Swindon Town vs Wimbledon - Official Matchday Thread

[wheretherealredsare]

Heard that he Hedges his butts.

[Nomoreheroes]

PDC sounding half asleep:
- Always worried about games like todays (other team having lost 6 on trot)
- Pleased with holiday period
- Not many right backs in England who score 5-6 goals per year. Caddis is extra goal scoring option for Town.
- Connell scored very good goal from Gabilondo cross. PDC talked about advice he had given Gabby ref where to cross to.
- Benson was rusty. Always makes right decision with his movement. First touch let him down - PDC said he'd 'kick his arse' (then apologised for language). Joked about getting WD40 for his rusty joints!
- Talked about the team eating 'salt' rather than 'too much turkey'. Sounds as if there had been unhappiness in the dressing room about PDC strict regime over Xmas, but PDC says that the team now understand.
- Waiting for news w/r/t other transfers. PDC keeping quiet as others are working on it - Doesn't want to jeopardise it.
- Needs to consider players leaving. Difficult to achieve though even if he has told people that they are not in his plans. He knows now who he prefers to pick and gave the example of prefering a 70% effort from Caddis against 150% from some other players.

[Ginginho]

Does anyone have a report on Benson

Lacking match fitness, which you can obviously understand, but made some good runs and twice was one on one. Once fully fit he will score goals for sure.

[LJ9]

- Talked about the team eating 'salt' rather than 'too much turkey'. Sounds as if there had been unhappiness in the dressing room about PDC strict regime over Xmas, but PDC says that the team now understand.

And he's right. Bet nobody cramped up today. Strict fitness regime still there and players sound like they're reaping the benefits

[Nomoreheroes]

Benson's interview:
- Could and should have scored 2. Disappointed to have missed them and didn't want to use rustiness as an excuse
- Team happy with 3 points
- Desperate to play. First game in 3 months.
- Difficult to get back into it despite working on fitness.
- Would have like to have felt better, but hopes that he'll get sharper and fitter in the next couple of weeks
- Disappointed loan didnt work out, but training for a couple of days helped him make a decision to sign permanently.
- Had interest from other clubs, but Swindon was only one who could deal with Charlton (which suggests others wouldn't pay fees or make player exchange). He said he wanted to come here though.
- Not cup tied. Can play in FA Cup and JPT.

[DiV]

Benson came across very well in his interview.

[Bennett]

benson's movement was ace, he'll come good

murray's movement was also decent, but once he got the ball he didn't have an idea what to do with the ball

[stfcinbmth]

- Not cup tied. Can play in FA Cup and JPT.

That's good news

[reeves4england]

Good, strong performance today against a Wimbledon team with almost zero footballing ability - their only decent player was the winger who came off the bench, won the ball and made good runs.

Foderingham: 7 - solid. Didn't have loads to do but made a good stop when called upon and his kicking was as solid as usual

Caddis: 7 - good work up and down the right flank, and obviuosly got the first goal
McCormack: 7 - very strong at the back, and great composure with the ball at his feet
Flint: 7 - Very solid as usual
Kennedy: 7 - Had the hardest job today dealing with some good wing play, but did a good job and got forward to good effect too

Ritchie: 8 - thought he had a very good game today. A lot of running to bring the ball clear and to get at defenders. Good crossing too, and could have grabbed a goal.
Ferry: 7 - never stops running and always seems to pick out a player in space
Smith: 7 - As usual, battled well in the middle by making numerous tackles and winning headers. I think he also hit the post?
De Vita: 6 - Didn't really impress in the first half as he wasn't taking up good positions. He did look a bit more threatening after the break though

Murray: 6 - Got in some good positions but wasn't particularly ffective in front of goal
Connell: 7 - Made a nuisance of himself, held the ball up, and took his goal well

Benson: 6 - Got into good positions and made good runs. Finishing wasn't great but that's to be expected after 3 months not playing. Looks promising.
Gabilondo: 6.5 - Looked handy on the left against a poor defence. Got stuck in, made a couple of good runs, and played a good ball in for Connell's goal
Cibocchi: came on and didn't have much to do

[phelpsieboy]

Bensons positioning and off the ball movement was sheer class! This guy is going to get us goals.

[Gnasher]

Ritchie: 8 - thought he had a very good game today. A lot of running to bring the ball clear and to get at defenders. Good crossing too, and could have grabbed a goal.

I also thought that was Ritchie's best game for a long time.

[tans]

Benson did well.

Ritchie needs to pass the ball

[Bogus Dave]

Wimbledon tired very badly in the last 20 minutes. Very professional by us - we didn't panic when they stuck everyone behind the ball and had faith the goals would come. In the end we could/should have had 4 or 5, where it not for the woodwork and sloppy finishing.

Onwards and upwards

[Benzel]

Pretty pleased with that, Wimbledon came for a point and were on course at half time. Always knew that as the 2nd half wore on we'd open them up more and create - and we did just that. Could've been a huge score in the end but 2 and a clean sheet is spot on anyway.

Everyone performed quite well today and can't really add anything more than what has been said about Benson. Plenty more to come from him.

Great set of results today. Top 3 for us very soon.

[tans]

Oh and bennett and drs were looking very sexy today.

Whilst fred elliot looked dead