Thetownend.com

Meaningless competition but with potential to be a decent derby with 1000 Royals travelling.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcokma14aE&pp=0gcJCbIJAYcqIYzv

Got a bit tasty at their place a season or 2 ago.

Expect similar tomorrow.

It's mad to me that they've flogged 1k tickets for a competition that I suspect 90+% of fans would happily scrap.

Don't care about the score, just want the lads that need the minutes for match fitness to come through unscathed. If he plays a goal for Tabor would be good for his self confidence too.

They wanted more tickets!

There’s definitely an undercurrent there.

Possibly the only game that I've been to where the majority of the attendance were there with the sole hope of doing some damage to fans of the opposition.

Quite surprised at how feral the Reading lot were.

Yes you'd think they wouldn't be arsed as we've been leagues apart for years.

Be good to get some of the squad some minutes tonight. As always - biggest hope is no injuries.

They aren't really. I think its just a bunch of bored middle class kids who have no drama in their lives.

I've lived in Reading and the surrounding areas for a decade and never once had an issue when wearing a Town shirt.

I did go to the away fixture a year or so back and found in very comical when a group of Reading fans tried to attack a bus carrying Town supporters, only for the Swindon fans to open the doors and then they gave Usain Bolt a run for his money  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I'm not going tonight cba with it all. Anyone know if it's on the telly?

On sky sports + red button

they didn't realise it had people on it.

Across Moonraker/Holloway interview it sounds like Butterworth and Delaney are starting and McCormick and Mitchell will be involved in the squad. Sounds like Mitchell won’t be able to go on loan to the National League South/North or above again if we play him tonight.

On the lower scale of local rivals dislikes - bit of a non-entity really. Got head butted by a police horse last time I went. Kerouch scored, I think.

Might have been Kuffour

I'd imagine most of their plastic fans weren't around when we were proper rivals.
First Town game I went to was against Reading - 0-0 draw in 1979. One of the best seasons, and teams, we'd had, until we got knocked out of both cups in the space of a couple of weeks. It went downhill from then on until Macari turned up...

Thanks for adding the 7.00 kick off time to the thread title by the way. I would have definitely missed the first half without that!

 :D

Shame we couldn't open the Bank to flog them a few more tickets. Chelsea are not on the TV this evening, so they probably would have shifted a few more

Yer tis . Bugger me, that’s a strong line up

Seeing it is a strong side perhaps Mr Holloway sees this as a potential moneymaker for the club if we can trundle through to later rounds or am I being too optimistic?

Matt Ritchie on the bench for them.

No idea if their team is a strong one or not.

Hope to see Tabor off the bench in the second half.

Definitely crozzer

Reading got their shirts on inside out

1-0

Yay!

A princely finish.

Clarke - that would have been glorious

Butterworth playing much deeper, acting as QB in the DMC alongside Clarke - doing it pretty well so far

Didn’t realise 7pm ko. Just got in. Missed goal. Why do we have Reading comms?

2-0

Debut goal

Palmer! Scramble. Tap in. From a fucking corner!

Probably the easiest goal he has ever scored

We scored from a corner, that can't be.

Would have to see it again, but I think their GK was arguing for a foul, only player that touched him was their no 6.

Better touch from Billy and that would’ve been 3

2-1

Doomed

Fannying around at the back. Gave the ball away.

Shot hit post and ricocheted into Ward and in

Fairly self-inflicted with a good portion of luck for them.

That was poor from McGregor. Great hit though

Reading fans sound excited for the Virtu trophy - weird bunch

Flag malfunction, hate when that happens.

Shame, think Ward has been pretty good so far.

2-2

Doomed, again, hairdryer being warmed up for H.T.

Utter shite. Butterworth commits. Reading pass it through back line. Good sliding finish.

But, it’s been coming. We looked at 2-0 as If we thought job done. We’ve stopped attacking. Wouldn’t be surprised to see us lose this from here

Ward bottled it

Wright trying the play the man offside was a poor decision as well

In utter control and then let them grow in confidence. Second goal, Ward has to come off his line quicker. Looks to me like he hesitated which gave Marriott the time to beat him to it. At one point it looked like roles reversed from the god awful game at their place in 2023. Difference this time, Reading didn’t allow us to grow into the game, we have this time

Reading on top start and end of the half, we looked dangerous for a 15 minute spell where we got our goals, but look a bit disjointed.

First goal unlucky, second a mess. Do think Ward could have been quicker off his line and think he bottled challenging for the ball ending up in no man’s land.

Fairly entertaining half. Can see why Cardiff are top end of league one and Reading aren’t!

Performance really fell off after conceding. Not sure why exactly, they are not all that.

You can tell that minutes are needed by several players.  The regular first team players shouldn't be sweating that much regarding starting.  

Sigh. They are so shit at the back but we've lost all momentum.

Not too worried about the result but with such a strong squad it's somehow disappointing

Kilkenny time

Munroe for Delaney
Kilkenny for Mabete

Will Wright wright wright

3-2 Wright )(Freekick from closer to ciren than the Town End)

Exocet!

Bosh.

How could the keeper not set a wall.

Can't have seen Wright his em before

Could see from the way he positioned himself for his run up that he was going to knuckle ball it, nice goal.

Matt Ritchie on - Not for us! 😢

The Prince hasn’t done much for 30 mins or so
Palmer hasn’t seen the ball since he scored
Bodin hasn’t touched it since getting an opportunity to make it 3-0

We have no outlet from the back since Mabete went off. He seems to always make himself available in space. I like him!

The Matt Ritchie fire sale felt like the symbolic start of things turning to shit. Felt like we were destined to win League One that season.

Kilkenny shot wide after link up from Bodin and the Prince

Corner

Tabor for Palmer

Cutthroat Jake, hopefully to make his mark.

Butterworth curls one wide after Kilkenny played him in from a corner

Shhhh Gavin, trying to watch the game

That's a total nonsense foul!

and again

Snowden for Wright

Lord Snowden on.

You can tell Tabor has something, but you can also tell he's just jumped up like 5 divisons...

Just thinking that he doesn’t look as good as Westley did.

Glatzel for Clarke

Snow Joedon

Ward’s kicking is atrocious

No idea who our CBs are!

Suddenly. No defenders!

Agree. But there is no one to pass to. No one making space

Joel McGregor, Monroe and Kirkman

Nor do they

That happens when you take them all off and replace with forwards!

Can't work out if Joel's sideburns are a tribute to Ray Dorset or Gas Coombes.

Truly mental subs. No idea the thought process behind them apart from being desperate to not risk injuries in the last 15 mins

You'd have to say it's not ideal.

All of our CB's went up for the corner...  why?

Att: 3,667

Agreed - Tabor might have a higher ceiling, but he's so raw and unrefined and just slightly off the pace, even vs what is a reading reserve team..

They hit the crossbar in the 89th min

Did that not come off of Kirkman's head?

Yup

Must say that Joel McGregor is very good.

Lots of dark arts defending. A nudge and a bump every opportunity

Good defending then :D

Joel McGregor plays with more age an experience than you'd think a 19 year old winger turned wingback would have when he's played, what, 40 games for us max?

1,004 away  :bye:

Thought Bodin played well.

The finishing 11 had a real ‘get minutes in the legs’ feel to it.

Job done though, no injuries etc.

Well,thought that jettisoning 4 centre halves would cost us. But obviously don't need 'em! That was about as entertaining as a vertu game could be. Impressed with Butters and Kirkman tonight and Palmer had a great first half.

Really?

Think their 2nd goal may have been offside.

That free kick was up there with the Matt Taylor screamer at Wycombe.

Butterworth (Sponsor's MotM):
- Started really well
- Pressed well
- Everyone knows their role. Went over it the day before
- Central midfiled: I'd play anywhere as long as Im playing
- Been frustrated about not playing. Kept head down, worked hard and waited for my chance
- Manager says I'm a really good player on the ball. Just need to work off the ball and be a bit more alert. He said to wbide my time and my chance would come
- Manager is a straight hitter. I know where I stand with him. He's really positive
- Unbelieveable strike from Wright
- Pleased to hold on at the end? Its just a mentality thing.
- Squad strenght: Its far too good for League 2. We need to be up there and challenging
- Be nice to score against Barrow again

Pretty good evening all told. Beat the plastics, no obvious injuries, 90 minutes for Bodin, Prince, Butterworth, Kirkman and McGregor. 5 wins in our last 6 in all comps...a good habit to get into. Palmer is like Smith but better all round imo.

Back to the real stuff on Saturday.

Holloway:
- Not injury free. Delaney has a sore knee. Took a clattering.
- Delaney was supposed to have 90 mins. Thought he was playing really, really well
- He is now back in contention. He was excellent tonight. Has a lump on the outside of his knee.
- Gave some total rest for the weekend
- Boy oh boy! What a game
- Delighted as the team hadnt played together before
- Started tentatively. Scored against the run of play. Got another one. Then they pegged us back. Didn't like their second goal.
- Dont understand why they didnt have a wall! Strange!
- Delighted with the performance
- Oli Palmer is getting used to us. Prince scored his first at home
- Everyone has had a taste of it and performed at a certain level
- Butterworth: Putting the same pressure on the manager as everyone else. In their contract it doesn't say the manager has to pick them. Anyone who has a contract: I didnt say they were going to be starting or going to be playing. I wanted them to be part of a squad. Ameen has gone, which leaves a hole that Butterworth can fill. He needs to work on his off the ball. Played him as a RWB, which is not his best position.This is about us being stronger when we bring people on.
- Didn't mean to or want to take all the height off. Plans had to change due to circumstances. Almost had to go down to 10 as Kirkman was limping.
- It was a good game and well worth this competition. Even though it gets diluted or watered down
- Good to see we have strength in depth. Despite losing a lot of players
- Delighted to have rested some and played others
- Tomorrow off and then the longest journey of the season. Thank god its not an early start!
- Then praised the fans who cheer!
- Bristol City loans: Clarke being investigated for something in the Cardiff game. Murph is exactly the same sort of player. Knight-Label is a Canadian international with a boat load of experience. Shitty have 2 good players there. Tinnion has helped us a lot there. But they will have to earn the right to play
- Forever thankful for the Chairman's help to get us this situation. We are pretty balanced in all areas.
- Looking back, what we did against Crewe was good! They won 7-1 tonight. But, we haven't done anything yet. So am not going to over celebrate.
- Thinks he failed last year as he didnt get us to the play offs last year
- Wants us to be consistent and compete at the top of the league
- Will celebrate if we do that
- Clarke: Press Officer asked Holloway not to say anything further than that and Hawes not to press further.

Mmm. Clarke investigation 🤷‍♂️

A weird one that.

 Can't even think what it's about, could be anything

Off the ball incident I assume...

Ahh of course. There's always something!

Or something said.
Or betting.
Or nothing at all.

I'm not saying it's any of these.

Andrew Hawes mentioned in commentary that Reading 'keeper, Jack Stevens, is the only goalie to concede an EFL goal to former Swindon player, Taylor Curran.

Winning is a habit, and we passed the ball well. Big positive.

Palmer makes a real difference occupying defenders and holding it up. Princewill took his goal well. More positives.

I thought Butterworth looked good going forwards and could play a role. Sometimes you watch him and think he could be a real player - he just needs more consistency. Bodin was tidy too. McGregor plays with the nous of Paul Caddis. He just gets it.

Great stuff from Will Wright. Reminded me of Paul Evans v Wrexham.

What’s going on with the Stratton Bank scaffold?!

Ollie Clarke, oh shit!
Bring on Barrow.

.
https://youtu.be/oNB1zgVP6_k?si=CuXN9SI2hCK_OFbB

The *rumour* I've heard is that Clarke possibly hit another player in our dressing room. I've absolutely no credence to that, but sharing what I've been told.

One of his team mates?

Yes

Ah. I see.

I know it's just rumour. Assuming it was true, I'm suprised that's got investigated rather than sorted in house.

Then again, I'm assuming the investigation is the FA not internal. Suppose if it's FA and he's found guilty the FA will release a statement

Enjoyed that game and atmosphere last night. We won so that was nice and I thought it showed our squad depth is looking good for this year when the manager is able to manage minutes of players and still get a result.

I can see why Holloway does not start Princewill in league matches. In my view he looks great going forward, but switches off on defence mode. Like he puts all effort in one way. Palmer on the other hand looks really good fit in this team. His little chest offs and ability to know where his team mates are is great.

Positives, when we pass the ball around in attack and press when we are defending we look quite good. Holloway having this 'you need competition at every position' seems to be raising the bar of individuals to try and get into the team. Kilkenny is on fire at the moment and looks class.
Negatives, Playing around at the back was dodgy. If in doubt hoof it out...Long ball crept back in last night in periods and we did loose it like we have been, but think Palmer is very good at his distribution and when it found him he kept hold of it or won a free kick, so might mean we become 2 dimensional in attack and makes teams hard to plan against us as we could play out or go long. So if they become good at it might turn into a big positive..