Swindon Town v Gillingham Official Matchday Thread

[tans]

Jed told me he didn't know why the bottle bar in the legends hasnt been operational all season.

Yeah alright then

[sonicyouth]

What do people make of Hall? I saw a few tweets blaming him for their second goal but a few praising him too.

[Dr Pierre Chang]

Do you genuinely believe the objective is promotion just because Jed stated it?

Of course that's the objective. Whether it is realistic or not only time will tell.

Hall: Looks solid enough, decent in the air, comfortable on the ball and will only get better. Should anything happen to Ward it may be a different story. He will improve as will the whole backline - I hope we stick with that defensive line up but I have a feeling we may see McEvely depart...

The goal was created by their centre back tackling on the halfway line and the ball flying through to their striker, Hall tried to block the shot but it was a nice finish into the bottom corner. Not sure how he can be blamed for that.

[@mwooly63]

Thought he had a solid game - struggled against akinfatwa on the ground mostly cos was pushed off the ball but didnt give in and stuck to his task. Put his foot in on more than a few occasions and did ok in the air.
Will benefit from being paired with Ward and imho can only get better

Easily already a better defender than Flint and more accomplished with the ball at his feet too

[chalkies_shorts]

First of all thought the ref and linos had decent games today.
Gillingham were a fucking awful team who I think will be cannon fodder. Akinfenwa is a fat cunt but he's a bloody clever player and we could do worse than sign him.
Our first goal was a thing of beauty - what a cross from Nate Dog. Their goal was embarrassing to concede. Throw in, header, goal. Then we ran the show but still gave them chances such as a near repeat throw in, header combo. We had a header well saved on to the post and Byrne should have scored but blazed over.
In the first part of the 2nd half the Pikeys nullified us and we scored against the run of play. A great cross from Harley and a good header from Nate Dog - he just enjoyed that a little bit. From then it was all us but they scored against the run of play and another fucking awful goal to give away.
I suppose that's the way it goes with a team that's gelling. We should have won. sometimes we played some god football at others it looked like we could concede at any time.
I wasn't impressed with Pritchard today. Byrne is interesting, whatever he does is either brilliant or shit - knocked off the ball easily sometimes and then does a decent tackle. Now for my favourite - Nile who I still wish would play for someone else. He held the ball up really well and gave us an out ball when we hit it long. He did a bloody good job defensively as well. He didn't look likely to score though and was brushed off the ball a couple of times when it looked promising.
I think that was 2 points dropped today against a really fucking awful side.
Like the Stevenage game you could take a positive or negative view - good in parts, crap in other.

[Dozno9]

Jed told me he didn't know why the bottle bar in the legends hasnt been operational all season.

Yeah alright then

I also learnt that you can't buy a dash of coke, you have to buy a whole can.

[kerry red]

I know this sounds a bit wooly, but I feel something is missing in the team and I just cant put my finger on it.

I look at the defence and cant really see anyone in L1 who'd be better than Hall/Ward and NT as full back.

Midfield - again Lungfish is a top player and Mason will be also. Kasim/Harley are also decent.

NR is going to be a right handful at this level.

So, what is it?

Perhaps we need a real nasty bastard in there somewhere

[Hitchinred]

Could anyone make out what the lone protester at the bottom of the DRS was shouting about. I'm not too far away but didn't have a clue what he was saying!

[Flashheart]

It was Wes's 100th appearance for us today

[Dozno9]

I know this sounds a bit wooly, but I feel something is missing in the team and I just cant put my finger on it.

I look at the defence and cant really see anyone in L1 who'd be better than Hall/Ward and NT as full back.

Midfield - again Lungfish is a top player and Mason will be also. Kasim/Harley are also decent.

NR is going to be a right handful at this level.

So, what is it?

Perhaps we need a real nasty bastard in there somewhere

Not necessarily nasty but I think McCormack would have been great for us this year, someone who would get stuck in. It all seems very nice and passy but we do miss a hard bastard.

[Reg Smeeton]

450, that's one family isn't it?

Could be....here's a pic on the edge of the Lawns, earlier in the week

[JoeMezz]

Thought we deserved a win and it is extremely disappointing to only pick up a point against a team that is a likely relegation candidate. We are still at least 1 striker and a winger short.
Thought Ranger performed very well today, especially given his fitness levels; held the ball a million times better than Williams ever did and also won some balls in the air. Could do with getting in the box a little more when it gets wide, especially attacking the ball at the back post.
Our 2 goals were of decent quality, good build up play and very good crosses that brought an easy finish. With our team we are going to concede some goals as of their first and their second goal was a fluke (came from a tackle on the half way line).. Perhaps not at the right shape at the back and maybe switched off.
Thought Harley, McCeverley and Thompson looked good today and no-one really had a bad game.
Much an improvement to an awful result last week and a lot to build on rather than boo and criticise about. If we play like that, should do well most weeks and will almost definitely stay up, as I said a couple of players short but hopefully Jed will stick to his word and bring some in..

[herthab]

Promising performance, if not result. Still very early days for this team and I'm looking forward to seeing how they progress. Mistakes are bound to happen but some of our passing play was a joy to watch.
Ranger was very good for us, even though he is nowhere near match fit. Plays the loan forward role much better than Williams. Luongo is a star in the making. The player that is going to frustrate me this season is Pritchard. Bags of skill but poor decision making/selfish play meant a lot of his input came to nought.
Looking forward to next week.

[Ticker45]

Promising performance, if not result. Still very early days for this team and I'm looking forward to seeing how they progress. Mistakes are bound to happen but some of our passing play was a joy to watch.
Ranger was very good for us, even though he is nowhere near match fit. Plays the loan forward role much better than Williams. Luongo is a star in the making. The player that is going to frustrate me this season is Pritchard. Bags of skill but poor decision making/selfish play meant a lot of his input came to nought.
Looking forward to next week.

This.

Thought Storey should have been given a run out as Ranger looked knackered for the last ten minutes which was not surprising and wonder if the use of subs is Coopers blind spot?

[sonicyouth]

The player that is going to frustrate me this season is Pritchard. Bags of skill but poor decision making/selfish play meant a lot of his input came to nought.

sounds a bit like Ritchie early in his time here