Thetownend.com

Not sure which way this will go tbh.

Guess is..

Swindon 2-2 Nam att: 7,601 (958 away)

Early kick off 12.30
Early pub  :)

They have sold over 900 of their 1,000 allocation already.

I know  ;)

Ah so you do I must have missread your initial post ;)

Hard fought 2-1 win. Harry Smith and Nichols

Early kick off is shit...football day ruined.

Is that because I won't be buying you a beer?  :)

Win. 3-0

Win. 2-0

Be many people from Swindon traveling the opposite direction with the horse racing I expect. Probably more than coming this way.

I’d imagine they’ll be pretty disappointed when they get there.

😄

Oh it finishes Friday. I know nothing about horse racing.

Nam have sold out their allocation, what did they get? 1,000?
Must be a first  :D

Big day out :D

Yep 1,000 allocation, the only time ever they brought over 1k was our last win at home vs them in 2012 (13 years almost to the day since we last beat there at Swindon) when they bright 1,019.

They are one of our bogey teams for sure, but all bogey teams eventually change fortunes.

We have played 8 home games vs Numb with Town winning only 2 of them and drawing 2 times with 4 defeats, Town only scoring 7 goals in total but conceding 12.

Town have lost the last 3 at home against them in a row without us even managing to score a single goal in any of those games.

Currently they sit 2 places above us with 3 points more but with -3 GD so a 2-0 win would take us above them in the table.

They have only had 1 win in the last 5 games with 2 of those drawn.

Numb have won 4, drawn 5 and lost 8 in the league away from home scoring 20 and conceding 26 goals. With a current away form of DLWLW in away games.

Towns form at home has been WWDWD in the last 5.

Their leading scorers at Joe Colwill 9 (no longer at the club), George Miller 8 and Ethan Archer 7.

Towns leading scorers are Harry Smith 15, Kabongo Tshimanga 7 and Joel Cotteril, Will Wright and Paul Glatzel on 5 each.

Cheltenham have Mike Flynn as manager and Liam Kinsella ex Swindon. Swindons Tom Nichols had a short spell there on loan.

Or a 1-0 win. Or a 2-1 win. Or a 9-8 win.

Fair point :)

Clarke back from suspension, and George Cox fit per the presser.

Apparently Cox was fit last week but Ollie chose not to put him on the bench, he still travelled with the 1st team, I would think he will come in instead of Cain in the matchday squad.

I think he will make changes to the starting 11 tomorrow no matter what with Clarke back, who we did really miss in the last 2 games IMO.

Yep, Clarke is a must.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb59SuE6XOw

I think this will be a tough game against a bogey side!

Could easily be a draw or a loss! Am obviously hoping for a win.

P.S. I also hope that Flynn doesn't get pelters. I don't think he deserves that.

Long interview to say:
- Clarke has trained this week after injury and suspension.
- Ameen and Westley are unlikey to be starting.
- Butterworth has been unlucky not to start.
- When 'finishing' he took a gamble and had two wingbacks that weren't asked to defend
- Other people are negotiating a extension to his contract while he focusses on trying to get wins
- Playoffs are the aim but will be very difficult to achieve

You can’t capture his passion in bullet points😁

‘Other people are negotiating a extension to his contract while he focusses on trying to get wins’

Under his instructions..

I can try using capitals if that would help? 🤡

I would miss his facial expressions :D

56 years ago today:

https://youtu.be/l5pXCFMERlk?si=AoapL0Vdv_iEGYN4  :D

Are we doing a minutes applause on the 69th minute today?  :clap:

Looking forward to a 4-0 win today .

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GmE8HERWoAA3Ari?format=jpg&name=large)

Starts for Ameen and Clarke.

That's a... very attacking line up. Four forwards, not including Butterworth who is hardly a defensive player himself.

Ripley
Wright Clarke Freckleton
McGregor Butterworth
Kilkenny Nichols
Ameen Smith Tshimanga

I suppose Clarke sort of does CB/CDM.

Yoofs not faring so well against oxford today. 5-0 down after 55 minutes. Let's hope the first team get on better! I reckon a repeat of the earlier game is in store.

Could even be 4 at the back with Freckleton at LB I suppose, not sure Butterworth will offer much at LWB defensively though if hes played there.

Definately seems all out attack though.

                   Ripley
McGregor Wright Clarke Freckleton
                 Kilkenny 
        Nichols       Butterworth
Ameen       Smith          Tshimanga

Looks like a 343 to me but with Holloway you can never quite be certain (in a good way)

One thing that is predictable with Holloway is that he is unpredictable.

Really glad to see Ameen starting

Kinsella starts against us today, they have a couple of changes from the team that beat Wimbledon on Tuesday, they have the ancient Joe Day in goal the ex Newport stalwart who has always looked weak against crosses against us in the past.

I'm going to take a flyer you were on about today.

12 for a 12:30ko there isn't going to be much choice is there

6 : 0 in the end, more experienced players now out on loan or in first team squad, no worries.

Crikey! Shows what I know from the presser!

This could be a basketball score!

Great tackle by Wright who then gives them the ball straight back again!

Pretty gusty conditions.

Corner to them.

Rubbish corner luckily doesnt beat the 1st man.

0-1 weak

That’s what happens when you don’t have a LB!

Should not be letting that in.

He had way too much time & space there - but he’s done bloody well to cut inside past two & put it in the bottom corner

That Thomas lad was outstanding when he came on against Walsall. Hope he doesn’t do the same today.

Town not in the game at all yet.

Stood off the scorer way too much, no closing down and Ripley may not have positioned himself as well as he could have.

No one was near him when he git the ball..

Poor defending once again..

If we don't tighten up this could be embarrassing.

Butterworth and Kilkenny just not currently working as a midfield pair.

Anyone else having issues with the sound on Sky +?

Keeps changing in pitch and volume and there is a constant ringing which is wreaking havoc on my ears!

Holloway up in the stands and not on the bench pitchside?

Maybe getting ready for his future role :D

IMO we are missing Ofoborhs drive and protection of the defence so far, Butterworth barely kicked the ball and doesnt seem to be chasing it much either.

Freckleton wins a corner for Town.

I can see substitutes happening at half time again - this ain't working

100%

Absolutely this. its still early and we are coming back into the game much more int he last 10 mins.

Smith low shot forces a save from the keeper.

Tshimanga looked like he was pulled back in the box there, the ref ignores it.

This has been poor. Open defesively and lack of much happening the other way.

Not clicking at all today.

From an incisive pass from Ameen

Ameen is very eager to play, hes not been utilised too much so far though, he needs more of the ball. Not much has worked for Tshimanga so far too.

Butterworth not contributing anything positive so far, its not  his game to play so deep he needs to be in the opposition half not chasing the ball in defence.

The wind is definately playing its part today again. So often this season its affected games adversely.

Butterworth tries a shot from nearly 30 yards well high and wide.

Chance for Numb headed well wide almost unmarked, got away with that.

Yellow for the Numb player Stubbs for a poor challenge on Smith as he broke free, just a minute after he spoke to him for pulling Smith around.

Ameen breaks with a bit of pace but his pass was wild to Nichols.

If that was in their half there could have been a good shout for red

Yes closer to goal it would have been a red, even if Smith did make a bit of a meal of it, it was still a foul.

We are sloppy all over the pitch..

Losing 2nd balls and not closing down giving them far too much time

Clarke finds Ameen and his cross comes in but its claimed by the keeper.

Think that run from Clarke shows what we are missing in midfield

Its just not working there for Butterworth so far, we need Ofoborhs pressing.

Ameen close to releasing Smith in the box, not far away, all our good moves are coming through the teenager so far.

First game I’ve watched for a while, looks like we’re just going through the motions with nothing to play for so far. Midfield is a problem today but I really don’t get the point of Nichols, he starts pretty much every game but has 1 goal and 2 assists in 12 games for us, that’s pretty poor for an attacking player.

That said the wind is clearly an issue, the pitch is also terrible bare patches everywhere along with sand, second year in a row it’s been shoddy. I know the groundsman is now off sick but thats only recently.

Awful long pass from Butterworth in a good position in their half.

Tshimanga and Butterworth for me should be replaced at HT, they are there for the taking but we arent creating enough in their half and we hopefully will improve with the wind behind us 2nd half.

That looked close to a penalty on Smith.

He is fouled a lot but he also goes down an awful lot

It was either a penalty or yellow for Smith. But it wasn’t neither!

FK to Town for a foul on Smith on the edge of the box.

I wouldn't say they are there for the taking, if anything we are

They are looking far more dangerous going forward. Winning every 2nd ball

We are miscontrolling far too many balls

1-1 great FK from Wright

Glad the ref gave us time to score!

Well that is just superb.

He's so good at free kicks.

HT 1-1

Wow!!! AVE THAT!!!

Can anybody enlighten me as to why / how Tshimanga gets so much game time

Really flat first half, hoping that free kick is the spark to kick us into gear. Must say, another half goes by where I struggle to see what Nichols provides us

Pretty fair scoreline to be honest.Both sides struggling to cope with conditions. Bit worrying that our "impact players"(apart from Westley) are already on the pitch but having said that Ameen is a threat. Hopefully Cotterill can be the new impact player. Would hope to see Westley on for Tshimanga

Question is whether Holloway makes changes now or on 60 mins when Clarke and Nichols will be knackered?

I think the minor tweak is to get hold of the midfield. So Ofoborh for Butterworth. But, Tshimanga and Nichols have offered little. I think I would also prefer One of McGregor and Ameen and not both. However, Oforborh might make the difference!

Because Peterborough have been paid a lot of dosh for the loan because Kennedy wanted desperately to sign him.

Expect Ofoborh to come off the bench for Butterworth after about 60 min.

No hot food in DRS. Disgrace. Who can I email to complain about this?

Att: 8,556 (1,024 Numbs)

Corner to them.

1-2

Abysmal defending yet again!!!

Why I am not shocked?

Wright really should have cleared that but shit happens. Back to square 1.

Proper shit defending. Asleep.

Get Freckleton off , back to his awful best...

Hes played quite well today, cant blame him for a misskick by Wright.

Great to walk back in to 'Swindon will be kicking themselves'

He's not the worst player on the field by any means.  

Who is sat next to Holloway?

1-3

First and third goal have come from Kilkenny being beat in a 1 v 1 from a free kick. Why on earth is he put there for free kicks?

Please, kick the fucking ball when it comes near you.

Fucking calamity defending.

Game over

Defending back to Kennedy levels

Abysmal....

The lack of a proper left back has cost us.

They're not even trying to defend.

What a shit selection - no midfield, no defence

Abysmal!

Get a defender on and push Clarke into midfield. Then get Wesley on up top.

Good to see they are still learning about refreshments et al

From Nick Coote of Trust STFC:

Arrived at Ground for 12 wanted to buy programme - NONE! At HT wanted Hot Chocs x2  and a Pasty plus Sausage roll for brother NONE!! What a pathetic commercial shambles!!!!!! #stfc

Nightmare, but Swindon look like Kennedy is still in charge.

Hmmm after a mid season resurgence we’ve reverted to type haven’t we? This is likely to make it 9 points from a possible 21 in the last 7 games. Reflective that this really is a bottom half squad.

It almost looks like the person who has been to Clementes' house has picked the team today

Too many poor performers today, some because of the formation and some just because.

McGregor has had his weakest game in a Town shirt, Tshimanga and Butterworth just not up for it today.

We have missed Ofoborh in the middle, we have missed a proper left back too and created littler other than Smith and Ameen.

Tshimanga is a wasted selection

Corner to Town.

Picking 86 strikers is very much a Holloway trait, it's just not worked today

Well to be fair under Kennedy I’d have nodded off

Very poor by McGregor there in a great position.

Another corner to Town.

The game is definately not over but we need changes made ASAP. Cheltenham dont look great defensively but we are just creating so little.

Holloway! Empty the bench!

season was already over but would have been nice to have beaten a bogey team.

Great chance for Smith and then Tshimanga but the keeper still saves it.

Surprised at no changes at H.T.

Definately, they are needed now badly to liven it up.

Yes where is Holloway?

Not one player anticipating in the box, just standing watching, horrible as a spectacle from a Swindon perspective

Painfully clear the free kick masked over the first half. Changes were needed and it’s very unlike Holloway to not see that

I wonder whether Holloway is in the stands for a reason? (Reps not getting what he wants for contract extension)

Or am I just bored watching this shite!

Comfy seats

Is Holloway on strike or something?

Penalty to Town, foul on Smith, red card for them.

Soft penalty and sending off.

Especially as Stubbs had cleared the danger

2-3 Tschimanga

Game on again.

He does take a great penalty.

There are no comfy seats watching this

stream buffered and realised the vpn wasn't on. by the time i got back saw we had a pen and they've had a man sent off.

game on, maybe.

Due to your all consuming hunger?

Save by the keeper from a Nichols touch.

Yellow for Clarke.

We still need subs.

I can see them scoring again here!

But they are there for the taking!

I can see us beating them TBH. They are as weak as us in defence.

5-3 town
Cheltenham have another sent off then Smith goes for an early bath too

Why is the fucking manager sitting in the fucking stand????

I would get Butterworth, McGregor and Nichols/Tshimanga off though.

This is ALWAYS a possibility.

Butterworth finally has a dribble.

Butterworth is exactly the madcap type of player we need in this game!

Another corner to Town.

the forum clock has gone mental again

He has done good things late in games but for me hes been pretty poor all game.

Standing is not allowed.

Butterworth is the ideal substitute against tired legs in a game that's breaking open. He's a totally different prospect in a more structured game. Would love to see him coming on now...

Exactly this.

Westley on for Kilkenny.

Attacking overload.

Kilkenny off????

We are going to field ten strikers before the end of the season I'm sure.

Not my choice but lets see.

Bit risky, that.

If he brings on Glatzel then we will have every attacker at the club (thats fit) on the pitch.

Yellow for Tshimanga.

Town nearly hit on the counter.

Ameen is a passenger at the moment

FK 30 yards out for foul on Tshimanga.

Town piling the pressure on them now.

Sobowale for him, get McGregor up top!

FFS Butterworth.

Butterworth is such an enigma, sometimes hes brilliant and sometimes utterly shite, he always looks better coming off the bench than starting though.

Glatzel on for Tshimanga
Cotterill on for Nichols
Ofoborh on for McGregor.

Still no sign of holloway

3-3

Clarke!

Brilliant vision from Smith!

Go for the winner now!!!

Smith hits the post, another corner to Town.

6 mins added.

Come on Town!!!!

Corner to Town.

Glatzel header just over the bar.

Not going to happen 😢

Glatzel just over the bar.

Corner to Town.

From 3-1 down, you take that. The red card obviously helped.

Big question marks over the defending today though. Probably suggests we're still a bit away from being promotion contenders next season.

FT 3-3

Good result from being 3-1 down. Showed real heart.

Didn’t start our strongest side cost us 2 points

We could have won that at the end.

If we didn't defend like shite that would have been easy.

Absolutely as Numb werent very good but TBH neither were we for most of the game.

Clarke was my MotM today. ran everywhere and made things happen.

Game was over. Again. When will people learn? Yes a draw probably snuffs out play off hopes finally but surely ,after last week if nothing else, people should realise this team is never beaten until 90 minutes. In the end, a win would not have been fortunate . Smith MOM, closely followed by the captain

I concur WRT our slim PO hopes all but vanishing today. Consider that 2 points dropped. Poor defending, again. Mid table will IMHO our likely finish.

Which leads us into next year. How much stomach do Digger and the other shareholders have to put together a cast iron competitive budget to give Holloway the chance to succeed next season? The answer will be if Holloway stays. If he goes, then I’m afraid that will speak volumes, unless he’s poached by a team further up the pyramid. I do not see him staying on to take a wage and keep busy if he cannot effectively put out a team to get promotion.

The point is though, why was the game over?  Because we didn't show up for the first hour..  that is what we have to learn, a game is 90 mins not 30, stop giving ourselves a mountain to climb by picking a better starting lineup.  It's easy to look at the game differently because we've pulled it back but that doesn't paper over the first 60. I know Holloway lauds his finishers, but perhaps take a moment to look at the right starters as well..  Smith defo MOTM for me, was a pain in the arse for Num all day long..

Still mid table safety is a lot better than the bleak prospect back in December of being at the foot of the table and facing relegation to the Bananarama league.

Sorry if it's already been answered, I've not read back yet.

But who were the 2 sat either side of Holloway up in the padded arkells seats?

Obviously delighted to come back from 3-1 but goodness me we were poor today, could tell from the lineup we were going to struggle big time in the middle. I can’t really fault Holloway since he’s been here but unless there were injuries I don’t quite understand the starting 11 or the fact it took sooo long to make the changes needed.

That being said it’s time to start preparing right now for next year. Keep the core of this squad and improve on the areas we are weak and it could be a better year next year hopefully!

Flynn:
- Shot themselves in the foot with penalty and sending off
- Nam were on top at that point
- Holloway has got Swindon confident
- It was a battle
- Glad they came away with something
- Frustrating to be 3-1 up and comfortable
- First one wasnt a free kick
- Cheltenham got lots of yellows Town got 1
- Nice to see some familiar faces here
- Good game in testing conditions
- Chelters were doing well. Flynn thought they were deep first half with the wind with them
- That was some team spirit as they dug in and got something out of the game
- Thomas and Kinsella were excellent
- Tough place to come. Harry Smith is a handful in any league. Difficult to mark. A throw back to an old school number 9
- Bradbury apologised for getting sent off
- Moment of madness cost Chelters
- They could have had a couple of 1 on 1 chances. Didnt cross the ball in
- Frustrated but proud
- Thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. Praised the Cheltenham fans
- Frustrated that they should have more than 50 points at this stage. Not giving up on playoffs.

Yep, playoff-ish form since Ollie took over, need more quality in the summer to become realistic promotion contenders.

Holloway:
- Bitterly disappointing
- Weather changed. Bit of sun. Bobbly pitch. Horrendous bobbles
- In stand due to 3 yellows
- Looked like both teams couldnt get the ball down and play
- Horrendous fouls
- First goal: Showed them in training what Thomas does. We aren't good enough at defending that
- For a long time he's said how great the performance has been. Today wasn't good enough. Cant let goals like that in
- You have to organise yourselves out there
- Second goal. Unbelievable. Two people should have gone out. That should have been blocked
- How we've let them score 3: That's not good enough
- You could say we came back: I'm expecting that!
- You can't expect us to have to score 4 goals to win at home
- Bitterly disappointed! Huff! There you go!
- The more attackers I put on the better we look
- If we started like that we'd be 5 down
- We didnt hurt their back line to begin with
- We pinned them back after the sending off
- We didnt have the right width in the first half
- Outstanding free kick from Wright
- Wright lost his mum this week. So proud of him today!
- Annoyed because we are better than that
- We should have won today
- First half wasnt good enough
- We didnt get tight enough. Should have been 0-0 minimum at HT
- How many defenders did the first goal go past? Should have had a block on it
- 2 points dropped
- Got to win next week. Four out of 6 might be alright
- Holloway's plan was to win today. Its all out the window
- Liked what Ameen did last week. Liked some of his stuff this week. He's growing and learning
- We have to take control of things out there. Don't rely on the coaching staff telling you what to do in the game
- Ameen needs to learn to defend, but thats nothing to do with him today
- Their extra width surprised us and caused us problems. Fuming with himself that he couldn't sort it out from the stands
- Goals for and goals against. Evening them up because we are scoring lots!
- Maybe we start with all of our forwards as we pin everyone back! But, we'll get walloped.
- Maybe the starters stay starters and the finishers stay finishers
- On another day we would have won 4-3. But we can't rely on winning 4-3
- Raised his voice in the changing room as he's fuming about today. He believes they are better than that, but need to take responsibility
- There are still 27 points to fight for

I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy most of the first half. Hot potato low quality football and I thought they looked more threatening on the break with their pace. Good free kick though.

When they went 3-1 up we looked done and the second looked to be heading to being worse than the first.

I thought Ollie got the team selection wrong. Too weak physically in the middle without offy or Clarke.

But the sending off turned the game. We were all over them from that point. It was a question of whether we could find the winner, so near but not quite. And I don't think we deserved to, to be honest.

Think the subs were 5-10 minutes late too.

But a good fightback none the less.

My point is the game is not over after 45,60 75 or whatever minute. That is unarguable as we've proved many times. Yes the first half hour was shite but that's bugger all to do with the point I was making. I said at half time that it was worrying that our impact players were already on the pitch. I just get annoyed with people saying "games over" or "seasons over" or "we're definitely going down" as many did 4 months ago. It's stupid.
That's just my opinion

Flynn is a dick. The reason they got more yellows than us was because they were a bunch of fucking dirty twats and we weren't.  Also an obvious foul for our first. And what about the clear foul on Smith in the first half. What a fucking sap

expected lots of goals . very nice comeback .

As others have said, selection was all wrong today. Thought Holloway took too long with the subs as well, but good character shown in drawing level. No chance we’d have got anything out of that without the silly red card from them. Seems we’ve had a fair few penalties at home since the turn of the year, with the conversion rate getting better after missing god knows how many

Weird sort of game. Need a different plan where we don’t lump it up to Smith everytime. He’s so good at winning them, but Cheltenham were just doubling him all day and made it real hard. When we don’t put Offoborgh on the pitch we look so weak defensively and totally different side. MoM for me was Smith who never gives up and won so many 1 on 1 balls. Didn’t stop running all day. Don’t get me started on the fouls. Some awful stuff going on which was not punished.

In the circumstances of Wright losing his mum midweek that free kick was a beaut and explains the whole team celebration with even Ripley coming up. Fair fucks for playing at all.

Cowley38 adding to his reputation for positivity. I thought you were done for the rest of the season.

It is what it is……he’s not happy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRO_3-ktSG8

Chatted with a bunch of Maastricht supporting Dutch fans queuing up for the DRS. An annual bash, apparently, going to various non-PL games. Were at Ashton Gate last night.

God know what they made of our 3-3.

Like an AA meeting. I haven’t had a post today. Then you sadly fall off the wagon and the old demon rears it’s ugly head.

I got away with loads of verbal, stewards couldn't give a fuck

I thought the Cheltenham minnows were up for it, we weren't.

Tom Nichols, haven’t seen him play in a Town shirt and very rarely gets a mention either good or bad so would he be worth keeping for next season🤔

Disagree...

I think without checking he's not had a single MoM vote since arriving, which isn't a fair judge. We have a ridiculously good PPG when he starts. He works bloody hard and links things well, sort of like a good Blair Sturrock - and I liked Blair Sturrock.

I think he'll get an offer, I'd be happy to have him in the squad but think he probably isn't first eleven every week in a promotion chasing side.

Cheers Nemo, Holloway often eludes to him as being vital to the team but even on the Matchday threads he rarely gets a mention and seems to go about his business unnoticed.

If by "up for it" you mean kicking the shit out of anything that moves,or even doesn't move, then yes,they were

That's not always the case .

For the first time in a long time i’m confident we can keep most our good players this summer, no excuse to not at least be pushing play offs next season. Wright, Smith, Clarke all under contract.

Who owns the Roller and Ferrari parked up by the corner of the TE/DRS?

Ranford isnt it

For all the good Holloway and the team have done to reverse the rot, today was a blot on that sadly.

Poor lineup from the start, although I’m sure IH would point to last weeks lineup as reasoning for freshening it up but (without hindsight) I don’t think todays team had any balance from the start.

Great free kick from Wright at the end of the first half which probably covered cracks from the overall performance as I was surprised to see no changes at half time and then no proper changes until deep into the 2nd half.

Overall though, done well to get back to a point. We know this is a mid table squad right now that needs a decent surgery in the summer to challenge for automatics, so right now, when you go beyond the best first eleven, you’ll risk drops in quality like this. Get through to summer then tweak where needed.

Thought Smith did well not to lose his head at how little the ref was giving him today, Ameen showed some promising flashes then tailed off (as you’d expect from someone his age), Butterworth frustrated, Nicholls will be one of those who can put in the same performance each week but will be lavished in praise when we win and one of the first to get criticism if we lose, think he’s worth a years contract.

Think Ofoborh is vital to our team.
He just offers something none of our other midfielders do.

I definitely feel better for having him in the side. I get we have a lot of games & Holloway wants to use his whole squad + this is probably (without looking) his busiest season / most games played / most minutes played season after a few years out.

If we are going to rotate & rest then I think it’s vital in the summer we get a direct copy of Ofoborh to rotate with the man himself.

I guess Smith is another we don’t have a direct like for like replacement but we do have a fair few options up front to rotate with - we’d just have to play slightly differently.

Thought Kilkenny really struggled without Ofoborh next to him too. They make a decent midfield pairing, but feels like Ofoborh is a lot less reliant on Kilkenny for his performances

First half was so so scrappy. Extremely fortunate to go into half time level. Great free kick by Wright, but Joe Day aside from that had very little to do.

We conceded 3 very poor goals as well, the second and third in particular. What was frustrating to me was the lack of a proper midfield, it seemed we only really had Kilkenny in there and we'd decided just to load up in the forward areas. I guess it kind of worked as we got the penalty and the red card which really gave us a foothold. Nice equaliser and after that there was potentially only one winner. Bringing Cotterill and Ofoborh on was probably 10 minutes or so too late really.

Good fight by the team to be fair and good to see quite and entertaining second half after a terrible first.

.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uAn3Ky5zILI

Love where the corner was taken from on 11.35 imagine if we had scored the winner from it😁

I think thats a bit harsh, Kilkenny was the only person in the midfield, I didn't think we were set up correctly.

I actually thought Holloway made the right decision resting Ofoborh. Last 2 games he's looked tired. I think the mistake was Clarke going to CB rather than CM.

It left Kilkenny exposed & he really wasn't involved in the game until 70+ minutes in. And whilst I think Cotterill is better more centrally he seems to have forged quite a good understanding with Kilkenny whilst out wide which we missed yesterday.

I mean, that is sort of what I was saying. He struggled without Ofoborh, I’m not blaming him for that, that’s on Holloway for not setting us up correctly

Its the first time in a while that a different way of setting us up hasn't worked.

Holloway did say that Cheltenham played wider than he thought so maybe that influenced his starting line up.

Don’t disagree but feel he got too carried away with the second half v Donny which reflected in his line up yesterday

The result shouldn’t hide what was a dreadful performance. Oboforh, Sobowale and Delaney should be the first names on the team sheet.

Sobowale for MacGregor, who is struggling and WB, Delaney for Freckleton and Oboforh anywhere in the midfield.

Don’t know if Sobowale has pissed in Holloway’s corn flakes.

There were so many poor first touches and a general lack of control. Players stumbling about, it was like the Keystone Cops st times.

Apparently Holloway said at an older supporters gig that Sobowale needs to stay on his feet more hence not playing.

Not sure if this happened once and I'm now exaggerating but Mcgregor seemed to have a habit of passing the ball to players when marked/putting them in difficult situations. Also, our corners in the second half were continually taken miles outside the quadrant.

Noticed something similar, think he’s struggled a bit defensively recently too. Don’t want to be harsh on him as he’s ahead of where he should be development wise right now and young players will have consistency issues but think he may do well with a period either further up the pitch or not starting. That’s not a slight on him either, he’s young so it’s to be expected.

Issue then becomes whether IH wants to start Sobowale

Comments were made around me that sometimes McGregor just needs to play the quick and easy ball as opposed to trying to beat everyone in front of him.

I did notice that he often gets into a great position with a good out ball but tries just one more...

A real developing talent though so, don't want to be too critical

He's going to be a cracking player, make no mistake about that. It's great he is getting the opportunities to make these mistakes and learn the game at Swindon. (i'm aware that statement sounds a bit stupid)

Yeah, you need at least over of Offy and Clarke in midfield.

In a way I can see just going for it might seem like a really good idea. But that midfield was just too lightweight.

It's not guaranteed we'd have played better with one of them in there of course. The sending off was the key to that. But it would have been more balanced.

Indeed. If we can't play and try to bed in McGregor and Ameen now, when can we? 9 dead rubbers is ideal