Thetownend.com

The opponent:  Crewe Alexandra

A friend said to me earlier today that this is the biggest game of our season, shit or bust. Mathematically this is obviously not the case, but in the sense of morale both on the pitch and in the stands he may well have a point. I think most of us accepted that automatic promotion was beyond us a few weeks back and we now find ourselves needing at least 2 more decent results to make the play off’s. Better than nothing or a complete failure? The facts are simple, the 2 teams at the top of the league found their form at exactly the right time, we didn’t.  For me, even now, making the play off’s would be a good season all in all, so tonight, The Town End need to be in full voice this evening, The South Stand needs to do the loudest hand clapping they have ever mustered, and The Arkells, in the words of John Lennon, they can rattle their jewellery, and together we will be victorious.

Today’s opponents roll in to SN1 with not a great deal to play for, barring a miracle of massive proportions, but some of their fans are quietly pleased with the season they have had, and rightfully so. Captain Luke Murphy said the same thing in a recent interview, and when you take in to account the big money transfers that have seen their best players leaving, Murphy may well have a point. Now the last time we discussed Crewe we spoke about the obvious railway connections, but this evening we turn over a lesser known highlight of what Crewe has to offer. One of my favourites has to be David Williams Cheese, who back in 2009 at the world renowned Nantwich International Cheese Festival, scooped more awards than John Terry has in a season, with such beauties named “Madras Curry Cheddar” and “Chivin’ Goat”. Some of the stuff they do is great and well worth a look should you be arsed http://www.davidwilliams-cheese.co.uk/index.html . Another stunning fact for you to digest, Crewe is the 45’475th most popular name in the USA.  One in every 702,203 Americans are named Crewe and popularity of name Crewe is 1.42 people per million. One of Crewe’s best known employers has to be Bentley, employing 3500 people at their Crewe HQ, one of the punch lines they use in their latest ‘Why its so great to work for Bentley’ brochures is “Bentley specifically uses cow hide from countries that have little barbed wire to prevent its leather having scuffs”. Thank god.

What are they saying about us? –

“Being good neighbours, Alex nick it 2-1 in the clash of the railway town titans and throw Tranny a lifeline”.

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=168&fid=90&sty=2&act=1&mid=2112895155

Crewe Alexandra Last 6 –  WLDWLL  (Currently 13th on 58 points)

The Threat – Guinean striker Mathias Pogba leads the way with 16 goals in 41 games this term.

The irrelevant stats – After 3 home matches in League 1 and a JPT Final victory over Southend sandwiched inbetween Alex come to The CG having played 21 games away from home, winning 6, drawing 7 and losing 8.

Head to Head – We have met on 27 occasions, and have won 11, drawn 4 and lost 12.

The Odds – Swindon 1/2  Draw 3/1  Crewe 6/1 (SkyBet) You would think the bookies may have taken note of our recent home form but it would appear that is not the case. My birthday bonus bet is 20/1 for Luongo to open his account for us tonight, for some random reason Skybet have him in at 17/2? Madness.

The Son Says – He couldn’t decide at first but his gut instinct was 3-0, so he has stuck with it.

The Prediction –  2-1 win, Town to go behind, and just as the first shouts of we want Kmac out fill the air, Luongo and Williams will score 2 late goals in front of a disappointing  8’210, with 142 from East Cheshire.

And Finally –  I hope we can all get behind the boys 100% tonight. In a better league we could well have been mid table mediocrity weeks back, but unlike our visitors, we have plenty to play for. Its often the least fancied team that scrape in to the play off’s that end up winning promotion. COME ON SWINDON

COYR COYR COYR

Biggest game of the season, we need fans tonight, not spectators.

Agree totally, buzzing for this

All on this for me, need a win so very, very badly for everything you've said in the write up Shaw Rosso...hope we the fans can create an atmosphere that has been missing for some time at home! I fear a defeat, but I'm going for a 2-1 Swindon win in front of 8293 with 182 from Crewe! C.O.Y.R!!!!!

Good write up as always by the way.

Cheers, I have truly convinced myself we will win this. If ever the County Ground could do with coming alive its tonight. The Crewe goalkeeper happens to be ex Rovers stalwart Steve Philips, we have given that fella some shit in the past  :)

I hate that bastard.

Let him feel the hatred  :)

He managed nearly 400 games between the 2 Brizzle clubs.

Philllllllipssss

Can't say I'm buzzing. Quaking would be a fairer description.

It's definitely crucial we get behind the team and manager from the start and throughout the 90 minutes today whatever happens. That means not swearing loudly at Gary Roberts every time he goes near the ball, not demanding formation or substitution changes from the manager half an hour in and not calling for him to be sacked 9 games into his tenure  :facepalm:. It's embarrassing.

Save it for these messageboards. It's futile during the game anyway and only damages our chances.

Would be great to show the new manager we're not all fickle c*nts at Swindon and we're here to throw our support fully behind him for the last 3 games of the season.

Need a win, want a win, get a win. Please Kmac. Please players.

Fuck, play 4-3-3, it's not like we have any in-form wingers or anything.

Just get a win.

2-0 Town. Please. I don't care who. Just fucking score.

8,768 fans, 120 from Crewe.

Edit: FUCKING WIN YOU CUNTING WANKERS

Our last home game against Crewe ended an 8 month run without a home win. Only 3 months this time but still.

Lets 'kin do em. Win tonight, C*ty can get relegated and the world will be a bright place.

Crewe 6/1?!

At least if we're going to lose I'm going to make some money out of it.

The draw is 16/5 too. Are Crewe playing with 8 men tonight?

Every time we give the opposition keeper a hard time, he plays a blinder and has the last laugh!  Let's not make a hero out of Phillips, please.

0-2 with Pogba first scorer. :(

Decided not to go.

I don't want to personally witness the final capitulation.

Wussy, I know.

It's just dawned on me that this is quite a big game. Just fucking win please.

Crewe at 6/1 is brilliant odds, i'll be having me some of that  :)

Let's at least finish top 6......for fucks sake...c'mon lads....

0-1 Crewe, poisonous atmosphere. I can see a lot of crowd bickering tonight, there are some right nobheads sat by me.

Got a bad feeling about this. 2-1 defeat.

(Well it worked for most of last year!!!!)

Hi Alex!

I think we'll have fun if some if the idiots start getting mouthy!

I reckon we'll win based solely on the law of averages.

Fans have to get behind the players tonight, their confidence is shot to pieces.

Keeper Steve Phillips (dead leg) and midfielder Luke Murphy remain major injury doubts for Crewe.

Alan Martin deputised in goal for Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Doncaster Rovers.

more wondersaves from Alan Martin as Crewe escape with a 1-0 defeat. Probably a goal from a header 12 minutes from time.

Sat in the left hand side of the Town End a few games ago. There are some right knobbers in there.

If we don't win then it's going to be poisonous after. I like the way crewe go about their business. I'd Luke us to be like them. Think we will draw tonight.

Their team always seems to include at least 2 or 3 very talented youngsters and they are always good to watch.

I would like to say I have a good feeling about this but the good feeling went with the defeat to Shef Utd.  Just hope the team can pull together and grind out a much needed win.  COYR

It's impossible to sit anywhere in the County Ground and not be sat near or subjected to the idiotic remarks of some mindless cretin. In fact, you don't even need to go to games - just go on Twitter or the Adver site.

Whilst this is true, there was a particular concentration of them.

What's the collective term for a group of eejits? A Dunce? Dumbening?

I think you'll find the collective term is CUNTS

Sadly a sizeable proportion of our fan base enjoy being negative, moaning all game and offering no support to the team.  If we havent scored 2 with the first 5 mins they will start getting vocal, it's hard to avoid being near some of them.

Admitally i have no enthasuim at all for tonights game, my expectations are low (0-2 defeat) so on the plus side a draw will feel like i've watched us turn the corner.

Not confident at all for this but think we might just sneak a win, it won't be pretty.

have some money on a draw/crewe win to cheer me up just in case

My dad and I found ourselves marooned amongst some of these on the far right hand side of the away end at Sheff U on Saturday. We need the idiots to start the chants and make the noise, and there is often some surprising wit on show from football fans.

Highlights included, "She said no Evans" sang at thousands of sheffield united supporters about a player who no longer plays for Sheff U as he is in prison. "Theres only one Maggie Thatcher" , "There's only one Danny Wilson", and my personal favourite, "Sheffield Wednesday, are/we're better than you".

I despair

All were a significant improvement to singing "4-4-2, 4-4-2, 4-4,2" during most of the game at Franchise though.

Every-thing's shit at the moment. The manager, the players, the fans, the board, everything is shit and I'm feeling equally as shit about it.

However when I step in to The County Ground tonight, I'm going to pretend that it's not for a bit. We're still in the play-offs by the skin of our teeth and I'm clinging on to the hope that we can somehow have a complete turn around, hit form by some kind of miracle and go up.

COYR

I'm going tonight more out of duty than anything else. I think we'll lose and it will get pretty lary. I hope I'm wrong. One part of me just wants this season to end.

Just seen the playoff dates

1st Leg (A) –Friday 3rd May 2013, kick-off 7.45pm
1st Leg (B) – Saturday 4th May 2013, kick-off 5.20pm

2nd Leg (A) – Monday 6th May 2013, kick-off 1.30pm
2nd Leg (B) – Monday 6th May 2013, kick-off 4.30pm

(B) fixture teams doesn't seem to get much time to recover do they.

Same for both sides, and normally over Easter you generally play a couple days within a few days of each other.

Today's the day the it all clicks into place. Roberts plays a blinder and Williams gets a hat trick leading us to victory, the playoffs, promotion and world domination. Mwahahaa

Seeing how ineffective our strikers were on saturday, i'd be inclined to give Luke Rooney a chance upfront. He's a selfish sod, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when up top and he did play there at times for Gillinghams. Can't see us getting much out of another partnership of Collins/A Rooney or Williams, but we'd at least be a bit tricky with L Rooney and Williams.

How's L Rooney been performing when coming on? listening to the away games his corners seem more dangerous and more seems to happen with him the moment the comes on.

We need to pick our best team and go from there. I don't think that includes Luke Rooney up top IMO.

He's been doing ok Kaufman, although a little greedy as dogs pointed out.

Anyone's corners would have been better than Roberts overhit shower on saturday. I wouldn't say he's done bad, but he hasn't exactly done much either. Looked a bit lightweight on saturday. Think he could do well playing off the shoulder of the last defender though.

An ugly game with an ugly goal from ugly Aden Flint from a beautiful corner from Luke Rooney in the dying minutes.ONE-NIL!

Murphy is their best player so let's hope he's injured.

Many people wary of Pogba, but seemingly he is out according to this ESPN preview. Looks like they have a fair few injuries, although so do we!

'Steve Phillips and Luke Murphy remain major injury doubts for Crewe.

Alan Martin started between the posts in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to leaders Doncaster at Gresty Road, with Phillips laid low due to a dead leg suffered during the loss at Brentford in midweek.

Skipper Murphy sat out at the weekend as he continues to nurse a groin problem that sidelined him in the weeks leading up to his starring role in Alex's 2-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy triumph over Southend at Wembley.

Rookie centre-back George Ray made his full debut against Rovers and will hope to continue, although boss Steve Davis may return to a back four after the Railwaymen lined-up 3-5-2 last time out.

Midfielder Abdul Osman must serve the second game of a two-match suspension for collecting 10 yellow cards this season.

Top scorer Mathias Pogba (thigh) will miss the remainder of the season, while defender Adam Dugdale remains on compassionate leave.

I'm on Crewe at 6/1. Also Draw/Crewe 14/1.

6/1? Blimey those are some serious odds for the form we're on...

Reasons we will win. I bet 8 on Crewe, 2 on draw as loss limiter. I never win at the bookies!

Yep, I work in Stan James, 6/1 in here but 10/3 in the William Hill down the road so made somebody put it on for me in here haha! Swindon are 4/9 to win tonight, no value what so ever. If you want any odds I'm here until 9pm.. give me a shout!  :bye:

Also meant to say I got the double result Half Time/Full time of Draw/Crewe at 14/1.

Pretty much every town fan I know is putting money on Crewe to either win or a draw so even if we do lose there will be some happy(ish) Town fans tonight.

Sheffield United v Brentford tonight as well

I'd rather we lost and I won money to be 100% honest.  :doh:

I've got 6-1 from Paddy's online. Would still rather we won but those odds are daft.

Just got 7/1 for a Crewe win.  Couldn't resist especially the form we have shown recently.  Will happily lose the £10 if Swindon win.

It's stupid isn't it? Can't miss out on it. I've lost a lot of interest since I got banned. I obviously still want Swindon to do when but when theres a chance like this to pick up some beer tokens..  :beers:

Why did you get banned?

A very good question indeed. I'll let you know when I find a legitiment reason amoungst the shite the police and court came up with.

Share them with us and we'll vote on our favourite

£1 to enter the vote.

Gotta go to work. Will be able to check on here but not post. Won't have access to radio, STFCWorld nor Twitter. Would appreciate lots of updates!!!!

Mate can't go to this tonight, free ticket for me. Woo yeah, bring on the Robins Revival

It's fine, I earn enough from the forums already.

Here's another 60p.

Cunt.

:D  :pint:

1) I swore at somebody and got a 3 year ban.
2) I broke through the stewards line and went on the empty terrace behind the goal at Barnet and loads followed.
3) I went for a pint with Flammible Ben when I was about 16 and I got banned for underage drinking.
4) The Steward in the Town End who looks like the asian bloke out of Eastenders got offended when I called him Masood
5) I got chucked out of Wimbledon 30 seconds into the game when they score and 2 of us went into there end
6) I was chucked out of Bristol Rovers for calling a steward 'A Horrible Black Bastard'
7) I split a cup of Bovril over an old lady at Torquay
8) I chased a mini van of Hereford across the magic roundabout
9) I was part of a group in the Globe at Hereford at home who dropped a bag of Charlie inside the wooden seat and the landlord got it out for us but we got arresed
10) I stood in a fountain in Tourquay with a kilt on and got arrested for drunk and disorderly

There we go. Some of them (Most of them) are complete bull shit, which one do you thinks right?

6.

TOWN TEAM: Foderingham; Byrne, Flint, Ward, Devera; Ferry, McCormack, Luongo, Roberts; A Rooney, Williams.

Tommy Jones' kid on the bench.

I dunno. Unless Ferry is on the wing again that looks 451 to me

Team Line up

               Fods
Byrne, Flint, Ward, Devera
Ferry, McCormack, Luongo, Roberts
      Williams, Rooney

Either way DV will cry

Close to the truth, but not the reason I'm banned nor is that one fully true.

Bollocks, all of them are true. I'm wise to your game.

I've got 10 euro on Crewe.

Luongo should be on the wing instead of Ferry.  I would prefer Collins instead of Rooney.

Apart from that, much better

4

I hope Rooney and Ferry aren't on the wing... if it's a 4-5-1, I'd like to see Roberts and Williams out wide

4 is true but not the reason I'm banned, he asked me to stop though.. spoil sport  :cry:

Honkeytonk, now now  :D

Hooray Devera's Back!

Oh. He's on the left.  :crash:

New owner?! Lee Power?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Power)

A bit out of the blue.

Full marks to Banbury, didn't he predict this?

One Bill Lee Power, there's only one Bill Lee Power.

What?  Anyone got any details?

What yoo talkin' about Willis?!

"In May 2003, Power was part of a consortium aiming to take over Luton Town. The proposed move was not well received by Luton fans, particularly as it involved sacking the popular manager Joe Kinnear."

Is this the same consortium that Jed was a part of?

stfc player has decided it isn't a matchday for me tonight.

Brilliant.

Benno's on! Good to see/hear he's there.

Saying it's weird that our home form is terrible.

Bury name 2 subs tonight! They beat us at the CG as well, shambles!

My player is also telling me there are no live matches tonight... :cry

Decided at the last minute to come.  We have to win.  I feel very nervous.

Blimey, Benno doing commentary.

I suppose he's got to start practising for his future career at some point soon.

getthefukin....  :D

Fucking yes!!!!!

Tell us who fucking scored then

Ace.

I didn;t even know the game had started because world is so behind

A.rooney

If you swap player on to "old commentary" is actually quicker than twitter!

I didn't tune in because people kept saying on Saturday that the season was over. Did I misunderstand?

Yeahhhh!

Fucking player broke and I missed the goal.

Benno said it was a Rooney tap-in though.

GET IN.

Handy Andy Rowland........

Shabba!

2-0!

Get In......................

baddabing baddaboom.... :D

get in!

LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Superman....

Luongo makes it 2!

Oh... I remember now. This is what winning feels like!

Bookies 1-0 Swindon fans

That 1st half at Sheffield may turn out to be just what we needed.

I knew I shouldn't have bothered listening. Nothing to moan about.

yeah, fukkin quislings,betting against your own team, for Shame... >:(

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

3-0

What the actual fuck?

What is this shit?!

Where's this team been hiding for the past month or so?

Get the fuck in!

I thought we were supposed to be shit?

This is just lovely.

Just turned the wireless on! Lovely jubbly

I'm looking forward to Stevenage now!

What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On?????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzlG28B-R8Y

It wasn't what I fucking needed! (but yes, I take your point :))

Brentford got a pen against sheff utd

1-0 brentford

This is fucking bollocks.

Having sat through the last few games watching us produce woeful displays tonight we decide to play like fucking Barcelona because I can't go.

he he he. To be fair it's true!

allow me to speak for everyone when I say...

STAY THE FUCK AWAY!

Perfect results for us tonight would be Sheffield, Yeovil and Dongs losing. Gives us a fighting chance.

:D

I'm going to suggest STFC take out a restraining order on you, whereby you aren't allowed within 100 metres of any Swindon Town property or personnel

Fighting chance for what?

We can only get in the play offs so what they do dont make any difference to us

Don't care what happens above us, I'm looking over our shoulder still. As it stands 2 points from the next 2 games would get us 6th...

Best commentary ever there

(to Paul Benson)

Are you a plain black man?

Not there so can anybody tell me is it 4-4-2 or is it 4-5-1? Not that it matters.

I see Brentford got a penalty at Sheffield United.   Obviously didn't have the same Ref that we had up there then.

2-4-4 attack, 442 defence i think...  :D

Except for Dongs. And I'd like to finish above Yeovil so I can hold my head up high in the pub.


I soapy tit wank'd.

EDIT: Did not realise the forum auto-replaced the 'L' word with STW...

Fucking tell me about it! I loved the week after we beat them down here :)

Want YEOVIL in the play offs

Us 6th - them 3rd

HT 3-0

That sounds good enough to me,better save some goals for Saturday when I'll be taking my 2 daughters. Hope the KMAC haters eat a bit of humble pie tonight.

yeovil losing

So, any protests? Chants of sack the board?

I'd like to think this is KMac proving people wrong.

One swallow etc etc Samuel

They're going down, they're going down..city's going down....

Would you like another half in that glass Sir?      :nod:

Gary Roberts isn't really proving himself tonight. Two chances in as many minutes and he fluffed 'em both by the sounds of things.

Thought Ferry had scored a screamer for a second there...

Pen to Crewe

Sounds like Wes was lucky not to go off.... again

scored.

Fods a very very lucky boy two tuesdays in a row it seems.

Stupid foul by Wes, the defender was going wide.  Lucky to stay on. Gives them a lifeline as well.

If nothing else, it seems like having an Italian screaming at him controlled Wes' craziness.

He's been getting less and less controlled week after week.

I blame Digby, but then I am of an age where I rather conflate Fraser and Nicky Hammond in my mind as being "dodgy-dodgy keepers" - I rather suspect I missed Digby's best years.

4-1 Collins.

Does it have to a particular Italian because we can probably find a random one somewhere?

4-0 Collins

Just over 7k. 77 from Crewe.

Yesssss Collins

earwig jo, earwig jo, earwig jo....  :beers:

Digby Dodgy ?  oh dear oh dear oh dear.

77?!  I know they have little to play for, and it's mid-week, but crikey!

Nah, any Italian will do. Give them a green coat and beanie and Wes'll be so far away he won't be able to tell the difference.

Corr, Benyon and Bodin all scored

Get Cibbocchi (sp?) back.

Youuu rrreeedddddd

Typical Swindon, pull something out the bag, give us all some hope.

Lose in the play offs.

Better than not being in the play offs, surely

May as well! I'm sure he'd be happy flailing his arms on the touch line to keep the 'Kmac has no passion' people happy.


Alright Debbie Downer, are you Reg in disguise?

No, he's always been like that.

Ah, showing my youth. Sorry DV.

Didn't even realise that Benyon had gone back to Torquay until you said that.

Dongs 2-0 up

Sheff Utd 10 -9 Brentford,   that's the number of players left on the field

I'm listening to the game via Player and can't decide if Swindon are playing well or Crewe are shit?

Game over 4-1....good win indeed.

FT marvelous

Just need to do exactly the same again on Saturday.

YAY  :yay:

Not just to confirm a playoff spot. Another good performance could mean we're back on form again and could actually win the bloody thing.

Bristol City relegated.

A good evening all round.

What difference a day makes :)

Cardiff promoted! Boooooooooooooooooo

He was right about switching to a red kit - anybody that was angered by it wont give two shits now :D

Pfft, the Premier League can have them.

At least we've now got a truly English football league.

Nah, Wrexham or Newport will be up in the play-offs.

Ban this racist

Really looked like we wanted it tonight, no bad performances.

Same on Saturday please!

I suspect they found out about my bet on crewe  :doh:

Get ur bets on stevenage to win saturday ;)

"the wizard says
I hear Kevin is holding an amnesty in his office for all those that were slagging him off. He will be in there after serving the humble pie in the Legends and to repent those who were slagging him off can go to see him and kiss his arh5e."


that guy is really a cunt.

I think every man and his dog had money on Crewe tonight!

Swindon's economy just took the worst downturn since the advent of the Class 14!

Righty.

Everyone bet on Stevenage for Saturday.

Where did that come from? It was like rewinding back to January. Back to 4-4-2 and playing more direct just like we did under Di Canio. And it worked. Our hunger was back as well and we actually won some tackles and looked up for it. We took our chances but could have had a few more even.

Fantastic result and 4 points ahead with 2 to play. Win on Saturday and we've booked a play off place. Might just be the confidence boost we needed.

If i'm going to be hyper critical, the defence still looked less than solid. Though Macdonald did admit as much in his press conference afterwards, so good he acknowledged it.

Good going forward, a bit more direct, like swindon of old. Good movement in the final third.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Williams' clearance off the line at 1-0 turned out crucial. went up the other end and scored. If that had gone to 1-1 who knows.

Crewe were a side who looked to be on holiday, exactly the right side to be playing now to get some form and confidence. Hopefully stevenage will be the same on saturday.

The only difference between today and the oldham game (notts county too to a lesser extent) was that the ball actually went in between the posts. If anything, we created more chances against oldham.

It's a funny game

Happy with that result, team played well. Not to sure about their penalty. Looked like he dived. Support was fantastic. What was with the clapping for a minute? Up the Town.

Agree with all of that. We still look very shaky defending crosses. Williams, Luongo and Byrne were all good today.

Thank fuck for that and thank fuck Crewe were the least physical side we've played this season. They didn't have two big lumps at the back, which is all teams have needed recently. Also thank fuck for a referee who kept his cards in his pocket and played on whenever he could.

Good performance. The players really rolled their sleeves up and went for it today. Not seen a flying header like Luongo's for ages.

Dave does have a point though, we did get caught a couple of times square at the back as Crewe broke. One lead to the pen. I thought they called Wes "the cat"* because of his gravity defying saves, beginning to think its because he has nine lives. The handball and today, both could have been red.

*they don't

Not sure what that was either, but I clapped. Just an acknowledgment of the level of effort the lads put in?

I had a few heart flutters listening on the wireless.

On the 9th minute, for Andy Rowland. It was announced before the game.

I said during the game that a clean sheet might be as good for morale as the win. How long now since we kept one? I guess it's not too suprising since we've been playing musical chairs at full back for the past month and a bit

Luongo's goal was ace. Fair play, you don't see many youngsters on loan putting their head in to an area where it could get kicked off!

Was very sceptical before the game, but really enjoyed that. We probably played the best we have in the last two months against a team who played good football and had pace.  Couldn't be critical of one performance tonight - more of the same on Saturday please.

Bad news: Ferry has a tight hamstring, L Rooney has a damaged shoulder and can now only run strangely with one arm instead of two.

Get a win against Stevenage and field kids at Scunthorpe.

There you go MacDonald, that's on the house.

Oh ok, didn't hear the announcement still joined in though.

He didn't half get the shit kicked out of him in the 3 minutes he was on the pitch!

Wes has reached his yellow card amnesty. If we're walloping Stevenage on Saturday he should get himself booked for time wasting or whatever.

really, I thought it was dire, great result, created alot, but as some have said the defence looks abit dodgy at times, think we will make playoffs now :nod:

I thought of this and nearly pissed myself

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlFEV7wSnmQy

Forgot the feeling of winning at home, but that was a good performance and a much needed 3 points! Thought everyone had a good game, goals taken well and also the clearance off the line by Williams at 1-0 may have been crucial at the time! Didn't see the penalty from the Town End, so can't comment, hopefully take that into Saturday and then Scunthorpe, and maybe even get a bit of momentum going! Well done to the crowd tonight, got behind the lads and seemed to pay off.

Biggest difference today (apart from work rate): we played the ball direct. No tippy-tappy around the defence. I know we say we like to play the ball on the floor but most of our success under Di Canio came from playing balls over the top into the channels. Our strikers actually had something to work with for the first time in a while.

Having said that, Crewe had the cigars out from the start, the defence still looked woeful at times despite the abject efforts of the opposition attack and Wes should have been sent off (again) but got away with it.

The luck was with us tonight. Bigger tests still to come.

Well, didn't expect that, but glad I decided at the last minute that I couldn't stay at home.

The early goal was just what was needed to settle the nerves.  I think it was met with quite a sense of relief from players and supporters alike, almost surprise.  Everyone put a good shift in tonight and we looked more like the Swindon from a couple of months ago.  McCormack had an excellent game in Midfield, but MOM for me was Byrne.

Hopefully the result will have given the team a bit of confidence back and some momentum back.  It's just a shame we seem to be picking up injuries, we need as many fit as possible.

Oh and we scored from a corner  :)

Depends doesn't it. Come Scunthorpe I guess we could still decide who we play and which way round the legs are?

Not me -I had a fucking fiver on Rooney to score a hat trick!

Great performance and good to finally the players show they deserve to be in the top 6.

The early goal really helped to settle the nerves and get the crowd on side. The atmosphere was very positive from the start as well.

Special mention to Rooney and Luongo who see excellent but thought wes was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Now, just do that again on Saturday and we are pretty much there!

I can feel a disappointing trip to wembley coming! It does not feel good either.

24 hours ago the notion of Play-Offs seemed absurd to some. I do think we should rest people at Scunny

But let's just stay in there and see what happens. P-O's are a [cliche alert] lottery anyway.

All things being equal the only team I fancy us against are Yeovil.  Even if we win our PO semi's I still think a win at Wembley will be a bridge to far.

All depends if last night was the catalyst we needed to hit a patch of form to coincide with the play-offs. Bit early to get too excited though...

In a one-off match, anything could happen.

In fact, it might be nice to go to Wembley without any expectation.

Exactly....I did say Crewe always give you a bit of a chance, because they like to play. Stevenage, under Westley, are more or less the opposite.

One of the more bizarre stats from this season, is that we've scored the most home goals, and conceded the least home goals, but have been overall poor at home  ::)

Do Stevenage play with 2 big lumps at CB?

We did alright against them earlier in the season so I'll cling to that shred of hope

Different manager...that fella tried to get them playing a bit of football, rather than the anti-football favoured by Westley. 2 draws would be enough...that should be achievable.

I've got promotion in mind, in which case 2 draws won't do it for me. I want at least one more good performance and win to suggest that last night wasn't a one off and that we really are back on form.

Agree. If we are going to stand any chance in the playoffs I think we really need to be looking at two wins to gather a bit of confidence and momentum. If we're good enough for promotion we're good enough to beat Stevenage and Scunthorpe. Limping over the line is seldom a recipe for success.

As Roberts said last night on the radio, momentum going into the playoffs is overated based on his previous 2 seasons in them.

Last season Huddersfield were shit towards end of season and stumbled into the playoffs yet won the thing.  The season before that they won 6 out their last 7 games and lost in the Final.

Just get into the damn thing and take your shot at the lottery of it.

I think form goes out of the window in the play-offs. Pure lottery as others have mentioned.

I don't think it's a pure lottery. 40% of the winners across the 3 divisions come from the highest-ranked of the 4 teams even though they only have 1/4 of the representation. I can't find the statistic for League 1, but 13 of the last 15 winners in the Championship have come from the top 2 teams based on form/ momentum. I'm sure that's probably lower for our division, though expect there's still some sort of statistical tendency towards the form teams.

I do think we'd struggle at the moment against any of Bournemouth/ Doncaster/ Sheffield United/ Brentford based on recent performances against them. 3 months ago based on performances against them then I'd equally have expected us to beat them.

If our luck turns like it did yesterday then you never know. But getting over the line with 2 draws, leaving us with form that would read only 3 wins in our previous 14 games, would make winning three in a row against much better teams who have recently beaten us a near miraculous turnaround in fortunes.

worked out ok in 93

Winning all 3 games is not required, and although you may say some of these teams appear to have the edge, to say they're 'much better' is not really accurate now is it?

avoid bournemouth at all costs, i don't think i could take the inevitable ritchie winner as the final nail in coffin for the season

If we play like we did last night we should have enough in our locker to beat Stevenage. We need to be more direct and not pass it around all the time hoping to create openings as they are the sort of team that won't allow us to do that.

Didnt see that coming...rolled home pissed up...excellent!

Cmon...lets do Stevenage another step closer to the dream scenario of fucking Bmuff at Wembley.........I can dream...

Think 'Muff will go up via autos - along with Donny.

Can't think how Swindon and Yeovil can finish 4th and 5th, so it looks like either Blades or Brentford.

Brentford for me

Brenford would be best for me, nice and close  :)

Agree that it will be either them or Sheffield untied.

I am hopefully going to be in London that weekend so from a selfish perspective, Brentford would be ideal!

Away leg going to be last. Would be quality if we won it at Sheffield United or Brentford thinking atmosphere wise.

Am i right in thinking if we finish 6th we play on the friday night at home?

Please tell me this isn't the case!! I fly into London on Friday night, praying this isn't true!

Yep, Friday 3rd

http://twentyfour7football.com/football-league-announce-play-off-dates-4635

Is it confirmed that 3v6 is A and 4v5 is B?

Presuming we get our 2pts, who do we want then? I suppose technically any of the teams above us could be in the playoffs after the last final whistle goes, even Donny.

You're right. I forgot we don't need to win 3 games to get promoted. We don't even need to win one. I guess 3 draws would be enough if we could hold our nerve over two penalty shoot-outs!

Can't decided whether I like the fact that the 2nd leg is on a wank holiday.

Is that the away leg? Could affect trains and what not?

Can't find a confirmation, but in previous years 3v6 is normally the first game

Yeah it is. London wouldn't be so bad. Could a few more coaches being organised like last time for Sheffield.

They are confirming the games after the final round of fixtures.  I assume the TV guys will have a bit of a say in the matter and any potential police related issues.

Also interesting....

http://twentyfour7football.com/doncaster-and-brentford-could-play-47th-game-4824

Just watched the highlights on player. Luongo's goal is fucking brilliant.

Comments on highlights:
- How did Williams miss t he header before Rooney's first?
- Collins appeared pissed off with the Town End after he scored

Collins also fucked off straight down the tunnel while the rest of the players stayed out to clap the support. He certainly seemed pissed off.

Especially with that boot flying towards his head...

Apparently Collins has had pelters on twitter from some of our more mongy contingent. Might be pissed off because of that.

he did look genuinely pissed off, started to celebrate then deliberately turned away - not a happy bunny

James Collins #winner

u mean it wasnt in the contract that he cudnt play against us ?!!    ;)

I don't know what has been said to him on twitter but if he's had shit from our fans I feel for him a little. He's scored 16 in all comps for us in a season where he has been in and out of the team in addition to changing managers/owners etc... I really don't get the slating our players thing.

Took me back to those "oooh Shaun Taylor" moments of old.

A good game all round I think. Nice to see Gary Roberts running round like someone had set his arse on fire. he put in a real performance as did everyone else.

Not surprised that Adam Rooney got MoM but, for me Nathan 'The Mighty Atom'* Byrne edged it. I like him and wish he could stay. A real prospect for whoever ends up with him.

* Or should that be "Atom Ant" for that "Up and at em Atom Ant" chant?

Having watched the highlights, we need Luongo. Him and Ferry would be a dynamite centre pairing in the championship. I have a feeling that him and Byrne may be out of our price range though. I haven't seen a goal scored like Luongo's for ages, properly brave bugger he is.

It was great to see us remembering how to score again, even if Roberts still can't do it. Poor bastard, he was so pissed off after his misses.

Flint heading across for Rooney's goal was reminiscent of goals from last season- De Vita scored a couple as I remember, particularly memorably against Huddersfield in front of the Town end. That's what our CB's should be doing at corners, not going for goal and missing like they've been trying to this season.

Was also good to see Joe Devera back in the team. He's been sorely missed.

Is Devera out of contract this summer? I like Joe, he's been unlucky to not have played more games this season, I think he's better than Flint. If Flint was Devera's height there would be no contest between the two of them.

Devera is a much better player than Flint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ZoHhvQgjU

I'd be gutted to see Devera go. His partnership with Ward before his injury was the most solid I've seen for years. What worries me is Kmacs not seen that side of him yet as when he has played him it's been out of position, because since then Flint individually has looked our best CB and therefore been undroppable even if as a partner to Ward the defence has gone to pieces since they've been paired.

It's the same situation with De Vita who based on performances under Di Canio is the best winger at the club now Ritchie's gone, but who's so totally out of favour at the moment it seems Kmacs already made up his mind he's not going to be a part of his plans. I doubt we'll replace either with better players very easily in the summer if they're let go.