Thetownend.com

Clearly tons of enthusiasm for our latest cup misadventure, considering it's only about 30 hours to kick off and we haven't got a thread yet.

I believe we haven't won a league cup game for a decade (Luton 2014) which is absolutely miserable stuff. Anyone see that ending tomorrow?

Hoping for not too many changes - maybe just something like starting with the team that finished vs Chesterfield, maybe giving Minturn a start. Not the full on youth team we got last year.

Do the PL enter the fray in round two?

Non-European teams in Round 2, CL/EL teams in Round 3.

It wasn’t a youth team last season, because the game at Colchester was called off, think that was the season before

https://townenders.com/match.php?match_id=20240701

Ironically the Lindsay season..  I bet he doesn't handle it the same way tomorrow

If we win tomorrow it will end our 982 day run (Since December 2021) without a cup win. 

👍

I'm kind of hoping they'll be sensible with Hall & Clarke but I also think taking both out is a big risk.

Is this one going to be on iFollow?

Not sure, it says Audio Pass on the official site. It's on SkySports +

I have seen claims all cup games are being included on the 20 skysports+ games guarantee.

Paid £180 for iFollow FFS. Looks like a NOW day pass is £14.99

Any cheaper way to watch?

You're quite right, I was thinking of this absolute disgrace, which was indeed a year earlier under our good friend Scott.

https://townenders.com/match.php?match_id=20230701

George Cowmeadow, right wing back.

Think it's £34.99 a month (or £26 if you lock in for 6 months), so if you're watching 3 (2) or more town games a month, you'll be better off. If you've got family,  you could always share a log in and split costs.

Otherwise, you could get a parrot, eye patch and peg leg to sail the seven seas

In terms of the game,  I've completely lost hope in the cup.

Scott Lindsey Fist Pumps 2 Swindon 0

I mean, RHM has just scored in the opening game so the next 10 teams should be safe? Or he smashes a hat-trick in, which is more likely.

He must be due an injury…

He will probably injure himself celebrating scoring against us

Will be watching as it’s on Sky +, but certainly wouldn’t pay to watch it.  Not expecting us to set the world alight but hoping we kick on from last Fridays result. A solid performance would be a good result.  1-0 win AET.

Straight to pens if its a draw isn't it?

Who’s our no. 1 pen taker this season?

Will Wright, right?

Been so long since we got that far I’m not sure.  🤭🤭

Just having a look no one in our squad has scored many penalties in their career. Drinan has the most pro pens scored (2), Wright has only ever took one penalty (against us).

If the transfer"budget" is reliant on a good cup run,this is the chance to take it seriously. Hoping not many changes. Looking forward to going there, I like the ground although it's not that happy for us. Always enjoy a stroll through the allotments

Well, 12 months ago at Peterborough

The league cup is a good chance to get through and draw one of the bigger Premier sides, (not involved in Europe) say Newcastle away for example which would be handy gate receipts. Not sure who I'd want after we knock them out, Liverpool away perhaps.

Who am I kidding, 2-0 defeat tomorrow, RHM to net.

The last league cup game we won was fricken Luton. Abysmal (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240812/856cd347b3133daee66eab4543a5ada3.jpg)

I *think* I was at Luton for that memorable cup win. Can't remember anything else about it, but I've seen Swindon at Kenilworth Road midweek so can't think of another occasion it might have been.

Simon Cup , Dave Bamber , whistle from the crowd , still fucking bitter

Nah, I'm not that old.

Lucky you :D

’Simod’

Bastard Les Sealy 😡

I was there that night. We absolutely hammered Luton in the 2nd half.

I was gutted afterwards, it was my birthday too.

Is the game on Sky/Ifollow/Chateux this evening?

Yes, every single league cup game is on Sky Sports+ this evening. Good value for some clubs, but hey its 1 game more for us!

:D

Lets keep roughly the same team tonight with just a handful of changes from Friday night.  Opportunity to get a win under the belt and progress to Round 2 and potentially get a Premier League/top-half Championship team.

I couldn't believe we have not won a League Cup game in 10 years.

Get Khan and Cain in the shop window

The Di Canio season cup run was great. Could of got something out the Villa game, atmosphere was electric that night

Do do do do, Miles Storey

Only decent performance in a town shirt and they tie him down to a new contract the day after

Also known as the Thomas Dossevi factor.

Pre match every chance of making it beyond the first round in The Jubilee Oak.

Surprised that we even made it out of the bag for the draw.

Don’t mind a visit to Crawley. The medicinal options are not bad & one of the few clubs to still have 60 for a senior concession, when pretty much everyone else is grabbing what they can.

Unless I'm mistaken Lindsey has never won a LC tie in his albeit brief managerial career.
Kennedy on the other hand made it to the 4th round with Lincoln.
Then again specialist Flynn found Swindon to be the graveyard of cup run ambitions.

Anyway, nothing beats a bit of football at night, better than watching in your house for sure.
No secrets with the lineup please. The play for today is that we will score after seventeen seconds, Glatzel through a forest of legs.
Could get three this evening with a player whose surname begins with M also on the scoresheet.
On the final sound of the whistle there will be a reflection on a giant killing & on finding a cure for our LC woes.

Scott Lindsey to PNE rumour!

Yeah, but we didn’t win that game. IIRC both the ‘Steins’  (I think it was) scored against us. The prat that whistled should have been lynched. - cost us the game IMO.   Great atmosphere though. 

Can we pay on the gate tonight does anyone know?

On the day tickets for home fans being pushed.

Don't think that there will be problem for away potd either for side stand or a small section of terrace.
Go for it.

Be interesting if Saidou Khan has recovered from his london night out illness in time for tonight

Londinium Streptococcus

:D

They are available, but I believe it's from the main ticket office once you're there.

Ticket office tweeted this yesterday Batch.

255 #STFC fans making the trip tomorrow 👏🏼
🆚 Crawley Town - 19:45 KO
🎟️ Tickets are available on the day from Crawley’s ticket office - cash/card.
✉️Collections will be at the stfc shop until 2:30pm tomorrow. Then taken to Crawley to collect from 6:30 at the ticket office

Ended up with a side stand ticket after buying one for the terrace which is fine.
Looks as if they are trying to squeeze everyone into the 2 away seated blocks.

All good, but the Football Phil detector will be on high alert in that case, assuming that he still travels of course.

He is, but be wary he's swapped his Red hat for a Camo version, presumably so he can sneak up on people ;)

Teams up

Fuck knows what formation that is - because there is three wing backs in there.

I guess King in midfield?

Three wing backs and two CBs. I was thinking Sobowale at CB perhaps.

Bycroft

Sobowale
Wright
Freckleton
Longelo

King
Cotterill
Ofoborh
Cain?

Glatzel
Drinan

442?

4411 with Cain or Cotterill as a #10 and Glatzel wide left?

Perhaps. Wouldn’t you put Minturn in there though?

No

It definitely makes more sense as four at the back. We'll see I guess.

I’m waiting to see what monstrosity the Sky provides us with before kick off.

…it makes sense for the right hand side but then who is wide left?

Maybe a 4-1-3-2.

Think it will be two up Top, but beyond that it's a bit of a guess.

At least it's not a team full of kids

Not a bad shout. Keeps Cotterill in the QB position as the 1 between defence & midfield

Pre match music I like. Doors,Band, Beach Boys......

Longelo will be wide midfielder won't he?🤷‍♂️

Sobowale at CB to add some pace to counter RHM maybe? Instead of Minturn covering Hall anyway.

This is what Sky have…

... and now a bit of Credence! Lovely

I take it’s not ‘that’ Flint

No because he plays for Mansfield

Ooh, a pre match mutual applause love in with Lindsey & the Red Devils fans.

…and his first name is Josh.

Just JoJo as the sole ex Town starter leaving Darcy & RHM to come off the bench and score

Playing in light blue  according to Sky :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

It's a tough watch when the ball is on the far side of the pitch, as the camera is at about pitch level, one would assume due to Crawley's wanky ground

Looks very white on TV.

Gonna need a third kit for Donny away I reckon.

Who is the sky commentator?

Is it Peter Drury?

Camera work and commentary is bloody awful

The replay of the penalty shout which was entirely Will Wright looking at the box where the action was happening was great.

Bring back iFollow!

I like the look of the Sobawale / King duo on right side of defence so far. Both look solid and both look like decent outlets

Even though Wright looks solid

We look defensively fragile again.

Wingback not covering the wingers

Im pretty sure the sky commentator is Peter Drury

Isnt he skys flagship commentator?

If I remember correctly, most of the ifollow coverage was barely adequate. Liked Hawes commentary though.

Glatzel snatched at that

Some passing been very sloppy

Cain and Oforbh are non existent Crawley running the midfield

Drinan hopeless...

We look to be pressing quite well. Agree not seen anything from Cain yet.

Someone tell Wright to just run with it & twat it in the top corner.

Can’t see where else a goal will come from.

Wallacot can't kick. I don't remember that when he was here. Bad memory?

Fuciking awful keeping

Would have him over Bycroft though.

Oh lordie.

Please. A new keeper.

Kennedy Out.

Oh for fucks sake. Bycroft... Fucking hell.... Fucking cup

That’s some pathetic keeping! Absolute dross!

Ouch. Does anyone know if we’re trying to recruit for a backup, or a first choice?

Howler.

Doomed

Definitely need competition for Bycroft on this showing.

Mass exodus from lounges and pubs in Swindon.

Cain runs but doesn't have the physicality, Ofoborh has the physicality but can't run. Ofoborh is a decent destroyer but he's not a box to box midfielder in a million years.

It’s all already been said - utter shite!

Still 0-0 according to Sky, I agree with them, just pretending that never happened. Fucking awful.

Eesh, that's two in two he's at fault for..

I like bycroft but both goals this season shouldn't have gone in

I’m sure this is getting tedious already but the midfield set up works for none of midfielders. It’s shit.

Jesus, that’s dreadful goalkeeping

Crawley have been so loose with the ball but we do not have the midfield to take advantage

Both teams have been shit, we are shitter

He’s made mistakes like today what must be close to a dozen times in about half a season, he’s miles off the level required especially with his kicking being extremely suspect as well.

2 awful mistakes in 2 games.

Recruit a decent keeper please

It's never stopped you before :D

(You are in this case, correct)

Find it quite annoying that after a couple of years, we finally sign a competent defensive midfielder who should be sat just in front of the defence, breaking up play and sitting to cover counter attacks but we’ve shifted him further forward in a role that doesn’t suit him in place of a more ball playing midfielder who would be better suited in the opposite position.

Can someone show the cameraman the zoom button please

Another awful half of so called football...

Bycroft - Abysmal
Cain -Awful
Oforbh - Awful
Cotterill- Awful
Drinan- Abysmal
Longelo - Poor

Bycroft should be a number 2, he's better than Ward but not upto the standards of the previous 3 or 4 keepers that we have had, yet..  working with an experienced GK would do him the world of good

Touché

I miss Gavball

Crawley striker clears the stand with a good chance, which is less of an effort than usual as it's got about six rows.

I was not a huge fan of Ward at all, but I have seen nothing to suggest that Bycroft is better. At least Ward could sometimes be a decent shot-stopper, capable of a fantastic performance (FGR away).

And we're bypassing them by going long every time, so they're barely getting a chance to do anything making it all look even worse

Chipped it over the stand

Jack's not bad , you just got to get used to some mistakes

I don’t think trying to play this way allows any of them to play to their potential.

Our players seem unable to time a tackle

Number of times they've simply sidestepped passed our player or we've been completely missed the ball

Awful..

Well, apart from the goal it wasn't terrible. It wasn't good, but it was better than the first half at Chesterfield. Not as good as the second half.

Sobowale and King have looked okay, but that may just be because they're playing on the side of the pitch you can actually see.

Cotterill did not make one forward pass that half. Everything sideways or backwards. Symptomatic of a young kid just trying to get out of games without making a mistake, as opposed to trying to influence the game.

Bycroft dropped a few clangers last season too. We need better.

Not every game.

Bycroft and Cain are probably at the top of their potential.

Noth not good enough for L2

Drinan was a panic signing again not good enough for L2

Glatzel should have buried his chance. A 12 year old saves their goal more times than not. It could be very different. But the system we’re trying to play is a tough watch. We’ve managed to recruit a squad of players that don’t appear suited to it, which is bizarre.

Early days. Teams start badly and improve, but it’s all rather concerning.

It was Awful

To be fair, Bycroft is only 22. To say he is at the top of his potential is probably harsh. Not good enough currently though.

So, is everyone looking forward to our first home game of the season Saturday?

Mistakes a side it’s not Bycroft fault we can’t string two passes together, move the ball forward, run, dribble, tackle, cross, mark or shoot.

Without the mistakes we’re just drawing every game 0-0

Meh

First time in ages we’ve recruited a good defence but the keeper cant save a standard shot. Not being funny but that’s two shockers in two games.

Crawley havent exactly been great either. Apart from the shocker it’s been pretty even. Dull but even.

Cotterill looks out of his depth.

Yeah this is definitely a worry. We have a ton of central midfielders in the squad but only Clarke who actually looks like he was signed to play this system. Everyone else is a square peg in a round hole.

…but…so easy to flip.
Oboforh as DM
Clarke as #8
Cotterill as an attacking #10 & a defending #8

I am watching the game on my iPad although my Virgin Media has Sky+ but is only showing half a dozen games so the picture leaves a lot to be desired as does the commentary. That being said from what I can see is that we are devoid of any real tactical nous, defensively reasonably ok, (keeper mistake apart) midfield all over the place and toothless up front. Not sure how we are going to pull this one out of the fire.

The same way we pulled Friday out the fire.
Worldie from Will Wright.

Shot on target ooooh

Although that’s probably our one SoT for the game done.

Wish the commentator wouldn’t keep going on about Sobowale’s debut now he’s in his 2nd game for Town!

2-0

Ward is miles better than Bycroft. It's pretty obvious Bycroft isn't up to it at this level.

Bollocks

Not sure I'll blame Bycroft for that one.

Ah bloody hell, good finish that

11 years of hurt

Make a sub ffs

Our backwards midfield not closing him down enough (still had a lot to do, good finish)

The League Cup. It was a pleasure, yet again.

Problem this year is that, unlike many seasons gone by when we had goals in us, I’m not sure this set up gets you back from 2-0.

Edit: but it may from 2-1! Never in doubt.

That's it, I've turned over

Not wasting my time watching that shite...

Different manager , different group of players thrown together

Same old shite Swindon

This is absolute dog shite

I sincerely hope for Clems sake they perform better than this on Saturday

Fucking dire

 Double Doomed

(https://media.tenor.com/vcxJazh0n2AAAAAM/wolf-of-wall-street-no.gif)

Decent hit, but not all that far away from Bycroft, unless he was unsighted, you’d expect a decent shot stopper to get something on that one IMO.

2-1

All about opinions, ours differ.  If we were playing penalties, i would agree, but we are playing football

2-1

1 common denominator- Clem!

All happening.

I take it back. Come on town!

Always said Oboforh would make a good attacking midfielder!!

…now he goes off

Oh ok. Come on then town

Here come the cavalry - Hall, Clarke, Smith on. Fuck knows who for as Sky aren't going to tell us. Drinan, Ofoborh and not sure which defender.

Ward was a way better shot stopper. Just don't expect him to be a sweeper keeper and play about 17 balls back to him a half.

Official twitter not much better

Edit. Only a double sub

Longelo - King has switched

Penalty Town

Camera work is atrocious.

Ward was no good & you’d all be apologetic with rage if he was in goal for us.

Penalty.

2-2

Saved by JoJo.

What a fucking wank penalty that was

But we score from the corner.

Missed

Well that was shit.

But that wasn't

Come on boys!  👍👍👏👏

Bycroft gonna save us in the shoot & everyone’s gonna be so mad

Wow, the last page of this thread is confusing for anyone not watching :D

Great character shown tbf. Both games we’ve gone goals down and have responded well

I assume we are watching on Sky+ but all seemed to be out of sync

It's quite confusing for us watching.

Sub wise I think Longelo went off, King is at lwb, Sobowale rwb and Hall joins Freckleton and Wright in the back three?

We scored from a corner 😲

Scoring. From a corner?

It's in the bag

We're fucking all over em

Minturn and Mitchell on for Cotterill and Freckleton.

Was Glatzel offside, or Cain greedy. Impossible to tell with that camerawork.

I think it's a mixture of Sky+ and IPTV which is the problem

Both I think

For all that we rate him Glatzel's finishing has been abysmal today.

That should ensure he scores the winner...

Glatzel has had a bit of a mare by his standards in front of goal tonight

Oooh. Close

Mitchell has done well in his first few mins!

Bit like watching through binoculars

Anyone else’s SkySports+ (from their actual sky box) freezing every 10 seconds?

It has been juttery and then speeding up for the past 5 mins or so yeah.  The audio has been constant though, which says it's them..

All good here.

Mine was in the first half, so moved to the other room which has the main sky box with a wired connection and has been (fingers crossed) better

3-2

Bother.

Triple Doomed

Same old Swindon.

New manager, new players, new tactics.

Same old Swindon.

Bollocks, another good strike though

Sigh

That looked very last seasony. Couldn’t clear the ball, couldn’t ride out the pressure

4-2

Bycroft is fucking shit.

Pretty crap arent we.

Same old shit, different season.

Some absolutely pathetic closing down there

4-2 ffs

Oh dear!

New keeper is an emergency

Bycroft out.

Waaaap waaaap waaaaaaah

Bycroft has to do better with that

What a weird game.

I just want a cup run! 😞

This is worse than Gavball

Shame really. Fought back really well and should’ve taken the lead with Mitchell or Glatzel. But that defending for those last two goals was absolutely pathetic. Another year, another round one exit from the league cup. Waste of time playing this fixture each season at this point, send out the U18’s

Well we think that we’ve played reasonably well. Bycroft is the weak link sadly.

Yes

We had a decent 10-15 minute spell.

The rest has been pathetic.

These performances won’t be greeted with much patience. Fans have been used to (attempted) decent ish football, despite shit results in recent years. 4th consecutive league two season now and if we deliver performances like we have so far, fans will turn very quickly 

Crawley fans give the ole’s

Fuck off

Not impressed so far this season and I haven't seen them yet. Does anyone at the club know anything about football?

Clem loves the game though

Nope, next Q..

No and there’s your problem. Non football people pretending to run a professional football club.

Say it again until Clem goes our fortunes will not change

Was he there tonight?  :D

Let’s just hope we are in the league cup next season.

I thought we were going on to win this then pressed the self destruct button like so many games of late.

Only two cup competitions to go and we can concentrate on the league.

Shit mistakes, shit players, shit recruitment, shit formation, shit tactics, shit workrate, shit manager, shit club, shit season.

They won’t be but the fanbase will do nothing. Clem will come out with his usual bullshite

He is holding this great club back and needs to be driven out of town

Just think if we did get lucky and go up no way in a million years would we stay there as he hasn’t a pot to piss in

What a load of shit realy this is what the new look swindon we were promised. :yikes: :harp:

Yeah but apart from that?

We’ve just conceded four to an understrength Crawley. I really want to stay positive, but we’re worryingly poor.

5 goals conceded in two games and Bycroft should arguably have saved 4 of them. Need better asap.

Saturday feels like a big game already now.

I don't know why everyone raves about Glatzel. There I've said it.

No honeymoon period for Kennedy. Am sure he will get the blame though and out esteemed leader will wriggle his way out of it again

Anything I’ve missed probably also shit.

Shit comment.

You can't really slam the work rate after that game. They closed down and chased pretty well for a lot of the game, and they didn't stop.

Bycroft has had a shocker and cost us the game.

We certainly don't look fluent or possession based, but a lot of people here hated the tippy happy football.

I think it's early days with an entirely new squad, it's going to take a few weeks to see what we really have, which is frustrating I know.

Well, last season was our worst in history. When any player shows a flash of something half decent in those circumstances, they are usually overrated by fans  

The closing down for Crawley’s third goal was pathetic.

It's a strange one, at 2-2 I was ready to say that our mentality looks loads better even if the tactics are weird. Then we fell apart again.

There's something there. It's a long way from good, but it doesn't look like an empty toolbox for Kennedy to play with. Liked Sobowale and King. If Glatzel finished as well as we know he can and Bycroft hadn't had a nightmare we win that and are happy as it comes.

Thought Mitchell and Clarke looked decent after coming on, Minturn comfortable enough as well.
Weird one to concede 4 in, they were not great by any means.

That was a bit of a disappointment

I think that's the point. I know people get angry but the xG for Crawley was less than 1 tonight. So for me the blame is largely with Bycroft for that becoming 4. Was it inspirational, no, but the 2nd half was decent enough.

I take that we should be after more than decent enough as a club, but I've not got the energy for every match discussion to run into another conversation about how badly the club is run. We can chat that on every other thread.

I think that's fair - it wasn't a four goal conceded performance, and we should know because we've seen a fair few in the last couple of years!

I like Bycroft but that was a real hot mess of a performance. Over to Mildy to get him right for the weekend.

Has he been on the radio yet?

Two games down now. Not all that sure about what sort of side we are tactically.

With the ball, 1st half on Friday, we looked to go long and take on the early cross at any given opportunity. 2nd half and today that wasn’t so much of a thing. However I cannot really see what we are going for instead.

The wing backs hug the touch line, but unless they have a defender totally isolated, they pass backwards always. We didn’t often go route one today either, it was a bit lacking in ideas. Most of our attacking moments came from Crawley losing the ball in their own half (remind you of anyone?)

If we are to be reliant on counter attacks and turnovers, then we need to be much more solid ourselves.

Still, super early, need time to gel and all that. I hope!

I’m sorry, but that’s not a four goal conceded game. Bycroft has had a shocker and cost us the game. You cannot blame the manager or the players. This loss falls to the hands of Bycroft.  

Any competent goalkeeper saves four of those five.

Now you’ve got shit ex players like RHM and Darcy trying to wind STFC fans up on Twitter. Love nothing more than this Swindon Reject FC to come falling down.

Yes Bycroft made the mistakes but Crawley had way too much time to get their shots away.
That tactics, formation & team selection - whilst it isn’t the *main* reason we lost - it didn’t do us any favours.

Watching our players lumber around as Crawley pass it around before their 3rd inexplicable…

Hepburn-Murphy wouldnt even have a club now if wasnt for us. No one else would take him on when we signed him

Darcy I can understand. RHM should be pretty thankful for STFC for taking a risk on him. Not like he exactly paid back the faith either

Both players have literally put a smiling emoji and quoted the result after their team has just won 4.2.
If that winds you up, twitter probably isn’t for you.

Was the manager asked about Khan in his interview?

It was said on Friday that Bycroft does some really good and some really bad things. There is nothing in between.

Our defence on the whole looked good. But Freckleton scares me whenever he gets the ball!

Our midfield lacked lots - creativity, control, combativity. Ofobohor (however you spell it) is playing the wrong position. Cain isn't good enough. Cotterill had a rasping shot, but doesn't look ready. Clarke made a bit of difference when he came on. Mitchell had an OK 5-10 mins for a senior debut.

Up front, Drinan didn't look good again. Glatzel missed a couple of chances - He has something about him, but he is not the complete player yet. Smith, when the ball was put on his head, scored!

So, we are a mid table L2 side playing away from home against a newly promoted L1 side. They were admittedly weakened, but they played the ball around with a bit of zip and had pace to walk through us.

Too early to tell, but, I hope we improve!

Don't know. There was music on Wiltshire Radio when I switched on.

We need someone like Khan in this side.

Nothing asked about Khan - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jj89l3

So easy to look at that result and say "shit this" and "shit that" but you swap the 2 keepers and that's a win for us. 2 goals in the last minute while pushing for a winner is poor but we were the better side for  43 minutes in that second half and should've been 1 up in the first. There's some spirit in this team I reckon and a few games together could well show a lot of improvement

I didn't see the game, so won't make much comment, but isn't your point, THE point?  Our recruitment strategy, which changes every 5 minutes, is the problem - we end up with players who are so hit and miss, either entirely (some hit, some miss) or even a single player managing both, like Bycroft does.  There is simply no consistency in approach, no infrastructure supporting any of this (it's all one year deals by and large).  We are acting like a an also ran L2 team, it's not a surprise we deliver as much to me.  I feel a bit for Bycroft, he is not ready, needs a few years developing his craft and gaining his voice as a Goalkeeper, but it's him or a spotty youth, isn't it?

Pretty much like most L2 teams. I've seen both games so far and I'd make a fairly confident prediction that this season's recruitment will prove to be better than last season's but,yes a keeper is urgent

Which is fine if you want to be like most l2 teams I suppose.  I just thought we were wanting more than that.

Never seen an unused sub do it before tho.

Seeing Gunning in the match day photos made me angrier than it really should.

Completely agree that this seasons is better than last. The thing that makes it difficult is the changed approach every year leaving you nothing to build on. Last year was a silly amount of wingers / attacking mids, this year we don’t have many but have lots of defenders. If the approach stayed the same but the personnel including the manager changed if they weren’t successful, I’d guarantee we’d be getting better every year, not worse as we have done last 2 seasons

That was a pretty good interview with Kennedy. I like the way that he is positive throughout. He was supportive of Bycroft, and could see the trap that Hawes was leading him into. I thought he answered that point well - We need to look at what we can do better as 3 goals have been conceded from shots outside the box.

On Bycroft, I think he is much weaker on his right hand side than his left. He also often seems to lose his positioning, which leaves him exposed (often in the right). He is also prone to the odd clanger. If he could work out those issues, he wouldn't be in L2 very long.

I think the defence looks much better than last year. Its far less porous. As a group, the players seem to be able to cover for eachother, rather than leaving us totally exposed at all times. But the midfield isn't quite there yet and Drinan (who I think is more non-league standard) and Glatzel (who has something about him) have both been off colour up front. Glatzel gets in the right positions, but often has the first touch of a rapist (both with his feet and his head). More composure required I think. Drinan doesn't always get in the right positions, but he looks awkward to play against and has a rasping shot on the odd occasions that he does get it right. Smith has shown how an older pro does it in L2. He plays things simple and has had 2 chances with his head and scored one.

I'm frustrated and still desponded from last year. I'm also still adapting as a fan to the new 'style'.

This time last season we looked miles better than we do now.

I do get where you are coming from, I agree that this team looks to have better division 4 attributes than last year's. But we've got to actually prove it and consistently before I relax. And there is the injury record worry.

E.g. Yesterday we did ok in the second half. Yet we still conceded 3 in it. I don't care if it didn't feel like a 4 goal game. It was. Give me 5 or 6 solid performances and I'll believe it was an off day.

Our aggressive press last night was spot on against Crawley, we managed to win the ball back a lot, which to be fair did seem the only way we were going to create anything. As others have said the midfield needs some serious work, was better when Clarke came on, and Cain even seemed to improve. Another fairly uninspiring first half, and going 2-0 down it seemed to be curtains.

But Crawley got sloppy and Ofoborh rocketed home for 2-1 and Crawley were on the ropes. Good pen saved by Jojo but as rare as hen's teeth, a goal from a corner bulleted in by Harry Smith. We definitely looked the more likely. I was impressed by Mitchell, looked composed and loves a tackle.

Sadly we never took advantage and slack play at the back allowed the impressive Roles to pick out the back of the net. I might be wrong, but Roles has a habit of doing that so leaving him so much time and space was a big error. Sky decided to have a 2 minute replay and so I've no idea about the build up to their 4th goal but it was clearly a breakaway finished nicely.

Get in a senior keeper, get McGurk fit, and sort out the midfield and we might trouble the top half of the table. Really good chance missed to advance to the second round, but on the other hand we can now fully focus on the league.

Needless to say the Cheltenham handjob replied along with a handful of others. Pretty pathetic getting involved at all imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5tFANzqDc

We certainly did improve greatly in the second half and I thought we were going to take the game to penalties but to describe the performance as "Outstanding, super super impressive"....come the fuck on Mark...

The Chesterfield performance was described as "excellent" also.

Will be interesting to see how long that narrative continues. Fair play, he's supporting his players, but people are not silly, they are going to see through that shtick very quickly.

I think he needs to be a bit more objective than that. There were plenty of positives to take out of both games without going to those lengths. As you say, people aren't silly...

Its tough, but given Kennedys absence from a lot of preseason, and the turnover of players, this team is going to be settling down over the next month or so. As long as there is steady improvement over that period then i'll be content.

Last night wasn't too bad. Crawley will be one of the highest possession based teams in the league as usual and we pressed and forced them into lots of errors. In the second half we had plenty of chances.

It was a step up from Chesterfield, so lets see how they play against Walsall.

If we are struggling for results in September and performances are poor then Kennedy will have to change his tune from excellent for sure.

Outside the keeper situation my main concern has been how relatively poor our wing backs have been at delivering balls so far. King did better on the left yesterday than Longelo had done, but there was little from the right. Some of this is down to poor connecting balls from Cain (who miss hit a few to longelo first half) and Ofoborh in fairness. However this part of the team needs to start firing quickly.

I think the thing that wound me up most from last night was that our away kit would look so much better with black shorts.

Oh, and the camera work was akin to being on the Jolly Rodger.

Agree about the shorts, dark would definitely look better and would be quite a good retro look harking back to the early 90's which the Clubs all seem very keen on these days. I think with so many games now being televised, Sky Sports+ is going to be like a training ground for wannabe commentators, cameramen and directors and the quality will vary somewhat from game to game...

Might just be me but I’m throughly unconvinced the second half last night ‘wasn’t too bad’ we had a 10 minute spell, scored twice & after that went back to being the non threatening, ponderous, porous Swindon we’ve been for the last 2 years.

Yes, I particularly liked when the ball was in the far corners and you had to guess who might be in possession. Reminded me of one away game last year, where the camera kept on zooming in too close, lost the ball completely, zoom all the way out, rinse and repeat ad nauseam.

I think I am in the same camp as this.  I thought last night whilst watching that we were not doing too bad, but then on reflection I didn't really feel like this was a 'new Swindon' and one to get really enthusiastic about.  It is still early days though so can't write anyone off yet, Bycroft included although his performances are increasingly worrying.

I'd be happy to be just like Crawley last season, who were bang average and went up. My point is I'm sure every L2 team would want to have 2 quality players for every position but it just doesn't happen at this level. You don't have to be brilliant to get out of this league

I assume they will have local camera men to cover certain grounds every week. The Chesterfield camera work was fine, but yesterday was bad. So the good news is we don't have the Crawley camera man again!

I have to disagree slightly, that "10 minute spell" was more like 35/40 I recall 4/5  brilliant saves by Wollacott when it was 2-2 and their goals came in the 89th minute when to be fair we were pushing for a winner.
Maybe a rose tinted view from one who was there,but that's how I saw it

I know only a short cameo, but did Mitchell do enough to suggest he's a viable option as a squad filler? rather than being dabre / east level.

I watched on mobile and it was the worts camera work i think i have ever witnessed. Literally guessing who had the ball as it was so fucking far away. Pathetic.

Agreed. At 2-2 I really thought there was only going to be one winner - Town. Crawley were on the ropes and made to look very poor by good pressing. 4-2 flattered Crawley, that's for sure.

I wonder if Bycroft hasn’t been helped by how many minutes we gave to trialist keepers in pre-season…
Maybe he’d be sharper if he’d played more?

He looked tidy on the ball.
Definitely in the ‘I’d like to see more of him’ category than the ‘nope, clearly not good enough’ category

Maybe 10 minute spell is undercooking it slightly but I didn’t really see a goal coming before Ofoborh scored & I didn’t see another goal coming after Smith scored.

Never ever felt like we were in control & going to win that game.

Players had obviously accepted penalties hence the sheer lethargy closing down Crawley for their 3rd.

Bit of an overreaction to one result. This is the 11th time in a row we’ve been knocked out in the first round. In those previous years we’ve gone on to have decent seasons - including getting promoted.

Let’s give it at least 10 games before writing us off. Win Saturday and things will look brighter.

I thought Mitchell looked a good prospect. Tough tackling,hard working and could pass a football.

Have you forgotten last season Aud?  ;D

Agreed. Nearly scored as well.

2015/16 - League One 15th
2016/17 - League One 22nd (Relegated)
2017/18 - League Two 9th
2018/19 - League Two 13th
2019/20 - League Two 1st (Promoted)
2020/21 - League One 23rd (Relegated)
2021/22 - League Two 6th
2022/23 - League Two 10th
2023/24 - League Two 19th

I'd probably count the 2019/20 season when we got promoted and 2021/22 season when we got into the playoffs as 'decent' seasons.  The rest have been pretty ordinary to say the least.  Hey ho, Up the Town!

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLV-Enzbs0g

I know he was on the pitch less time than Cotterell but thought he was more effective

He played a different position. When Mitchell came on Clarke sat back as the 6, where Cotterill played before and Mitchell took the Ofoborh position. That position as the 8 naturally looks more effective. He did alright for his first professional appearance, but way too soon to judge if he's up to it or not.

Thank Christ for that, thought it was just me as I was watching on the phone.  Terrible camera work,  struggled to see where the ball was at times. Glad we won’t be using that cameraman again- unless we go there in the FAC.   

Totally agree, I think doom and gloom is over doing it. I can see green shoots and i predict a top 7 finish

I think there is lots of potential there, and we will see it when they get used to each other.

Plum draw for Crawley at Brighton.
Just goes to show that winning cup ties can bring rewards.

Local derby(?)

That might never have actually been played before in a competitive fixture…

Yup!

My subconscious can't accept Brighton are premier league. If we got them it would take me a full half hour of "meh, crap tie" to realise!

Brighton were, coincidentally, the last team we played in a League Cup 2nd round tie - in 2014 after beating Luton, they won 4-2. Rohan Ince amongst their scorers, and future nearly Town boss Andrew Crofts played too, as well as England's Lewis Dunk.

They nearly got relegated from the Championship that year.

https://townenders.com/match.php?match_id=20150702

Brighton, another club we regularly played who have moved on both on and off the pitch. Sigh.

Rohan Ince scored one of the best goals ive ever seen in that game. I actually stood and applauded

Remember Alan Navarro in 2012?

Why did Cain try and score from 40 yards instead of putting Glatzel through at 2:2?

Did the hard work to intercept the wayward pass...just fucking poke it forward...

4 zip up, have a pop! But fuck me.....just send him through 1 on 1! Frustrating!

Because glatzel was 5 yards offside