Thetownend.com

The Opponent: Carlisle United

So the question on most people’s lips this evening seems to be who owns our club? People who have supported all things Swindon long enough probably recognise this as just another normal day at the office, a story of nothing maybe?  Plenty of assumptions have been made here, and on Twitter, as well as the loony Facebook page thingy, and I have yet to see anything based on anything that remotely resembles fact! So rather than #powerout I am more inclined to go for #3pointstodayplease. I like most am more than ready to dig out the orange beanie as and when required but I am not convinced its behind the Arkells just yet.

With a population of around 75’000, ‘The Border City’ lies just 10 miles south of the Scottish border. By the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Carlisle was part of Scotland and was not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. This changed in 1092, when William the Conqueror’s son William Rufus  invaded the region, kicked some arse, and incorporated Cumberland and with it Carlisle into England. Cheers Bill Jnr. The history of Cumbria and the changing of hands between us and the Scots are quite incredible and well worth a read if you get a chance!   For the motorway enthusiasts amongst you, the M6 from Rugby to Carlisle is the longest stretch of motorway in the UK at 226 miles long!

Formed in 1904, Carlisle is the smallest location, by population, to have had a resident top flight English football club since 1906. Carlisle United have produced some real footballing gems down the years, including Steve Harkness, Peter Beardsley, Matt Janson, and freak throw himself, Rory Delap.  One of my favourite football quotes has to be from the Carlisle chairman Michael Knighton who once said, “I believe in a Methuselah, Frankenstein, alien beings, flying saucers and the hand of God. But, most of all, I believe in on-loan goalkeepers from Swindon who score goals in the dying seconds”. Brilliant.  A few famous faces hail from the area, including Blue Peter’s Helen Skelton, Footballer Grant Holt, Ex Emmerdale blart Roxanne Pallet, and haulage king, Eddie Stobart.

Where the opposition gather –   Boring bunch. Guess debating Scottish independence is far more interesting though.
http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=121&fid=18&sty=2&act=1&mid=2111835157
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Last 6 – LLDDDW (Currently 17th on 21 points, just 7 points behind us, although they did have the shame of losing at home to The Slave Traders this season).

They have served us both – Stan Harland, JP McGovern, Alan O’Brien, Vincent Pericard, TAH, Sean O’Hanlon (glad he found his bigger club), Greedy Grant Smith, Lee Peacock, John Gorman, Miguel Comminges, Scott Endersby, Don Macphail, Jake Jervis, Mike Grella

The Odds –  Swindon 8/11   Draw 14/5  Carlisle 9/2 For those feeling the curse of the returning player is likely to prove costly you can get 40/1 from quite a few outlets online on Sean O’Hanlon scoring the first goal of the game. I think Massimo is due a goal, today is the day, 11/1 with Bet365.

The Son Says – After giving me the sort of look normally given by a mechanic before he breaks the bad news, he has confidently gone for a 3-0 home win.

The Prediction – I think we can take some confidence from Tuesday night, and we still remain unbeaten against Crawley in the league.  I think we will smash them 2-1, with goals from Massimo Luongo and Ryan Mason. 7'788 with 143 from Scotland.

And Finally – The 1st ever mainland pillar box went up on Botchergate in Carlisle in 1853, I bet many a Special Brew fuelled Jock has pissed all over it.

COYR COYR COYR

0-0. 7777, 277 sweaties

Not decided whether to go tomorrow or not yet.

Think we'll thrash them 1-0.

2 - 1 town
Ajose and Luongo
7955 with 252 truck loving anoraks from near sweatland

2-0 Town

Good job again SR. We will win, people will be starting ridiculous songs about Jed/Power and it would be nice to finish the game with 11 players, a £5,000 bribe must be tempting though :)

3-1 to town papering over the cracks of the last few weeks..

What Bernie Clifton said.

I've got a good feeling about this!  2-1 Swindon COYR

I am going to this one. 2-1 Town win. 7,878 with 220 Cumbrians.

We should be good enough to win today, especially as I'm out of the country.

2-0. Ajose, Mason

2-0 town, ranger and mason both to start back to our best, certainly will be an interesting day for stfc....

Bore draw.

Apparently, Jed/Power have challenged themselves to a nob-wrestling contest before the game with the club going to the victor.

If Power loses we'll be renamed Jed's Japs Eyed Spartans.

Not the central point in your (excellent!) intro, but I think the distance is a little longer than that now since the extension of the motorway to the Scottish border about 5 years ago.  More like 232 miles.  (There used to be a poxy section of dual carriageway between Carlisle and the border.)

Possibly my most pointless and most geeky post ever on this forum.  (And yes, the competition is steep.)

We should win this one, but as long as we do so I don't care what the score is. Would be nice to thrash them mind, so I'm going for 4-1. 7867 attending, with 220 scotch.

Hopefully O Hanlon gets the welcome he deserves. They've also got another player who has donned the famous red shirt.
Not sure about today. Will take any victory.

Paul Thirlwell? Remember he was quite good for us

Not feeling confident about today. although that could just be the hangover talking.

Particularly remember this game http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=20000109
Looking at the 2 line-ups its a miracle we won that game

I had wondered who exactly the phrase "the motorway enthusiasts among you" might conceivably apply to. Thanks for clearing it up.

I drove this motorway last night on the way up to Glasgow.  Tebay services is very exciting to me.  I dont think Im a motorway enthusiast though.  Honest. 

Ranger on the bench alongside N'Guessan.

Is that the sort of bespoke Westmoreland one? I remember that having an atmosphere not dissimilar to a nursing home.

TOWN: Foderingham, Thompson, Ward, Hall, Mceveley, Luongo, Kasim, Thompson, Harley, Pritchard, Ajose

Subs: Ranger, Mason N'guessan, Barthram, Branco, Gladwin, Belford

 :D

It's because of the trips to the west of Scotland we make several times a year, honest!


I love Tebay.  Always stop there if I'm using that route.  The view from the restaurant there is stunning.  And it's free.

Gonna change my prediction to 4 - 1 town
Decent starting line up and at last something on the bench
Wonder what this Gladwin is like  :hmmm:

I've decided to restrict my comments today to non-football matters, by the way.

Dont normally moan about team selection but how the hell did Harley keep his place after Tuesday? Mason would have been my choice

Interesting to see what formation that works out as, already seen some clowns melting down proclaiming its a 4-6-0 at home

They hinted on t'radio that Mason is still carrying a bit of an injury.

Line ups mean fuck all.

Results are what matter.

Really need to tighten up at home so that team looks set up to restrict Carlisle

Well there isnt an out and out striker in there
Ajose and Pritchard more comfortable behind a front man

It is very similar to Colcester away but with Pritchard replacing N'Guessan

If only the 2 weren't sometimes linked to each other

I don't think we should be looking to restrict a side that are currently 17th in the league with only 2 away wins.

We should be looking at hammering the fuckers by playing them off the park with an attacking formation and not without a recognized centre forward.....just my thoughts.

Who is our top goal scorer this season

Nev and Sophie in Stroud what a happy couple you are by the sound of it...."administration here we come" in ther txt to the radio.

 ::)   :no:

I think its important that we all jump to conclusions and declare we're all doomed as soon we possibly can.  And then write in to the radio to spread the doom.

Ajose is of course our leading scorer with 8 goals but why have 2 players on the bench with 7 and 6 goals each when we are up against a side that are there for the taking?

Typical Swindon fans, moaning about a defensive line up before the game's even been played...

Interesting bit of trivia, we've played Carlisle 40 times and there's only ever been 4 away wins. 3 for us and 1 for them.

Sorry for having an opinion. Your reaction is typical of moaning town fans in itself.

I'm going for 3-0. Lungfish first scorer. 7123 in attendance with 159 independent sweaties.

They'll be some humble pie to be eaten by 5.00

Wasn't just directed at you.

We SHOULD have enough to beat Carlisle no matter what side we put out TBH. I personally prefer to be attacking at home but then I prefer playing with at least 2 out and out strikers.

Sorry I am just a but fed up with most things Swindon at the moment, I snapped at you and shouldnt have.

Nice to see the ref take hold of this game unlike our last two games,

in boring other news,Caddis scores for Brum

Ritchie scored and had a decent game for Muff earlier.

Hair hasn't improved, though

Caddis scored again.

I take it we aren't at our rampant best

Sounding quite good actually

Spose I should have gone today. Couldn't be arsed

Good start with Luongo.

1-0 Swindon

Good work Pritchard! Much livlier in the free role too

Oooooooooshh

He must have half a dozen this season already.

Money well spent

Had a quid on Luongo at 14/1-thanks Shaw Rosso!

With few strikers on the pitch 14/1 was a fantastic price

We sounded in control in the main but with a few shakey moments at the back but overall it sounds like we are comfortable.

Sounded quite enjoyable that 45, Harley and Jay Mac sounding like an improbable good partnership on the left.

sums it up really. Early on it was fairly open. As the half went on we looked better team. But Carlisle have launched a couple of sorties to remind us its not game over.

Playing one up is fine but sometimes there is just the one option to hit.

Jmac and Harley linking up extremely well in attack. Expect Carlisle to address that in the second half.

Looking good so far

Is it too early for a JD and Coke?

It's never too early for a drink.

Ok. Thanks. I'll pour mesep a large one

You should pour one for yourself as well

It seems you already have.

I was only asking about JD, though.

Had a couple of Peronis at pub lunchtime

I'm drinking Pan, Croatia's 2nd or 3rd finest lager.

One of Pan's People, eh?

Steve White saying the ref is having a near impeccable game.

.....and also admitting to a bit of simulation in the past!

5 game acca worth £300, 4 of the teams leading by at least 2, just need Hartlepool now.

It's going to be the hope that kills me

Watford have screwed my acca

Yokels 2-0 up is a real turn of events.

Time for some subs.

o fucking hanlon...it had been coming for a while by the sound of it.

Oh dear... 1-1

Now to make the final 2 changes. Always leave our subs too late.

Oh for ball aches sake :suicide:

Fucksake. No tempo this half. Need 2 up top

Whoops-nother set piece

Fuck sake.

Thompson off would seem to be a bit of a boo boo from all accounts.

Get in Pritch!

Yesssss 2-1 Town

Get the fuck in!

 :clap:

Went to make tea and I've missed two goals!

Well, fuck me sideways!!

Yessss!

Lovely, time to shut up shop although that's probably not a strength of ours

This bloke is going to be a top player!

Whom? Pritchard?

yes-future England international!

He will be, its shame hes probably off in January to the Championship with Boremuff and 'Udders after him.

Yeah. If England had an oompa-loompa team

Got Ajose 6/1 last scorer-come on!

soapy tit wank

Pox miss penalty  ;D

Post-Beckham England right wingers: Sean Wright-Philips, Aaron Lennon, David Bentley, Theo Walcott, Matt Jarvis, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Johnson,

Across the midfield Tom Cleverly, Leon Osman and Jake Livermore in the last 18 months alone.

Rule out nothing.

Take away the free kicks and he has 1 goal.

Jinxed it you twat

You beat me to it

Squeaky bottom time.

Nope 3-1

3-1!

Boom  :beers:

I'm still nervous over on Player!

 :beers:Time to crack open another Tesco brand 2% lager.

And Shitty go behind!

FT 3-1

Boom!

Excellent! We do seem well able to beat the middling teams in this league.

Pity Sheffield U seem to be picking up a bit

shit-that could have been Ajose!

Lovely.  Who's next?

3 points, 0 cards, Ranger back in the fold... mustn't grumble.

Oh, there will still be plenty of grumbling

Also feel obliged to point out that City lost again, so they drop back down to 23rd. Apparently some of their lot broke down on the M6 on the way up; if they're lucky they'll have been spared having to watch it.

You got fairly close with all of that apart from the Carlisle goal.

I'd rather have a Bounty

Because they were taken to the clinic for counselling?

Decent ref for once? Is it just coincidence he's only given 11 yellows and 1 red this season?

got 14s with Bet365-cheers for the nudge Rosso!

Goodsish performance.

Already mentioned first half. Very open game to start, a corner each inside the first minute set the stall. But as it went on we became more dominant. The issue being that one up top means sometimes when we need to pass we don't always have a forward ball option. Anyway, 1-0 after great work from the extremely lively Pritchard to rob the ball from the full back and set up Luongo. He certainly excels in the free role, and while I would have given J-Mac the MoM he was certainly a contender in anyone's eyes.

But 1-0 is never enough, and a couple of breaks from Carlisle looked dangerous but came to nothing.

Second half was largely less enjoyable, and certainly less comfortable. Carlisle had much more of the ball and to me we looked like we dropped a bit deep. It still took a good header from Mr big club to undo us, and at that point it looked like we'd thrown away the very real chance of 3 points. Thankfully a cynical trip on Pritchard and a wonder free kick from the same banished those thoughts within 2 mminutes. We woke up and although Carlisle still in it we held out and polished things off with a fine breakaway goal at the death.


hahahahahaha. Not sure he is good enough for a top championship team. Maybe he'll grow into it.

Actually he was pretty good. Blimey.

Not the greatest of games but well worth the 3 points. We tried to walk the ball nito the net several times before we achieved it with Luongo - good tackle by Pritchard, a good run into the box and Luongo was on the end of the pass to put it away. After that we again tried to walk the ball into the net and Carlisle hit us with the sucker punch due to complete and utter bollox defending. We then try and walk the ball into the net. Pritchard puts us ahead from a cracking free kick where the goalie should look at his positioning.
We then bring Ranger on and suddenly O Hanlon has got someone challenging him to the headers. A great breakaway and good pass from Ranger for the 3rd.
Mason nearly scores the goal of the season but does all the hard work and then hits it at the keeper with the whole goal at his mercy.
Overall its a good 3 points but there's still plenty of improvement to be made.
Regardless of whether Ranger is a rapist, lazy cunt or whatever we look a much better side with him in it. We don't have another player like him and he gives the team balance and gives the attack a focal point.
The defence still looked shit.
We tried to walk the ball into the net - think I might have mentioned that one already.
Fair play to the ref who had a decent game.
Also, fair play to the Carlisle fans who travelled - not sure of the number but I'd guess between 200 and 300.
  

Agree with Chalkie, we were very shot shy today.

The man in front of me bought a pie before the game, held onto for the entirety of the first half before tucking in at half time.

I know some don't agree, but I think Pritchard is class, and is going to have a very bright future. He's only 19, but has the vision and the creativity of no-one else in the side.

Mcevilly played well

20 :)

I agree he's a prospect. He has great talent. He's just not currently at the level of say Ritchie. At 20 years old that's to be expected I guess. The thing that he can't do right now is beat a player when out wide, but he seems to favour a central role anyway.

I wouldn't have said Morrison was going to be playing for a Championship team when we had him at the same age either, but he is.

ATTENDANCE: 7,671 (238 away fans

Fuck me, the player must have committed murder to get a red from that ref! He was a homer, which is always good if you're the home side!

Re the ref, absolutely excellent today, hardly noticed him on the pitch which must be a good thing!!

And the one sided home dominance continues.

If Ajose could have finished today, the game would have been over by half time. As it was, we bossed the game but didn't finish it off and there was always a risk of dropping two points (very much against the run of play) until a sublime Pritchard free kick. Bottom line - without Ranger and N'Guessian, we don't have enough threat up front.

What a difference a week makes, same scoreline except it goes in our favour - and I must say it was deserved!

Hate it when we attack the Town End 1st half, it takes away what (if any) atmosphere there is inside the CG for the 2nd half. Pritchard played very well and his best game for quite some while, Ajose was guilty of missing a few but he played well and Luongo took the 1st well to finish off a good move! Defence still looks a bit shaky, but what can you do when a world cup finalist scores?  ;) Happy with the win, a bit off time off now, bring on Stevenage!!!

Have I missed something here?

My bad Chang, thought it was Chimbonda who scored but now been informed it was O'Hanlon...

That fucker has never resembled a world cup finalist that's for sure.

I think the quality of the opposition may have played more of a part than the passage of time

Had a tenner at 4-1 for him to get first goal today, thought it was happy days when he went round the keeper but oh no!!!

Noticed a few people mentioning that Ajose was wasteful today. In my opinion he's the closest thing we've got to a natural goalscorer at present and has got a decent record considering he's been in and out of the side.

Putting all of the off-field concerns to one side for the moment, would people be happy if we signed him permanently in January? The departure of Foderingham could at least give us the possibility of affording the transfer fee.

I'd like to see him be a bit more consistent in front of goal. Their keeper must have bruises up and down his midriff from the number of times Ajose shot straight at him when a sidefoot into the corner would have done it.

Depending on the price, he's already here so why not. Would prefer to see Wes stay until the end of the season and not go to Bournemouth

Decent win. Thought the worst when O Hanlon inevitably equalised but fair play boys got themselves back up for it and deserved the win. Ranger was as good after coming on as Mason was bad - what on earth was that header back across his own goal at the end? Thought Hall had decent game which was more than could be said for Captain Ward who had a right mare. Ajose lively throughout and thought he did pretty well as lone striker but he really should have had a couple today with better finishing. Pritchard probably just deserved to shade MOM from the also excellent Jay Mac. Nice to be able to concentrate on what happens on the pitch rather than the never ending Jed n Lee saga.......

In the France squad that reached WC 2006 Final - he was an unused sub.

Think he was referring to O'Hanlon (who actually scored) not Chimbonda (who you initially thought scored)

Its easy to get O Hanlon and Chimbonda mixed up

More or less twins. Like the Ant and Dec of 3rd tier football

O Hanlon even wore a headband so as you could distinguish between them.

A good job too or we'd never have been able to tell them apart.

And Flint got decked by a Preston player.

While I remember can we please sort our our Fucking corners

Icing on the cake.

I won't repeat what's already been said, but I do have a few points I'd like to raise.

I feel sorry for McEveley.  MOM performance again (for about the fourth time), but he never seems to get it.  I think he would need to score a hattrick and make a number of goal saving tackles to actually be given MOM.

What is going on with Nathan Thompson?  He has been awful recently, doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball, not challenging like he used to and generally looks a bit disinterested?

Ajose needs to practice hitting the target a bit more.  People were on William's back constantly for missing the sort of chances that Ajose misses.

The difference is Ajose DOES score as well as miss
Willams just missed ( last season at any rate )

Nathan not been the same since his injury - maybe rushed back maybe been told to rein it in a bit as was getting a booking a game at one stage.

Very rare for defender to get MoM - scorers will always get the glory

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9051537/kavanagh-blasts-useless-ref Doesn't seem to agree!

He may well be right about that pen shout
About time we had a bit of refereeing luck

What penalty. I saw nothing that warrented one.  Genuinely

Well, I feel we made hard work of killing off a mediocre team.

If we had gone 2 zip up, it was game over...but no, we fuck it up.

That is all from me.

how is a 3-1 win a fuck up?

Read it again...

At 2 zip up....it would of been game over....Carlisle dead...

But...we let them back in at 1-1...

3-4 would have been a fuck up, we wobbled but that's it.

and then scored 4 minutes later, and again at the end of the game.

I think you need to learn the definition of a fuck up!

As for the penalty incident, it did look like a foul to me but the contact was several yards outside the box and their lad deliberately made sure he was in the box when he threw himself over. The ref didnt book him so Im assuming he noticed there was a slight contact but was influenced by the quite obvious theatrics.

If there was a clip, and I didn't see one, it would have been outside the box, he stumbled and fell into the box, went down too easy!!  Or was that a different foul?  Do we have any complaints about the ref?

Andy Warren noted on Matchday Live that Kasim might have been a touch fortunate to get away with it, but the ref did apparently say the player made a meal of it. Interesting that Kavanagh says Cooper agreed the ref was poor. Did he mention that in his post-match comments? Seems at odds with what everyone here saw.

I'm guessing he's referring to the guy that was tripped several yards outside the box but only fell to his knees once he crossed the 18 yard line.

The ref was largely fine but he did give a few soft fouls against both sides imo.

As for Ajose not being moaned at like Williams, it's because he's playing like Williams did at the start of last season, causing problems with his running and scoring goals. If all that stops and he starts playing like he's doing an impression of Harry Enfield's Kevin then maybe people will get on his back.
I will be delighted if we sign him or at least extend his loan for the remainder of the season.

Just a few thoughts on yesterday, atmosphere was very flat - although no doubt if you are a Madness fan the repetitive playing just before kick-off would have been very welcome!!  Cannot understand why so many of our players appear to keep slipping over, Ward did it yesterday on the edge of the box and it could have been costly.  Piss poor corners, and throw-ins not much better (need more movement off the ball).  Wes clattered by his own player a couple of times, Hall much better yesterday, J-Mac mom for me, Ward seems a little bit de-motivated at the moment (body language not good).  Harley a good player but a bit too casual at times, Pritchard a bit of an enigma for me (although he was good yesterday) - needs to look up and find players quickly instead of trying to run through a brick wall, although his work for Luongo's goal was first class.  Ranger was good when he came on, has that knack of holding the ball up and bringing other players into the game - which is just what happened for the last goal.  Defence at sixes and sevens for O'Hanlon's goal although I question the validity of it, they win a free kick and we are retreating, guy tries to take a quick one and hits one of our retreating players, surely that's tough, but ref orders a re-take and they score from it!!  Don't think we were at our best yesterday but a comfortable victory, started brightly first half bit didn't seem to start the second half as well.

Yesterday's ref was the best we've had all season. Happy with the performance and the 3 points. Jay Mac is rapidly becoming our most consistent performer and has added a real attacking threat to his game. Ranger gave us something different when he came on, we look a lot more solid with him in the team. Hall had his best game in a Town shirt and the midfield dominated.

Hall is very calm for his age, sometimes I feel he is too calm and there was one point where he had several yards on an attacker to clear the ball but left it til the last second. Any later and he could have lost the ball on the edge of the box. Great range of passing as well.

Highlights up on Carlisles youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNASHYKlj_Q

Interesting that they never even bother showing the "penalty" that wasn't!!

Poor goal to concede from a free kick that far out.

Ranger's involvement in our third was exactly the sort of link play that we've sorely missed in recent weeks.

We defend too deep from set pieces tho even saying that you would have thought Wes or someone could have stopped that - hardly a bullet header from a distance
Ranger does add a different dimension and didnt I think would say it but we are half the team when he is out.
Lets hope he stays free and stays focused

But we are the highest home scorers in the entire FL - averaging almost 2.5 goals scored per game

Don't get me wrong, I don't want people getting on Ajose's back.  My point was that he does miss a lot of clear cut chances and it doesn't take long for people to turn a la Williams.

He does but I think Williams was still cut a bit of slack whilst he had the work rate, once that dropped off was when people really lost it with him.

Can't see how anyone could compare Ajose to Williams.

Ajose is good, Williams is shit. There ya go :)

I watched the last goal from the wheelchair enclosure, Town End end of the DRS so didn't get a really good view. Having just watched the highlights, Rangers involvement and movement was fucking awesome :pint: