeat today will not dampen my hopes of the playoffs, as Hartlepool are a strong side, but their current form and our current boyant situation should make for an interesting game.

If only it wasn't so damn far  :twisted:

[DMR]

That's a fair summary of the game but what's your point?

[Johno]

good summary walrus, definitely agree with the fact that we are on form just haven't had the results to go with it, and hartlepool have lost a few home games recently so should be interesting

once again, it is too far and most importantly expensive as i don't have any money  

[Amir]

That he wants a job with the adver?  Nice little write up that.

COME ON THEN TOWN!

[DMR]

How can you say we're on form when we've only had one win in five?

Performances count for fuck all unless they're getting points on the board.

[Johno]

we are in a decent form though performance wise dave. can't argue that espically luton that was unlucky!

[DMR]

"performances count for fuck all unless they're getting points on the baord"

[my-velocity]

Swindon are being so inconcistant this season but being only 3 points away they need to work hard, beause they are fighting for better football and better money and that would make us all happy.

Come on Swindon you can get in the Play-Offs  

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

we wont win today it will be yet another defensive error............

[DiV]

Big Crunch Match for both teams

Big bottle job by the Swindon as usual....

We're not going anywhere

[walrus]

My point is, other than wanting a job at the Adver like Amir says, we're the form team going into this game so we have a chance.  Agree with Dave in that we couldn't be described as "a form team", but we are "the form team" in this game, with Hartlepool in a very patchy run at the moment.  If we capitalise on this we really will be in a good position.

I'm going to be positive and predict a 2-1 win to the Town:
Parkin '18
Boyd '61
Smith '82

I only hope that Roberts and Miglioranzi are fit enough to play a full 90 minutes.

[DMR]

They're patchy at home, we've only won on the road once since Bradford and that was about 72 hours in to this year.

Home win.

[walrus]

They're patchy at home, we've only won on the road once since Bradford and that was about 72 hours in to this year.

Home win.

More realistic perhaps, but games such as today are difficult to predict as its about bottle.  As some have said, Swindon aren't exactly renowned for doing well on the big occasion - in fact recently we've fallen at the very final hurdle (Paul Robinson and Adam Virgo's goals spring to mind :| ).  Sorry for bringing up those painful memories.

However, AK and his players will realise that having fucked up so many times this season, today is chance to right things and drag Swindon by the bollocks to the position they belong.  If we don't do it this season, next season could be a struggle if we lose our better players.  Go on AK, get your substitutions spot on, and get the right personnel on the field, and this is a winnable game!

[DMR]

Agreed. We can swap stats all day. If we genuinely want it today we can win it.

[Amir]

I think the pessimism in the stands had spread to the pitch.  The difference between Lita and Parkin's assessments of their relative teams chances was stark, despite the fact we were in exactly the same position as each other.

It's understandable why people feel as they do, but we have to believe we can do it or we stand no chance at all.