On leaving at 11am this morning for Swindon I was a little apprehensive about bring 3 non-Swindon fans to a game of such magnitude in which we could have been embarrassed. As it turned out, despite the Merlin being full - which was a disappointment - it was a fantastic day and Swindon played some superb football. For me this was down to 3 factors:
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Rory Fallon: Worked his fucking socks off, won headers, was a general pain in the arse to the Nottingham Forest defence and took his goal well - probably should have scored from the chance he had moments before but sitting in the Town End it was difficult to judge.
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Natural Width: Two proper wingers, gave us an outlet that we needed. Both Nicholau and Buzzer put in some superb balls, and Nicholau was superb (see later). Roberts was great when he came on, and looked much more at home up front than on the wing.
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Improvement by Pook, Ifil and O'Hanlon: Although I was in Corfu not Barnsley, from what I've heard and seen this trio have been largely anonymous so far this season. Today it was a vastly improved performance from all 3, although Pook is obviously still learning. However, he seemed far more committed and in the right places - allowed Whalley more time and space to get the balls out to the wings.
The atmosphere in the Town End today was tremendous, as was the individual performances of Nicholau and Fallon. Both these players looked like they cared and looked fantastic for the full 90 minutes. Very nice to see Fallon worshipping the fans, and seemed like the win meant something. Due to this gesture, and the goal against Bristol City I will never ever forget, I'm beginning to love him as much as Parkin...
Anyone who says Fallon is a donkey will feel my wrath :twisted:
