Thetownend.com

Seems a very long time since we were there.

Don't know who I want to win tonight.

Swansea down to ten men after a minute and a half. Was a pretty bad challenge!

I fucking love the PO's, never a dull game.

The Play-Offs are great.

the lad has had an absolute mare!

That challenge reminded me of the Greer challenge at Charlton, when he got sent off.

Reminded me of Greer's kung-fu at Charlton.

edit: Sod off 69, I thought of it first but the Mrs distracted me with school talk. :)

didn't greer do something similar somewhere in charlton?

Wonder if Swansea will come out of it as well as we did that night!

Kung fu on the leg then dragged onto the balls. Good effort.

Forest have never won a play-off game at home (remember that game when they lost 5-2 to Yeovil!!)...they won't have a better chance tonight.

Would love a cardiff/swansea final...the met won't though haha

Should probably be banging someone closer to your age mate.

I know, she's not even at big school either.

The ref has been bribed to assure this wont happen.

TBH that WAS a sending off.

Swansea been the better side, playing some good footballl aswell.

City Ground looks fantastic. How could they leave?

I think I'll be off to Cherrywood Road (20 minute walk from my house) this Sunday for the Conference South Final between Farnborough and Ebbsfleet.  I still can't quite believe that the winner of this game will be playing in the league below us.  No Farnborough connections so far as I know, but Ricky Shakes will be turning out for Ebbsfleet.

Tenuous but I think Dean McDonald was on trial with us a couple of years ago.

Did you watch the replay when they highlighted the Forest players reaction?

Cheating fucker was faking it to get him sent off.

Unmissable! Hope he scores and does the famous dance as a celebration :)

He scored a belter (at 7:20) against Woking in the 2nd leg of the semi to take Farnborough to the Final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZf-hf3B7Q8

Kris Boyd gets subbed, plonks himself on the bench and cracks open a bottle of banana Yazoo. Haha.

I've done a patent, Swansea, Huddersfield & Shrewsbury.

Does anyone else think that mike dean is an arrogant cock?

He's a referee jimbob, the prosecution rests.

wahey! a goal in a playoff game. shame it's for uddersfield though

Great save for the penalty

As long as Franchise don't go up I can't say I care too much about the outcome of these play-offs

Poor from Bournemouth that they couldnt sell out. Not exactly a big ground. Should have given Huddersfield more tickets.

Judging by the empty seats in the uncovered end, I'm guessing 'Udders didn't sell all their allocation either.

Oh wait, I didn't realise that was home fans. Where's that JFW smiley...

About to say, Huddersfield have brought 1200 odd to us for standard saturday games, so Im sure they could have taken 2500+ to this.

They had a lot for last seasons tuesday night game as well.

Torquay battering Shrewsbury

Did fancy going just to see how Wardy got on. Shamefully I couldn't be arsed in the end

Not really shameful - after the season we've had I'd struggle to raise the enthusiasm to go and watch someone else doing well too

Another cagey game. Torquay the star performers so far. First team to go at another team without any fear at all.

I hope Torquay dont go up, I want to play them next year.

What are the odds that Torquay come in for Benyon if they win the final?

Well, they've done alright without him.

Very true.

I expect Benyon's thinking exactly the same.  I feel a bit sorry for him to be honest.  What a crap move that was.

Swansea should have a prem spot in the bag judging by the two games so far.

Wheres all the franchise fans?

Piss take of a club

Good to see MK still can't attract many fans even for a playoff game, probably as many Peterborough fans there by the looks of it.

Franchise- thats dismal!!!

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Not a proper football club.  Never will be.

:nod: And not fans either. They're customers. Come on Peterborough. Hoping Ball sticks four past them (erm, he is still there and/or actually playing isn't he?)

On the bench

Comes off the bench to score a hat-trick, putting the return leg beyond greasey-haired thieving bastards' grasp, that'd do.

Filthy franchise.

no coincidence they play in the only ground in the league with a colon in the name.

How apt for a stadium full of turds :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:


(I'm here all week)

Now 2-1 up.

3-1 now

Cunts

best sending off ever!  :D

What happenend?

Ha Ha Ha.

The Franchise have a man sent off & concede a penalty, even though the foul was outside the box & there was clearly a covering defender.

I don't really want Peterborough to go up, but it's hugely funny to watch the Franchise get screwed over :)

pathetic turn out  :headhurts:

As posh said outside and Little pretty much fell over himself anyway - brilliant


lesser of two evils isn't it

I don't mind Posh going up. Anyone but Franchise! Shame they won the game today but Posh could still turn it around. I wonder how many MK would take to Wembley? If they make it, perhaps they could have a "neutral" section for fans of anybody but MK?

:D

Pathetic crowd for a play-off semi. Normally I am totally against the 'double punishment' rule, at it penalises sides twice for the same offece, but as it's aginst Franchise ...it's totally OK, even though it probably wasn't even a foul let alone a penalty.

Hmmm........ League one PO SF this year   - Att: 12,662
League one SF 1986/87 Swindon vs Wigan - Att: 12,485


   

It is surprising these games aren't all sellouts, especially at the smaller grounds.

And for all Huddersfield's (particularly away) support was rightly praised a few pages back, remember being amazed they only got 14k for their semi-final at home to Millwall last year in a ground that holds 24k+

Must have been 4,000 Posh fans there too.

Franchise can only muster 8,000 odd fans for a play off game, shocking.

Or you could have chosen 2009/10 vs Charlton    - Att: 13,560

But 24 years ago was a much better example to emphasise your point.
 :zipped:

Wigan didn't travel in big numbers due to the fact that we were 3-2 up from the first leg in '87. They only used to get crowds of about 4k at Springfield Park.

But in 1986/87 we were fiddling the gates nearly every game and Wigan brought down about 1k when they could have taken 3k tickets. Town would easily have sold those 2k. When we went to Wigan for the 2nd leg there were more of us than them.
Looking at the play off games I'd take that Guy Branston from Torquay to play alongside Cuthbert next season. A real bruiser and a leader.

The away leg was the 2nd leg

Possibly. How many Posh fans were there and how many Charlton fans were there though?

Great shout Branston is quality. Exactly the sort of player we need running things from the back. Another reason to hope Torquay don't go up.

Wrong. The away leg was first on a Thursday night. We were 2-0 down after 20 mins, but we scored 3 times in the last 20, and the Town fans did the conga on the old bank at Springfield Park.
We then drew the second leg 0-0 on the following Sunday afternoon.

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19870401

Apologies, I'd have wagered a fair amount on that but the 80's were a bit of a haze.

branston played really well.in previous games i've seen him i thought he was just a slow and clumsy lump.surprised me yesterday.
thought torquay were pretty decent,but dont rate their forwards much

Branston could get us out of a defensive pickle

good work sir

Too right, I can put up with the piss taking from Posh fans next season, especially as they will be straight back down again.

But I can wish nothing but fucking misery for those Franchise bastards

12500 was a massive attendance for a 3rd tier game in the mid 80s post Heysel.

Precisely.  Four figure gates in the top tier were not unheard of in those days.

Farnborough vs Ebbsfleet finished 2-4 in the Conference South play off final.  Decent crowd of 3,200 odd, no doubt swelled by plenty of football tourists like me.  The standard was pretty ropey, if I'm honest, but Ebbsfleet deserved their win.  Much better organised and drilled.  And Ricky Shakes scored the second!  They love him in Ebbsfleet (or Gravesend, or where ever it is they're from).

Did he do the dance?

Fatbury will be cumming in his pants.

And did you burst their bubble by explaining he's actually a bit shit when playing against opposition that doesn't have "and Duck" in their team name?

He did not.

Especially for fatters...

[url width=500 height=500]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x480/tanswell2010/ac9a3349.jpg[/url]

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I tried, but the fans in the bar after the game didn't seem that bothered.

The other thing (other than RS scoring) that I found disturbing this afternoon was backing/semi-supporting a side that played in yellow & blue against another one that played in red.  Took me quite a while to get used to that, I can tell you.

Oooh, that sounds a bit of a head-fuck

At least you made the effort to go Ardiles

Back to The Camrose again for Farnborough next season then.

Basingstoke, of course, also play in Yellow and Blue. But their ground has 4 sides.

Only play off semi final Ive been to as a neutral was Aldershot vs Carlisle in 2005.

There were 5 of us, we had to leave Yates' pretty sharpish because the home lads started getting a bit choppy, had to go and hide in some shops, they followed us out. In the ground Aldershot threw missiles at Carlisle fans then entire game. Aldershot won 1-0. Carlisle fans got a bit agitated in the end, there was extra temporary fencing segregation and they picked it up and tried to throw it over the main segregation. We didnt stay after the game funnily enough.

Another thing I remmember about that game was that Aldershot had the shittest tickets Ive ever seen at a football match. Looked like they had been torn out of a newspaper.

Not really looking forward to Aldershot next year. The JPT game I remmember a young lad who had been nastily glassed in a pub and had a worrying cut to the front of his neck. Probably drink in Guildford and make our way back (the train lines are funny round there).

I hate that walk through the park at Aldershot. Always feels like you are going to get ambushed. Irrational I know. Aldershot itself is one of the biggest shithole towns I've been to.

I used to work in Aldershot. It's like that all the time

i've been to aldershot once to watch a game.an fa cup game vs maidstone utd.
remember it well as we were due to play ipswich away but it got calld off due to snow so we got the train to aldershot instead.bizarre ground where you could walk all around it and go in the home or away end.not a bad terrace to be fair.

A few of the Farnborough fans I spoke to were consoling themselves with the fact that they would keep the Woking and Basingstoke derbies.  No love lost there.


Train lines round here are, actually, brilliant.  Within a mile of my house there are three stations, all three on different lines.  You can go anywhere, NSE or W.  It's the area that Dr Beeching forgot.  Your Guildford plan is still a good one though.  For me, I'm looking forward to a few in my local in Farnborough.  Really hope the game's not on a week night.

The championship play-offs have been a bit dissapointing so far, lets hope it improves tonight.

Can't see anything other than a Swansea win.

From the 2 games so far, I'd say we'll be seeing Swansea in the prem next year.

I'm still hoping Forest go up, as I don't particularly like the idea of any of the others being in the top flight!

Yeah I think I am the same.

I'd quite like Swansea to go up. Haven't really spent big and have built up a stable club there. Something we can model ourselves on. Yes I know they are Welsh but i'd rather them than bloody Cardiff or Reading.

last game I remember involved leaving the ground in the pitch black through woodland - it was more "nature watch" than hooligan factory and nocturnal Hampshire fauna really is not so wild compared to its Bermodsey cousins

Indeed. Shows what can be achieved when the club, council and fans unite behind a new stadium project. I live in Swansea as a student in 92-95, they were a nothing club with a small fan base and shitty ground. But at least they were better than Cardiff :)


I don't trust the daffodils. They make you wet the bed. Unlike Millwall fans.

2-0 Swansea. Cant see Forest coming back from this...

And Forest are choking in the playoffs. Again. 2-0.

Forest lost it in the home leg, only drawing 0-0 against 10 men for 89 mins.

I bet the Forest fans absolutely detest the play-offs?

Any side employing Billy Davies really should fire him before the Playoffs.

I don't agree there '69. Forest are capable of turning Swansea over away from home. They seem to have bottled it again. Never won a playoff tie.

Come on Cardiff tomorrow. It'll hurt more when Swansea batter you at Wembley.

A Welsh team in the Premier League. All this means is constant references of this fact by the media and a significant increase in sales of inflatable sheep by hilarious fans.

Better that than Reading.

Would rather Reading

Swansea vs Cardiff in the final...I'd watch that.  Hope it happens.  (I'm getting a little concerned that Reading have crept unnoticed in to the play offs and are about to sidle in to the Premiership.)

I bet the Police are hoping that is not the case. Could be fun and games on the trains.

i don't really feel much hatred for Reading, is that bad?  :hmmm:

N'ah. I dislike them and like to see them fail... But it's Oxford then Bristol C/Bristol R for me.

Would rather Reading go up instead of those welsh lot

Welsh shouldnt be allowed

Same as they shouldnt be in the fa cup

Not at all. But after living reasonably close to there last time they went up I'd rather it didn't happen again. True story, people bought part season tickets in the promotion season but didn't go just so they could get a Prem season ticket.

Would we be any different? Of course we would, 'cause we are Swindon so its alright.

I don't hate Reading, but it irritates me to see the way they have transformed themslves from the poxy outfit that played at Elm Park...when we haven't been able to do something similar.  I also keep more of an eye on them than most Town fans I suppose because we live on the edge of the area you would consider their catchment (they used to run a complementary bus out in this direction on match days) and you do see the odd Reading shirt out & about around here.

Game on! 2-1

...scored by a Cardiff old boy.  The Swans won't have enjoyed that.

Great finish. 3-1 as Camp was pushed up for corner. Forest somewhat unlucky in the end.

Over to you, Cardiff.  I have a nagging feeling that, faced with the prospect of meeting Swansea in the final, Cardiff are going to bottle it now.

My prediction: Swansea vs Reading in the final, with the Swans comfortable winners.  I think it's their year.

£110 richer, get in  :D

You make your own luck. If you play the best part of a game against 10 men and it ends up 0-0 you can't call yourselves unlucky.

Is that all they get for winning the play-off semis? Blimey

It really is no fun being a Swindon fan from Swansea this morning  :badmood:

I've put a cheeky little bet on Reading, Huddersfield and Stevenage to go up via the play-offs.

hope reading win this, there manager has done a superb job,plus i hate cardiff :pint:

I was on a pub crawl with Brian McDermott's brother the other week. True Story

1-0 Reading, Come on Cardiff!

Reading 1-0, howler from keeper and Shane Long puts it into an empty net.

A year ago... Charlton were doing that for us.

2-0 Plastics

booooooooo.

Cardiff doing their best to prevent the all welsh championship final the media have been crowing about.

Ha

Fucking choked again

They choked at the and of the season, when they let Norwich take second, and they're 45 minutes away from choking again.

It could be worse...they could have Ridsdale still at the club !!!

Can't really hate Reading because they're too boring to merit anything more than mild dislike, but as Matt Mills plays for them I'd rather they won. And because Cardiff's repeated choking is tremendously funny.

cardiff fans leaving already, 10 mins to go of a play off semi - appalling

Game over. They can leave now. 3-0

yeah ok, maybe now it's all over...

Cardiffs last two home matches have ended in 3-0 defeats...

Unrelated interesting post from BBC.


30K for a youth final. Fantastic.

good side reading. brian mcdermot has done a fantastic job there.
they'll beat swansea

I think the Met Police are quite happy it's not an all Welsh final.

looked like cardiff's stewards were quite happy to let their fans do as they wish.

A view not shared by the operators of the Severn Bridge......

I hope Reading win... no place for Welsh teams in English football

Even if Reading win they'll still be in English football?

I know that...

I hope Swansea win.
 - They'll get a season in the sun but be out of their depth.
 - It'll piss the Cardiff knuckle draggers off
 - It'll stop Reading fans getting above their station

Think Swansea would be better placed for a season at the top than Blackpool were this time last year and I think they'll stay up on GD

Hudders 1 Bournemouth 1 at the moment...

That's how you take a penalty!

Danny Danny Ward  2-1

Gutted we didn't get him back :(

Danny Ward play off king!

I want Huddersfield to go up just because of Danny Ward.

Should have chucked some money Boltons way last summer.

Great finish, would love to see him go all they way this year.

what a left foot that boy has got. Hammer.

Only got him because of Danny Wilson's friendship with Gary Megson.

Good ol' contacts.

Eeek. Might not be a second playoff final for Ward.

3-2 Bournemouth nearly end of first half of ET.

That goal was as good a team goal i have seen this season.

Then again :) 3-3.

What a game this is!

Brilliant game. I aint too fond of lee clark but would love a manager like that on our sidelines going nuts when we score.

If rumours are to be believed, we might just be getting one.

Be good to see it.

I wonder if Huddersfield will stick with Clark if they don't get promoted this year, he has had alot of money to spend over the last 3 years

Never a red. In my day that was a good hard tackle.

Totally inconsistent refereeing. Bournemouth will do well to hang on 4 penalties.  Aahh the memories of it all..........

'mon the 'mouth...

Penalties

Just got in to see this. Seems like i missed a cracking game

- Poor pen for the Muff.

- Wardy shows 'em how to do it.

- Another missed pen by the Muff. Off the bar.

- Looks like Huddersfield then

Yup.  Huddersfield V Posh (hopefully).

whoops

was it all really a year ago  :(

what a game

Gutted 4 Bournemouth, it will be a long trip home.  Stupid comment about it being a sense of justice as Huddersfield finished 3rd as well. Completely irrelevant when you get to the play-offs.

Still think Ritchie is a better player then Ward

Don't get me wrong, I really like Ritchie, but seriously?

Please be kidding.

i've just checked the calendar and it's definitely not April 1st so you must be serious

Fell very sorry for Bournemouth, and hope Huddersfield fail in the final.....but.....there were 16 points between them....is that the biggest gap in play-off history???  It at least raises a question about legitimacy of play-offs.

Bollocks, the Play Offs are one the best periods of the football calendar, that game last night was a great example.
Without the playoffs some of our greatest days would never have happened.

It does...but objections have been raised for years, and the system has survived because the attractions outweigh the concerns.  When we went up in 1993, Pompey (who saw their team finish in 3rd place behind Newcastle and West Ham - and 12 points ahead of us) were griping about it for months afterwards.  April would be a meaningless month for about half the division without the play offs.

Don't disagree at all, but 16 points is a very big gap, given how much hangs on the final outcome.  In theory you could have top three ordered on goal difference, two of which are automatically promoted, the third is ditched to a team with 16 (or however many) points less.  Not arguing for a change, or against the quality of many of the play-off games, just questioning how fair the system is.

I think you could certainly look at giving more of an advantage to the 3rd placed team.  As things stand, the only benefit you get for finishing 3rd is home advantage in the second leg of the semis, which is not that much of an advantage.  You could look at a system such as the following, perhaps:

Game 1: 5th vs 6th
Game 2: 4th vs Winner of Game 1
Game 3: 3rd vs Winner of Game 2

Not strictly true Ardiles, as the 3rd place team get the advantage of playing the 6th place team.

Your method is a reasonable alternative, assuming you have the last game at Wembley as a showpiece, but there would be two less matches, which would impact on gate money/tv revenues

Big fan of the playoffs.

Yes you could argue its a little unfair on the team finishing 3rd if they've done miles better over the course of a whole season, but the excitement of knowing if you catch some form at the right time - as Reading are showing at the moment - that you could still get promoted gives a lot of teams something to play for down the stretch of the season.

Without the Play offs the whole league system would be a lot more boring, what would mid table teams play for without it?

every club in the football league goes into the season knowing what the rules are. the play off system is alright as it is and should stay that way

Except QPR apparently :)

They know the rules, they just don't have to follow them.

Play offs are part of the reason the League has become so much more popular/important to lower league fans than cup competitions.

You're just wrong.

I'd like to see a return to the format that I think was used in the very first play offs where they didn't just involve the teams fighting for promotion, but also the teams fighting relegation from the division above. So if you're not good enough to beat teams at the bottom of the league above, you dont go up

Dongs have sold less than 2k tickets for tonight's game. Milton Keynes and Peterborough are right next to each other!

That's woeful.

and the cobbs are even closer, didn't mean anyone from MK wanted to go to watch them before the filthy dons arrived. 

like pauld has said somewhere dons have customers not fans, if the population of mk wanted to support football they could have chosen any one of the london clubs, watford or luton, cobbs, 'boro or cambridge, or even coventry but they didn't.  they don't really care that there's a possible promotion at stake and have no idea what being a fan entails at all

Father in law is a Franchise "fan", he told me on Sunday for the home game they only sold 8k home tickets the other 4k were Peterborough fans.

How they ever hope to fill that stadium let alone open the top half of it is a mystery to me.

No one in Milton Keynes cares about them being there, Its not a football town in the slightest. I have never seen anyone wearing a Franchise shirt around the town anytime i have been there

Well, if you ever want out, that alone should be adequate grounds for a no-contest divorce :)

The only unfair thing about the playoffs, is winning the fucker and not going up.  Until anyone else suffers that all the whingers can fucking do one.

Still bitter?  You bet.

The teams on the up always win. Usually resulted in crowd problems with the teams getting relegated as well.

The play offs as they stand are fantastic and shouldnt be messed with.

Wasn't it the first season of the play-offs where Charlton stayed in Division 1 at the expense of Lids

If you want to give teams an advantage for finishing points ahead, why not say the higher ranked team goes through if the scores are level after 2 x 90 minute games. Less pen shoot outs then, which is still a crap way to have a 46 game season finishing - having been on both sides of it..

Yes. Their replay was played on the night when we beat the Pikeys at Selhurst.

The play-offs are the best entertainment bar none. One thing about the play-offs, is that in the semis they have banned the away goals rule, which is the best idea, and both sides just go for it.

Peterboro 1 up against Wankelmans Mercenaries

Good.

2-0 Boro

That was a gooooooooood night!

Haha Franchise got what they deserve

Huddersfield vs. Peterborough should be a decent watch... He says.

gary birtles has to be the worst pundit on tv.

Very glad to see Posh win tonight, and I think the best two teams have made it to the final. Could be a great game - Posh don't tend to do boring!

You'd expect a few departures if Peterborough fail to go up.

Very much so. 2 teams with plenty of attacking flair but pretty shite defences.

Peterborough's maybe, but udders have the third best defence in the league. Can see a lot of attacking from posh and a lot of Mr D Ward counter attacks.

Agreed. The away goal rule messes things up in 2 legged ties.

It also gives teams playing away 2nd a massive advantage.

Lets hope this prompts a Franchise nosedive.... hopefully they'll do an 'us' and go down next year.

Rumour is that Mackail-Smith is leaving whether they go up or not.
It was also expected that Lewis would be off, but as he's now out injured for 4 months who knows.

I'm happy that the Franchise scum lost tonight, but want Huddersfield to win the final.

Unless he goes missing again...

I've just returned from my holibobs. There was a family of Franchise "fans" in the bar last night, it pleased me immensely that they lost.

Wombles V Looton tomorrow.

Looton will go up i suspect

I caught some of the preview for Accrington v Stevenage earlier and relegation finally dawned on me.

I've also realised we'll get even less coverage on the football league show. Or will we, I've never watched it passed our league before?

Echoed.........

My misses spoke to the father in law last night, he was devastated by their defeat.

I slept a little bit better with that knowledge last night  :)

I might text him and ask him if the Franchise have turned up at London road yet, cause they never turned up last night

Paolo, you better be watching. This is the league you signed up for.

Accy have lost it, just had 2 blokes sent off

Buggered if I am going to Accy again next year :)

just tuned in.what the fuck is going on with that pitch

He played in Serie C2, he'll have seen plenty worse grounds.

As for that pitch though, what a shocker.

The passage of time had made me forget just how shit the standard of L2 football is.  I guess tonight was a reminder of what we're in for next year and it didn't make entertaining viewing.

Bloody park pitch

Why did the ref and linesman run straight down the tunnel? The players didnt know what was going on

Well funny. Had he ordered a takeaway or something?

That pitch looked like Accrington had decided to earn some extra cash using their pitch to grow vegetables over the summer and hadnt bargained on the playoffs (shamelesly nicked off Larwood).

The most famous day in our history was a 3-1 win on a park pitch,we didn,t give a shit and the Accrington fans wont :D

What a shit game that was....


I thought to myself....here we go again....barely three passes put together...and these are two of the best sides in the league....ffs..

The first leg was actually quite good though

Anyway....no MK.....i wonder what happened to that Wiltshire Don prick that used to come on here...

Currently watching the BSP final.

Mohamed and Gnapka are playing

The dons also have someone called ricky wellard playing, lets sign him up

Cracking attendance at old trafford...

Stevenage winning 1-0.

Cracking goal mind

Jake Robinson of Torquay looks a handful on the left wing.

Didn't he used to play for Brighton?

the better side didn't win that one.shame they were shocking upfront.
branston was superb.

Yes

Id have branston playing for us on todays performance

Zebroski is crap isnt he

Obvious to me that Stevenage were much fitter than Torquay, that's what we need Paolo!

And they were physically stronger.

that had fuck all bearing on the game though.
it was torquays lack of cutting edge that lost it for them.

Impressed by Darius Charles for Stevenage.

I like Tomlin for Torquay,looks like a good prospect to me.

Torquay will lose there better players... I wonder if Buckle will take the Rovers job now too?

He's a journeyman Lee. Used to play for Yeovil and had 1 good game in 5. Moved at the beginning of last season to Dagenham & Redbridge, but failed to impress and was sent out on loan to Torquay.

 I want Huddersfield to win today a) Danny Ward. b) PoshRed gets an easier week at work.

No way, come on posh just to shut that cock Lee Clark up. Don't want to see him standing there chewing gum when he is interviewed anymore (Disgusting and he is a prick)

Thanks,  but just in case I've booked the week off work :D

Still would prefer Huddersfield to win though.

Should be a good game, it's a fair bet to say it wont end 0-0.

tempting fate

Ironic how we discussed the fact that we "only" sold 30,000 tickets last year, Peterborough had only sold 14,000 in the middle of this week

Is Ward playing for 'udders?

Yes

yes

yes

Will he score?

Will he score?

Will he score?

I hope so

I hope so

I hope so

maybe

Poor Boro turn out i think

ward just rattled the bar

1-0 to the Peterborough.

Danny Ward is a curse.

2-0 now

Fluke goal

3-0.

If I was a gambling man, I would have had my cash on the Udders. Good job I'm not then. Poor Wardy

Poor Wardy will happily skip back to Bolton Wanderers.

It must be quite demoralising for him.

I'm sure he will get a decent championship club next year.

Sky dont half fucking harp on about ferguson being alex fergusons son

Fuck off

Difficult to cheer on either side.

Both managers are cunts.

Anyone who fancies a bet, get your money on Reading tomorrow.

Everyone I've wanted to win this year seems to have lost.

Wanted Lincoln to stay up, they got relegated.
Wanted Wigan to get relegated, they stayed up.
Wanted Stevenage to lose, they won.
Wanted Peterborough to lose, they won.
Want Reading to lose, so they're bound to fucking win.

That's a lot of teams you support Posh.

Call me harsh but please can you stop supporting Town in future. 

Michael rose wont be having a good party tonight

Not sure on final stats, but total crowd was 48,000 so even Udders (a big club for league 1?) will have barely outdone our 30,000 and it's only 30 miles to Old Trafford - 't Pennines aren't too bad at this time of year, surely?

32500 ish we sold, milwall sold 37000

numbers were ok for us really, shame about the volume and the performance though - would like to have seen Rooney take a bobble last night!

nice to see the footballing side win.hudders were dirty, and that clown upfront was shit for them too.ward did pretty well i thought.
george boyd is a class act.

To be fair it's more a case of teams that I wanted to lose, mostly for the selfish reason of closer games for next season.

Unfortunately for you I've already paid for my season ticket for next season ;)

Haha i though this too, looked like hed been signed on the basis of a youtube video. Awful.

Is that that afobe bloke?

Fucking shite

Yeah

I know politically I'm supposed to hate Reading - but I think they're a well run family club, with a good, straight-talking manager.

I wish them well today, and can't help but wish that we were more like them.

I just find it funny how all the Hudders fans banged on about Fitton's pre-season comments about their promotion push not really being convincing when we were relegated. The funny thing about that statement was that he never said we'd be up there so I didn't really get their point. The point now though is that he was right.

And bearing in mind Dave Jones has hot the boot after successive play-off failures, Lee Clark must be worried, considering how much they have spent on strikers over the last few years.

Saw his interview yesterday and the guy doesn't inspire me. He sounded as dull as dishwater.

I thought the same and I got the impression Clark was thinking it himself!

Unfortunately, I'd rather them go up than the Welsh

Im worried how many of our players support reading.

Two on twitter so far

[url width=640 height=480]http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg620/scaled.php?tn=0&server=620&filename=1wwfm.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640[/url]

And harry grant

However i think kennedy is karacans best mate or something

Yeah, in Kennedy's case I think it's down to support for Karacan.

Doesn't Kennedy live with Karacan?

Come on you Welsh cunts.

Drinking bottled lager in a shopping precinct in Camberley wearing a Reading shirt.  Rock & roll.

Yeah, lets keep the Prem English!  ;)

Bollocks! Lets kick the Welsh out of the Football league. The Premiership is welcome to them.

Its one of those games where I'd want them both to lose.

2-0 Swans

ka-boooooom. 2-0 to the Taffs.

didn't know Stevenage were playing again today ...

I got to admit, watching the Plastics collapse in the space of a minute is pretty funny !!!

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

my bank holiday weekend betting woe continues. i backed reading

It ain't over until its over.

Erm, probably.

I've got no 'beef' with Swansea... Town dislike Reading, they dislike Town. It's a no brainer.

reading look woeful. they're having a pop at the ref at every opportunity which i don't think will help them

My experience of the biscuit munchers is that it winds them up more by us not caring about them. So not disliking them is my default position

Listening to the Cricket rather than this, but the text commentary is very entertaining:

36 min: Khizanishvilli is going to get over this with 10 pints and a kebab tonight. He looks like a Sunday League player who's turned up still drunk from the night before.

imo they are lacking a big target man. reading have the build up play but nothing in the box to hit  from the flanks that will trouble swansea

game over

Surprised by this.

great strike by dobbie

Easy, easy, easy.

Haha

What a spectacular collapse by Reading.  I'm surprised, they were on a great run at the end of the season and into the play-offs. I thought it would see them through.

I expect their supporters are feeling a bit like we did - cold, wet and miserable.  At least we had hope until the final whistle, you'd think they're dead and buried by half time?

How many Plastics will leave at half time?

6

Wow we got a mention!!

This live text thing is properly laying into Khizanishvili:

43 min: Reading have barely done a thing wrong, apart from pick one astonishing galoot at the heart of their defence. He has single-handedly destroyed their hopes and dreams. Three cock-ups, three goals.

Is he actually that bad, watchers?

not really

Ah we always get a mention on Championship Play-Off Final day. Not bad considering that it was 18 years ago now.

Fuck sake. Hopefully this is repeated later! I totally forgot it was bank holiday!

Reading haven't got a chance now, I mean what are the chances of anyone blowing a 3-0 lead in the Play Off final?

You'd have to be real shit to blow a lead like that with a place in the PL at stake....

Agreed, Reading as a collective haven't turned up.

SS1 at 21:30 today  :)

Like us you mean? Thank fuck for Chalkies dive.

Good old fatbury....

"Never a pen so Dowd gives it! The man from Stoke against the Arsenal man McDermott again"

God, khizanishvili is shit
"

The train journey back to Swansea via Reading could be fun this evening.

Ha subs sent off in the tunnel

Does that mean that they can only use 2 now?

Just means they have one less to pick from. I think.

JRAsh1 on Twitter: "The headline writers are in dreamland now. 'A Royal Stuffing'."

Yes, that's right.

We may have a game...

hahaha great run dobbie. until he hit the corner flag

Gets taken off straight after :D

3-2 now, matt mills

2-3...Are the Swans choking?

Yes we do!

great header!

Good reaction from the plastics. Game on.

Dobbie should have buried the game at 3-1 though.

Plastics now hit post...

fucking hell!!!!!!

I nip down Morrisons and come back to find it's now 3-2. Who'd have thought it. Nothing like the play offs!

I predict Reading will take it back to 3-3, only for Swansea to win it at the death with a questionable penalty.

Mark Gower coming on in a sec. I just signed him for Town (in League 1) on FM :D

And Church about to come on for Reading.

I need Swansea to win this.  Bringing up Indoctrinating a little one in the ways of STFC in this part of the world is going to difficult enough without Reading in the top flight.

Another pen awarded to Swans...

4-2

Oh dear andy griffin....

What a brain dead moron that defender was.

4-2. Good.

What a ridiculous challenge, talk about bringing it on yourself.

Robson-Kanu coming on!

The train journey back to Swansea via Cardiff could be fun this evening.

Good result for us in a way. Having the plastics in The Prem would have only crippled our attendances even more so.

Game over....

Fair play to the Welsh... Rather them than Cardiff.

Wish it went to extra-time. I've got no excuse not to revise now.  :(

Had the joy of watching a Reading fan in my local, complete with shirt. At halftime I went up to him and said, "As a Swindon fan I'm fucking loving this!"

Didn't see him at fulltime, he must've pissed off early. (I did look for him.)

Good old sky, spot the anamoly....

[url width=320 height=428]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x480/tanswell2010/7fcb639d.jpg[/url]

Your spelling of anomaly?

I give up. Tell us.

Look at the badges...

Sorry the iphone didnt change it

Does anyone bother trying to spell correctly any more? I seldom bother and just type any old shit, knowing it will get auto-corrected for me - Google is especially good at it, like it's reading my mind.

Someone hasn't yet come to terms with defeat, then.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/05/30/2510522/we-were-by-far-the-better-side-reading-boss-brian-mcdermott

But they were the better side?

Enjoyed the game, thought Reading were easier the better side for the first twenty minutes, but once Swansea scored Royals seemed to fall away.  They picked the game up at the beginning of the second half, scored their two goals, went close but Swansea seemed to regain the initiative after 60 minutes and I felt deserved to win - especially as Reading were lucky to keep 11 on the park, even though they had the assistant manager and a sub sent off!  Perhaps the two bad tackles handed it to Swansea, they were both penalties, no doubt.

Doh! Couldn't have picked a worse one for Swansea could they:)

second half was very good.thought reading would get it back at one point but it wasn't to be.
think if they had a lump upfront they would have won.that said,they got to the final without one.they were the better side overall but if you give pens away like that, or let players go around you so easily(harte)then it's their tough shit innit.

Bovvered !! Just look at the scoreline...