P/O Semi Final 1st leg Swindon Town V Charlton Athletic Official matchday thread

[Spencer_White]

Ive heard the same rumour about Paynter signing for Leeds yesterday. I dont think Danny Wilson will use him again unless he has to.

Great game last night. Really enjoyed it.

Hillarious those Charlton fans blaming the away end for their pathetic support. Ive seen the fans on the bank completely take over the County Ground in terms of atmosphere (Cardiff, Stoke). Its just Charlton dont have the fans to do it, shite! The happy clappers werent as bad as I thought they were going to be.

Didnt think anyone had a bad game. I was pleased for Pericard and O'Brien. Both of them have had a tough time at Swindon, but showed some real desire that they want to be here last night. Gutted for Pericard at the end because I thought he changed the game when he came on and deserved a goal. Austin had to play a slightly different role without Paynter, and I thought he lead the line absolutely superbly.

I dont have much to say about Charlton, except that I thought they panicked big time when it went 2-0. At one point they had 5 men running to try and tackle O'Brien and he still managed to get a cross in. Early goal at the Valley and I think they could lose it a bit (tactics, shape, etc).

Got a nice big bruise on my back for the second goal. Town Ender down.

[crystall Tips]

enjoyed hearing radio commentary of the goals this morning - though I don't have to put up mostly with that and it's probably worse when you get that level of excitement when there's just a mere sniff of the net.

great second half, shame we couldn't have made it more, but Wilson seems to reckon that's a good thing, it's definitely going to be very nervy at their place whatever.   
Ward or Austin Motm for me. Thanks to this thread for introducing o'brisk, he did worry them with pace a bit.

Crappy clappers were annoying, but in a bizarre way helped the atmosphere

[Arriba]

the leeds rumour is nothing new.if it is true you would think the player would be professional enough to do the job for his current side.i have no reason to doubt paynter, as he's done it all year for us.

[Spencer_White]

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=98299775&EditorialProduct=Sport#

Match gallery from Gettys.

Love the second picture of Charlie pointing at the crowd and Danny Ward going mental in the back ground!

[Ardiles]

I've not had time to read the whole thread, so apologies in advance for any repetition.  Sentiment from most at the final whistle was that we could & should have won by a bigger margin, but I think a lot of that was down to selective memory.  Charlton had sustained periods of pressure and, on balance, I thought 2-1 was a fair reflection.  All to play for.  Very little in it at 'half time', but I think I would prefer to be in our position rather than theirs at the moment...just.  Charlton will be very nervous on Monday that we might score first.

Regarding Pericard's almost goal, I'm to blame there.  When he came on, I turned to my brothers and said: this is it.  He's going to score.  I felt very sure of it.  Must have jinxed him.  My heart really went out to him at the final whistle...he was gutted.  Shows his heart's in the right place even if his sat nav went a bit wonky and couldn't quite find the goal.  But as my brother said, he did do brilliantly to get down for the header any way.

Roll on Monday.  57 hours and counting...

[Bogus Dave]

Bloke I know is a steward near the directors box, said paynter was going mental all through the game. He can't be that disheartened.

Also said it was a groin twinge and he'll be back for monday. This may well be bollocks..

[Spencer_White]

the leeds rumour is nothing new.if it is true you would think the player would be professional enough to do the job for his current side.i have no reason to doubt paynter, as he's done it all year for us.

I think if you cross Danny Wilson then thats it, your out. They said no deals before the season has finnished.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Good game last night and a good advert for the league that has been this season. Wasn't surprised by the first half to tell you the truth. Was expecting Charlton to sit back a bit and keep their shape. They did it very well and although we had a couple of chances (a few good saves from their keeper) we didn't look like scoring.

Second half was a totally different game. I don't know what their boss said to them at HT but whatever it was they came out with the bit between their teeth and really had a go. Fair play to them for that. Bailey was very unlucky with that shot that came out off the post. You got a feeling it was going to be our night when that happened.

Charlton's desire to get forward played into our hands really. We suddenly had time and space on the ball and began to cause them a hell of a lot of problems. O'Brien's pace was doing them time and time again and they really couldn't cope with Ward. Great goal from Austin. Not like him to score one like that but he rose about the defender and powered it into the net. Great stuff. Then we sat back which was nerve racking. Thought our plan was to sit back and hit them on a the break and again it worked a treat. Great play from Ferry and what a finish from Ward. I have a grazed knee from celebrating that this morning so thanks for that Danny.

Once it was 2-0 I fancied us for 3 or 4. We looked more confident and more composed than we were prior to the 2nd. Just a shame we gifted them a goal from nothing. We've been doing it for a while now sadly and it's cost us a 2 goal advantage going into the 2nd leg. We did create enough to get a few more though which was encouraging.

Thought we'd miss Billy quite badly but O'Brien looked good in the 2nd half and Ward was outstanding. Charlie led the line well too. Pericard looked great when he came on. Held it up well and caused them problems. How he missed that chance at the end i'll never know. Feel sorry for him because you could tell he was gutted at the final whistle.

On to Monday then. Nerve racking times ahead for sure. I'm confident we can score at The Valley. If we do it's going to make it a tough task for them. Will Billy be back? Reckon we might have him available tbh. and bring on Monday. We've got a chance of Wembley now boys so do us proud.

[nochee]

Is there anywhere where i can watch the goals online?

[dogs]

Paynter will be playing some part on monday, just touch and go whether he'll start. After last night, i'd imagine Wilson will keep the starting 11, with Paynter on the bench.

[DiV]

Paynter is still under contract with us anyway so can't have actually signed for Leeds yet.

Plus would Paynter really want to miss oiut on the 2 (maybe 3) biggest games of his career and would Wilson cut his nose off to spite his face and not include our top scorer.

[Mudfish]

I think that our chances will also be boosted by the use of a fair referee in the next leg, someone who won't favour the bigger club.

[Spencer_White]

We are the bigger club.

[scott]

If that is it for paynter - which i hope it isnt - going on last nights performance looks like we got a ready made replacement in pericard - charlton couldnt handle him just a shame he didnt score - did you see how gutted he was at the end -shows he cares - with a bit of luck we finish the job on monday -YOU REDS !

[Mudfish]

We are the bigger club.

  Yup but if you look at the history books..