Swindon Town v Port Vale Official Matchday Thread

[ronnie21]

Not got anything to add to that, Ranger was my mom - very closely followed by N'guessan!  Thought Byrne was poor first half, absolutely on fire in the second period!!  Reserve most of my commenting for the ref, what a total and utter prick, how Hughes didn't get a red I will never know, he threw a couple of punches.  Having booked their 7 he should have then walked for a poor challenge, gutless cunt just gave him a warning, all the way through they were pushing, shirt pulling and generally fouling our players - yes, eh booked a few of them but he should have stamped down on it from the start.  Oh, and Pritchard you are a bit of a twat too for getting yet another booking, this time for a dive so obvious it was untrue!  Two more bookings and he will be out for three games!!

[Bogus Dave]

Also really eerie at the start, players walking onto the pitch and warming up in silence. Spo0o0oky

[Batch]

Gabbas to me looks like another Dossevi. Sorry but that's all I've seen out of him. Was surprised Ajose was not involved. Was he on the bench?

Oh yeah, just to be argumentative I thought Ranger was pretty anonymous until the last 15 minutes! And Pritchard had another style over substance display. Lively yet somehow didn't deliver.

[kerry red]

Think we may now start to see the best of Mason.

Out for a fair time and with a couple of games under his belt he should be spot on.

Looking forward to Orient - who, fair play, still astound me with their start

[Gnasher]

Enjoyed that! Good performances all round in poor conditions, particularly from N'Guessen, Jac Mac (apart from the two crap free kicks) and Luongo. I wish we could play Vale every week.

The Hughes incident seemed to lift the crowd who were pretty quiet again.

[fittons_coaching_badge]

Someone be it Cooper or Ferdinand or Sherwood need to take Pritchard to one side and slap him around a bit. The diving really isn't on. I don't appreciate it when other teams do it and am not so one eyed that when our players do it, it evades me.  Think hes onto 7 bookings now which for a player who has barely put a tackle in all season is unreal!

That apart all ok, made a bit of heavy weather of it but good in the end.

[Berniman]

Well my Accy came in for £66, and I have got Arsenal to win 2-1 with Corzola first scorer at 70-1.  Fingers crossed it could be a very good day.

[Dr Pierre Chang]

A boring first half but much more entertaining in the second half and a good home win. Vale looked relegation fodder with some awful players especially the backline.

N'Guessan and Ranger should start every match and credit to Byrne for a great finish. Luongo superb, hopefully he can find some consistency. Will be interesting to see who makes way for Kasim, Byrne surely? But then we wouldn't be able to play 3-5-2 so probably N'Guessan to make way. 

El Gabbas seems to be a football fake - reminds me of Miles Storey which is not a good thing.

[@mwooly63]

Well my Accy came in for £66, and I have got Arsenal to win 2-1 with Corzola first scorer at 70-1.  Fingers crossed it could be a very good day.

Going your way so far

[sonicyouth]

The MyWorld card is a useless piece of plastic crap. Went to the ticket office who told me that most of the cards don't work...what?

I thought we played well today against a team more determined to kick us than the ball. Not convinced about 3 at the back as they all look a little lost at times and opposition forwards walk through the middle of the massive gaps it creates. It doesn't help that Byrne generally ignores his defensive duties whereas Thompson is such a good player and one I hope keeps his place with us for a long time. McEveley is playing out of his skin lately.

The lack of Kasim and Luongo playing that holding role concerned me prior to kick-off but I'm not sure we missed Kasim at all today; in fact, we seemed to play it forward quicker and were more penetrative than in recent games. Luongo had an excellent game, as did Mason but special mention to Pritchard for his work rate - the lad never stops running and chasing players down.

Ranger and N'Guessan looked good together but need more game time to really form a partnership, I hope this marks the end of the chopping and changing between Dany and Ajose but time will tell.

El Gabbas way out of his depth but has looked decent in other sub appearances - is his contract up at the end of the year?

The referee was one of the worst I've seen for a while due to his inconsistency today. Vale's number 7 got away with countless fouls yet Pritchard is harshly booked for diving. Worst of all was his failure in sending off Lee Hughes for being Lee Hughes and then running half the length of the pitch to shake hands with Hughes at full-time. What the fuck was that all about?

[bigbobjoylove]

El Gabbas has a contract until January I think.

[chalkies_shorts]

The referee was one of the worst I've seen for a while due to his inconsistency today. Vale's number 7 got away with countless fouls yet Pritchard is harshly booked for diving. Worst of all was his failure in sending off Lee Hughes for being Lee Hughes and then running half the length of the pitch to shake hands with Hughes at full-time. What the fuck was that all about?

Behave, Pritchard was not harshly booked. He could have gone in the book a few minutes earlier for throwing himself to the floor in front of the Arkells. He is a great player but a gobby cheat who is no fucking good to us if he's constantly getting yellows for lets call it simulation and gobbing off to the ref about how hard done by he is. 

[blinkpip]

Vale reminded me of the Kingy days, one route over the top.

[sonicyouth]

Behave, Pritchard was not harshly booked. He could have gone in the book a few minutes earlier for throwing himself to the floor in front of the Arkells. He is a great player but a gobby cheat who is no fucking good to us if he's constantly getting yellows for lets call it simulation and gobbing off to the ref about how hard done by he is. 

I agree that he goes down easily at times but that specific incident was harsh considering that the ref was allowing completely over the top challenges go unpunished all game. I think 'gobby cheat' is a bit unfair as well but needs to sort out his disciplinary record.

[THE FLASH]

I didn't think Vale were really that bad and at 3:2 my arse was twitching...

In the end we were just too strong for them.

Hope we turn over Macclesfield...i really don't give a shiny shit and won't be going but I do hope we can go through.