Thetownend.com

The Opponent:  Brentford

Happy Christmas to every member of The TEF, I hope you have all had a fantastic day in whichever way you have chosen to enjoy it, for me personally its been a nice simple one with a few beers, family and friends, a rather nice bit of gammon and chicken and finally being force fed the plight of David Platt and Roy Cropper. It seems the ticketing arrangements for today’s game have been changed so we can now pay on the gate, not sure this will have a significant effect on the attendance but best wishes to all of those making the journey today. Its fair to say a win in the London Borough of Hounslow today would be massive. I’m sure last season’s play off disaster may be on the minds of a couple of players but a majority of our 1st team is made up of players that have only been with us since the summer and they have nothing to fear at Griffin Park.

Brentford’s plan to move to a new community stadium took a massive step forward, back in June 2012, when the club, via Matthew Benham, purchased the 7.6 acre site in Lionel Road South, Brentford, from Barratt Homes who had originally acquired the site in January 2008. The club is planning to build a 20,000-spectator capacity stadium on the land. Along with outline planning permission for a Hotel and Apartment buildings, on unused land surrounding the site, to help fund the project, as well as applying for outline planning permission for Griffin Park which will also be sold to developers as to fund the Lionel Road South project. It will be interesting to see how near they are to getting anywhere near 20’000 in this stadium, although some of the faces that may pop along to watch the Bees in action include massive nobody, Dean Gaffney, Status Quo bassist John ‘Rhino’ Edwards, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, and Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman. With Gaffney taking lead vocals this could be an interesting musical line up.

Where the opposition gather –  Another one of those sites that pre registration is required.
 
http://www.griffinpark.org/forums/forum.php

http://www.brentford.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=2

Last 6 – WDWWWW (3rd on 43 points) Just the 9 wins in their last 10 league outings.

They have served us both –  John Buttigieg, Alan Connell, Alan McCormack, Deon Burton, John Bostock, Jonathan Dougla$, Lionel Piggin, Nigel Gray, Chris Kamara, Percy Whipp. Junior Lewis, Richard Key, Harry Morris, Matt Heywood, Mark McCammon,  Nathan Byrne, Jimmy Glass.

The Odds -  Brentford 10/11  Draw 5/2  Swindon 3/1  Clayton Donaldson seems to enjoy scoring against us and his odds on scoring the 1st goal are as short as 4/1, the shortest price Town player is Dany N’Guessan at 7/1. Nile Ranger is a decent 8/1 with some outlets.

The Son Says –  After wearily raising his head from his new iPad Air he has gone for a 2-1 away win.

The Prediction – Records are there to be dismantled and that is exactly what we will do this lunch time. I feel a dismantling is on the way, 4-1 Swindon with goals from Pritchard (2), Luongo and Ranger. A crowd of 6’212 with 789 from Swindon.

And Finally – R.I.P former Brentford and Crystal Palace chairman and manager Ron Noades who passed away a couple of days back.

COYR COYR COYR

Nice late evening read bud.

I personally think we will scrape a draw 1-1 with trotta and ranger scoring.
Aw we have already sold 900 tickets as of 3pm on Monday and tickets r now available on the gate I think we will be looking at 1200 away fans.

Hope it's trouble free this time and see u all in the griffin.
Coyr

As Ranger has written off his motor again today lets hope his mind is on the game.
Cant remember what GPs capacity is but reckon wont be far off a sellout for them
Lets say 10478 with 1245 from town. Feel a 2.1 win for us.
See you all in the Griffin or whatever boozer is open first.

0-0 happy Xmas rosco

Draw....I'm going....

2-0 defeat. I'm going too

3-0 win, I'm going...see you there! p.s - we owe this lot after last season, wonder if there fans will give it large like they did on the pitch after that PO defeat, wankers!

Hope to get finished work in time to catch the match on player,that's if player behaves itself! 2-2 draw with Ranger and Barthram on target

Not forgetting Hard Fi, purveyors of the finest debut album of the noughties.

just leaving-YOU BLUES!

Any parking tips for Brentford ?

From the other thread:

Link (http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=52797.msg1244841#msg1244841)

The other advice I had was to park in Chiswick, where there are proper car parks, and get the bus in from there.

My wife has banned me from going. We've got her sister, husband and kids around all day. He's a yiddo. His sons are but I'm trying to convert them to Town. Was going to take them to Brentford as a surprise but not allowed.
I can see us getting a bit of a spanking here but hope I'm wrong. 4-0 Brentford. Anything from this is a bonus

Let's not forget Robert Rankin in Brentford's list of favoured sons either, fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk humour book writer extraordinaire.

Feeling confidently corpulent today, 3-1 Town. Christmas goal from a gust-assisted goal kick for Wes, another for Kasim the Locomotive, and one from What's the Storey in Balamory as well.

Will Ranger have behaved and will he be playing? THAT IS THE QUESTION!

1-0 bees

I've done Brentford in my accy. So, if they do win I may get the benefit of winning some moolah and if we manage to avoid defeat I don't mind losing a tenner!

Everyone's a winner! You know it makes sense!

Not going today,round my sons house later and hopefully by then we have grabbed three points.
If we set up like we did at Sheffield they will batter us...if we have a go then a draw would do me just fine.
UP THE TOWN.

My daughter's birthday today so no chance of going.

If we get more than 1 point from the next two away games I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Looking forward to Crawley at home.

1st time I've missed a Boxing Day fixture in the 21st Century...would have probably made the effort had it not been an early KO.

SR...Lionel Piggin   :) do you make this stuff up?

Apparently a piggin, is a small bowl made of hoops and staves, one of which is extended as a handle.

It's odd how the name Lionel, can sound so prosaic, when pronounced like lion....and so sexy when pronounced Lyonel, like the French place and Senor Messi.

Don't get me started on Percy Whipp.  :)

We're gonna get stuffed and everyone will whinge.

Played 1 game for us in 1914/15 season Reg, surprised you never met him?  :)

Not the best season to be starting out on a career...although football carried on depite the outbreak of the Great War to see out the season...presumably because it was thought it would be all over quickly.  Archie Bown scored all 6 v Watford, that was worth seeing.

Haven't you previously said you didn't understand how people can back against their own side?
For what its worth i think we'll lose too.

Probably.

I am very fickle

Bet to win regardless of who is playing. Won't effect the result backing against your team ;)

Poppycock. It has as much of a bearing on the result as it does when I post a matchday thread 1 minute early. The consequences are unimaginable.

Has N'Guessann upset Cooper. not even on the bench

Brentford v SWINDON TOWN: Foderingham; N Thompson, Hall, Ward, Byrne; Ajose, Mason, Luongo, Kasim, Pritchard; Ranger

Substitutes: Belford, Barthram, McEveley, L Thompson, Gladwin, Harley, Storey

My dad's gone.  His away record is dire like mine. The last time he saw us win away was the Charlton P/O semi final and not sure it counts because it was penalties?  We've got no hope.

Get in.....

Get the fuck in

"We are Swindon, were taking the piss"  :)

Merry Mason!

If there is any way of keeping Ryan Mason for a longer period of time then it has to be done.

TBH would he go straight in to a Championship side?

Don't think so myself. Better off staying and playing in a promotion winning team!

"Shit Nile Ranger, your just a shit Nile Ranger"  :)

Bravo to the noisy town following today  :clap:

Yes I think he could get in to some of them.  Expect he is off to Bournemouth in January anyway  ;)

Oh well...1-1

oh dear.

Damn poetic justice!

So far not bad, snatch a late winner and we are in business!

Well, very quiet..

2-1 Town Get in.............

Have some of that..

Yes

Get in!

Fan-dabi-Ajose

Arse

cakes

That didn't last long - like the commenter "it's now back to 2-2" observation, er...

FFS

Oh bollocks

fuckityfuck

It was coming...  Need some fresh legs by the sounds of the commentary

Mis communication between Wes & Ward, bet Hall still gets the blame ;)

Should have made those changes earlier

Not there but surprised we haven't left Ranger on to play alongside Miles

Who's the co-commentator??

Hockaday

This kind of decision frustrates me.

(Assuming there is no injury fitness issue)

What were the substitues?
Gladwin for ?
Bartram for Thompson?
Storey for Ranger?

Gladwin for Ajoes

1016 Town fans in attendance out of 8333

At 2-2 they would have been good subs, at 3-2 down too negative, unless Pritch is playing up front.  By the sounds of it he isn't.  Might as well lose 4-2 going for it rather than 3-2 not.

This performance would probably been good enough for 5 extra points had we played the same against Crawley and Blades instead of the insipid, limp-wristed shite we served up

'Ward up front in an Anton van der Linden way'

What way is that, one that doesn't work?

FT 3-2

Arse.

Didn't sound our worst performance, but that doesn't really matter, we lost.

This

Whilst you are right that you don't get points for playing well & losing, at least it gives you more hope than losing & not even putting up any fight.

Brentford now top.

We pretty much know we're shit away from home and can't defend, but with this side, I think we need to be offensive, surely bettter to go down 3-2 than 1-0?

Spot on reg. we have good enough attacking players to win 3-2 more often than lose I reckon!

Very true. Just disappointed after being ahead twice!

Indeed.  I'm still not enamored by some of Cooper's substitutions.  

Didn't expect anything today, but more disappointed to come away with nothing having twice been in front, albeit very briefly the second time.

It's going to take some conviction from Cooper to go this way...we've now been to 5 of the top 6 and got 3 points, we've still to go to the bottom 5, but Cooper will be haunted by the fact we've got nil point at the 3 strugglers directly above them.

Avoiding defeat at Bradford would be good, so will Cooper go back to bus parking again, or go for it?

As our defence showed again today, bus parking isn't an option. We can only attack and hope for fewer cock-ups another day.

Just back.  Frustrating game.  Lots of enterprise, but we're just not promotion class in the areas that matter.  Lots of hot & cold performances.  And not a great game from Ranger who, I thought, looked as if his mind was elsewhere.

I'm not going to lay in to anyone because we did OK against a strong Brentford side.  Have seen a lot worse, to be honest.  Losing 3-2 away to one of the top sides in the division is no disgrace but, sadly, still gets you 0 points.

I don't think too many people really see us as contenders....with the likely changes in January, staying up will be OK.

We still have hope but definitely need to improve at the back. That was still a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch than the trip to Sheffield though.

January doesn't look good at the mo but the summer looked worse and we're in the top half. Ce la vie.

Any team in 7th place at the end of December is a contender, to be fair.  I share your view that we are unlikely to go up, however.  Cooper has a very interesting job on his hands.  Very few of us would expect it all to come together in his first season, but there is something there to work with.

Even though I know you called some of our most dire seasons correctly in the past before anyone else did, I find your 'staying up will be OK' assessment this time around unduly pessimistic.  We should be aiming for a top half finish this season, no question.

Edit:
OK, take your point about the likely changes in January (which I missed first time around).  We'll see.  I have a feeling that Power may have a few more aces up his sleeve, so all may not be lost even if we do lose the likes of Wes and Pritchard (who incidentally, was very hot & cold today.  Lots of nice runs, but distribution could be so much better.)

From where we are atm, it would need a McMahon style 96/97 collapse to put us in trouble, but there is the doubt thrown up by what players may leave or not be available, and the number of potentially difficult home games, alongside continuing poor away form.

Just got back....very proud of the Manager and squad, gave the fans good value today.

Ref wasn't great but for both sides......two pens for both teams missed.

I enjoyed it but Meh....never mind.

Well done lads..... Unlike the Blades....that's the way to lose.

Enjoyed capt caveman fucking up for our second goal.......

Can't see us getting anything at Bradford, I'm giving that a miss..... Hope the lads prove me wrong...

Made me proud today and the fans sung well...

I had a Celtic fan and a Rangers fan with us today...both of whom remarked on the atmosphere in our end.  It wasn't even the biggest away following we've had there, but the 1,000 odd who were made themselves heard.  (Wasn't hard, mind, given the near silence from the other three stands.  Maybe they all had hangovers?)

A bad spell cost us but not much to grumble about overall.

We never pushed on after going one nil up and we could all see their 3rd coming so why couldnt Cooper. Subs came too lttle too late.
Decent away day tho. Griffin is a nice old boozer.
Cant see us getting anything v Bradford but you never can tell which town will turn up.
Roll on NY day and Crawley

please tell me NGuessan was injured!Bringing on Gladwin was a big mistake.I presume he was on for his build but then proceeded to get nowhere near any high ball that came his way.Sorry to be critical but if Thompson wasn't injured,why wait so long to bring him off-he was shocking as was Byrne,Brentford must have broken the record for the amount of crosses delivered in one game.For a team at the top of the table I thought they were pretty poor and If just 3 or 4 of our lads had played well it would have been 3 points.Dont think anyone was worth more than 6/10 today.Disappointing

That, sadly, is the Swindon way.  We rarely do.

That said, Brentford didn't really let us.  Their passing in midfield was very tidy and they held possession for decent periods.  Personally felt that 3-2 was probably a fair reflection - but that with the willingness to get forward that we were showing, an equaliser at the end was always a possibility.

What likely changes are coming that we're not already expecting?

We've all known for months that Ranger's court case could see us lose a striker and that he'll be prone to causing problems.

We all know that our best players will ve sold regardless of who is running the club.

Anyway, I'm surprised nobody is crucifying Cooper for giving the players a day off yesterday.

To be honest I'd have thought a midfield boasting McCormack and Douglas would have dominated (physically) ours. Is that what happened?

Which of the following do we think won't be here come Feb? I'd go for (in order of likeyhood):
- Ajose
- Pritchard
- Wes
- Ranger (one for the courts, but even if innocent will he behave)
- Thompson(s) (Not Nathan on recent form!)
- Kassim
- JMac

I'd imagine the line will be drawn just above or below Ranger, but who knows. Could come down to who we can shift that is out out of the first team/on loan already (Cox, Benson, etc...).

MaCormack played RB-but their no 4 was the dominant midfielder for me.Worst Ive seen Luongo today

Brentford reminded me of us under di Canio. Get the ball out wide as quickly as possible and hit it into the box. Well drilled and organised. We were second best.

Short answer: yes.  They passed the ball neatly in midfield and got it forward quickly.  It's been a while since I've seen an opposition side dominate us in terms of possession like that.  Not a yawning chasm - and we did threaten ourselves - but the better side won.  They are top for a reason.  Hardly a masterclass from them, but they did what they needed to.

Can't see Kasim or JMac going or either Thompson. Ranger is out of our hands.

Pritchard will go for sure but probably not Mason. Wes will go if the money is right. And, if so, Ajose will be signed permanently.

I'd settle for that scenario plus a couple of more loanees incoming

Ranger may well go, at her majs pleasure,
Pritchard too if spurs get the right offer.
Not so sure about Wes, was poor today and wouldnt have impresed anybody waching him.
Kasim and N Thompson form has been so up and down of late cant see anyone taking a punt on them.
Really cant see power splashing out on Ajose either if am honest, can see a loan or 2 coming in tho

Don't see Pritchard going. He's 20 and would think spurs will want to keep him and see if he's good enough next season, especially with Sherwood now in charge.

Can't remember the last great game Wes had for us, he doesn't seem to influence games for us anymore.

What we must do is get defensive players in. I've had it with Hall, he's weak for this division and seems out of position a lot. With Ward getting on as well we need to think about this area seriously if we are to progress. Need forward cover for Ranger. Nobody else can do what he can do. Would rather lose Ajose/El Gabas and get a Ranger back up player in. Storey can play as first choice with him if we have 2 up top

Sums it up nicely for me, thought we could have had a penalty at the end.

Would love us to sign up Ajose as he looks dangerous every time I see him play. Defensive mistakes cost us again, would like to see us get in another CB in January.

Fair play to the Town fans that travelled, 1,000 for an early kick off on Boxing Day is a good turnout, pretty decent atmosphere as well.

Listening on t'radio, it seemed like a cracking game. Well done to everyone who made it.

Centreback obviously a necessity in January. Captain Caveman is apparently waning, hard as he tries. Cooper's comments on the game were interesting. Obviously a fair amount of stuff he's not allowed to talk about at the moment, what with change of owner and Ranger and January transfer window and so on.

Well done to all the Town fans who could make the trip. I thought they could score every time they attacked - had a complete lack of confidence in our defence (including Wes) and it was our downfall. I didn't think they were great but they did what they needed to do to win, and looked a good-organised side with a bit more experience than us. That being said, we played the game the right way, took the lead twice and played some good stuff - but got sloppier as the game went on. The ref was poor, missed some kick outs (McCormack on Kasim?) that if seen on another probably would have been red. Don't like Brentford or their fans after last season, and that won't change after today - they were very quiet until they took the lead and even then they were still quiet. We move on and hopefully a couple of reinforcements, whilst keeping the majority of the squad together, in Jan will see us have a solid 2nd half of the season. C.O.Y.R!

Didnt hear Coopers post match interview.
Seeing McCormack and Douglas today reminded me of what dont have anymore - someone to shout and gee up players. Ward doesnt do it and neither does anyone on the current team

Not much to add to what's been said. Call it experience, cynicism or what have you, but Brentford know how to win a game better than our kids do currently. Was impressed with their number 4 and the way they pressed forward in possession. We'll get there, but are still learning.

Miles different to Sheffield at least, and thought particularly first half we looked really good in spells against a decent side.

Imagine the outs and any ins during January will shape what we should expect for the rest of the season. Good to have plenty of points on the board already though, we'll have some massively tough home games in the second half of the season.

Very enjoyable Boxing Day game of football yesterday anyway, and a really creditable turnout and atmosphere from our fans. Had a good chat with some Brentford fans who were full of compliments in the pub after the game - at least until a loon with a crutch hastened our exit by singing 'in 1969..' non stop for about half an hour  :)

I enjoyed the game, it must have been a good one for a neutral to watch.

On the plus side, we continue to look a really good side on the ball.  IN the 1st half we had some really good spells and could have opened up a good lead.

On the down side, we look weak in central defence in terms of nastiness.  Both centre backs are of a similar ilk and we need someone in there willing to put their head in where it hurts at times, a Gittens/Taylor if you like BUT........they are exposed by our inability to close down out wide and while someone mentioned the fullbacks, they are too often having to worry about the opposition fullbacks overlapping so provide too much space fro crosses.  If you let a team put as many crosses in as we did, they will eventually get one right.

Still, we will probably win a few more than we lose this season, depends on who we can keep, who comes in and whether we can find a way of getting a couple of wins against the lower teams away.  If we can do that, we might still push on, but if we continue to struggle to get results away we'll probably finish mid table.  Great viewing though.

Very fair assessment...it's those few wins that are crucial, and hopefully they'll come sooner rather than later.  The precariousness of our position is shown by a comparison with the Shitheads, who have, so far, had an abysmal season, yet we've lost the same number of games as them.

Unless, the we can improve on the road, and given the fact we've only beaten 1 top 10 side at the CG, we could be looking at these 6 home fixtures as our best chance of getting to 52 points.

Crawley, Dongs, Bradford City, ColU, Shrewsbury, Oldham.  It never quite works out as easily as this, but without something on the road and lots of games against current top 6 sides at the CG to come....these 6 are pretty much must win games.

Jacko? Haha

I thought there were two differences between the teams. We have no leaders, they did. Ward may talk to the ref, but he doesn't gee us up and get us going. Douglas had a poor game (apart from the pass for our 2nd), but in all the breaks he was talking to all their players, getting them fired up.

The second was inexperience. The longer the game went on, the more we played it out from the back, but they were pushing up on us more and more. We invited them on to us, and that increased their momentum. There is a time to play it long.

Sorry to join a bandwagon, but Hall is poor. He may be inexperienced, but he needs to man up and quick.

And how the hell was Trotta the MoM ?

oh yeah - and they scored 2 comedy goals - we never get those.

Once again my away record of not being very good continued. Did not expect to get much change out of a Brentford side going well, being full of experienced players and would quite have happily settled for a draw but 'twas not to be.

As said elsewhere we were good in parts diabolical in others, played some nice controlled stuff then gave the ball away in dangerous places and hey ho under the cosh again. Got to say that defensively we are all over the place at the moment. Missed McEveley badly as they did a job on Byrne (who is never a left back) exactly the same as the play-off, pulled him around all over the place trying to mark Donaldson and left big gaps exploited this time by McCormack.

I keep saying that as a team we are on a steep learning curve but we definitely require some steel to go with the nice football as I would hate to be looking over the shoulder come March.

As an afterthought, how is it we seem to get referees (and assistants) who just do not seem up the job. I can only say that it is painfully obvious that none have them have ever played the game at a serious level and get sucked in by the non-fouls and divers yet miss the nasty little incidents - it really pisses me off.  

I don't think you can call their first a comedy goal - brilliant free kick

But there was a good deal of comedy just before when slipped.

Was I the only one that thought he was odds on to score after slipping ?

He was a bit of a twat though, baiting the crowd afterwards - it's times like that when you need the lad that hit the keeper !

I thought the celebration was fine.  After he slipped, we were giving him heaps of abuse and making fun.  And then he scored...so why shouldn't he give a little back?  If fans are going to dish it out, they have to be prepared to accept it as well.  The celebration/baiting was good-natured, so can't really see the problem.

I thought it was inevitable after he slipped. Great free kick, though.

I agree about giving it and taking it.

He was getting alot from the Town fans, but his celebration was a bit rabid.

No problem with it, but he was lucky he directed it at the milder end of the Town support, or he might have got something chucked at him - not condoning it, but it does happen

I fail to understand why we never put a man on the post,
Wes never moved and the ball went across him ffs

Whereas their keeper made a great save v pritchards free kick

(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab225/mark_woolhouse/freekickbrentford_zps6a0766ab.jpg)

Never mind the slip bit, I thought he was odds on after the ref gave them a second extremely dodgy free kick on the egde of the box in a matter of minutes.

Brentford have a team full of highly organised, quality players - and leaders - at this level, who carry with them that borderline level of nastiness, aggression and bullying, which together should see them comfortably promoted.  I am continually dumbfounded that they, like Orient for example, are allowed to get away with it. Just about all of their five players booked gave the ref some thinking to do, and guess what...

As for us, as others have mentioned, we lack leadership and character. Despite playing some magnificent attacking football, there was a certain inevitability that we'd come home with nothing.  This was a game that cried out for 4-5-1, with two wide players countering their full backs who bomb on.  Byrne, who I felt did much better than I expected, was often left exposed against Donaldson and McCormack.  Pritchard's effort was yet again exceptional, otherwise, depending on what happens in January, I'm inclined to think 7th will be as good as it gets....I'd take that right now, and would have been chuffed with that in August.

Did you see the Man City/Liverpool game . . those matches are supposed to be controlled by the cream of the reffing talent, how the fuck the lino can give an offside when he was clearly on by two metres and the ref missed penalties at either end is beyond me, just gotta be grateful we get a decent ref occasionally!

Better than the slip, he went to bang the ball in an empty net after the third goal and missed :)

Agree...been saying for years that if you have a man on the post covering that half of the goal and the keeper on the other it takes something special to find the net.

Oh...and the wall these days hinder the keeper more than helps,in the old days the ball was a lot harder to lift over or round a wall...the balls these days make it a lot easier.

From Brentfords youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqPhF7FnW_Y

Oh Christ, don't start again.  :crash:

Wes seemed to be hiding behind the wall for the free-kick, it definitely went his side. And Ward should have done better with the third. Hall or Ward lost their man for the second. All avoidable goals...

was nguessan injured?

dont really like to jump to early conclusions but Gladwin looked completely out of his depth.

Much as I was questioning why Storey was frozen out, and I'm glad he's back, N'Guessan hasn't featured much at all recently anyway and I'm not sure why. He can be bad, and good, but I'm not sure what he'd have done to get pushed down the pecking order. Must be he's got an injury.

Yeah N'Guessan was injured I believe.

Agree about Gladwin, big lad presumably brought on to compete aerially after Ranger went off, but kept jumping 3 yards away from the ball and closing his eyes.

Oh yeah, embarrassed to asked this but who is Gladwin, youth or someone we picked up that I missed?

If youth, well, yeah, sometimes it takes em a while.

Signed from some non league outfit.

EDIT: Marlow, of Southern Football League Division One .

Player signed about six weeks ago from Marlow - ex Reading trainee.

Nguessan was Ill not injured

Oh, the Midfielder! I thought his name began with a 'B', never mind.

Non-league players are always a bit more of a gamble, guess we'll see. I'd imagine its a massive step up in fitness and pace of game.

Ben Gladwin

 :doh: Aimed at me not you.

To be fair to Wes, he made a very good save from a freekick before the goal

Just watched the highlights. I've watched the free kick a few times and it looked like a good one, pacey and through a crowd of players. Second Mason was too happy to let the ball go out wide and half heartedly tracked back (tired?). Still a good cross/header though. Third was calamitous.

Our first goal was good, and for the second Ajose is a little poacher isn't he.

yep-poor from Wes on the free kick goal

Third goal....WTF!!!!??

I still can't tell wtf happened for the 3rd. My Brentford supporting cousin reckons it nicked off of Ward's shoulder.

I saw it that Trotta was 3rd favourite to get the ball but due to the numptiness of Fods and Ward,he got a toe in

This game is the only time I've seen the Town away from home this year and sat with the Town fans - I sat with the locals at Colchester.

I have to say I was very impressed with the noise and support for the team.

The fans were in great voice, both volume wise, and in range of songs - lots of differant ones, some quite fuunny as well !

WELL DONE  !!

Can't disagree with that, there was no way Trotter should have got to that first.

I'd not heard the song referencing the 1969 Cup win before.  Or if I had, it passed me by.

The 'handball!' piss take of the home fans was good as well.

Arsenal fans got a very loud rendition of that at Finsbury Park on the way back from Stevenage last year :)