Thetownend.com

With it being the last day of the Meteorological summer let’s hope we can get back to winning ways😁

Swindon Town 1 Notts County 0 att: 8,106 (580 Magpies)

I just dont see where our goals will come from, 0-0 draw in front of 7,555 (615 Mags).

I think you're being optimistic on the attendance figure  ;D

Lucky to break 7k.

We had 7,200 (official) home fans last week vs Walsall, I dont think we will go much lower than 6,800 hardcore fans for the next few months at least with around 4,000+ season tickets being sold(the figure I was told) they are counted even if they dont actually attend.

I would put money on us breaking 7k over the next month or 2 even when its shit and especially with a half decent away following too.

There's definitely 2 of us not going in our group who went against Walsall, could even be 4.

0-2, 7,129 1/4 of the fans will write Tshimanga off as utter shit.

Its 3

Jutty?

Whatever the attendance really was at the last game there wasn’t 7k in the ground. Looking online and ticket sales are even lower than last game. You can buy 4 tickets next to each other in the centre block of the DRS, when was the last time you could do that the day before a game? 

There are more blue seats than grey seats currently so if you assume the home capacity is about 10k then at most there’s only mid 4k tickets sold plus hospitality so far.

Probably a tad optimistic still basing it on 7,500 hardcore home supporters +/-😁

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBvvaIjj3ss

New signings will spike a bit of extra interest I hope

Plus still unbeaten away!

I’ll be there.   2-0 to the Town,  the promotion surge starts.

1:1, equalizer in the 104th minute.  Attendance: 7,786.

Will lose this match 0-3. sad times

Their's I presume  :D

3-1 win. Butterworth and Tshimanga scoring from the bench.

Season starts now! Please.

I don’t have a clue how we’ll do v notts but think we’ll have a decent season if all stick together whilst manager and players bed in.

I've had enough of this club and stopped going. Which means we'll win.

I'm now officially DNA  ;)





* Do Not Attend

With all the new signings available bar Cox, we have a much stronger squad to pick from against a good Notts County side, with Crowley and Jones the danger men for them. I think Kennedy will line us up like this:- Bycroft Sowerdale Wright Hall Freckleton King Kilkenny Clarke Cain Glatzel Smith  Subs Barden Longelo Minturn Cotterill Butterworth Drinan Tshilanga with Ofobogh missing out altogether. 2-3 defeat with Glatzel and Tshilanga scoring for us.

After another uninterrupted week of training, hoping to see further improvement on the efforts of last Saturday.
Time to start raising the performance bar.

This season could yet be a slow burner, so in the words of the See Tickets website this morning "Please wait..."

Cox out? (sorry I had to do it!) is that international clearance not through yet? or is he injured?

Signings had to be completed before 12 yesterday to play today.

Ah cheers, I know it was announced late but didn't know if it was completed before then.

I see County signed Jevani Brown on loan from the Gas yesterday, hes a good signing for L2 no idea if he was signed in time to play against us though. He has scored in almost half 8 games he has played against us.

According to the County forum they recon they will bring in excess of 1,000 today.

Oh and 95% of the predictions on their thread think they will easily thrash us today, so lets give them an upset.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GWTzUi3XgAATaMX?format=jpg&name=medium)

Only Kilkenny of the new signings start today.

Brown signed too late to play against us today.

Ofoborh out of the squad altogether, with Cain preferred on the bench.

Cotterill still playing ffs.

Port Vale  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I have a feeling that Ofoborh is nowhere near fully fit yet, he has been pretty poor so far though.

Anyone else on iFollow having sound quality issues? I had the same last week too.

Hopefully Kilkenny coming in and playing the holding midfield role will help Cotterill and Clarke (who have both been pretty abysmal so far) have a bigger effect on the game... hopefully...

That makes sense.

Sound problems for me to

Staccato here

Nice move but Cotterills cross is very poor.

Having a go at doing a wee bit of updates today.

A minutes applause for Sven before the game, just a shame the club couldn’t do the same for Andy Rowland

County break through but the shot is poor and scuffed and an easy low save for Bycroft.

They did it during the 9th minute of the Walsall game...

Have bought it, but it the stream won't load..

Absolutely, a min applause in the 9th minute is just not the same.

Yeah its shit

Sound quality distorted and a few seconds behind.

It's appreciated :clap:

I think that doing the applause while the game is going on is an odd idea in general...

I am glad I am not paying for Ifollow, the sound is annoying..

Smith leading the line well so far.

Clarke wins our 2nd corner.

Decent corner flick on by Smith but nobody following up, County defence struggling to deal with our height.

Early signs of Kilkenny are promising, lots of movement and looking to get on the ball.  If these energy levels are what we are to expect, he could turn out key for us.

3rd corner for Town.

Poor low corner from King.

The sound quality or the sound of Hockaday?

I dont like the zoomed in camera work today.

This modern idea of teams wearing their second kits every away game does irk me.

Such a petty thing to be annoyed at but there we go.

Kilkenny is an eager runner in midfield, we have missed that sort of energy this season so far.

I totally agree...

Great skill by Cotterill flicking the ball over the defenders head and the volley going inches wide from 20 yards.

1-0

AVE it!!!!

Kilkenny great finish from 20 yards on his debut.

Both

Shite camera work, most of the build up a total mystery, but COYR

Sweet!

Wright with a good block, corner to them.

Glatzel with a nice flick on to Smith but the keeper just gets to it first to clear.

Bromley up into 4th  ;D

Save at his near post by Bycroft from a weak close shot.

1-1 unstoppable

Great finish by McGoldrick

Hell of a finish that. Shame

Doubt that player will ever connect better than that in his long career.

Clarke intercepts well but his pass gives it back away again.

Solid save by Bycroft.

Again our passing is pretty poor today, both long and short passes.

Clarke shot after a good Town move, 20 yards accross the keeper but he makes a good save to hold onto it. We broke well down the left.

Freckleton getting forward quite a lot today but his final ball has been weak so far.

Very poor pass by Clarke there on a good break gives them the ball in the middle.

2 mins added time.

Some little bits of quality from both Cotterill and Clarke but I am still not convinced by either so far, way too many poor passes by them.

HT 1-1

Kilkenny has definitely helped Cotteril improve, early positive signs at least

Other than a great goal, how's Kilkenny played?

Edit: Bernie, you could have waited 30 secs so I didn't look a complete idiot asking after 😁

Has looked better and more solid

The wingback still worry me, not tracking back quick enough...
But they have managed to stop the wingers the majority of the time.

Going forwards it's the final that isn't quite there....

Kilkenny does look a find and Cotterill seems a lot better

Acklam in the adver says ‘he’s the greatest player we’ve ever had’

BBC saying only 30% possession

Unsurprisingly he's far more comfortable than Cotterill was. Nothing amazing but he's moving around & looking to create space for himself & actually passing the ball around rather than dithering on it.

Cheers

County evidently have a touch more quality.  We are playing more as a team especially without the ball.  Not sexy but kudos to the coaching and the players' commitment.

Some promising things that half.

Midfield looks something closer to a functioning unit. Kilkenny looks very comfortable in the CDM role and a fine finish for the goal. Cotterill has looked better as a sort-of left sided number 8, shame his strike went the wrong side of the post. Clarke has probably given the ball away too often again, but there are signs there at least as a unit.

Bycroft and back 3 have been solid, Fleckleton trying to get forward a fair bit. King struggled and they got a lot of change down our left, assume that’s why the wing backs swapped over.

We’re well in this so far, they look a good side, we were unlucky to concede, in that most of the time I am happy for us to allow shots from there in league 2. They definitely improved as the half went on, bit concerning that we don’t really look that threatening on the counter, as they will have a huge amount of ball no doubt.

Rubbish dive by the ex Pox winger Jones.

Kilkenny is the player that Cotteril should have been when he came in, the hope is that having 2 creative players in there might bring out the Cotteril we were promised.  Kilkenny has definitely been our best player so far today, and there are signs that Glatz is seeing the benefit of it as well, which is good.  Still a lot of improvemnet to happen to say that we will be anything but a bottom half team, but at least we seem to have taken a pigeon step in the right direction, so far today..

Superb turn by Glatzel on the wing and puts a cross in which is cleared for another Town corner.

Long corner headed back by Smith and Glatzel tries an overhead kick which goes 3 foot wide.

Another corner to Town.

Cotterill shot tipped wide by the keeper for another corner.

Glatzel with another good turn in the box but his shot is poor.

Clarke wins another corner.

Not impressed with Kings corner delivery today so far.

Smith and Glatzel linking up better today.

Great cross by Glatzel but Smith and Hall get in each others way, good chance.

Hall took a heavy bang on his head from Smith and looks a bit groggy.

Ex Town players Kellan Gordon and Matt Palmer coming on.

Tchimanga warming up, probably be Glatzel going off, he has played much better today though.

King does a better cross but Smiths header goes just over from 12 yards.

Town pressing their defence quite well, they always look likely to make a mistake with their passing around, just like us under Lyndsey.

Drinan and Tchimanga coming on for Glatzel and Smith.

Another corner for Town.

Kings corners have been shit today.

Yellow for McGoldrick with a heavy professional foul.

Freckleton with a good break but his cross in a few inches short of its target in the box.

Kilkenny shoots just over the bar from 18 yards after beating his man easily.

Some contact on Tshimanga in the box but the ref ignores it.

Town pressuring them in the box but we just cant get a final shot in.

Butterworth on for Clarke for his debut.

King robs their winger and breaks and finds Tshinanga but his shot is deflected at the keeper.

At: 7,326 (899 Mags)

Butterworth just wide from a Freckleton cross.

Doom laden attendance predictions not materialised?

Sounds like we deserve a winner here

So, a drop of 700 home fans on the opening home game, or 10%.

King long shot but an easy save.

7300 isn't great if 900 are Notts.

I was a tad optimistic🤣

It was 8568 this time last year against Crawley, more away fans today as well.

Drop of around 1400 home fans

Tbf, with the large(ish) away following, it has skewed it somewhat.  Still 2k home fans down on last season

Well it's a 10% home fan drop

1-2

Fucks sake

Exactly, my prediction of below 7k would have been spot on if we were playing Morecambe or similar

Another very good finish by McGoldrick

For me Bycroft could have done better with that goal.

Against the run of play this half too, but it always happens.

Yep

Don't worry about the score, Swindon have put together a decent team.

But you knew who we were playing?

Another assist for Jodi Jones. Unreal numbers he puts out.

But we werent and thats why we all put 7k+  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Yet another corner to Town.

I'm talking about games ahead, we'll be below 7k for most.

6 mins added time.

1 goal above the drop zone, well done Clem and Co.

Drinan with a weak shot from wide, very poor.

I hate to burst the bubble, but we are in the drop zone

Might be there for a while

We're going down.

TBF there have been a fair few positives today and could be classed as quite unlucky that we came up against 2 great goals today.

Butterworth looks a better player than Cotterill IMO.

FT 1-2

 better but we can't get around the fact that it was another defeat.  

Just saw that

100%

Improved performance but zero points from that is a concern. Also unsure if that was a good performance or if standards have fallen so far due to the dross so far that we just view that as good now. New signings looked decent enough

fucking shambles of a loss....
play ok until they get into opponents box
then clueless what to do with the ball or each other.
manager has to come up with a philosophy of attack at that point and team needs to follow it.  I don't care if it is cross all the time, shoot all the time, target the striker and have it lay it off to runner...do something that looks like an organized football club

 we are on a downward trajectory and I am not sure that we have enough in the squad to arrest the slide.

That will hurt. Probably the better side, and Notts were decent. 3 really good goals today.

Hopefully can kick on performance wise.

Barrow next in the league, in form, dicey times for sure.

Think today was just one of those days where the opposition take their half chances. In isolation, nothing to worry about. It's the four games before it that add a touch of gloom.

Need a win asap, however it comes.

2 goals in 4 games is shit

Clem was there today wasn't he?

Anyone know when we last lost our opening two league games🤔

On another note, we finally have some height in the box but we now decide to not utilise lofted crosses? Jeff King had so many chances to get a lofted cross in but wasted the opportunity.

Has the feel of the Vegans last season. Bring in loads of players, tick the L2 box but still get relegated as the downward trajectory of the club just carried on from the previous season.

Hear we played better but now bottom 2 & already 6 points off the playoffs. Home fan numbers dropping like flies too which is ultimately going to continue to drop as most people will assess things based on the table even at this early stage.

Considering everything, gave an unbeaten team looking for the autos a really tough game, - better cohesion ahead once new signings get used to playing with each other.

More stats...

We haven't won a league game since April 13th.

Barrow and Newport next 2 games, so we'll be anchored to the bottom after those.

Better performance today but at the end of it we lost the game.

Yes it’s only 4 games but 23rd ain’t good enough. If we are there after 10 games then Kennedy is in trouble

The two midfielders added something - A midfield being one thing!

Up front we didn’t look very good. Lots of running and touches, but no quality. Where as McGoldrick did bugger all apart from put the ball in the net.

At the back we seemed to struggle to close people down quickly, which is ironic, as we pressed well further up the pitch. Freckleton seemed to have a lot of the ball, but his passing is shocking. He puts it where the receiving player doesn’t want it.

Yep. If it had been us winning like that many would have said "we had to rely on 2 bits of quality" or "papering over the cracks" etc etc. Obviously it's shit to be where we are but I still believe we have the ability to move up the table

On the evidence so far, I really think Minturn is better than Freckles

Another game, another reminder we are in freefall and going down.

Has news reached the dwindling Clem fan club yet?

Think that’s a bit dramatic. From what i saw we were pretty decent and very unlucky to lose.

If anyone genuinely thinks we're going down, I'm willing to take a few bets...

(Similarly for anyone who thinks we're going up mind!)

Pretty decent and will improve once players are no longer strangers.  Time to use a bit of common sense and relax.

Pulling pints

Did you go or are you just a key board warrior?

Surely not?!

Jesus wept.
Decided to get an account to add my opinion, which is just that an opinion.
Having watched 3 live games and 2 on the box, that was the best performance for a long time. The crowd were lifted with the battling and 2 good strikes from an old man has cost us. Never did we deserve to lose nor deserve to win but not to applaud the team at the end is madness.
I would also take bets that we don't go down, once we learn to cross sooner we will start picking up points. King, Kilkenny, Wright, Glatzel, Tshimanga and Butterworth were all decent. Cotterill had a better game in an advanced position.
But that's only my opinion and like shit holes we all have one.

It's a slow start to the season but there were positive signs today, probably our best of the 4 - which isn't saying much.

Two good goals from Notts and probably one of the better away followings we'll have this year.

Saw enough today and with the new signings coming in (who look alright on paper), I think we will be OK this season.

Maybe I've had one two many beers but stuck a fiver on play offs, there is a lot of shite in this league and if we win our next 2/3 it'll look a lot different.

I thought we would get hammered today based on the season so far.

But we were the better team, massively improved.
Saying that we couldn't get any worse.
Play like that and we will win more than we lose.

Is there anyone in this team capable of consistently putting high crosses into the box? What’s the point of having Smith in there trying to feed off low crosses or worse crosses that don’t beat the first man.

Kilkenny looked good, the only thing keeping Minturn from overtaking Freckleton is not being left footed. Cotterill looked better in a more familiar position.

A better performance on the pitch.  I do not understand why Drinnan was brought on.  The guy was supposedly a tireless worker according to Leyton orient fans.  Right now he brings absolutely nothing to the table and it’s like going down to 10.  The manager needs to give his head a wobble and stop making so many substitutes as to that point only one team was winning this.  He should have swapped glatzel for the new Peterboro fella that’s all.

Oh and get Bycroft swapped he is incapable of finding smith all his long punts went to glatzel again.

So frustrating and he needs to learn quick

Harsh result today.  We actually looked a decent team the difference was McGoldrick who really did nothing other than clinically finish his 2 chances.

Kilkenny looks to be a real find for us, he should be playing in a higher league so he’s gonna be a real coupe for us

Tshminga did well too think he will improve with game time and I liked the look of  Butterworth. Cotterill look much better in his new position.

Smith harried but that was about and Drinan was meh.  I’d like to see Tshmanga and Glatz up front.

I hope Smith & Drinan aren’t the new Thorpe & Cureton and find their scoring boots soon😄

Drinan I agree with but think that’s harsh on Smith, absolutely nothing is being created for  him how it should be, it’s not a hard principle either, get high crosses into the box and he’ll attack them. He had 2 proper ones today, one Hall annoyingly got in his way. If I was him, I’d be wondering what’s going on, wing backs getting themselves into crossing positions then delivering a poor/low cross or trying to take on a man 5 times.

If we can’t get balls into Smith to utilise him he is going to be wasted in this team. Hopefully Cox will be better at getting crosses into the box, at the moment the other 3 haven’t impressed me that much from an attacking sense.

He may not be setting the world alight but lets not forget Drinan score 4 or 5 after coming last season compared to Glatzel's 7.
And that was a few games fewer played as well due to arriving on deadline day.

He's not the striker you want bringing on when chasing the game but he'll help see games out and will chip in with 10 or so this season.

He's a striker,they go through lean spells. It's just that they're all going through it at the same time! He's all right is Drinan

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mck1kopJmYY

Whilst it was obviously a disappointing result, there were at least some positive signs.

Kilkenny made a difference in midfield and Cotterill looked like a footballer in a more advanced role.

Just need the strikers to start finding the net

That wasn’t organised by the club though , it was organised by the OSC

It could have been at the request of County I guess.

Although not sure how long he was there.

Does anyone in a position of power at the club even know who Andy Rowland is? Probably part of the problem.

Welcome .

A fair view I think. Two tough games coming too so it might look worse before it gets better.

My only nagging doubt is I spent all of last season sniggering at FGR but convinced they would get out of it with the players at their disposal.

They didn't help themselves appointing that knobjockey Deeney of course.

Tbh they couldnt even spell Don Rogers name correctly when someone sent the club an email about food poisoning the other week

And Sutton had our supposed main goal threat…

Aussies, bred for bar work.

(https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/180x200/t/time_gentlemen_please_guv.jpg)

Exactly this. He is one of the best target men in this division, probably only behind Cook and Matt.

But, he cant do his job if there is no supply chain to him.

Unfortunately I have to agree, Drinan adds nothing to us as a team or as an individual when he comes on, IMHO.

Agree on this 100%.

I liked Drinan towards the back of last season.
Doesn’t seem to have got going this season - same could be said for most of our strikers I suppose.

Mad to think at this point last season - Young had scored 7 goals & as a team we had scored 15 (but also conceded 8.)

This season none of strikers have scored. As a team we only scored twice & conceded 8.

I am not sure I know what his best role is but its certainly not the one hes being told to play currently.

Its wierd to think that we started so well last year and it was our worst ever season, but under Macari and Di Canio we started terrible and had 2 of our best seasons.

Under Macari we 5 defeats in our first 8 games and sat in 21st place yet got 102 points, and under Di Canio we had 4 defeats in the first 5 games and got 95 points.

Things can change quickly in football, sometimes it just takes a small catalyst to start off a good run, and conversely 1 mistake can set you off on a poor run.

Even last season Doncaster were bottom after 6 games with 1 point (against us!) and got to the play offs.

I think yesterday there were some signs of improvement at last and hopefully we can build on that.[/quote]

Just watched the full game replay on the Notts website (don't know why it wasn't available on our website as it has been for at least the last couple of years)...I think the last time I was that encouraged by a home defeat was the 2-3 vs Sheff Wed on the opening day of 03/04...

Kilkenny...fuck me...Clem's latest sofa diving expedition must have struck gold as he cannot have come cheap. The way he buzzed around the pitch reminded me at times of John Moncur (I can't give much higher praise than that)...and (as I had hoped) it allowed Clarke and Cotterill the freedom to play their normal game. I've been really critical of Cotterill in the first 4 games but who'd have thought it? There is a player in there...

A few comments about the quality of crosses...I get it but at least we're trying to cross it with purpose. We've not been doing that since pre Garnerball times....Give it time and it will come...

I also have to say, I think Drinan also gives it everything when he gets his chance. There's a player there and I've not given up on him yet...Having said that, I wouldn't have taken Smith off. For me, he's the first name on the team sheet (Will Wright second, although I may now have to rethink that with the arrival of Kilkenny!)

9 times out of 10, we win that game but lost to two thunder cunt strikes...credit where it's due...I fully expect Notts to finish top 3.

I'm not a happy clapper by any means and I'm as sceptical as the next man of the ownership of this Club but as things stand on the pitch at this moment in time, it's looking OK...

Come On You Mother Fucking Cunting Bastard Reds...

I wasn't Impressed by County , they had a striker in Mcgoldrick who did nothing but hit 2 worldy strikes.

Other than that thought most of the game we controlled.

Most of their play went through Jones who was dealt with by King  and Frecklington well. - he resorted to falling over and moaning at the ref.

He was only playing because their main striker was injured.

We could have offered Charlie another year contract just for his experience!

Don’t think he would have signed it - based on what he’s said about his ADHD & medication since….

Possibly not but you can see how an experienced goal scorer can win games even if fitness doesn’t allow them to play a full game very often.

Without McGoldrick County lost that match.

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when Is aw him on he team sheet. I just knew he was going to do us.

He’s approaching 37 soon!

Again all he did was score 2 worldy goals.

Apparently, that was McGoldrick's first start of the season...just our luck!

Just as aside, it was a bit surreal hearing the commentators talking about Lew Macari playing for Notts County...different spelling obviously (Lew/Lou) but sounds the same of course...

True but Charlie was never one for scoring those types of goals at all.

He was mostly a fox in the box & we’ve seen first hand the last couple of seasons that sharpness & finishing ability had sadly dwindled.

Fair points, he could have been an asset with his heading ability but we don’t like getting crosses into the box so that nullifies that idea.

I don’t think he’s got off the mark for afc totten yet

Imagine Hutton with smith.

Ambled out indifferent..

We play poorly get beat.

Play indifferent get a couple of draws and a loss in the Cup.

Play well, get beat again.

I hope we kick on soon and get the Monkey off our back. A bit heartbreaking Saturday.

We need to score goals, simple as.

TBF we had 16 shots and their keeper was forced into making 5 saves (plus conceding 1).

It was much better than it has been recently, and on almost any other day we would have won that game barring their keeper making a couple of very good saves and 2 near wonder strikes from an aging striker.

Yes I know its what ifs, but I thought we did overall much better and made County look an average team, we pressed them hard and forced them into making several mistakes at the back too.

It was not anywhere near as bad as many are making it out to be. Just my opinion though.

Better a sea change and a defeat than more of the same but a lucky win.

As the LSPod says, to paraphrase -  just need to follow up the performance with similar performances and we'll be OK.

We have to hope that the performance was a turning point & not a one off.

As PV said we had chances which in itself is generally an improvement on what had gone before.

I watched the game back and my main worry from it was we didn't actually create that much still in way of clear cut chances for our strikers.

Performance wise it was light years ahead of what we have had this season which is great so hopefully the chances come