Thetownend.com

Sigh.

County like us have conceded a lot of goals this season, so that can only mean one thing.

Swindon 0-0 Notts att: 7,753 (459 away)

A resistible force meets a movable object.

Like a gunfight between Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

I don’t want to go, but Mrs Audrey is insisting we do - and she’s going to drag her Ipswich supporting sister and b-o-i as well.

Anyway, can’t see beyond a loss. County to bring 800 odd.

I know the chance of us going down is virtually impossible.

But I can't relax until we get that one more win.

I watched the second half of their game against Salford and it was very much like watching us, from the inevitability of the late goal conceded, to McGoldrick up front giving an Austin-esque performance.

It be like the alamo, it be
 
BTTS
BTTRYCs
Town will lose
Uwakwe to start






#Satire

Devine on the bench?

More likely the stretcher

At the sponsors evening he was sat right behind me, he looked very healthy and hoped to be back to fitness soon, he looks about 14 though but was in high spirits.

Is this County's first appearance at ours since we relegated them out of the league?

And the first time we’ve played them at home after some fans took great pleasure in them getting relegated out of the league.

Yes it is, some massive meat head started banging on our car windows leaving their place earlier in the season shouting "this was for relegating us" i'd forgotten all about that to be honest.

Crazy to think the reverse fixture was a top of the table clash.

We are winning this one. I feel it in my bones.

Nah, that would be arthritis.

Must be damp in your house.

arthritis and damp I say. still winning

This is the second turning point of the season, our great start ended with the kemp back heel kick off at meadow lane.
If we score direct from the kick off we will win all our remaining games

Tickets look to be selling well for this then  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

😅

Khan and RHM out for the season

Devine injured again

Light on bodies

Also known as..

Khan and RHM refusing to sign new contracts

Devine is broken

We didn't recruit sufficiently enough..  and everyone has given up.

I think we have to accept that Devine is not injured, this is just his body.  Tough on the lad, but he really needs to identify a new career now.

Christ on a bike.

Exactly the same theory i was thinking

When your approach to recruitment is limited (by your own mismanagement) to sending out a broadcast communication to clubs and agents that you want players who are going to be Out of Contract come the season end, and you'll take their rejects off of their hands early, then you don't tend to get a well rounded squad as a result.

Kid and wife's birthday, so I'll be doing something more fun than watching Town lose again.

The full quote makes it sound like Khan has been playing injured for a while and it's now deteriorated to the point where he can't play. If he was doing that whilst his contract ran down then... well, fair play to him I suppose. 

There is no way a club takes a chance on Devine after his contract ends, is there? Surely not. Retirement looms.

The fact we did similar to Young, alongside the known fact that we haven't backfilled coaching support, plus the rumour of reduced medical support, would rather suggest we are a bit shit at managing players through injury.  I'm almost inclined to suggest the managing minutes of the new arrivals was less to do with a well structured plan and more likely an agreement when signing them all that they'd all get game time, like I have to do with Rec League youths!

That's nice though - everyone gets a game at Swindon, its not just about winning, it's the taking part that counts.

It's a shame we haven't pushed for rotational subs.

I did ponder the other day that Gunning's own experience of having to play through injury might explain an element of over protectiveness towards some of the players.

He was very clear that the need to manage minutes wouldn't be an issue as of the Mansfield game if I remember, so maybe there was a plan?

We've reached the point I suspect where the sub "strategy" is going to be questioned regardless of who comes off the bench & when.

Winning football matches would be the normal cure but we might even be beyond that applying some balm to proceedings.

You’re giving him way too much credit there thinking there is any method behind anything he does. The guy is just utterly clueless and another bullshitter in a sea of bullshit at the club.

Yeah, maybe. Not going to disagree.

We'll see if Morfuni's "it's a results business" rationale for getting shot of Flynn will hold true for Gunning as well.
Trouble is, scraping away one layer of bullshit is likely to reveal another.

I spoke to Khan at the sponsors evening last week and he said he was out for the season after having a scan in the afternoon, has a small bone fracture out for 3 months.

Devine is a lovely young lad and feel sorry for him, he was confident last week he would be back fit soon, I thought he was a youth player as he looked about 14.

Pretty sure it won't be refusing to sign a new contract as from what I heard the club hasnt spoken to any players yet about extending any contracts. It was hinted that most players had a clause in their contract that they can be extended for 1 year at the clubs discretion, conversely they can be freed with no compensation too.

If we weren't playing players who were leaving at the end of the season, we'd struggle to field a team!

They've won won of their last 8, and that was against Bradford (who we beat at home and were really poor).

So two poor sides, out of form. It's going to be a case of who fucks up the least

Or gets a lucky shot on target.

Two drunks fighting in a pub......

With all the injuries maybe we will sign a new player to help out ;) probably a defensive midfielder.

Will this even be on? Absolutely torrential rain showers round here and flash floods.

No fear, we have a ground owned by an expert plumber! The drainage will be tip top fantastico...oh well... ::)

Waiting for the SOS to go out asking for fans to turn up at 10am with mops and buckets #inittogether

An interesting post on the Notts County forum sums the game up perfectly.


Also

https://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38317167

Poll on if they want Maynard to leave as manager after his short tenuare and its a categorical "out" from almost every poster.

Results under Maynard.

P12 W2 D2 L8 F16 A22 pts 8

Barrow 1-1 (D)
Mansfield 0-1 (L)
Gillingham 1-3 (L)
Newport 3-1 (W)
Wrexham 0-1 (L)
Crewe 1-3 (L)
Sutton 3-4 (L)
Wimbledon 0-2 (L)
Crawley 1-2 (L)
Accrington 2-2 (D)
Bradford 3-0 (W)
Salford 1-2 (L)

By comparison.

Results under Gunning.

P11 W2 D4 L5 F15 A16 pts 10

Bradford 2-0 (W)
Newport 1-2 (L)
Salford 1-1 (D)
Gillingham 2-2 (D)
Milton K 1-2 (L)
Stockport 0-0 (D)
Tranmere 3-1 (W)
Harrogate 1-1 (D)
Mansfield 2-3 (L)
Accrington 1-2 (L)
Doncaster 1-2 (L)

Whoever loses today gets the official title of worst manager in the league. What a time to be alive.

Can't believe I just bought a ticket  :facepalm:

Can’t be arsed myself. Just can’t summon up any enthusiasm at all.

Normally look forward to the Easter weekend games.
Not been the case for a while.

First game seems a long time ago now, a top of the table clash. Just goes to show that early season form doesn't mean anything but consistency means everything.

Anyway, not much fasting & abstinence going on in the Savoy at present. The obese couple at next table are showing some impressive form, unlike some football clubs.

Turns out the early season form meant everything to our season, we've been pretty consistent since then!

I know what you meant Bob.

Have we seen the last of McKirdy

Neither can the directors.

He was at the sponsors evening but I doubt he will play much again this season in all honesty.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJ15bJ7X0AAQlzE?format=jpg&name=900x900)

On the bench!

Looking 442/4411 (ish) transforming to 424 when attacking but with Gunning who the hell knows what he has planned, not even the players.

            Bycroft
Dokes  McCarthy  FBT   Kokolo
Elboozy   Aguiar Devoy  McGurk
        Glatzel
                      Drinan

I've bought a video pass, more in hope than confidence.

Hope they aren’t expecting a bumper bank holiday attendance, it’s absolutely dead here. Quite a few county fans though to be fair.

Another one I can't even be arsed to load my firestick app up for. I might check that Ian chap in Orlandos twitter and this thread occasionally.

Crowley-Jones- McGoldrick-Langstaff is a heck of an attacking quartet considering they're struggling. Guess it's a bit like us when we had Kemp and Young and were still shite.

Big chance McGoldrick.

Easy save for Bycroft, shocking defending.

You know you are old when the GRANDSON of your favourite Town manager ever is playing!

We seem to be all over the place tactically.

No wonder the players dont know where they are supposed to be on the pitch when every game he changes it.

McGurk isn’t short of confidence is he? 😂

Probably the first time I have seen a grandson of an ex Town player that I actually saw play for Swindon.

Or short of skill.

Bycroft punches a cross clear from a good break by County.

At the moment, it's the away team playing high risk, high reward football, and Swindon managing half of that.

I think in McGoldrick - Notts County have a player who runs less than Brett Pitman did.

County are definately going to fuck up a few times at the back, we need to punish them when they make mistakes, because we are just as capable of making the same mistakes.

Problem is if it’s going to happen it’s most likely to be this half as they are playing into the wind. Second half it’s going to be us getting boxed in with no out ball.

Jason Lane the companies house expert says he tried to start some anti Morfuni chants to no avail in the DRS. Anyone hear anything either there or in the more likely Arkells block that has been spoken about?

Elboozy makes a great run and puts in a lovely pass to Drinan but hes just offside, good break.

No it’s absolutely silent in here so would here any chants.

Funniest goal you’ll ever see

The apathy at games is amazing, but I am not sure if its apathy or lack on knowledge of the "normal" fan on the issues at the club.

1-0 Drinan WTF

Wow.

Never seen anything like that before.

That is remarkable. That might be a worse goal to concede than the Odimayo/Fryer one in the Covid season which is my high watermark for such things. So little pressure being applied by Town and they do that!

Looks like they did the fuck up 1st then in defence!

Disappointed his back pass hit the post and didnt go straight in TBH!

Crikey! Are we playing in black and white? Looks like the type of thing our defence would do

How bizarre

Their keeper wasn’t even on that side either.

Drinan to Glatzel but his pass to McGurk is inches from getting to him with just the keeper to beat.

Yellow for Aguiar for a slightly high tackle.

Good early cross by Elboozy taken by the keeper, good chance.

I dont think I have EVER seen so many simple passes not finding their target, from both teams.

McGurk at times has a poor first touch but he has a great 2nd touch.

Very good turn out by County, looks to be about 800 or so up there.

This lot are beyond suicidal

McGurk great cross to Glatzel and his header from 6 yards hits the bar.

This is entertaining in its badness of defending at both ends.

Great cross from McGurk to Gladzel

Not a good deep cross from Kokolo which goes out for a throw on the opposite side with 2 bounces.

I like Drinan.

His goal will be seen by many as a tap in, but look at how he follows it in. He shows desire to get there.

It's a good sign for next season. More than happy with him being around.

Bycroft makes a double save.

Their midfield and defence are by far our most creative players.

Lovely move and cross by Glatzel but they just scramble it clear after a long pass from Bycroft to Kokolo.

Naturally assumed this meant we'd conceded.

Notts County are playing like a parody version of a "passing" side.

Not sure if Drinan is that much of a handful or County really are inept defensively.

They remind me of us inder Lindsey TBH.

As an actual football match this is utter shit. They are playing all the football and we pick them off when they inevitably fuck up.  Their kamikaze stuff is providing all the entertainment. It is exactly what the form table suggests.

County - 76% possession :D

Kokolo wins a corner.

could be worse

HT 1-0

Correction: a blunt sword meets a cannon pre-loaded with the owner's feet.

A very strange game, but we're winning it and you'd back us to score again. County just look shot mentally.

Interesting game, Swindon look more organized than late, what will playing against the gale mean in the second half?

Probably in a minority but I thought that was a decent half from us. Midfield and front 3 working hard, forcing errors and attacking with purpose . Threat down both flanks especially the right with Elboozy. Superb move and chance for Glatzel. We even looked reasonably sound defending albeit with the odd scare. Glatzel and McGurk probing well and for a change I can see some structure in our play. Very happy with Drinan in the last few games

Deserved lead, I reckon. Thought it at the time but County haven’t committed a foul all 1st half.

Colchester losing 1-0 at home to Newport, FGR losing 2-0 at home to Stockport and Mondays opponents Sutton winning 1-0 at Salford.

FGR currently bottom with Sutton climbing above Colchester.

I think decent might be pushing it a bit.

We did look ok for a period but felt we looked less threatening towards the end of the half.

County look awful, shot of confidence & more fragile than us with possession at the back. Although I think the conditions played a part and that will change second half.

Really would be nice to come out second half. Score a couple of relative quick goals and put this one to bed…but that’s really not the Swindon way

Good game management and pressing compensated for the missing injured players.

Good deep cross from Jones but the County striker hits it high and wide from 4 yards.

Att: 8,339 (780 Magpies)

Oh fuck off County thats no way a backpass. But it did hit his arm.

Conor McCarthy has just got away with quite the fuck up.


They're appealing for handball. Airshot bounces onto his hand. Not deliberate, but he's stopped the ball with it.

McGurk should have done better there.

Twice

Oh the irony of it.

Notts County forum.
"Swindon look poor" :D

whats the score?

Bycroft makes an easy save.

Salford 1 Sutton 1
FGR 0 Stockport 3

We are poor. They just look worse.

That's why you get your body behind the ball Jack Bycroft!

Bycroft injured making the save.

TBF, compared to other teams they would have played this season, they are not wrong

To be fair - we’ve all done the same numerous times this season.

I wish every team we played has a defence like them TBH.

Hanging on here. We could do with touching the ball.

Langstaff should have buried that.

Notts County have very unsportingly decided to create chances for themselves as well as us in this half.

Oh we are poor but what does that make them? :)

Terrible miss.

Devoy (who I forgot was even playing) missed a great chance in the box after being set up by Glatzel.

Our midfield have been a non-factor in this game on account of us not ever having the ball in the middle third. I'd love to see the stats on how many times they've touched the ball!

Cain on for the tiring McGurk.

With the week off I'd forgot how shite we are.

Steve Cotterill the saviour…

Some of us believed Gunning was the saviour..

He’s just a naughty boy

I am sorry but Devoy just isnt good enough, mistake after mistake again today.

Considering we have nothing to play for and an abundance of ‘technical’ midfielders I can see no (footballing) reason to play him - so can only assume it is monetary

Any chance we can take him off and bring the new heart throb on.

Phil Smith is proving more entertaining than usual, mostly because of how much Notts County are annoying him.

I have a feeling he will join us in the Summer on a free and the deal is already in place, no other benefit for either team. I hope this is not true though.

Lindsey would love this game, the stats would be a joy for him to talk about after the game

An even more comedic goal

77% possession now!

He's moaning at the opposition for a change.

Oh my god they've done it again.

2-0 Glatzel.

Wow again!

Notts County 2-0 Notts County

Can we play you every week???????

 :D

True!

We ARE in black and white!

Ok, chance was gifted.

Still a decent finish tbf

Great finish TBH against the wind.

Jones going off, probably their best player!

Sacked in the morning, Maynards getting sacked in the morning...

How can a team with such talent as Crowley, Bostock, Langstaff, McGoldrick and Jones be so utterly inert in front of goal and inept defensively.

Exactly

FBT looks pretty bad holding his knee.

I don’t think they’ve been inept up front - they just haven’t got the ball that far up the pitch because of their ineptitude with the ball in defence

Because every team in this league is capable of being poor

Easy save by Bycroft.

But for 12 games in a row for them? that says something is not right in the management to me.

The 2 misses each by Langstaff and McGoldrick were absolutely terrible misses TBF.

Make that 3 misses by Langstaff!

Can only imagine Langstaff has an identical twin who has scored 25 goals this season and 40 last.

I was thinking similar.

New bloke (number 59!) on for Aguiar.

Number 59? Down with this sort of thing.

Glatzel off for McKirdy
Drinan off for Austin.

McKirdy felled just outside the box with his first touch.

On target by McKirdy the keeper fluffs it but gets the 2nd touch and grabs it.

Crikey! He’s a big boy! Has he got Ruddock’s shorts?

Similar build to Akifenwa.

Our highest used shirt number? Ever

Nice Harry, nice.

Paging Rich Banyard, but certainly highest I can remember.

Uh oh

2-1

Muskwe number 46 previous highest.

Are we in time added?

2 mins into 6 added.

Here we go again!

Ta.

FFS Swindon, nearly give them another goal.

At least that gets rid of that paper over those cracks defensively

Brewitt coming on.

Brewitt on for Elboozy.

Come on lads we can still draw this.

🤣

1 min added time left.

:D

Colchester last minute winner by the looks of it
Sutton also winning

FT 2-1

We did a win, a bit closer safety.

God County are shit for all their passing.

That was awful!

Notts Co. The team we all wanted to be in October.

Amazing how Notts can look so unthreatening in front of goal for 90 minutes but the minute it goes past 90 they look capable of scoring every time the ball goes in the box.


It wasn’t pretty or even good but a result is a result

That was worth three draws.

Bizarre. We weren’t really a factor. Let them beat themselves and then tried our best to throw it away at the death.

Amazing what a decline they have had since December time.

A win is a win, takes us 11 clear of 23rd place Sutton who only have 5 games left to play.

But one is against us! hmmm :)

Decent first half,usual ramshackle second with the customary nerves once the board goes up.  Good and bad. Glatzel,Drinan, Elbouz and FBT good for me. Aguiar and McCarthy (who suddenly seems our shakiest defender) bad. Nice little micro appearance from Harry, disastrous one from Charlie. How many times have we been today's Notts Co? Nice to be the receiver of gifts rather than the giver

Makes a change for us not to beat ourselves

Good to get the points. A very silly football match, but we won it and that's a pleasant change.

It’s just gone 10.09PM here and I had no chance of getting iFollow. Was it as bad as it sounded on here?

Depends. Many times we've lost games like that,so I'd say,no

We gave it a good go in stoppage time though

Yep

 :D

I feel like I've said the other side look shite loads the last few years and we've been either drawing or losing, in fairness.

I hope we don't end up watching games like that week in week out.

Terrible brand of football by both teams!

just watched the second goal back, holy shit that is comical soapy tit wank. What a gift.

At least we should stay up now.

An utterly bizarre performance from Notts County. Passing it around side to side between the midfield and defence with little quality and continuing to put themselves under pressure where avoidable then in the end beating themselves. Took them 91 minutes to chuck the ball into the box where they had success and then went back to the slow sideways passing afterwards for the rest of injury time. I’d say “can’t imagine how frustrating that is to watch” but we know exactly how frustrating that is to watch from history and we’ve many times been the Notts County so it was nice to be on the other side.

I cannot believe they did preparation for this match, watched how we consistently leak goals and decided still that the best route to victory was slow sideways passing. That is either immense confidence in the way they play or expecting us to just roll over. Such a stark difference from the reverse fixture.

For us however, I was pleasantly surprised to watch a well disciplined performance, we kept compact, allowed them to pass it around the back, pounced on their mistakes and bar a couple occasions and the goal, only looked like vulnerable when we engaged unnecessarily and opened gaps for them to pass into. The sort of performance that in isolation is impressive and you’d describe as a perfect tactical setup but we’ve seen enough shite to remain firmly sceptical about this team and coaching staff. If Notts County applied more intensity and speed in getting the ball into the box then we probably draw.

No real stand outs in my opinion, El Bouzedi some good runs, McGurk some good play, new lad in midfield looks a good size and interested to see him get some more minutes before the end of the season although I imagine he will be carefully managed.

All in all, wouldn’t say it was a great watch and I wouldn’t want to watch games like that every week but after some proper shite, it was nice to see some goals and come away with a win.

Fuck that.

I’ll take 46 games of terrible football with the other team gifting us the win next season….

Whilst I don’t think for one second think our CM pairing of Devoy & Aguiar were great or are up to it at this level - I at least felt the shape & discipline was better without Khan in there…

Exactly

Gunning:
- Pleased with game plan. It was brilliant
- We subdued them in and around our area.
- Shape fantastic.
- In transition we looked like we'd score everytime
- Our game plan was to transition quickly when they turned over the ball
- We had more clear chances than them
- Gladzel. Easy to shank that. Fantastic player
- Couple of bad performances. The other have been good
- Happy with how it looked
- Been great having Shan in.
- Nervous at the end? Its obviously frustrating. Got the ticker going there. Shifted about and didnt panic
- Number 59: A lot of clubs were scared to sign him. We have done due diligence talking to the specialist. Its great on a human level. Hes a DM. He won't be able to play big minutes early on.
- He's a finisher (like in rugby). Will play towards the end
- McKirdy looked sharp
- We will have to be compact and brave on Monday
- Massive difference in game plans over Easter
- They are big guys.

If our game plan was for County to do that then we're playing 4D chess.

Feel a bit sorry for Nuts County. A historic club steeped in history but dicking about in non league and div 4.

Where was McEarache?

Another game with a distinct lack of quality. That win though guarantees safety. There's no way we go down now.

Well, that was just plain daft, odd, laughable and a win.  You can't expect to play 44 other games in a season against a team doing that, but, hey ho.

weird game. We've definitely played a lot worse but the oppo were crap. Even so we looked bright in attack but needed county to set up both our goals.

Good to get a win.

County were very Swindon Town Luke Williams, crab football going nowhere. Maybe we stopped them going forward.

McKirdy was bright in his cameo. New bloke looks solidly built but since he's not going to be fit for ages there seems little point unless we have signed him for next year

Ironic that we sent them down but they've basically gifted us safety today.

Yes they’d certainly done their homework on us. Those goals were a piss take of what we’ve been doing all season.

After the last home game we were discussing what we needed to do, and I said if it were me I’d basically get men behind the ball and ensure we didn’t concede so we would at least get a point, and hope for a freak goal/penalty/set piece to score.

Well we basically did that today (almost held out) but fortunately they gifted us two goals so picked up three points. As sad as it it’s to say I’d be happy if we did the same thing at Sutton & scrambled a draw to basically keep us up.

Whilst rightfully we have been very negative about performances i think we seen today the benefits of having a proper coach in for the week with the players. We actually looked like we had some shape and discipline about us today

A decent turnout from County

Shit game, good day out. Ended up dancing in the tap and barrel  :D

The result still doesn’t alter the fact that, yet again, we concede after making subs.

and created not very much despite looking like we would

A not very confident home team against a team that should have embarrased us but didn't.

I thought Kokolo had a great game against their number 11- he barely had an opportunity to do anything. One of the lads most effedtive performances.

Drinan was the busiest I have seen him I think.

Glatzel was handed his goal on a plate BUT, that plate was a bit fragile and spinning atop a pole. He had to work to take it and took it well.

A bit dissapointing that we conceeded but, as soon as the lump came on, SWMBO and I thought he was going to score. At least he only scored one.

I'm breathing a bit easier now, but only a bit.

Lou's grandson looks as if he has the makings of a player

Just looked at the highlights, for Swindon's first, County defender Baldwin (15) tries to obstruct Drinan and then stands there and watches Drinan tap into an empty net, he seemed so pissed off that he forgot to chase the ball or put in a challenge on Drinan.  It really is bizarre. 

Drinan had him in his pocket all game TBF, thats the closest he got to him all game :D

Joel McGregor who was on the bench yesterday has just scored a hat trick for the academy in a 6-1 win over Portsmouth.

I thought I was the only one - Kokolo was my MotM

You reminded me I hadn't voted yet.

Kokolo did have a decent game for me too but was a bit behind a few others for me in terms of MotM, but possibly his best game so far in a Town shirt for me.

A tough watch yesterday - Notts passed the ball around in their own half but lacked the urgency in our half, and it wasn’t obvious how they were looking to score - only late on when the tall sub came on did they put a couple of crosses in - and scored from one.
Our shape / organisation was better yesterday - although we did drop a little too deep second half. Both Kokolo and Elbouzedi played well at wing back - their left WB Jones is one of the top players for assists in L2.
The conditions were tricky - the pitch was bumpy and the wind made it difficult, hence passes were over or under hit at times.
Although both goals were gifted to us, Glatzel still had work to do with his.
Those 3 points mean we’re probably safe from the drop now.