Swindon Town v Bradford City Matchday Thread & chitchat

[Mooneyraker]

A thought... we looked a lot better without McEachran. Not saying that he isn't a very good player, and he has been amongst our better performers, but the midfield ticked for the first time in a very long time and having Khan alongside Kadji/Cain really allowed Williams to shine.

[Batch]

Yeah, got to keep this momentum going so I'm not grumpy all summer. Of course it'll come down to recruitment as ever, but I just want to see a taste of morrisball - hopefully yesterday wasn't a flash in the pan.

On Bradford I guess we got them on a bad night as I wasn't that impressed given their relatively lofty position. They were robust, a bit more direct than I expected and there is no way Cook got 24 goals playing like that. He looked a real handful, but about as mobile as my mum.

Maybe that's unfair on us and our game plan to nullify them.

From our point of view I thought  khan and kadji struggled and while the first half wasn't a classic I thought we matched up well. In context against a higher flying club that's not bad.

Second half we came on stronger as the half progressed. Cain's introduction seemed to help but I agree with the above that he directly didn't pull up trees but looked after the ball. In fact I was pleased we didn't show the trait of falling apart in the last 10 against Barrow and Bradford.

Maybe a mix of confidence, pride and fitness have combined to kick us into life. Maybe they are playing for contracts. Who knows. I'm not saying that we are anywhere where we need to be but after months of tedium and calamity I'll take these two games in isolation and enjoy not losing. Over to Wimbledon....

Lastly, yesterday's attendance. I posted some pictures of the stands during the game. Not been that empty under Clem I'd imagine. No blame attached but I hope it kicks the club into communicating. Pleased to see Angus popped up on BBC Wilts yesterday.

[Batch]

Hughes Quotes
https://www.bradfordcityafc.com/news/2023/april/hughes-defeat-is-tough-to-take/

"It is a tough one to take,” he said.

“We are all disappointed. In the first half, we had a number of chances to take the game away from Swindon."

“We had 12 shots in the first half, and we were not able to convert any of them. When you have big numbers like that, all you need to do is score at least one.

“Swindon did well to limit our opportunities in the second, though I feel we had chances to more than finish the game off.

“In the end, it was disappointing to concede. We had to recognise earlier that the game was coming away from us.

“We were probing and making chances - it is not like we could not break them down. All we needed to do was score.”
“It is crucial to take those chances,” Hughes added.

“We always talk about being clinical, and at this stage of the season, we have to be in a position where we convert.

“All it takes is once, but we cannot rely on that. We had to be more ready with the ball, and we failed to react.

“We knew what Swindon were capable off. They have good quality and a lot of pace in areas, which we were not mindful enough of.

“We were ready to go tonight, and extend that unbeaten run. Ultimately, we could not find the final clinical touch to take the three points.

“We will go again at the weekend, and we look forward to hopefully getting back to winning ways.”

[Nomoreheroes]

Extended highlights:

[Nomoreheroes]

Any idea why Morris didnt do the post match interview?

Don't know. As LL posted, Morris did the video interview for the official site.

Hawes sounded a bit surprised, and in his understated way, showed the listener that he was surprised and hadn't met Brand before.

[Trashbat?]

Definitely a lot positives to take from last night. Not sure what anyone else thought, but we seemed to look a lot fitter. Jephcott in particular looked sharper compared to earlier in the season.

I think that either Wakeling or RHM will need to be sacrificed to balance the front line next year, but if one of them ends up as back up it is a good problem to have.

[Peter Venkman]

A big bonus for me was Brewitt playing really well for the 2nd game in a row, when you can keep a taller bigger striker quiet almost all game, limiting him on the ball and beating him in the air a lot too.

That is against the L2 leading scorer on 24 goals and 6 assists.

I didn't think Brewitt had it in him TBH.

[Nemo]

He looked a lot less comfortable against Chapman before he was injured - Brewitt definitely prefers dealing with a lump to annippy irritant. Think he'd hate defending against RHM for example!

[horlock07]

A big bonus for me was Brewitt playing really well for the 2nd game in a row, when you can keep a taller bigger striker quiet almost all game, limiting him on the ball and beating him in the air a lot too.

That is against the L2 leading scorer on 24 goals and 6 assists.

I didn't think Brewitt had it in him TBH.

He's done alright especially considering its not altogether clear how long it had been since he played a game before he came here. He seems to be playing into form whilst McEachran who fitness was similarly unknown seems to have rather gone the other way. In both cases (and Tomlinson in fact) would make more judgements when they have a proper preseason in them.

TBH for whatever reason Cook seemed unable to hit a cows arse with a banjo last night, another one of those strange ones with strikers that he seemed to be able to do the harder bits but not the bit that you know he can do based on the number he has scored, for those of us a certain age ala Milosevic at Villa.

[Mooneyraker]

His meat and potatoes defending is very solid I think. He has a tendency to over commit which is where those quicker, nippier players can exploit him. He’s decent on the ball (one particularly enjoyable Cruyff turn olé last night) and looks to play forward. One poor pass in the first half though.

As I’ve said before, if you go on the bloke’s Instagram, he kept himself fit on his own for a few months after leaving his American club. To then go straight into playing every minute for 10 games in a row is pretty impressive.

With a preseason I think he could be a good squad asset next year. His attitude is great.

[hammondt1]

It's kind of been highlighted already but for me the game changed when Chapman went off. He looked very dangerous and enjoyed attacking Brewitt. The replacement offered nothing more than his flappy hands. I can completely understand why they are in the playoffs pushing for autos with a front trio of Cook, Banks and Chapman. They had a lot of experience in their squad which i'm sure must put them at one of the highest budgets in the league. On another night they would have taken their chances and we would have been out of sight. BUT they didn't. Brewitt and Clayton had Cook in their pocket and on the hole we offered something more in attack than previous games. I'm not sure if Williams had a scout watching tonight because he seemed to be everywhere and seemed pumped. His run for the goal was fantastic. However FBT was a clear MOTM. He was outstanding, what a find he has been. I think he's the only player in our squad that is a "league winning quality" a bit concerning as you can't really build a team around a left back.

[Trashbat?]

I wouldn't mind seeing Brewitt as a DM, he looks like he could do that nasty role to break up play.

[Bob's Orange]

Having FBT on the left and Hutton on the right definitely seemed to allow us to be much more balanced last night. There were good moves involving Williams, Wakeling and FBT down the left and RHM and Hutton down the right which kept Bradford guessing. Once Kadji went off, Khan started to run central midfield and knitted everything together. It wasn't perfect, granted, but it at least looked like something approaching cohesion.

On Brewitt, whilst it was a generally sound performance. I thought he was all at sea until Chapman came off injured. After that he did a good job. I do worry how high up the pitch he sometimes attempts to win the ball, he's like a puppy chasing a stick at times, trying to win headers high up the pitch. If the opponent beats him to it, or brings it down, he's then miles out of position. At least he seems to like to head and tackle though, we've missed that really.

[Peter Venkman]

Some Bradford comments about the game, how the tone changed after half time!

Started Well Swindon

Dodgy Swindon keeper alert

Wanky ref already trying to screw us

Drysdale must be one of the worst refs around.

The commentator on their radio who is Irish is great at summarising the game. As he said, Swindon will be happy so far but we will be disappointed that we haven't controlled the game more

Fjortoft is certainly not Irish!

Absolute scumbags celebrating Chapman going into the boards. Actually, their commentator said it's been a problem before so the FA should monitor it and fine them if the pitch is unsafe

He actually didn't say anything about a fine or being unsafe

Their defence doesn't look confident at all.

got to win this based on what I’ve seen so far

they look ropey around own box.

love to be drinking the same as the co commentator on the Swindon feed because he’s making it out it’s pretty even when in reality a 1 or 2 goal lead is what we should be looking at

For once we are creaming the opposition but just soooo wasteful..

Just take the one chance guys one goal wins this game tonight swindon are worse than us going forward for all the possession they've had.

Swindon commentators said it was an easy save he should be making... Mate, it was going in top bins

We've completely lost impetus and just giving them the initiative. Terrible second half display.

I’m really struggling to watch this crap

Nevers just let's their lad turn him and this fecking bald baby in the middle scores because Odesebe never looked behind him.

27 goals and probably the worst first touch for a striker ever.. Well p!ayed Swindon deserved win...

Enough said this was a banana skin beforehand, it was just written wasn't it? Second half we just never got going. All well and good calling out Drysdales crap but we created sod all for them to worry about.

Swindon looked pretty good which says it all.

We got what we deserved. It should have been put to bed in the first half. The longer it went on , the more comfortable they became.

Utter shite. Didnt have a kick in the second half until the last ten mins. Crich was sloppy tonight.

Hughes clearing his throat to tell us how good swindon are and how that was best they've played all season.

Let a poor Swindon team stay in the game and get punished by letting Williams just drift into the box and get a free header

It was awful to watch. I don’t think we had control of the game for the majority of the night. The second half was particularly poor.

Two great saves on the rare occasions Swindon attacked

[JoeMezz]

Broadly agree with that. A new spine but we have the 'limbs'!

Yep - largely agree