Thetownend.com

I'm actually looking forward to a game, probably because we're off to the pub first.

Town 2-1 Barrow (pen) att: 6,801 (145 away)
Average queue time to get in: 20 mins

Summer Lightening please!

Injury news

Feels like quite an important game. Lots of draws mean we're - despite things feeling better - at one win in the last six. A win would do everyone the power of good.

Survival isn't yet in our own hands, mathmatically. Though clearly it is really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDz317eGlZg
.

No Ameen, Myers or McCormick with the u18’s today.

What position does Myers play?

Today is a great chance to get 3 points on board. Barrow are absolutely crap and despite signing Tyler Smith on loan, we have to think that a win, given our recent positive home league form is more or less a given.

Kiss of death there probably.

Goalkeeper

Myers is the backup keeper when Barden was injured so was never likely to be on the bench today anyway.

This was the team we decided not to shoot at until the last minute when they had had their keeper sent off in the first half wasn't it?

Yep it was when they had a CB in goal.

For me this is as close to a "must win" game as we get at this stage of the season, of course theres loads of game sleft but we have to beat teams around us that are within touching distance, we can go level on points with Barrow if we beat them today but would need to win 4-0 to go above them!

They have only 1 win in the last 15 league and FA cup games, so winnable.

I also see that the supporters club coach was cancelled this week so that have no coaches coming, be lucky to muster 50 fans in the away end.

As a wee preview, here are some Barrow fans thoughts on their forum about the game.

That’s a banana skin waiting to happen isn’t it.

Ps. Sort out the road works in Chard please. 😃

It is a massive nana skin...and I wish I could sort them out, took me 30 mins to cover a mile a few days ago from Tesco to my house!

Stopped at every bloody light yesterday, from the crossroads all the way past B&Q. Have word. Hit hem with ‘don’t you know who I am?’

I would be shocked if Barrow bring anywhere near that amount, no supporters coachs and their 2 previous visits they brought just 125 each time.

I would think 6,355 (55 Barrow).

Its going to be there until June, so be prepared!

Thanks for the heads up.

Last minute decision to go to this, my son and I are going in the Townend, looking forward to it!

2-0 Town, att: 6,590 - 78 Barrow

1-1 6000 attendance (500 can’t be bothered to either turn up early or queue)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GhlAAYcX0AAA_lP?format=jpg&name=large)

Probably our strongest line up except I would play Kirkman for Cox but hes obviously not quite fit enough yet to start.

No kids at all on the bench.

Tyler Smith on the bench for them.

Carlisle 0-1 Bradford
Gills 0-1 Doncaster

10 mins left in those two

Having Wright, Clarke, Kilkenny and Smith all on the pitch should mean a decent afternoon.

None in the squad however.

Carlisle lost again, which is good for us. Worried all their new signings will click at some point so would be good build up a bit of a buffer between us and them.

Yeah Carlisle absolutely feels like they could go on a run

Thats weird because ive just been down the shop and seen it on the shelves

https://x.com/gibbo1012/status/1880615574621061601?s=46&t=sUQ-fFgelrF5oqTmo-D8tA

It's a National Shortage of Bovril for people who don't pay for it.

Holloway having a pop at our recruitment.

Can literally buy thousands of cups off Amazon for delivery tomorrow. It’s clearly made up.

And rightly so.

So the next week is going to be full of Bovrilgate...  Nemo will have to update his picture

Smith has been sent off in his last 2 games with Barrow, 1 for us and 1 for Sutton, lets hope he stays on the pitch. He obviously has a battle on his hands with the big CB Canavan as always. Hope he can keep his head.

This is awful quality so far, the ball barely touched the ground yet.

Shot by Barrow easy save straight at him.

Drinan cross to Smith but his header is weak and an easy save.

FFS get the ball on the deck.

Poor pass by Ofoborh straight into touch in their half.

Bad backpass to Bycroft from Sobo but he could have taken a touch there rather than clearing the Stand.

Corner to them.

I think corners will be put right on top of Bycroft today

Nicholls on the end of a cross from Sobo but its deflected wide for a corner to Town.

1-0
Ofoborh good finish from 25 yards.

Nice

Would be a better excuse actually - Bovril support Oxford. That was the original call for my marmite picture.

Bloody iFollow repeats taking ages missing the game play.

Not sure what their keeper was doing there!

Pepper him with a few more shots methinks!

He was certainly not expecting a shot at his near post!

Perhaps it's still the outfield player?

Anyone else stream just switch to Sheffield United v Norwich?

Nice play between Cox and Nichols but his cross was cleared.

Cox down injured.

Yup mine did too, very strange!

Whats he said?

Great strike. Come on boys.

Yeah, still the same.
Gone onto the Barrow channel.

Who is the black guy next to Bignot on the coaching team?

Working fine on mine

Fitness coach.


Joseph Headley
First Team Strength and Conditioning Coach/Sports Scientist at Swindon Town FC

Good deep cross from Cox, goes out for a corner to Town.

Low hard corner from Wright misses every in the box.

Nichols and Smith linking up quite well so far.

That Cannavan is a right lump.

Nice to see Brian May amongst the Barrow fans.

Break by Barrow but his final ball is high and wide.

GOAL….



…for Sheffield United.

Canavan is always a difficult battle for our strikers down the years.

Thank you

A big ole unit!

Previously in the same role at Southend United.

Loose play by Clarke in our box there but we got away with it.

Not liking Clarke at CB.

We look fragile in midfield and at the back.

Sobo nutmegged with a back heel but the player runs it into touch luckily with the defence all over the place.

I think its out of desperation hes playing there with Kirkman not fully fit yet.

Thimk I would prefer Sobowale back there

We look to have gone to a 4 at the back now with Clarke pushing back into the middle.

Clarke shot deflected for a throw in, great chance.

Kilkenny picks the ball up and runs 30 yards and has a shot thats deflected to the keeper.

Barrow have certainly started pressing us harder in the last 10 mins.

Cox cuts inside and has a shot from 20 yards just wide.

Yeah, we could have put Sobowale on at RCB and played Longelo at RWB….wait….

Town win a corner as they break and cross into the box.

I do like Sobowale - Warts and all!

Nice corner from Cox onto Clarkes head but he doesnt get enough on it and its wide.

Shhh you'll be called names soon.

Sobo and Clarke link up and find Nichols in the box and he cant get a decent contact on the ball.

Smith is winning every high ball played up to him again today.

Kilkenny cross flies over everyones head into touch for a goalkick, nice movement but poor finish.

2 mins added.

Clarke down injured in the middle.

Clarke back up holding his thigh.

HT 1-0

Not a great game but we scored a great goal and dont look under TOO much pressure so far at the back with neither team showing much quality.

Performances largely irrelevant in our predicament. We’ve shown more than Barrow going forward but we have been quite sloppy in the midfield and on a couple of occasions barrow found themselves with so much time deep in our half. If we cut out those sloppy mistakes in the midfield we should be able to control this game

Look ok at the back
Look ok going forward
Nothing more. Nothing less.

I was shocked to see us with very nearly 57% possession after that.

Another dull boring half'll do

Att: 6,398 (84 Barra)

Good delivery by Wright from the FK and Smiths header is also good but nobdoy is close to in the 6 yard box.

Exactly that. We're a bog standard League Two side now. Which to be absolutely clear is progress.

Clarke gives the ball away just outside the box but Delaney saves his blushes.

Kilkenny wins the ball in their box and his shot is just wide.

Sunday league quality this one..  in fact that is probably unfair on the Sunday league back in my day..

Very poor by Sobo there as he wasted a pass to Clarke.

TBH if we scramble a win out of this I will be fairly happy with that, under Kennedy it wasnt even that good.

Solid not spectacular first half. It was always scrappy but the quality has dropped this half. Will allow Barrow to grow in the game if we're not careful.

Sobo shot hits a defender for a corner to Town.

I am with you

Good corner by Cox but it evades everyone bar a defender who knocks it out for another corner.

Great corner by Wright just under the var and the keeper just about tips it over for another corner.

That spell was a bit better. More of that please.

Tshimanga on for Nichols.

Nichols putting in a shift but still not quite up to speed yet.

Tshimangas first touch and he goes to the deck :D

So scrappy but we're winning the battles more often than not. Delayney gifted them the ball there and it's immediately won back.

Best characteristic of this Holloway side is eagerness to win it back all over the pitch even if it makes it not pretty sometimes.

Phil Smith in a "no shit Sherlock" comment, "Swindon need another goal".

Next goal is huge here.

Pretty standard from him tbf.

He's not the worst of the guest comms.

Please Tyler Smith be offside all the time like when you were here. Please don’t score!

I’m getting very nervous!

Tyler Smith comes on for them.

I don't like this. We've had so much of the ball and only 1 to show for it. Barrow growing in to it.

Referee waiting for the advantage - we didn’t have one as Drinan had the ball! 😂

I would get Glatzel on for Drinan for the last 20 to give us a bit of pace up front as Barrow are pretty sluggish if effective in defence.

Agree

This is just an absolutely terrible game of football. Both teams seem completely incapable of controlling the ball for more than 2 passes.

Soft as shit that ref.

Smith back to defend a FK and heads it out for a corner to them.

Corner to them. Dangerous with Bycroft in the sticks

Wow we are under the kosh here.

Cross onto Smiths head and Bycroft just pushes it wide of the post, unconvincingly.

Very unconvincing

On the balance of play in the last 10 mins you would think we were down to 10 men.

Good free kick to win there.

We need a second - Can’t see where it’s coming from

Cox lovely FK into the 6 yard box but Drinan cant connect with it, then Kilkenny goes close after a lovely chest and turn shot.

Kirkman on for Cox.

What a pass from Smith that 40 yards to Cox but Ofoborh cant get full control of it in the box.

Tyler Smith you cunt. Won a crafty free kick there.

Kirkman with a couple of lovely touches there.

Yellow for Sobo impeding a throw.

Lively already down that left side.

Not sure what he was thinking there.

It felt like timewasting TBH.

Second time where I'm wondering what on earth Delayney was thinking.

Tshimanga is shit.

ref didnt give that blatant foul on Kirkman.

In other news man invesnt wheel ;)

Kirkman is broken

Kirkman down injured after the last foul the ref didnt give.

Kirkman really looks in pain.

Could do with Longelo right about now… but oh yeah, we dont need depth

Kirkman looking pretty bad going off with Cain coming on.

Well, that was a short come back from injury

Hes available as he was subbed off at HT at Salford.

Very welcome offside flag.

How the fuck did Tshimanga score 25 in a season for Chesterfield?

Really hope it’s not as bad as it looked for Kirkman. He looks such a prospect

Four of the bottom five all losing as it stands.

Needed that 2-0

2-0 Smith

Wow!

Carbon copy of his goal a couple of games ago vs Morecambe.

Massive goal that! All results going our way too.

Not fully deserved for this halfs performance but I dont fucking care.

Defo offside

You know what - with a 2-0 lead and 3 minutes + stoppage time left.

I’m quietly confident we can hold on - which is progress!

Smith was offside and could have been yellowed or red carded for a high tackle on the goalkeeper!

I think VAR gives that as offside, but we'll take it

Thank fuck for that.

Yeah most results going our way too. Colchester winning and Harrogate won last night, other than that its 3 points on everyone else.

All day.

I can kinda see why the lino might miss that if he’s watching the ball because it’s gone up & over very quickly.

PVar calls it as a goal ;)

What are you saying!!!!!! Please think before posting!!!! 😋

I'll take it but definitely looked offside to me & then risky with his studs up for the challenge.

TBH Delaney is looking better every game as he gets fitter.

6 mins added.

FFS Bycroft!! Bloody lucky there

Bycroft doing star jumps again

Speak for yourself!

Ian Holloways Red and white army
COYMRs

He’s looked a lot better without Hall alongside him!

Flap and hope for a free kick. Standard bycroft behaviour.

Decent three points. Building up that buffer. Good stuff.

Ref misses a blatant handball by them.

5 more mins yet!

Drinan hits the post from 20 yards.

Fucking hell that is a great strike from Drinan. Unlucky.

Drinan hits the post! 😮

Yellow for Delaney, didnt look like a foul to me he just stood his ground against a lightweight kid.***

Yellow was for Ofoborh it seems.

Two more goals and we go above Barrow!

Drinan has had another game of working hard but not loads of quality but that strike was great. Wish it went in for him.

This 100%.

FT 2-0

A great result if a little lucky at times and much needed even if there wasnt much quality on show.

Ofoborh probably my MotM he was everywhere today and a quality goal too.

Boom. Massive 3 points.

That’ll do.

Needed a win.
Got a win.

About as perfect day as we could have hoped for.

- Win
- Clean sheet
- Carlisle / Newport / Gills / Morecambe / Accrington / Tranmere / Barrow lost/losing.

-8 points above the drop.

Up to the heady heights of 18th now.

A welcome result . The tide has risen ever so slightly.

I love a 2-0. When was the last time we had that?

Well, Whadda ya know…

Holloway:
- Take the result all day long
- It was a big one for us
- We've been making progress. I wanted to cement it today
- From the start to end the lads showed desire, teamwork and effort
- Changed shape 3 times because of what they did and it was seemless. If we hadn't been able to do that, Holloway thought it might have been different
- Drinan scoring would have been the tip of the iceberg
- Left out a couple of younger ones.
- Great goal from Ofoborh
- They are up for it and ready to do it again and again
- Delighted with players. We have made strides forward. We look a solid team
- Smith has a skill of reading a tackle. Did it against Grimsby too. To get up and finish is quite exceptional. Can't thank him enough. He was a handfull all day
- Nicholls needs to get fitter. Drinan ran all day
- We are not wobbly anymore
- Both teams knew how important it was. Thats why it was so scrappy
- Clemence had told Holloway how much pressure he was under having started well
- Lads are starting to show what they show on the training ground
- Tried to play it down. But the players knew that we could start looking around us and up with a win today
- They tried to put size on the pitch to exploit our old perceived weekness
- The boys have smashed it today! Won every header
- Some of the refereeing decisions were atrocious today
- It takes a lot to become a team member and keep it going. A lot of people would have folded. This group didn't.
- We shouldn't be where we are, a club of this size. Its alright saying it, but doing it with the same people is different. But we can be a bit more positive about ourselves
- Kirkman. It doesn't look good. He had an MCL injury on the other leg before. He said that it felt like the same on the other knee. He lost stability.
- Holloway told him it will only be a few months and he will still have a future here, as he has been exceptional.
- Cox came off as he was feeling something
- They all want to play. Almost didn't pick Kirkman. Wish he hadn't now!
- Longelo: We have a sell on clause
- We are over our budget. Longelo wasn't producing what we wanted for the amount he was on. Good luck to him!
- We have a maximum 2 year cycle. We gave Longelo the maximum. Salford offered a longer deal. Holloway would have loved to have had him next year, but he goes with Holloway's blessing
- Holloway will be judged long term what he can do for the club. Its all about how Holloway treats his players. They do stuff for him because of the way he treats them.
- Longelo was not about the club, its not about the Chaiman, its about what Holloway wants to do with the squad.
- Delighted with the lads and their performance. Lets see if we can do it next Friday. We still haven't won 2 games on the trot.

Drinan scoring would have been "the tip of the iceberg"😂

Very average game
Very excellent 3 points. And that's what matters.

I should have put it in quotes and added a '(sic)' there! Don't want people thinking I d'talk loike thaat and mix me metter-fours!   :toocool:

Oh, don't worry I knew it was him!

If we’re over budget on this lot, how fucking small was the budget  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :hmmm:

Or how badly did we spend it?

I suspect Hall, Smith and Clarke (at least) didn't come cheap.

Whilst not always comfortable at the back Holloway has absolutely taught these guys a better level of judgement.  Really was a turgid affair but it was all about the three points.  It’s been a long long time since we had two clean sheets.  Famous last words but the Delaney, wright combo is looking pretty good.  Fair play to Sobo today, he had one of those breakaway moments to deal with early doors and he handled it at source and didn’t let the ball bounce, learning learning learning

Buggest budget since PDC £4m budget and needed extra money in the summer to make it competitive though!

Hope I don't regret saying this but today was the first day I was quite confident we won't go down. There is still a lot to do though.

I would say relegation ( this season ) looks much less likely now. 

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPPzSXcDDV4

Agreed though I felt that before.

But it's so fragile, a Smith injury or a Wright sale and bang..

Is Wright super important, not like Smith, but the back 4 finally have cohesion

Delaney has really come on. Hope he’s one of the ones on a 2 year contract instead of 1.

Got to be on a 2 year surely

It’s just nice to watch a shit game of football between two shit sides and come out comfortable winners for a change

Pleasing victory. Okay, pretty dire game to watch but not the type of game we’ve won a lot in recent years. The defence, whilst not perfect, looks so much more secure than it did under Kennedy and the early Holloway reign. Win two out of Newport, Tranmere and Carlisle and I think we will have more than enough of a cushion.

The wife came to the game with me today, she’s joined the Clem out brigade now, no Bovril and the signs said it was due to a national shortage.

I call bullshit. (It’s available on Amazon)

As for the game it was ugly and generally lacking much quality, but frankly who gives a shit, we won.

Three points & a clean sheet

Our mate got a bovril  ;D

So the Bovril sign was real?!

It was available in the drs I'm told, didn't get one today

Stephen Clemence got sacked after todays result

Definitely still time for Clem to do something stupid

Blimey. He can't even be back to barrow yet. Awkward call on the coach!

The group of players under contract is probably the best we've had for some time. 3 good players in Wright, Clarke and Smith and half decent squad depth of passable league 2 cloggers. Hall is the one that really hasn't worked out and that's been costly.

However, the 5 loanees have to be the worst collective of loans we've ever had?

Saw one of the Barrow players getting in his car after we came back out the pub. They not got a team coach?

Yeah, they had a coach

What game was he at?

There were signs up in the DRS & the Arkell’s about the National shortage.
(Sounds like a typical, it’s not our fault excuse for the fact that someone forgot to order anymore)

Should have asked for some as part of the Longelo deal…

At Xmas I went to an Franchise home game with the father in law. On the concourse they had places for curry, jacket potato, pizza or even burger and chips.

Yesterday I managed to get some Pringles in the Arkells as the hot dog stand wasn’t there and they had run out of pies.

A league 2 battle, low on quality. Start of the season and we would of lost that by at least two!

We won, points on the board...

We are no longer easy to beat, there will be defeats but we have some hope!

A big few fixtures coming up, lets grind out some more points!

Bovril shortage?? Im in the food game and will find out on Monday. Smells like bullshit to me!

I have been told by a very reliable source that the budget is indeed the biggest its been in 15 years but I was also told the buudget now under Clem is not simply a playing budget.

The budget now encompasses all staff, physios, players and academy as 1 unit rather than as individual budgets as it always was before.

I suspect the actual 1st team playing budget could indeed be reduced on last season with more fitness/coaching staff employed now with a larger portion of that budget going to the academy.

Plus, let’s be honest.

It *could* be the biggest playing budget based purely on inflation.

I can’t imagine there are any of us TEFers who are earning the same wage we did nearly 15 years ago.

4m per year would have got you a lot more in 2011 than it would in 2025.

That is indeed true.

Noting the away attendance of just 84, thats really poor for a league team even over such a long distance (252 miles). Barrow have a home average attendance of 3,300.

On Friday, Gateshead in the National League, took 64 away fans on the 355 mile trip to Yeovil for a 7.30 KO. They have a home average attendance of just 1,259.

I must admit though that Barrow were one of the poorest sides we have played this season and whoever takes over there is on a hiding to nothing to keep them from falling lower than they are now, 2 wins in 16 league games and it showed, they made Bycroft make one save all game of note.

Yesterday's. Town End.

 :D

That just makes it another lie and manipulation of the truth though doesn’t it, you are comparing 2 completely different things.  Comparing the 13 year old playing budget to the complete club staffing bill this year and then crowing about it is just pathetic even by the standards of this lot.

Clem's statements normally have a half truth in them. The devil is in the detail.

Blimey what a sad state of affairs it is when trust goes, I'm even guessing at the reasoning for #bovrilgate. And I didn't even want a bloody Bovril yesterday.

Admin error.   Bovrilgate!! love it Batch.

Certain fans of sim card cuisine in amsterdam on a wedge for speed and cocaine strength and conditioning no doubt.

They also said since Di Canio. As in not as large as that. Di Canio was the last to have a budget larger.

It's hard to believe the Cooper playoff team cost less than this, even not adjusted for inflation. Luongo, Foderingham, Kasim, Byrne, Thompson, Obika, Gladwin, Michael Smith then Jack Stephens, John Swift and Harry Toffolo on loan...

It's not a perfect approximation of budget but our agents fees paid that year were 13th highest in league one. Last year they were second bottom in League Two...

In fairness when I went last season to MK, they had no food at all only bags of sweets.

We also paid 400k for Luongo didnt we

Morfuni talking crap i reckon

I fucking hate Bovril

£1 in 2011 is £1.45 now

They won't be going back to Barrow, they only play there they actually train somewhere in Manchester and I imagine the players/coaching staff (understandably) only going anywhere near Barrow for games only.

Blimey. He can't even be back to barrow Manchester yet. Awkward call on the coach!

Suppose it makes sense from an away game perspective but if you're living in manchester a 2.5 hour drive to your home games is hardly ideal, is it?

They do it to attract players who would otherwise have no interest in moving to Barrow or that far North.

Yeah it makes sense from that perpective. Being in the manchester area is attractive for a footballer but that drive just to get to a home game is a bit much. Would hope they're based bit north of manchester at least.

They all book into a hotel the night before home games (we found ourselves in the same hotel for our doomed visit in December 2021) and I wouldn't mind betting they get taken there by coach having all met up at a secret location in Manchester.

Only used to have it at footie as the tea and coffee never tasted like either!

That December 2021 game was grim, in terms of performance, weather and the ground!! I vowed to never go back and I live barely 30 mins away.

Being located at the end of England’s longest cul-de-sac has meant that Barrow have been very nomadic over the years finally settling on using FC United's training facilities in the last few years.