A reasonable writeup from an Oxford disliking Vale fan:
http://www.onevalefan.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?72644-Football-Swindon-5-Port-Vale2-Post-Match-Discussion/page11First of all, let's get a few things straight, shall we? Vale, for 85% of yesterday's match were appalling. Swindon were better in every aspect. Their passing was, on the whole, accurate, precise and unlike us, they didn't lump the ball 40 yards up the field hoping for Pope to feed off the scraps. It was one of the worst first halves of football that I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing. There were zero positives to take. I don't think we deserved to be losing at the break as it was such a drab and uninspiring 45 minutes where it seemed like two poor sides didn't have any sort of gameplan and neither looked good.
However, once the second half began, Swindon took the **** out of us - literally. They won every tackle, they won every second ball, their players' movement was head and shoulders above ours - we simply couldn't cope. N'Guessan and Ranger - credit where credit is due. They were a real handful, and none of our defenders could cope with them at all. The first two goals were comical to concede, in my eyes. Poor marking, poor organisation. The third goal was quite difficult to explain. A poor goal to concede, but a wicked deflection which took Neal by complete surprise. The fourth was absolutely wonderful, and I knew as soon as it left his foot that it was heading for the top corner - a brilliant goal by my Man of the Match. The fifth was again, poor, and should've been dealt with, but the game was dead and buried after the fourth, so the fifth just added the gloss to a completely deserved win for Swindon.
Am I surprised we conceded 5 again at The County Ground? Not at all. We are dreadful down there, and have been for as long as I can remember. However, some of the comments I've read on this thread this morning have shown a select few Vale fans to be very bitter and full of excuses. Yes, we were dreadful. Yes, Swindon's 'antics' were indeed disgraceful at times. I have to admit, they did play the referee very, very well for the duration of the game, but you can't take away the fact that their passing football was some of the best I've seen this season. Byrne, N'Guessan, Ranger and Luongo were just a class above our 11, and we couldn't deal with them. The better team by a country mile won - they weren't the best, but they were clinical, composed and assured. Something I think we should try to adopt, because what I saw yesterday was a complete laughing stock. No desire until we were 3-0 down and Adams introduced three substitutions. No passion from at least 6-7 of the players. No composure on the ball. No shape. No cohesion. It was embarassing at times how much space Swindon had to operate in, and with consumate ease they threw bodies forward and made it look so easy.
I don't like to criticise the referee or the opposition for their style of play, but I had to on this occasion. Swindon, although they played well, have great passing and organisation, as I alluded to above, did play the referee and it was incredibly frustrating to watch. Some of the decisions he gave were extraordinary! I was infuriated on occasions as he completely killed the flow to the game with some strange decisions. My main gripe with the man in the middle though, was his apparent lack of understanding when it comes to the advantage rule. There was one particular occasion where Dodds made a challenge for us in the middle of the park, and if the referee deemed it was a foul (baring in mind that Swindon broke away with the ball), then he should've signalled for advantage. However, he allowed play to continue and said 'no' to the calls for a foul from the Swindon fans, yet as soon as Vale managed to win the ball back, he calls it back for the free kick!? How does that even make sense? You can only call it back for a 'foul' if you've originally signalled for play to continue with advantage. Bizarre.
A few other things to touch on - our away following of 327, however anybody dresses it up, is very, very poor. We were 9th in the league following two very good wins (which, as it happens, was the highest we'd been in the league standings for 8 years). We were confident. We'd taken more (400+) to Colchester United, Carlisle United and Leyton Orient, and a respectable 200-odd to Crawley Town on a Tuesday night. Yes, it was £25 to get in for Adults, which, for this level of football is shocking, but don't you think Swindon fans have to pay exactly the same price as well?? How do you think they feel? We only pay it once a season, whereas they're stuck with those inflated prices a minimum of 23 times a season. The facilities aren't the best? Well, are they really that much better or worse than the vast majority of stadiums in this division and the one below? I could name at least 20 of the 46 other teams in League One and League Two who have facilities on an equal footing, or even worse than Swindon do. I can sympathise with Vale fans in regards to the fact that we have got Shrewsbury Town (H), Crewe Alexandra (A), Preston North End (H) and Walsall (A) coming up within the next few weeks, so they may have prioritised. However, we still could've had at least 450 down in Wiltshire as it would've seen us as very consistent on the road with our 400+ followings to the other 'non-local' away games.
I enjoyed my day though. Met a Vale fan in one of the pubs before the game who lives in Cirencester and shared a pint. On meeting this Vale fan, I was also introduced to a couple of Swindon fans who were very pleasant. I had to express my dislike of Oxford United to them, to which I was granted freedom of Swindon, aha! The food inside the stadium was over-priced and quite frankly, disgusting, but I was hungry and shovelled it down anyway as I don't waste food. Was a bit disappointed to only see just over 7,000 Swindon fans though - haven't you guys been getting close to 8k attendances in your last few games? Quite poor vocally as well given the scoreline, but our numbers were poor, and vocally, we were even worse. The only chant I actually appreciated and bothered to join in towards the end of the game was '£25, you're having a laugh' as it pretty much summed up the entire afternoon (even though I didn't pay £25, thankfully!).
Personally I thought our "antics" were not up to theirs, a stronger refwould have clamped down on the kicking. But I can see why Pritchard gets up the nose of away fans, something we've already picked up on in here..
Incidentally, talking of wingers, is Matt Ritchie proper fucked? Not seen him near the Muff team this season so presumably still injured?
