Swindon Town v Notts County matchday thread

[Costanza]

God knows how we lost that 3-0.
 
For the first hour I honestly thought we were excellent today. Their defence looked very shakey and we really should have been winning within the first few minutes but for a couple of superb saves from their keeper. Swindon grew into it and were keeping the ball well, but we were keeping our shape and they weren't really creating anything. As a result of that the home crowd were starting to get on their backs and frustration was creeping in.
 
Then they go 1-0 up out of absolutely nothing. Good finish from their lad though I guess you can look at our defence and ask how he had the time to pick his spot and shoot the way he did. Avoidable, but thats the difference between the top sides and the bottom sides - that ability to grab a goal from nothing.
 
Once they scored we folded like a deck chair. The penalty a couple of minutes later was dubious to say the least, but the way Roy Carroll carried on at the officials was downright embarrassing - the referee isn't going to suddenly change his mind and wipe that goal out ten minutes later is he? Sort it out Roy for christ sake.
 
Credit to our lads we kept huffing and puffing and had a few half chances, but the third goal was truly woeful.
 
And Liam Noble, well he should never play for this club again in my opinion - his red card today was absolutely pathetic, just constant arguing with the ref even after being booked. The bloke's too much of a liability and I wouldn't have him anywhere near the side again - sod him off.
 
Deffinitely a lot more positives than what I saw at Bristol City. There was a clear attacking threat in JCR and Paddy on the wings with Lita the lone striker. He did alright today, but the problem was there was nobody there to gamble on the flick ons so he had a pretty impossible job. But given a run of games together surely that force will bear fruit. Mind you it'd be nice if JCR actually crossed the ball occasionally rather than trying 87 stepovers before losing the ball.
 
Gutted by that, 3-0 isn't a fair reflection at all, honestly felt we were on for a point or three for the first hour, but the game changed in a split second and that was goodnight irene. So frustrating.
 
Will we stay up? If we start taking our chances we should get the points we require, but it worries me how long we've been saying that...

He's answering his own musings...

[FormerlyPlymRed]

Im pretty sure their no 15 who was involved with williams yesterday was the one that gladwin tore a new arsehole up in nottingham for our second goal earlier in the season.

They had probably the worst discipline from a side I have seen in a hell of a long time both from the bench and on the pitch

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

The odds are slightly in Preston's favour but only slightly. They are in the driver's seat at the moment but as Ardiles says, 2 points over 11 games is absolutely nothing. And who knows what constitutes an 'easy' game or a 'hard' game any way? Crawley looked 'easy' on paper for us and Fleetwood looked an 'easy' fixture for Sheff Utd yesterday. I'm sorry IOB, but saying 2nd spot is a 'tall order' at this stage is frankly ridiculous.

We will need 8 wins from 11 if Preston carry on the way they are. That is a tall order. Of course they might not but I was going on that basis.

[kerry red]

We'll win our 5 remaining home games plus the away games at Port Vale, Colchester and Rochdale.

There you go!

[Honkytonk]

If we beat Preston and Franchise we'll be on our way to the Autos rather quickly again. Preston will have to trip up a little bit again but there will only be a point or so in it I reckon.

It's going to be a last day of the season decider I feel.

[herthab]

Was really impressed with Swift yesterday. He's the one player who has infuriated me the most in the past, with his poor decision making, but yesterday was much more involved in linking play and he took his goal well too. Bit more directness to our overall play and Wes went long a few times too. A lot of people were critical of Cooper before the game for going one up front, but when you've got attacking midfielders like Luongo and Swift I don't think that's a negative tactic. Defence also looked a lot stronger and cohesive, although Thompson still gives me a panic attack at least once a game.
I don't know how much you can read into the result, County, all bar the first few minutes, were woeful, but if the win helps regain some confidence in the team then we could go on another run. Port Vale will give us a better indication of whether our season will be extended or not.
Great atmosphere yesterday, helped in no small part by the ineptitude of the officials and the total lack of discipline from some of the County players. I thought Carroll was gonna have a total breakdown!

[Costanza]

I expect a Bristol City/Preston North End automatic promotion outcome (which is probably how people expecting it to be at the seasons start). Obviously I hope to be comprehensively proven wrong.

What's essential is that Town keep playing well and maintain the positive results until the seasons end unlike what we experienced when entering the 2012/13 Play-Offs under poor ol' Kevin MacDonald.

As always, I'm just happy to be in this scenario rather than in that horrible pack of teams who are chasing between 5th and 15th(!)

[Peter Venkman]

One good post on the Notts County forum saying this is what their strikers were like yesterday.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

We will need 8 wins from 11 if Preston carry on the way they are. That is a tall order. Of course they might not but I was going on that basis.

Preston will drop points in games where they will be expecting all 3, as will we and as will Franchise. Hopefully we will do it less often than they do.

I suppose all we can hope for is that yesterday's result marks the start of us getting back to our previously excellent form. That will give us every chance of making second but at worst will mean we go into the play offs as the form side. What Costanza said really.

Likewise, I agree that I am happy to be where we are rather than the huge chasing pack (and by the way, we all have to play teams in that pack).

One last thing that it's worth remembering - This time 4 short years ago, we were in  24th spot with 32 points, our main striker was Calvin Andrew* and we were managed by....

.....Paul....Hart......




*Thanks to http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/ as there is no way I could have remembered all that.

[Batch]

To be honest that Notts County fan report isn't a million miles from being correct. Where I disagree is that County and Lita in particular never looked threatening after the Wes double save, and that although we created little before Swift scored it always looked like we would create something. That sounds an odd thing to say, but what I saw was the 'probing' phase was always going to turn into chances.

Wes was back to near best yesterday. I don't get the TE frustration in trying to hurry him up releasing the ball when we are 2-0 up though.
----
Not noticed it mentioned anywhere, but the pitch was poor yesterday. Bobble bobble bobble.

[bigbobjoylove]

Wes was back to near best yesterday. I don't get the TE frustration in trying to hurry him up releasing the ball when we are 2-0 up though.

My thinking would be, the opposition are low on confidence and down to 10 men = ideal conditions to go on the attack and score more goals to better our goal difference.

[Batch]

Yes, but given we still looked vulnerable to the counter attack he played it right. Points first.

[Bob's Orange]

The Wes to Branco on the chest kick out worked probably 50% of the time yesterday. At least we have a different option when Nathan is too heavily marked to pass the ball to.

[kerry red]

Branco's throw-ins are still wank

[@mwooly63]

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