Thetownend.com

Most important game of the season tonight?

Is a win a must?

- to do the double of them
- to pick up some momentum for upcoming games. A win tonight would be a massive boost.

Is this a 'must win'? Probably.
Will we win? No.

2-1 loss.

Hope I'm wrong but I can't see us picking up all 3 points tonight. I'm going for a bad tempered draw, with a few more cards to add to our already impressive list.

I'm not confident on this one. Definitely must win, reckon we'll lose 2-0;.

Match day thread not started until 0647...

We are not in form...

Its on the telly....

Cannot see anything beyond a defeat.

Heart says resurgent performance and a dominant win. Head says humiliating defeat.

No Thompson so I guess Stephens will get shifted backward, or Ricketts I suppose.

It would be nice to think that we would 'man up' and put in a performance like the Franchise did at our place on Saturday but, like most previous posters, I expect it to be a niggly affair and it won't suit us at all. 

Also expecting their players to 'target' Stephens and/or Branco for special treatment.  We could finish the game with 9 men.

After going to my first home game of the season on Saturday I can honestly say I am not looking forward to this game whatsoever. There is no way we will go there and win or even draw if we play like we did against the club stealing wankers.

City to have a player sent off within 2 minutes and us to sneak a 1-0 win. Att: 11,987.

Draw or a spanking, can't decide which.
Be a niggly game whatever and can deffo see a red in this.

12682 with 991 town  ::)

got to be realistic,we will get hammered

Big decision to make today: do I watch the game in the pub with my largely City supporting colleagues, on the off chance that it could be magnificent, or do I decide that discretion is the better part of valour and watch it at home?

I still have a spare ticket if you want to come? I'll be going over from Bath, too.

Tempting (despite having been at the MK game on Saturday), if whoever you've most recently offered the ticket to doesn't go for it then yeah, why not.

Looking forward to the first shit head to self Combust in a Swindon / stevens / thompson / toffolo frenzy.

Do we know if Harry T is up for selection. Could be an interesting night for the lad after that celebration.

3-1 defeat

Cool. I'll get back to you about 12pm.

Surely there's a TEFer with the enthusiasm to come on here with a rallying battle cry...

Anybody?
Somebody?
Nobody?

Sigh

What's the point, we'll only be disappointed

We are going to hammer them, 4-0. Playing 3-6-1.
"Why do you need to expand your ground, you only ever fill it when playing rovers"

Here we go...

COME ON TOWN FANS. GET BEHIND THE TEAM!!

(http://i.imgur.com/4GbKY9F.gif)

We're better away from home Cotterill is foaming at the mouth (when isn't he?) he'll have them overhyped, the morons in the stand will push it further and we'll counter attack with some of the best football we've played all season.

That or Stephens will get sent off after half an hour and we'll lose 2-0.

I'm still going option A though.

I don't know why the city fans are so nervous going into this game. I don't think we'll score. Hope I'm wrong.

The best we can hope for is, to keep the score down to three nil and eleven players still on the pitch at full time.
I've had the piss ripped out of me all morning (and that's from pox arsholes) I'd like to thank the Town players very much.
The sad thing about modern football, is that a lot of players that laid down and died on Saturday will be playing at a higher level next season.

 I don't see it as must win...autos have gone, and PO's more or less certain, so we need to look at how to approach the final few games. Given that 4th or 5th is likely to involve a game v Blades, a noted cup side, there's definitely an advantage to be had in finishing 3rd. A point would put us on a par with Franchise, and a defeat, still within range.

I think this game is all about trying to hold onto finishing 3rd and keeping the Shitty's last win against us in 2003.

Autos are gone, but the possibility of doing the 'double' hasn't. It would be amazing if we did, and such a confidence booster for the final run in.

Would also reduce the gap for Preston.

Well, this isn't quite true. I'm hoping for a 6-0 Town win, a few City sendings off and Dean Lewington to run on the pitch, shove Cotterill over and then get a ten game ban.

Hope and expectation however, are different things

aren't they 2 points ahead of us?

it's natural to see pessimism here. we just witnessed a limp end to our shot at autos. to be honest we should really acknowledge Preston have been shit hot at the right time.

in any case I'm wondering if Thompson being suspended could actually be a good thing. maybe we will have to drop defenders into defence, put a midfielder into midfield and play our best strike partnership. Flint will dominate a loan smith, but he hates being run at .

let's fucking do it. then rest players v Preston if there is nothing riding on it :)

Fuck 'em in the ear!

That record has kind of crept up on us unnoticed...I think the fact that when we confirmed relegation there under Hart, it felt like a defeat, yet was 1-1.

Now the record is out there, I suspect not a good thing.

Iffy

It was indeed Iffy's relegation but your point remains valid.

City will overplay their hand and we'll hit them on the break. Ashton gate will be rife with hostile atmosphere for approximately 2 minutes before they resume their usual silence, then all you'll hear is Town fans, apart from the grumble when our players go down (legitimate or not) from the City faithful. One of our players will deserve a red card but wont get one. City to be denied a few clear penalties, and us to have a contentious goal (offside, foul in the buildup) and this all to explode afterwards on the internet as City fans feel another sense of injustice.

3-1 Town.

Of course, I'm getting my relegations mixed up.

It's the hope that kills ya!
 :zipped:

I rather play Blades over two legs than in a one-off 'cup final'. If the two league games are anything to go by, we should do ok, and current form suggests both Town and Blades are vulnerable.

Tonight could be another TV humiliation. 4-1 with Flint to get two. Looking forward to being there though.

at some point then we might have to wear the damned purple shirt...perhaps at Wembley might be a good idea

Football fans are notoriously fickle. Before saturday it was all good, one loss and that's all changed, win today and it'll be all good again.

Very true.

However, Saturday reminded me of the 4-0 loss to Rovers during the playoff season where we lost at Wembley; it was the moment where the Autos started to vanish into the distance. I'm hoping we don't meet Franchise in the P/O final; I could see them doing us over again in a one sided final.

I might be overly negative but as I say, it's the hope that kills ya.

If we do our part, then the gap between us and 2nd is effectively 1 point. (just to twist the knife of hope a little more)

No (not much) negativity coming from South Wales.

We have the players to win this game. I just hope Cooper puts them on the field in the right order. We've been iffy at the back all season, but prolific up front before Christmas. I hope Cooper sticks 2 back up front (Willo and either Obika or Smith), 1 holding midfielder (an in-form Kasim please) with Mass and 1 other (probably Gladwin) in front of him.

Toff on the left, Byrne on the right. Back three of Turnbull, Stephens and Ricketts/Branco.

Easy.

the 'love in' between City and PNE fans is quite funny

I'd go...

Fodders
Turnbull Stephens Ricketts
Byrne Luongo Kasim Swift Toffolo
Willo Obika

This is pretty much spot on, bar I would keep Branco as far away from the starting 11 as possible.

I would also go for two up front, make Flint work his feet and I reckon we'll get a bit of success

Sweet, ain't it.
Be interesting to see if they still feel the same after Saturday.

Our wing backs doing their defensive duties will be key and playing rickets to compete for the balls forward to their CF. Oh and winning the second ball in and around our box. Its key to how City play

Yep I would have no problem with that line up.
Will be going tonight with my lad. Can't say I am looking forward to it. As others have said the MKD result knocked the stuffing out of me.

However this is Swindon, expect the unexpected or the kick in the balls.

Last time we lost 3-0 at home we came back to win 3-0 away the next game.

Head says we'll lose, heart says we'll win. I'll take the draw. 1-1 I think

That's my view too.

We're just as likely to smash them 4-0 as lose 4-0. That's the Swindon way.

You're all a bunch of defeatist fannies

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in Swindon now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Cooper’s day.

If we can keep the game at 0-0 until half time (or better still nick a goal) then I think we can get something from the game.

If we let in an early goal then I can see us getting a bit of thrashing.

Obviously hoping for the former, but fearing that the latter is more likely.

Only bright spot is that there aren't many shitheads up this way :)

is that horrible little cunt Wade Elliott due to be playing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kU0XCVey_U

Think this is going to be a tight game. Similar to Saturday be vital for the team that score first. Stephens to get sent off.

I feel ashamed, slightly humiliated. Changed my mind to a 4 0 win to us. How can we lose with Saint Cooper with us, what was I thinking.

The concern is - is Rickets fit enough to play 2 games in 4 days, he's not played much football recently would it be a risk putting him in the centre of defence ?

I think I'd like to see Stephens moved back into defence though regardless he played well in the centre previously whe ncovering for Thompson.

I still cant get my head round Rickets being played in an un-familiar midfield role according to Cooper it was to track the runs of Deli Alli big mistake I think and I think overall that made us too defensive.

We have to go for it tonight though get that confidence back and get a good run going heading into the play-off's

This for me too but with Ricketts as the sweeper.

Got to play 2 up front tonight, and target Flinty on the floor.

Too many times I've watched sides at Ashton Gate continuously crossing the ball in the air only for Flint to clear it with ease.

I'd be disappointed if Town adopted the same tactic tonight.

Even when running at Flint, he has 2 very good players along side him in Ayling and Williams. We need to try and isolate him.

Apparently, he hasn't been booked all season.

Cue red card for Flint!

Anyway, 1-2, dodgy penalty and a clearly offside goal for us

That'll do nicely.

How they hell did he achieve that? We are talking about the same Aden Flint.

That would make Cotterill spontaneously combust !!

A Wade Elliott interview in tonight's programme includes this quote regarding his sending off back in November:


Because that definitely didn't happen, at all.

 ::)

Fingers crossed!

Baaaaaa!

The game is also going to be on 5 Live Sports Extra apparently, although I don't know whether they are just going to usee Radio Bristol's commentators or not though

It still rankles with them, doesn't it !!

I don't think Michael Smith has scored a headed goal all season, and the rest have probably only added 4 or 5, it's not exactly our default position.

nope - will be a year on the 18th since he noggined

Can't say i feel too confident about this one! Gutted I'm on shift and catch watch it

I just hope we don't set up the same way as we did against Franchise. The 2 defensive midfielders really didn't help our system. Our best form of defence is possession and although we had a fair share of it on Saturday, it invited Franchise onto us too much.

With automatic promotion now pretty much out of reach (barring a few good results elsewhere) I'd really love to see us take the game to them.

Alot will depend on the team and formation Cooper picks.  I'm not hopeful to be honest and think we'll lose 2-0.

I agree totally, there was no way we should have played with 5 centre backs at home (2 in holding midfield) and only one up front, we need Smith and Williams up front with Kasim sat in a single holding role like we are used to. Swift was far too lightweight against a strong side like MK.

In V-Shed. One of my favourite things about away games is the interaction between the more drunken element of our fans and passers by to the pub. They look so bemused as to why large numbers of people are speculating on fecal filling of Ashton Gate.

Gotta be one of if not the only time we've set up with the other team in mind.

Try and get out before the escort. Was a joke last season. 5-10 mins late.

Agree. Let's just go for it. Its not like we are so solid at the back that we can't afford to. If we are going to lose then at least go down fighting not like Saturday where there was such negativity once the line up was announced. 5 centre backs and not one of the fuckers could defend. Take the game to city and man the fuck up.

Foderingham (C), Branco, Ricketts, Turnbull, Byrne, Stephens, Luongo, Kasim, Gladwin, Williams, Smith

Subs: Belford C, Barthram, Rodgers, Swift, Hylton, Barker, Obika

Possible switch of Gladwin to the centre and Rickets wing back (Hodgetts)

That's not a good bench

Any video clips of the drunken singing ?

Not much choice, who are we missing other than the Thompsons?

Harry Toffolo

Bugger, of course, really rate him too. Injured?

He didn't play on Saturday because of an injury, I guess its flared up again.

oh lord ! what does obika have to do to get a game  :hmmm:


As others have said, Shitty are strong at the back in the air, so we need strikers who will take them on along the ground, and the Beak can do that better


...and two DMs again - Stephens needs to go back to the back line after his arrogant attitude on Sat..
And Ricketts looked way too short to win much in the air last Sat.

having said that, it does depend how Stephens and Kasim are set to operate. it could work in theory to help with the 'second ball' point someone made earlier.

I'm in Morrison's Belfast Bar if anybody is in Belfast.....got a good seat to beat the rush......and if we score first I will shout out....nailed on!

I'm hoping it's something like this:       

            Foderingham

     Branco  Turnbull  Stephens

Byrne                                    Ricketts

                 Kasim

            Luongo  Gladwin

            Williams Smith


But it's probably:

            Foderingham

     Branco    Ricketts  Turnbull

Byrne                                   Gladwin

            Stephens Kasim

                  Luongo 

            Williams Smith

Can't disagree with your preferred formation Sam, nor your analysis of the more likely one either...

It's taken less than 3 days for that damn optimism to set in again. I can't see tonight being about promotion. It's a one off. Come on Town.

In my seat.  The atmosphere is not exactly what you'd call 'threatening '

For the first time ever, NOW TV is fucking me about

Is everything allright everybody?  Im worried about those of you in 'hell'.

Gary Johnson you old fart, she was asking about Swindon not City.

Would you really like to see Ricketts as wing back Sam?

according to hodgetts its neither Sam!

Shame Toffolo's injured according to radio

???????

fuck me dons 1 up already

Cotterill u utter cunt

Not sure which annoys me more.  That they're one up, or that you've just called them the Dons.

2

2 up mkd

Puts us in a strange position.  Autos are all but out of reach; Play Off placing almost guaranteed.  We might as just go out this evening and enjoy it.

Jesus branco

We haven't started great and now the niggles are starting

Branco looking a bit dodgy. Expect a pen at some point

fuck me this is a good game end to end

Or a sending off.

Who's their player with the 'tache and the ponytail?  He looks proper Bristol.

Willo should've squared the ball to Smith

the sky commentators jizzing in their pants over the 82ers

Willo ffs! take a look

should have passed that Willo

Williams misses a great chance. Gladwin chance. Much better

Three good chances.  Should be ahead.

close but no  cigar

Anothee chance ssved.

Freeman looks like a lesbian.

And back to the usual fucking about at tge back. And yeah the comms have picked their favourites.

Any one have a good stream feed...?

73% possession in the last 10 minutes.  Need to make it count.

we are playing well but

http://footballstreaming.info/streams/todays-links/index.html

Branco is going to cost us...

Branco is having a blinder

I can't see him staying on the pitch for 90 minutes

Fucking hell Branco. City players and cunterill whinging like fuck

said saturday he was a liability.

Nothing new there then...

i like the way they boo when we have the ball.

really intimidating :)

Im hiding behind my settee

Loving the great play on Flint et al in the box. Hope we do some diving later on, sadly lacking at the moment, along with some play acting.

Cock

and there we have it branco

Jesus christ. Suicide, fuck me.

Cunts  

Who are we who are we

That was utter fucking bollocks. We've gifted them a goal after being under virtually no pressure all game. Are you telling me that's how we have to defend because of our style of play?

Bollocks!

ffs

Still in this. Don't think City are any where near as good as MK. Just need to get hold of more of the ball and pass it around a bit quicker.

Time and time again. Just clear the fucking ball when you have too.

Gladwin now trying clever turns in our penalty area.

Why the fuck do we do it?   Too many goals conceded from pissing about.

First decent chance for them and they take it.  That's why they're going up and we probably won't.

Why do we do that fucking short goal kick a the fucking time. It adds absolutely no value and just puts us under pressure. Branco is just a liability and just doesn't learn!

We will be very lucky to finish the game with 11 men.

Off the crossbar

Ben Gladwin looks different class

yep

Good game so far. Branco terrifies me.

Better team are losing
Should we go into a meltdown and accuse the Shitheads of cheating

At least he looks to shoot.

We should call the police.

reminds me of Chris Waddle

Played quite well, other than the fuckwit defending and Branco trying to take Flint out every corner.

Doesn't matter one bit though. Because we are losing.

 That 45 mins just about sums us up.

10 shots on target, 1 fucking cock up

will we be able to put a team out on Saturday

I see smiths first touch hasnt improved much, thats twice hes miscontrolled a simple pass

And Branco terrifies me

I haven't read anything, but, how the holy fuck are we not winning? And how come Branco hasn't been sent off?

Will it matter?

Yet starts pretty much every game. I just don't get it Obika must be shagging Cooper's wife or something.

Kasim and Branco lucky to be on the pitch, and a calamitous goal conceded. Fairly predictable really. The bright side is we've created plenty and really could (should?) be level or better. A couple of tweaks to the system to sort out our shape at the back and our options when playing out from defence and we've every chance.

Bit fed up of City fans shouting for a free kick every time they lose the ball but that's largely down to Branco's fun and games.

Come on town, we'll win 2-1 :)

Yep so much better than Saturday but result likely gonna be the same.

You know we are going to make at least one more fuck up. And Cotterill will be onto the officials about Branco

he hasnt offered anything, need to keep their back line busy, williams looks a bit dangerous, should of pulled it back.

gladwin, just different class

He'd have a point

*obvious & stupid comment alert*
next goal is critical, if we score the game is there for the taking. If they score, it could be a long night

I agree. Unfortunately I don't think Branco has the intelligence to realise this.

I'll defend him here, the first pass from Yass was slightly short, stephen's shanked the next a bit, and he was then hemmed in, got to say it was good pressure, that made us slightly fuck up bit by bit, but it's not all on Branco.

As everyone has says Branco is going to get sent off. I'd take him off and get Ricketts back in there, surely he knows how to handle the big man with his experience. Not sure who to play LB though, maybe Byrne over and Bartham on, risky to move Gladwin who is having a good game, but could do that and get Swift on as well.

The win i would like most over city is an unjust one. Branco should be off, he scores the winner with city having goals disallowed and the cunt Cotterill getting sent off for complaining rightly about something that wasn't given. I want it to hurt!

Branco - Remarkable - Never seen anything like it.

Gladwin - Reminds me a bit of Chris Waddle - Which is a good thing.

Wasn't just referring to the goal, meant in general..... Both in terms of discipline and ability.

would love to see obika on sooner than later and swift for branco

And.......    here we go again.

another one goes begging.tiresome now

Why the fuck is Branco still on?

"Normally these find the back of the net"......obviously hasn't seen Williams play much.

...and smith

so much on top

Possession is pointless when you don't take your chances. I just can't see us scoring.

Do we think we're fucking Arsenal '04 or saink? Just fucking shoot

Frustrating as fuck aint it

and another chance,smith

He'll end up scoring to prove me wrong but every time smith gets the ball the attack seems to slow right down. Give Obika a chance

a fucking men.

also, obika please bring in obika

Beaker time?

what the fuck

Oh fuck off Cooper.

Brought the wrong one off :no:

Well he's been getting more chances than Williams. If only he can keep one down.

I despair I really do. Smith is really starting to grate on me now as is Cooper and his strange decisions and substitutions!

my patience is running thin with smith. can't trap a bag of cement, can't hit a cows  arse with a banjo

Branco wants a job in WWE

branco fucking get off that pitch

Careful what you wish for....

ah yes. fair point :)

We're gonna score....

smiths 2nd touch is usually a tackle

I honestly wonder what Cooper is watching.

Why leave him on and take Williams off?  We're even less likely to score now.  Shit substitution.

And Branco is a joke.

Have we/Branco bribed the ref or something? I'm just finding it hysterical now.

oh dear thats a shocking substitution

Game over

jammy fucking cunts

Hate football.

and more shocking defending

2-0 game over. Better team losing but clinical finishing the difference.

well, good finish I suppose

Didn't deal with a long ball, they picked the ball up, got a yard and then put it the top corner.

Fuckity Fuck Sticks

Well that's that.  

Possession means fuck all.  It's goals that count.

This. They've mostly been putting their bodies on the line to block the shot.

Plenty of intent, no finish . . . again!

Spawny bastards. Chances definitely with us. Ah well, hope they get relegated next season

For all the pretty football when it really matters we are left lacking both in terms of players and management

Afraid to say luongo looks like he's already somewhere else

19 attempts on goal.   Shocking.

Could see it coming, soak it all up and hit. That's what the really good sides do. We've played well, but  we didn't do the killer things at the right time, they did.

that's the difference between a 1.5m wage bill and a 10m one

I cannot believe the 82'ers pay Agard £15k a week

no one else disappointed with the gladwin substitution then?

If only we had an owner prepared to fund losses of £12m per annum.  We could probably buy a promotion as well then.

Cock. Never mind.

Still, I'm looking forward to Shitty imploding next year.

sorry but branco has fucked up two of these goals

Brilliant first half, faded 2nd, He'll be brilliant next year all the time I reckon.

Yep he has. Branco should just not be in the team. Thankfully Ricketts will be there next game.

When behind in a game these players are completely gutless. Just fold like a deck of cards!

Followed by relegation out of the Championship.

Fucking branco!!!

happy easter everyone

Sums the night up...

I wish the commentators would actually explain to the audience the difference in wage bills between these two squads. Anything other than top is a failure for Shitty, anything about 21st is great first us. Put it in perspective.

Well you got to question the management with the subs on this one, taking of williams and leaving on smith, and taking of gladwin who was looking like our most threatening player

branco should never get near the first team again!!

We just hit the post

Depends whether Lansdown decides to up his cash feed to £30m for next season...which I'm sure he could if he felt like it.  Seems to be working for Demin at Bournemouth, so why not?

Shut up you tart

The worst thing is Branco signed a new contract earlier this season. Now he is showing why every other club was happy to let him go. The only positive is that he is banned for the next game

The boo boys on here really come out in force don't they...

STFC

FFS.  6 goals conceded in 2 games.

I'm really concerned that yet again our heads went down after the second goal.  This is a recent thing.

We're limping into the play offs.  Not good.

Also agree both subs were shit and we've been worse for them.  No doubt Williams will be on the bench again on Saturday and Smith will start.

I missed the 3rd goal as my stream died, but what a flattering scoreline for City.

But Branco, fucking hell. One can only laugh.

Not clinical enough yet agin which tonight sums up.

City do have a £10m playing budget so no comparison in the squads.

Subs awful why take off Smith and Gladwin the latter our best player by a country mile

As shit as this result is we have created more chances than them.

The difference is their strikers have taken the chances & ours haven't.

Hey, he beat up Flint for the whole game - That was great to see!

Smith was doing better than Williams and that was why he was taken off.

It could've been so different. Did mess up for the first, converted the chances...

My only concern is will we have enough to come through the play offs? Our form isn't the greatest.

Well at least we're pOxford

Not outplayed, out gunned.

The thing is Branco is one of only 2 CB's on the books at the club full time. The other being Thompson who if we didnt play 3 at the back would not be considered a CB. I think they feel they have to play him and develop him which makes some sense long term. He has had a great games but clearly is intimidated by Flint in this game.

The bit i dont understand is signing Ricketts to play him in random positions when we need experience and leadership at the back most of all. As i've said above hopefully the suspensions force our hand and Ricketts claims that position over the next few weeks.

Exactly that.

I think we outplayed them for much of the match, but then, we should have been down to 10 men early on.

Trying to look at it in a positive light, we did play well but need to take our chances. Let's get behind them and get those points needed for the playoffs

Oh well, crucial now we get good momentum going into tbe playoffs, everytime we made the playoffs we have limped into it.

apart from the glaring bits going which most have spoken about, it was a lot better then saturday.

how branco was never sent off I will never know

In my eyes, Branco did well cos he stopped that cunt Flint scoring and pissing him off something cronic.

Flint is an utter cunt

Uh oh Mr Flint, gotta feeling those comments will reverberate for a while..

There is the perfect example of quality over quantity.

I wasn't worried about City and Franchise. What a fucking joke of a prediction that was. Folded like a deck of cards.

Smith is as threatening as a blamanche up front. Williams should have done a lot lot better tonight, but still more likely to score than Smith. Gladwin was having a fucking stormer too. But I doubt those subs made any difference whatsoever.

We have a soft underbelly. Not sure how to sort it.

I'm going straight to the police station to report him

What did Flint say? turned off after the final whistle

Flint = cunt.

Asked if as an ex Swindon player would like to see us promoted.  Immediately said no and a bit more.

I don't really care what Flint said. We give him shit, he doesn't want us to go up. Seems fair enough.

Fair play to the money grabbing prick, dont need fake sentiment from mercenaries!

I'd love Cooper to say the same if positions were reversed.

plus we got good money for him and he isn't really that good

Obviously still sore about being decked. we did here he was a prick at the home game, wouldn't shake hands with Nate and Louis before the game. Something else obviously went on, to earn that amount of built up resentment.

We are crying for someone like him at the moment.

What's the problem?  He's had a stack of grief from our fans ever since he left, and we're getting all chopsy because he doesn't love us back?!

Not hard to see how footballing feuds grow, is it.

Flint's come good to be fair. Obviously clubs their size shouldn't be down here, so it's only fair they won. Shame we couldn't cheat our way to another victory, because they're no Franchise in footballing terms.

Flint will be raped in the championship

Really? Top scoring defender in the Football League.

I'd still have him in our team.

He was raped by andy westall that night :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

In a weird way i have come out of that game a lot more positive.  We went to supposedly the best team in the league (they are top of the league) and pretty much dominated them from start to finish.  Only difference is they were a bit more composed in front of goal.  We have 7 games to cement a top 4 finish and get the advantage of playing at home in the second leg.  As long as the strikers start firing goals we should be ok.

Coops:

- All about putting the ball in the back of the net at key times. If you don't do that you leave yourself open
- Can't do more than that in terms of possession, making chances.
- Don't know where clinical edge has gone.
- Not settling for getting beat or drawing...
- (13 points from ?? games, fair relection?) Possibly not
- Williams and Smith up front - looked sharp as a pair, just that finishing touch not there.
- Yasser played well, but he and Rafa now out for 2 games. We have Rickets who can play centre back...will be fine
- Tofolo still not right, Gladin in middle did well.
- That's the difference between the two teams, when you have multimillion pound squad then you get that quality (something like that anyway)
- (Nervous for run in) - Got to take confidence in performance.
- Tofolo has hip injury while with England - awaiting results of scan.
- Play like that and add a finishing touch and we won't be far off.

Yeah agree with that, We've too many good players not to at least get near.

Oh, a Yasser pirouette on about 63 minutes.... sheer class.

Nah, he always makes one fuck up a game, but normally gets away with it, but does makes good blocks and interceptions, and scores key goals. Way more pluses than minuses, as it was when he was here.

Am I disappointed we lost to City? Yes. Am I disappointed we threw away a chance of automatic promotion? Yes. Am I disappointed we'll be in the play-offs? Well, in the balance of the start of the season yes, but in perspective of our budget and relative inexperience the play-offs is a fantastic achievement and I'd have snapped your hand off for that back in August.

The result was gutting, but the performance was just what I wanted. We took the game to them and created chances. We bossed possession and we kept playing football. If we could defend we'd be lethal, but that's ultimately been our downfall this season - that and not having the experienced heads to know how to win when under pressure.

Of course it annoys me that City have had such a good season, but if they finished anywhere else but 1st it would be a bad season for them. Yes they've got the players but ultimately it's Lansdown's money that will have bought them the title. I'd love to be up there competing with them on footballing terms, but in financial terms I'm much more comfortable with Power's approach.

Trailing off in the latter part of the season has been hard to take but with the budget we have and the footballing philosophy and players we've got we've done fantastically well.

I'm not sure I can stomach the playoffs, I don't want to go to watch, but can't not watch. Humph.

Never deserved to lose that 3-0, just sloppy mistakes and poor finishing cost us.

Town fans were decent, there were apparently over 1000 of us there despite only being given the 900 odd tickets. Not sure what happened to the 'welcome to hell' hardly heard from city fans until they scored.

Oh well, they are the best team in the division and will win the league, we just need to concentrate on making ourselfs harder to beat.

Some superb sour grapes ref Flint. I hate fake sentiment - fair fucks to him for telling it how it is. He's not a Swindon boy or fan. Just an ex player - a good one at that who provided one of the great Town moments against Brentford in the PO's a few years back.

Back to the game - we've lost it and will get demolished by whoever has the balls to take the game to us in the semis.

Well that was the most one sided 3-0 ive ever seen  :suicide:

other than the defending it was wayyy better than against MK, thank God...
i was seriously wondering if we could recover from that...




Something i wanted to say on saturday and thought it again tonight was about forward play.

do we even coach/train that ?

as it seems when we go forward there is no clear plan of movement, other than pass it back out to the wing.

everything is tentative and made up on the spot, whereas for MK for example, the word that came to mind was
incisive - they knew what they were aiming to do when they went forward.

i dont see hardly any diagonal runs being made
[eg the one that created their 3rd goal, apart from the fact that branco shud get an assist of course...]

swift looks for them [sometimes] and willo makes such runs [sometimes]
but other than that they dont seem to do it, so we play at 'right angles' and thus is easily defended against.




Other things

poor obika - that wud have been a really superb goal..

when are we gonna unleash the beak properly ??




And is cooper training them to hold other players back - I'm sorry I'm old school and I absolutely hate it





Oh, last thing.... when we talk of style and tactics we refer mostly to cooper.

but i watched brighton a little bit in recent years, and this 'crap from the back' and 'few ideas up front'
was very much their style


and i also noticed that Poyet didnt take that style to Sunderland with him, nor did Brighton continue to use it.

so

maybe we need to turn the spotlight on the Luke man instead....

 

Agreed,in this league.

I'd almost prefer to get knocked out at the semis than go to wembley again, used to love the play offs. Still as others have said would have snapped your hand off if offered play offs in August.

Feel the threadbare squad/ big run of games has come back to haunt us, with Harry Toffolo and Louis T fit and available maybe it's a different story for at least one of the two televised matches.

But here's the positive, we aren't chasing an auto spot that's probably Prestons any more, we can re group, get everyone fit and prepare for the POs. It's shit or bust of course but at least we know what we have to do..

Love the honesty from Flint there tbh, makes a change for a player to say what they really think.

I think he was upset by the abuse he was getting from the Swindon fans. That's why he was so sour. Still, a good player, we got a good price for him, but I would have rather kept him that sold him.

With you on that. But my most immediate concern is going to work in Brizzle tomorrow morning, with a Slave Trader sat at the next desk. Think I'm just going to walk in, not say a word and just spark the fucker out first thing. Set me stall out early doors, as it were.


Or I might just sit down quietly and get increasingly annoyed at his gloating and perhaps engage in some mild swearing. But I prefer the fantasy Clarkson version

This is how I feel.  Recent play off history aside,  we're just too flaky in defence.

The commentator on sky said something along the lines of 'Swindon will relish the play offs'.

No, no we won't.

It also worries me that some players are out of form and others seem to have zoned out a bit already.  We need cool heads and confidence.

Better than the fake crap you normally hear, but we've more than our fair share of mentalists, that will see it in a different light.

What did he say? Sound was off in the Duke

I've got a fake City fan sitting behind me (been to 2 games). I told him today that if he so much as offers an ounce of symapthy I'll interpret it as taking the piss even more than blatant gloating. FFS..

A game of what ifs really...

What if the ref had had the balls to send off Flint and Kasim in the first half?
What if Gladwin/Williams had scored instead of hitting the bar?
What if Branco had got that ball down the right flank right, instead of gifting a goal away?

City probably deserved their lead at the break, but barely touched the ball for 15-20 minutes after. Thought we were very good for most of the 2nd half, playing the ball around well and really making them work in defence. Their fans were clearly on edge, much as we would have been in the same situation.

What told on the day? A little extra quality and composure in the final third. Putting it into perspective, they've spent £11m(?) this year, we've spent £1.8m. When we had somebody chucking money at us we worked our way to the top of League 1 too.

The question now is can Cooper pick the players up ready to secure a play-off spot and have enough steel to see the job through? They say it's all about momentum, so as long as we pick up a bit before May then promotion is still a very real possibility. I'll take that now.

Hope the 1000 Town fans made it out of hell alive. Some pretty aggressive waving and jumping going on in the home end. Expect the FL to come down on City hard for that.

Samdy sums up my feelings too....

I hope we have enough in the tank to get over the line .....autos went up in smoke on Saturday in style.

Tonight we had 21 shots with 8 on target and hit the post and bar......if you don't score, you will not win a football match.....city just picked off our fuck ups...bang bang bang....

Hopefully this reality check will help us.....

Sky are cunts for changing the fixtures and also the studio guests David Prutton tonight.....nobody In The studio with a link to swindon and that cunt Cotterill on Saturday....it's enough to cancel your subscription alone....

He said.

Wait for it.

You are going to spit feathers.

he
said that

he doesn't want us to get promoted. As the Town fans were singing "Aiden you're a cunt" in the background if my ears didn't deceive me.

I vote for the fantasy Clarkson version.

Are they making Branco walk home then?

Bristol City fans have called the police over less

Haha.

All my City supporting associates moaned about Branco before commenting on anything else.

I reminded them that they'd just won 3-0.

I would like to say that for the second consecutive game I have seen no evidence of this alleged cheating by us, but,...... Branco.   

It's that old chestnut of momentum which concerns me most heading towards the play offs. Been said already but bizarre selections in putting ricketts left wing back, keeping smith in the starting line up and then keeping him on in place of Williams. Despite the improved performance from Saturday, I have concerns that cooper is feeling the pressure and it's affecting his decision making. I know opinions are like arse holes but if most were thinking the same about selection, then we can't all be wrong can we?? Or is it a case if what the fuck do we know having never played/managed at that levell?!

He was lucky he never got sent off

This whole momentum thing is all well and good but its hard to get momentum and confidence from playing what will most likely be dead rubber games that don't mean anything. The players could struggle to be up for it.

Oh, and I've found Luongo to be quite benign in the last 2 games. Maybe he's just being doubled up on? Or something else?

Cooper has made some odd decisions on and off all season (to me). Tinkering. Reverting to 1 up front. etc.

I don't think him being under pressure has much to do with it.

For me now is the time to get our best 11 out on the pitch (suspensions aside), sticking by it and work towards getting form for the playoffs. Tonight I don't think he did much wrong with his selection. Not too keen on his subs but hey ho.

Best post tonight, gladwin substitution was a joke

This is a tricky one, my main fear, was getting very close to auto by busting a gut, then missing out right at the end, and still ending up in the PO's.  We've now got a bit of a chance to take stock, 3rd could still just about happen, and is worth going for, and 4th has the supposed advantage of a home leg second, something we've not had since Blackburn in 90, so need to focus on not throwing that away.

Bearing in mind that not all Town fans have berated Flint for leaving (I've defended him on several occasions), and the fact that Swindon handed him his first professional contract, I'd say he's let himself down with those comments. I don't endorse the abuse he gets, but the people that dish it out are football supporters; he's a professional. Fucking act like one and rise above it.

Smith should of gone off long before Willo was dragged off....awful for me...

When he's good he very good. Still ambles through large parts of the game to me, I expect a highly regarded international to be more influential. Not sure if its just a trait of being young/inexperienced. Or whether he can't be arsed. I think the former.

In any case it may not have come over too well on the TV tonight. Listening to SSP on the post match on the radio - he said Luongo had his best game for ages.

Defence shit yet again. They got at us down both flanks. Unlike most I thought Smith had a decent game and it was easy to see why Williams was taken off as he was shit tonight and hardly got in the game and when he did he fucked up 2 really decent chances. Gladwin, like Saturday, was MOM for me by a country mile but he had faded badly by the time he was taken off. I don't have a problem with Cooper's subs but the defence is a total shambles and has been for a while.
Fair play to Flint for what he said. No problems with it but he's got to expect some real shit when he plays us again which he will do.
I don't fancy the play offs and the target now has got to be to get there.

Ýep,  Smith was not at it, again

It's no different to the Nathan Thompson situation. If Aden Flint was saying that as a Town player about Bristol City we'd all (mostly) be loving it.

We gave him dogs abuse for 90 minutes (plus Branco being Branco) and then Sky Sports pitched it up for Aden to knock that comment out of the park.

Meh.

It was a stupid question designed to get the reaction it got.  Blame the Sky reporter for being a cock.

I still don't know what people expected him to say really.

Agreed. The reporter knew Flint wouldn't duck that.

I thought Smith got to stay on because he was at least working hard for the team - kept covering right back.  Williams was just as ineffective upfront so it was a fair enough call I thought.  Gladwin must have been a legs issue, he was our best player but had vanished in the 5mins or so leading up to the sub so I'll buy it.  None of our subs were at fault for the goals.  It is clear central defence is an area where we can and should look to improve next year, wherever we are.  I don't like to knock players when we are 4th on our budget and play some great stuff, but Branco's yellow card was our best moment.  The lad needs to be shielded in the run in I think, get another pre season under him and see if progress is made.  On current form he'll be dropping leagues like a stone if he left us.

Better but more frustrating than Franchise.
I didn't really rate him massively at the start of the season but L Thompson is going to be big gap to fill.  really missing his hustle and bustle to compliment the midfields technical ability.

I thought it was decent banter to be honest.  Why would he wish us well?  He left in huff and gets stick from us, no love lost either way.  I wish him all the worst in his career and I'm sure he loses no sleep over our loss in form.

Exactly

Agree totally about L Thompson. Missing him big time

yeah we sold the wrong one there...

thot we wud have enuff money just from selling Luwannago...

but then again i guess nobody cud have predicted his Ossie meteoric rise at that point...

Agree to disagree. I thought he sounded like a petulant kid.

Odd thought, but how did Ayling ever become a footballer?  Not knocking his ability, he's caused us trouble in both games, but he doesn't look like a footballer.  Most great players at school had that twattish look (they poncify a bit when they make it, but they still have it), but Ayling looks like he'd have struggled to cause a commotion in a library.

See my comment just after yours to explain why that's inevitable :-)
So what.  Should my feelings be hurt by him not liking my club?

Just got back from Ashton Gate. Balls.

The worst thing is we were miles, miles better than we were against MK. We just couldn't finish for shit and, to be fair to them, City took their (far fewer ) chances clinically.

Amusement came from meeting Jaybox (with banner) and watching him hurl abuse at the City family section for 90 minutes and then kick a steel fence when the third went in, that must have hurt.

Even better, there was a little lad behind me who responded to the city goal with by brilliantly shouting, in his most put out voice "shut up, it's not the winning that counts it's the taking part". Glorious stuff, although someone had better explain the concept of league football to him.

Gotta say thought we were the better side, especially first half where Fielding has pulled out a number of good saves. They were clinical and punished 2 mistakes from us for 2 goals and a brilliant finish by Bryan, who is the best player in the league IMO.

For a club that doesn't care much about us they have celebrated an awful amount, hope Preston beat them for top spot. As for Flint, think he has every right to say that considering how much abuse he was getting, he also celebrated in front of us when they scored but I don't think we'll file a report to the police about it?

Thought Gladwin and Kasim were immense tonight and Obika simply has to start against P'boro on Saturday. We miss Louis Thompsons drive in midfield, game was made for him today as have a couple been since his injury.

Let's win Saturday and pretty much secure our playoff spot and then manage players ready for the playoffs. Id take Sheffield United, I think we've got enough quality to beat them over two legs.

Writing this before reading through, so apologies for any repetition...

Back about 20 mins. Definitely feel much better after this game than I did after Saturday's debacle. Probably sounds stupid, but I felt we more than held our own against the runaway leaders. A couple of poor mistakes and some great goalkeeping made the difference.

Listening to Wurzel radio on the way back to the car was amusing - much talk of revenge for the 'injustice' of the game at the CG. Ha ha!

Actually looking forward to hearing what the TV pundits' opinion of the match was.

After all that that, result aside, it wasn't in any way how I imagined 'hell' to be like.

In fact, if that's what hell is like then let the sinning begin.

No, I've been to Hell, they've cunningly disguised it by using a U instead of an E.

Arse fuck cocking shitbags.

Just got back in so apologies if I repeat what has doubtless been said as it were on the telly.

If we were more clinical and had had the rub of the green a bit more we would have been 3-0 up in the first half. Fielding is a good keeper and he kept them in it. Gladwin looked our best player tonight (controversial). He's going to score an absolute stonker of a goal any time soon with that right foot of his. Only one of the best keepers in the League stopped him from doing so tonight.

Second half...

Eurgh. I'm not one for decrying the way Cooper's got the boys playing, but tippy tappying it around outside and through the box and robbing our attacks of all momentum and surprise by standing on the ball before passing it wide so someone can try and whip in a cross DID NOT WORK TONIGHT. It will not work against any side who have half a brain and have seen how we play this season. It will not work against any side who are already beating us. It wastes precious time and gives way too many opportunities for a side like Shitty to get a boot in the way or a lucky deflection and hoof the ball the other end for a break.

When we ran through the middle with pace we absolutely carved them apart. Screw slowing the game down by sticking the ball wide, get Mass, Byrne, Kasim, Gladwin, Stephens et al running with the ball through the middle.

Branco is such a frustrating player. He can do something brilliant one minute and then absolutely diabolical the next.

Officials were ok. Better than I expected seeing as the ref was from Preston. Didn't catch everything but then who does.

Closing thoughts - having no fucking chips at the ground is criminal, and I am not a vegetarian just because I asked for chips you bellend, I just want something that's got a lower chance of having some slack-jawed bristolian's salmonella in it. That was not 'hell', that was a football ground with 11,000 very quiet welsh folk in it for 70 minutes. Oh, and we need to win EVERY GAME now. No excuses.

I'm going to go drink some beer.

Gutted, ignoring our luck on the penalty appeal front, I thought we looked in control and a tad unlucky for 70 minutes but we seem to be like a fighter with a glass chin unable to defend himself when the tide turns and just need (still in boxing terms) to do a bit of illegal holding rather than looking to mix it, ie keep our shape and focus.

It's a results business innit and it is certainly not ALL about style on the ball.  Gung ho is idiotic.  Keep clean sheet as a first objective and the rest will come with the quality we have in most areas.

If Branco chooses to learn I think he is a very classy footballer by the way and far more so than Flint.  Having said that Branco's ban and even Thomson's may force us to re-evaluate the defensive line up for the better and Ricketts is looking a promising and shrewd signing.  The whole team needs to recapture that pride in clean sheets.

I am positive about the playoffs.  So long as we avoid the purple / all white pratfall and Cooper keeps the players positive and also focussed, we are surely about to kick that playoff door down with some force for once.

Just seen the BBC stats...21 shots. Sounds about right.

So I'm walking out after the match, making my way around the ground, and it's pretty packed. Some Swindon female is shouting at a City fan, embarrassing herself and, basically anyone connected to the club. So I say to my friend "Pride of Swindon!" and next thing I know, someone has kicked me in the leg. Bloody hard, too. I have a quick look and it's a Swindon fan! I shout at him to tell him I'm a Swindon fan too, and he meekly apologises!

Like, it's OK to randomly kick people in the leg if they support a different team!

So if that person is reading this, I'd just like to say that YOU'RE AN IDIOT!

I got a few elbows during the blending in of fans. They were from City fans - it wasn't a big deal.

It did hurt for a few minutes.

(http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1lvkseqcm1r99is9.gif)

That was very frustrating. There wasn't a great deal in it first half, but the chances they had seemed far more clear cut. We're so weak at the back it's laughable. Second half they sat back a bit but we didn't really look like cutting them open. We lacked movement up front. There's only so many times you can slowly pass the ball around the oppositions box before passing it out wide, crossing it in and have it headed away.

There aren't any options up front for the midfielders and we became so predictable. My only hope is that we can somehow change something and get back to winning ways. Where have the goals gone?

Wasn't overly impressed with City. Franchise were way better. Money bags Landsdowne will have to shell out a few more million to see them remain in the Championship.

My biggest gripe isn't so much towards the game tonight as much as I'm hating on sky at the moment, I haven't been to either game over the last few days so have watched both on sky and the love-in for whichever team we are playing has done my swede in more than anything. For a start the MK game with Cotterill in the gantry, I mean why the fuck have him? Surely if you want someone to be relevant to the situation then wouldn't Simon Grayson be a better option? And then to have Karl Robinson join then at the end and bang on about how MK were now in the driving seat (ignoring the fact we still could have gone above them again if we won our game in hand) fucked me off enough. Then tonight there was Johnson and Johnson, both very much sat in the city camp, angered me more than the scoreline (disappointing but meh, playoffs on our budget is success in my book). All in all my sentiment at the moment fuck sky.

Having said that, will I cancel my sky subscription? No... Game of thrones starts in a week and I'm a fickle cunt at times  :D

Horrific. The worst bit wasn't the result for me. It was the walk from the pub to the ground. Found myself walking up on my own being followed by a bunch of City fans throwing and shouting shit at me.

Absolute vermin of people.

Goals aside we looked like the home side. It's city's season, let em have their fun. Be interesting to see how they do against the big boys next season.

With a minor spot of strengthening, they'll be fine.

Hopefully not.

I thought it was a decent game first and foremost.
3-0 is very flattering for them but they took their chances and are a decent side.

 Rather than slating branco like most were on Twitter I was more disappointed with Williams. Not squaring the ball for a certain goal was the biggest mistake one of our players made. I thought he was off the pace for the whole of his time on the pitch and his link up play with his strike partner was almost non existent. The forwards are definitely the biggest concern for me with that side. They need to up their game or promotion will slip by again.

4 words seems like enough..

Cotterill: you're 50, grow up

Flint: at least he's honest.

Rafa: should've elbowed him harder.

Attack: what happened to smith?

Defence: made it too easy.

City: still look pretty average

Promotion: batter franchise in play-offs

(Does that count?)

 :pint:

Good shout, all of that.

I'd like to add...

Obika and Hylton Saturday.

Only upgraded Saturday morning especially for the last two games, suffice to say I will be cancelling as soon as the 30 days are up. My main observation would be that it's easier to get away with swearing in a football ground than in the living room.

Well, I enjoyed (if you can enjoy a 3.0 defeat) that much more than Saturday's limp wristed effort. City showed why they're at the top: well organised, resilient and some good individual players. Our midfield was immense for most of the game, unfortunately the same couldn't be said of the defence or attack.

If we play at that tempo in our remaining games and do some work on the training ground around tightening the defence, we should be ok going into the playoffs. What happens then is anyone's guess.

Agreed on all points. Especially the entertainment value, it was a very good game to watch.

Its a bit late for that. the defence is fucked regardless of who plays there. I'm not sure what you can do on the training ground with this lot. We've learned fuck all over the season and the defence is actually getting worse. Look at the 3 yesterday, all very preventable and pretty easily defended. Getting caught out like Branco isn't down to the way we play. Giving Bryan acres of space to pick his spot isn't down to the way we play. Giving Freeman and Wilbraham acres of space isn't down to the way we play. Its down to rank shit individual responsibility and no fucking idea of how to operate as a unit. We're soft and any team who goes for it down our flanks will do us - moreso the right.
Tactically against MK we got it so wrong and they got it so right. Last night we huffed and we puffed and we blew our own fucking house down, like we have been doing all this year. We work so hard for our goals and concede so easily. Cooper may say we played well yesterday but we scored fuck all and conceded 3. It would be ok if it was like boxing and you could win on points if you last the distance but it isn't. We needed 4 goals to win yesterday and despite 21 efforts got fuck all. This is not an isolated game as there have been others where we've created as much and got fuck all.

As others have said I think we would have taken the play offs at the beginning of the season so shouldn't be too disappointed. However, having said that being top and then slipping away has lead to the rather flat feeling that is currently about.

We've been effected hugely by the international breaks and injuries at key times to key personnel. Now is the time to re-group, get the suspensions out of the way and maybe look to change our formations/tactics in order to gather momentum going into the POs.

I don't like to hide behind excuses but the international break definitely killed the buzz and potential momentum of the dramatic Doncaster win.

I sort of agree, but....

I think if we'd scored 1 we wouldn't have conceeded 3.

The hard thing for us seems to be to score one. If we had, I think that City would have pushed forward leaving them more exposed and holes at the back that we may have taken advantage of. We then might have scored 2 or 3 as City did.

I think we have had a good season, developed some players for other teams, sold a decent player (Thompson) for a tidy sum and possibly getting a bit now for Luongo. That will give some cash to get someone else in to develop.

Autos was our best chance of promotion. I don't like our chances in the play offs.

The thing that I haven't seen anyone post about is missing Louis Thompson. I think that he has been the biggest loss in the team. I hope that we can replace him with someone like him next year!

Totally agree.  It's also not been helped by Luongo looking slightly disinteresed since his return.  I think his mind is already elsewhere.  It has a similar feeling to Paynter in 2010.  In fact, I almost feel like we've rewound the clock 5 years in lots of ways.

I hope every single fucking player is feeling the hair dryer treatment from cooper. almost every one of them needs to up their work rate and commitment. I'd especially put kassim and Luongo into that category

It's ok, we won't be playing millwall at Wembley  :)

Mass was injured going into the last break, didn't play in the first game and looks a bit short of full fitness....it happens. 5 years ago at this stage we were in the autos, and still had that chance going into final game.  We're somewhere altogether different atm. Cooper needs to get the players focusing on the merits of finishing 3rd or 4th at least, so that we can get the home game second in the PO's....we've yet to lose a PO tie when that has happened.

Thing is, though, can we expect to get auto promotion playing the style we do?

I'm starting to think not. The 3 at the back need to be exceptional players and I very much doubt that when Turnbull/Stephens go back that we will get another 2 young players that are as good.

So, next season the back 3 could be worse. Branco is always going to get caught out playing a 3.

Also I think the inexperience of our squad is showing itself more so now. Chuck injuries and suspensions into a very small squad and this is what we get.

The question is:

Are we playing 3 at the back because it is what we believe in or is it just so we can attract the top youngsters from the PL?

However we could get Chesterfield..... :hmmm:

Quite right, Reg.

I feel more confident beating the Blades over 2 games than I do Franchise.

And, Chesterfield have beaten them twice this season.

So we have a chance Chesterfield could beat Franchise for us and worse case is a one-off game at Wembley against Franchise

Last night's game was very fine margins between the two sides. They are just that bit better than us. The performance wasn't at all bad despite the mistakes and clear shortcomings.
We will still make the play offs then it's a lottery. If the forwards can click then we have a good chance.

If we get franchise in the play off semis I wonder how many tickets we'd get for their gaff?  :hmmm:

but when we lost to chesterfield at wembley,that was down to playing loan players......oh shit

And statistically since the Wembley final format in 1990 the 3rd and 4th placed teams have won the play offs more times than 5th and 6th. 4th place is now level pegging with 3rd after 4 successive final wins but never has the play offs been won 5 times in a row by one league finishing position.

Interesting how lazy journos present the play offs as a complete lottery. Yes teams can upset the league position but generally the better teams by league position win.

Our recent failures in the playoffs have been from mucking up the home game and then a gallant failure on pens. Charlton being the exception but think the 2010 team knew they couldn't beat Millwall.

We've had a few, who've played their last game for us at Wembley, but there can't be too many who've made their debut at Wembley for anybody, let alone 2 like Bostock and Jaymac.  Only Paolo  :)

I'd fancy our chances against Chesterfield in the Semis or the Final. We've played some really good stuff against them this season. Comfortably done the double over them.

It's an unlikely scenario for us to get a game v Spireites, but any side will hope to get us in the PO's because we give you a chance....OK if it clicks we can beat anybody, but the game v Chesterfield, was closer than the scoreline suggests, and I seem to remember them hitting wood and Louis making a fine goalline clearance.

are bristol city really a "multi million pound side"? Who are their big money signings,I honestly dont know

I think this side is more about wages than transfer fees paid.

Think it's more the wage bill....which enables you to have a large squad.  Saturday, we'll probably only have something like 4 or 5 subs.

ah that'd be it

They know nothing of the economies we are operating under, for instance on a Saturday away game they travel on the Thursday after training!!  As has been stated it is really the wages they pay, although I think Agard cost a fair wedge and is on a reported £15,000 a week!!!

750K according to wiki.

City don't have a big squad though. So I guess some of them must be on a really good wage.

Every club in the league would love to pay high wages, and Bristol City are lucky they have a chairman that supplies it. I feel there is a lot of sour grapes on here. So what if they have bought the league, does it matter? It may not be sustainable long term, but if it brings success like Bournemouth.

That saying, on our budget we have done miracles.

Lots of records have been broken this year...

City beating us for the first time in 12 years
We actually scored and won away at Orient, Notts County and Doncaster
We've had a 20+ goals striker since Paynter in 2009/10

There are probably more than that but why not add ending our losing streak at Wembley to the list? We have players capable of putting in top performances like the first half of the season. Let's do it. Let's go up from wembley and give us a day out to remember.

FUCK YEAH!

Wouldn't mind a JET on our subs bench, be lucky to field a full bench on Saturday!

Have to agree with both halfs of that Sippo. And I'd far rather we were doing it the way we are now than when we were the ones throwing unsustainable amounts of cash about.

Does 2 constitute a streak?

We are doing it the right way, which is good, but on the other hand I wouldn't complain if we doing it the Bristol City/Bournemouth way. All though long term isn't ideal, but I bet most fans would love to see us in their position.

Fuck yeah!

Emmanuel-Thomas would be good on any League One sides bench. Their rise coincides with the dropping/being less reliant on him. The ultimate luxury player.

Please can Preston win the league?

I agree with this.

Well I have had a few days to think about our last 2 games without knee jerk reaction which can come straight after a game.

MK Dongs game, defensively poor with Branco making mistakes, we played the wrong formation for a home game with 5 centre backs and one striker...not at home for me. MK basically scored every time we made a defensive mistake.

Shitheads 82ers yesterday....we murdered them in possession and made them look a very ordinary side for 90% of the game.....but possession does not win and lose games, goals win games, we didn't really look like scoring despite having 500 shots against shitty to their 3, they still scored every chance they had pretty much...thats the biggest difference between the sides.

They are competent at best as a team, they defend well and attack fast, without Freeman they would be a toothless damp squib as an attacking force, Agard is a whingy moaner who is on about the same wages as out whole team are on!

Flint....yes he is an utter cunt, I don't blame him saying what he did because he knows a lot of our fans hate him for how he left etc etc but that was quite unprofessional but I know why he did it. It will come back and bite his arse, he may relish it or he may buckle under the pressure...we will see and probably soon because IMO he will get found out badly in the Championship.

Our overall performance was fairly good but we made 3 fuck ups and got punished, we made loads of chances and failed to score, we do miss Louis more than I thought we might so we need to just get back to basics this weekend and without Branco playing I think we will look a more solid unit at the back.

Branco scares me and should not be in our starting line up at the moment for me, end of subject.

Yes we won't be going up in the autos but we could still make it through the play offs because it will be down to who performs best on the day of the match, we have the ability to beat anyone in this league but we need to believe as a team like we did earlier in the season.

Oh and the shitty fans were really quiet all game until their 2nd went in, poor atmosphere for such a massive club.

Except in Bristol's case, it may not be unsustainable. They're not a Bournemouth or a Wigan, artificially elevated by their owner's injection of cash. Lansdown's a Walker or Hayward or Madejski figure, building a great ground and maybe finally defibrillating the comatose giant of England's 6th(?) city, which should - and could - be capable of 25-30k crowds. It might just work - he's certainly shown the required patience.

Exactly, its only unsustainable if Lansdown gets bored/goes bust. Even then he's not the type to sell to a Jed is he, he's emotionally invested as much as financially.

I'd love an owner like him. But we haven't got one, so we have to do we what we are doing.

Playoff final, I can see Branco scoring the winner!!

The most shocking thing for me was that he never even looked for the ball at corners. Only focused on wrestling Flint. How does a footballer even manage to do that?

Well he hasn't scored an own goal yet I guess.

Oh, and the other thing I forgot to mention - arriving late, I got shepherded through the first turnstiles that came up in the Atyeo stand - which of course was the home side of it, as I discovered when I tried to inform a gentleman that he was in my seat and became dimly aware of the fact that he, and a lot of his row, appeared to be wearing City shirts. Luckily, I wasn't in a Town top, and realised my mistake before he and his friends did.

But still, you'd think those automated ticket scanners would recognise that I had a ticket for another section. Welcome to hell indeed.

Haha. "Hell" was a lot less intimidating than i was expecting.

It sold me a pretty nice hot dog and I saw a few strange people waving their arms about. There was one bloke (sounded a bit like Worzel Gummidge) running around shouting something about inbreds and roundabouts as we left "hell". No idea what that was about but he seemed to be enjoying himself!

The chap in an old yellow City away shirt?

He certainly didn't appear to be a member of 'good stock'.

Some of their fans looked 'interesting' on the telly  :)

It may not be, I meant it was in our case and would be if we were to do it again

I take it you missed the tv shots of our lot then?

I'm used to that.  ;)

We were in the KFC next to the ground, quietly blending in with the home fans. I'm in the toilet and all you can hear is some gobby bint singing "OH ASHTON GATE IS FULL OF SHIT!". Embarrassing!

You staggered into the wrong loo again didn't you.

Did you pipe up with

"This toilet bowl.........."

Ssssshhhh ;)

[quote author=Nemo link=topic=55662.msg1321166#msg1321166 date=1428495831

But still, you'd think those automated ticket scanners would recognise that I had a ticket for another section. Welcome to hell indeed.
[/quote]

they don't make turnstiles scanners to cope with Numpties

If he didn't then he should ;)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lgye0UeJWGw

Anyone else find this a bit embarrassing now. We went a bit over the top I think.

Silly football fans....generally not the sharpest knifes in the draw.

Let's hope for play off success

Yes he has.  Peterborough in the jpt semi final last season. 

And what a belter it was, a fine header.

Luongo's interview the other day confirmed where his head is

I heard the other fanbase reported an incident within these events to the police and harped on about it for months. I believe that to be the definition of going 'a bit over the top'.

Right, Greg?

;)

Not even a little. Don't think anyone should apologise for a bunch of passionate kids celebrating a big win over a rival.

Could have done with the same level of passion last night.

Yeah right! What an idiot.

Football fans are such dim wits!

Going to football matches always makes me feel good about myself because I can compare myself to others. Watching city last night was great....made me realise I proberly have a much more privileged life than those half wits.

I guess most football fans live in tiny council houses and have way to many children that will follow in there footsteps.

I would agree but you need to realise it felt like a bit of a David & Goliath win. Our players are 19,20 etc and a lot are in their first or second season of professional football. To them they just beat professional footballers of many years with £10-£15 thousand coming into their bank accounts each week.

They were buzzing for it as were we. Back then we were still getting used to thinking "we'll finish mid-low table". By November we were just starting to realise what we could do.

Not an over the top reaction at all. Passion.

I remember City very much enjoying Town's relegation in 2006 despite the Final Score ending their own Play-Off hopes. We took it accordingly with the standard responses.

This is no new thing.

probably in Bristol

You mean proberly  :)

So we have Tom and Greg from the red side of wurzelland on here now. Ace.  :)

Also, did anyone notice BRISTOL CITY fans singing "You're just a shit Bristol Rovers" to us last night?

I don't know about you, but I'd never catch us singing "You're just a shit Oxford United" or whatever to another team... bit of a compliment to Rovers there that Bristol City fans are happy saying we're a shit version of their bitter rivals even thought we dominated large parts of the game...  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

In fairness Jay, I think that was taking the piss as we'd sung the same at them before you'd arrived. A decent response in context.

City fan at work has just piped up with "could you see how dirty swindon were as easily in the flesh as you could on tv?" as his first comment on the game.

Jesus H Christ, you won 3-0, if your first priority is the other team's discipline you really need to cheer up.

Just trip the bastard up as he's coming back with his coffee.

My day has been the same. Far more concerned with Branco and unimportant moments than the win.

In fact this started via messages straight after game ended.

Or even better...with 2 coffees one in each hand, or is that just selfish? meh.

My first message was

"You played really well and didnt deserve to lose.. but HA HA HA HA".

Which I think is a fair reflection. Tbf to this particular City fan, he is a genuinely nice bloke.

I don't know any. All I got was "Wheeeeeeeyyyyyy!!!" on Facebook at the final whistle.

"Swindon are shite" Is what I got!

Which anyone who saw the game would know, is clearly not true.  We may be a lot of things but shite aint one of 'em.

But are we really the dirty, diving cheats.

Obviously we don't notice it and there was certainly no diving, timewasting or feigning injury in the 2 televised games.

Branco apart, there were hardly any bad fouls last night - Agard's was probably the worst.

Any others, by either side, were just run of the mill fouls you see in every game.

Branco was bad though.

We were divers and cheats for the first game and dirty cheats for the second.

Progress?

;)

Agree with this. End to end game but Bristol were clinical.
Said it before Willo misees far too many chances but not getting on his back.
Watched the Bristol players warming up and technically better at putting the ball in the net than Swindon.
Top of the league, bigger budget, squad can't argue.
Swindon were a credit last night, not over and play like that against lesser opposition hit the target and we will be o.k.
Disagree with other posters Bristol are miles better than anyone else in the division.

Agreed RE: their shooting practice. It was insane compared to some I've witnessed.

I got a cut and paste of the stats with "and you still couldn't score".

they committed one more foul than us. dirty welsh shits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo

I hope Swindon get to the playoff final and lose. Not only lose but lose on penalties. That would make me laugh.

 :zzz:

And then spiral lose your manger and best players. From there you can just imagine what happens next.xxxxxxx

Who's this plank?

The names Gregory, gregoryunit. I'm here to tell you how rubbish Swindon are.

Good post, people may not agree with this but I think we have 3 average strikers who have had more service than they would get in other teams. Williams is technically a '20 goal a season striker' but for every chance he takes he misses 3 sitters, Smith works very hard but technically isn't good enough for this brand of football, he's improved from last season but can he improve further? I have my doubts. Obika is a good finisher but his all round game needs some work, he can't create, he can't hold the ball up, and when he does take a man on more often than not he loses it.

Wow, I can't compete with an Oscar Wilde Incarnate. Ouch.

Do you honestly think he knows who Oscar Wilde is?

Probably thinks it's some Chelsea player who's not happy

You get an education and learn to spell?
You put a a Wor after W, you put a Wor after O.........

Wait a minute.

Greg's not a Swindon fan!?!

NO WAY!

I for one will be very disappointed if we lose our manger. It's crucial for any lower league club to have somewhere to keep their animal feed. I also feel that this could really limit the chances of the second coming of Christ taking place in the Arkells.

Proberly

In the days of Honest Bri, we used a lot of straw, acquired from one of the directors, Colin Howard, whose family had farming interests....its price was very helpful to the creative accountancy of Vince Farrar. We'd have been lost without a manger...

We are totally shit and have no money. We are diving cheating cunts.

Frankly, I'm glad it's finally out there. Some one had to say it  :nod:

Ashton Gate is full of ................

At least is well known and accepted.

I wouldn't say my eldest is defeatist, but his attitude on our auto chances ending was "playoffs, oh, may as well sew the league 1 badges onto next years kit now.".

Just saying it out loud feels so liberating.

since when did anyone on here support swindon because they are good,oh eponymous one

Good lad, he's definitely Town.

Young Reg?  :sherlock:

Only a shithead would join a rivals forum pretending to be one of their fans! Weak...

Not hard to spot was he?  :)

Raffa has been charged with violent conduct.

http://www.thefa.com/news/governance/2015/apr/raphael-rossi-branco-charged

Might be season changing for us - and in a good way. Will be good to see Ricketts in his natural position.

Not in the slightest bit surprised.

So will this be a 3 match ban for 'violent conduct' plus the 2 match ban for his 10 yellows?

This would be a separate charge, so 5 games altogether.

Thought so. So he'll be coming back into play 2 games before the end of the season.

As its retro violent conduct may well be more than 3
Could be a blessing.
Plays decent enough in the centre but as the flank defender gets exposed far too easily.
Ricketts might get a run out in his preferred position at last.
Does leave defensive cover short in the run in tho.
Let's hope Turnball steers clear of a yellow or he's next for a 2 match ban  :no:

He deserves that.

PS when people talk about Ricketts's natural position.. you know thats full back right? I do think he'd do a job at centre half though.

More threads on the OTIB  no doubt and our friend might be back soon.

Who have we got for left wing back if ricketts moves inside.

He does play centre as well tho.
Bit much asking a 36yr old that hadn't played since November to play wing back in his 2nd match in 4 days IMO.
Poor fucker

He'll be delighted you aged him 3 years since he's been here ;)

Haha oops am blaming fat fingers for that one

Toffolo should be back for Posh

Not suprised, but how did the Cov defender get away without a ban for his 'stamp' on Louis T in Jan, which was missed by the officials, which was live on TV.

Double standards...again?

No arguments with the charge.

Does it need to be officially reported or does the footage alone result in the ban?

Who really cares? He acted like a dickhead and has been found out, no excuses for what he did especially about a minute into the game and the intent was there for all to see. I'd quite like to not see him play again this season as he's a liability and a calamity waiting to happen.

What happened for this charge specifically? (On the 6th minute)

Take a look at @dannyhumm's Tweet: https://twitter.com/dannyhumm/status/586183690084024321?s=09

Bleedin' eck, I must have missed that. What a cock.

Brilliant challenge!

The ref keeping him on the pitch suited City more than it did us in the end!

Only bad thing is he didnt hit Flint harder.

The way he has been playing recently - come clean, who on here reported him to the FA!

Maybe it was Mark Cooper?

Probably Cotterill. He was talking to the 4th official a lot on Tuesday night.

I cannot remember a non-Prem player getting charged by the FA for violent conduct after the game, before.

Yet the other two was just as bad.

What else may or may not have been as bad is immaterial. Branco deserves a pretty lengthy ban for that, stupid thing to do, especially on TV.

The bollocks surrounding these 2 games with the 82ers have been worse than anything that occurred with the Pox.

At least they, like us, know our place in the scheme of things.

Fuck knows what the Traders would have made of the 'ballboy incident' we had at the Kassam.

Glad to see the back of the cunts

I'm not defending Branco, but Italian sides have been employing those tactics defending corners for years and getting away with it.

I cannot believe the officials missed all 3 of the incidents on Tuesday, let alone other similar incidents at every game over the last few years. If refs gave free kicks/pens for shirt pulling at corners, then at least it would stop this very quickly.

I would certainly agree that the fallout of both games on the City side has been somewhat intense.

I know our fans have a reputation on here for being miserable/negative but the post match reception was excellent considering we had lost 3-0 to our local rivals - not many sets of fans would react the same in the circumstances.

The match has been well covered on here. Impressive first half, we started the second half dominantly without ever looking like scoring.

Branco costing us two goals has been overshadowed by his marking on Flint and hopefully we will find a back three without him that will remain in place during the play offs. As we have known for a while, he is a very, very limited footballer and out of his depth at a side chasing promotion.

One consolation of staying down IF that is what happens will be no local derbies next season.

The testosterone fuelled dick waving, the good natured and hilarious 'banter', the wonderful warm afterglow of another derby defeat. Fuck that.

Regarding Branco, that is without doubt the most remarkable defensive performance I've ever seen from any player at any Club. Coupled with the blindest set of Officials ever and the fact that he didn't seem to get much stick at all from the Wurzels made it an utterly surreal experience.

Branco is an old skool defender. I can't be the only one who loves him. It was a local derby, and flint deserved
it. Branco's job was to stop him scoring and he did that too perfection.

Flint clearly ran into his elbow.

I'll join you in the Branco camp....

But if it wasn't for the utter incompetence of the Officials, we would have had to play 85 minutes (or how ever long it was) with 10 men. Utterly reckless. If nothing else, the Club should fine him unless of course that was exactly what Cooper told him to do. I can't believe he did but his Old Man did play for Dirty Leeds after all. They were about as Old Skool as you can get.

He needs to be a bit more clever than that Reg, it was laughable.

I like local derbies.

I don't have a problem with the way Branco defended Flint, but only because he got away with it. I'm not so keen on Branco the defender though, I just don't think he's in our best 3 (4 now with Ricketts).

Who Sippo?

I don't much like it when players get scapegoated, as they do on a daily rotating basis on here....we've a small squad of Div 3 players, who by defintion are likely to be a bit limited.

For sure Branco, makes the odd howler, but we got a Brazilian from a Conference South side for nowt...we could have paid £50 mill and got a Brazilian defender prone to the odd howler....see David Luiz.

Branco gets way too much stick. He makes the odd marking error, that usually leads to a goal. Mainly when we've been caught up field, and he's left on his own, backtracking, and under pressure, so mistakes will happen. Maybe we should go get Frampton or Ward back?

I'm not talking about the 'odd howler' Reg, I'm talking about his fore arm smash on Flint in the first minute followed by his subsequent WWE bout with him throughout the rest of the game. Even the Sky commentators saw it FFS!

I'm certainly not making him a scapegoat and I've said nothing to suggest that. FWIW I don't think that defensively he's anywhere near as bad as some people make him out to be. But are you seriously saying that what he got up to the other night was OK? Would it have still have been OK if he'd been red carded?

There are two issues here.

1. His general defensive play.
2. The afore mentioned WWE bout with Flint the other night.

I don't have too much of a problem with 1 but I definitely do with 2.

Yeah 2 was a problem, not condoning or defending that.

And what about the kick in the head Luongo got against franchise? (Don't deserve a capital f.)

branco gets stick,warranted or otherwise,because he is the weakest defender we have,who as you say,gives away a lot of goals.not the worst weve had by any means and definitely not a scapegoat.

I think he plays better central, seems to read it better and has cover outside him.
So partly Coops fault for not playing him there I guess but he sees what goes on in training we dont. He isn't the finished article but don't think he is good enough for a PO chasing team, yet.
Better teams catch him out too often for my liking.

That's what I'm getting at. Sky have shown plenty of league games over the years and I cannot remember a previous FL player getting done after the game by the FA.

There must be an 82ers fan in the FA's disciplinary department...

So is it looking likely that it will be Ricketts, Stephens & Turnbull as the back 3 Saturday?

That's all we have.

True enough, I seem to have a hazy record of Kasim being put in Thompson's back 3 position; but of course he's suspended too.

By my calculation Anton Rodgers gets a game on Saturday....

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KVvaTEAbcyQ/UzOsazBSaaI/AAAAAAAAIb8/akMNDJmGimc/w346-h192/brendan+rodgers+2.gif)

Not necessarily. We have Luongo, Gladwin, Swift, Toffolo and Byrne, although it's hardly a defensive looking midfield.....

Posh have scored 1 goal in their last 5 games - mebbe we wont need a defensive midfield.

(http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/rodgers.gif)

The Football Ramble Podcast very correctly pointed out this week that Brendan Rogers looks (and increasingly acts) alarmingly like Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons:

(http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/1a/12fae8d5b3b2ac9c0c4afd68c9305789.png/revision/latest?cb=20140817115144)

Suppose if Gruffalo is fit, then Mass could play DM, but although his scan was OK, must be a doubt for Saturday.

Pretty sure Sam tweeted earlier he was in contention for Saturday.
Have missed him

We would have been a lot better on the left side on Tuesday with Toffolo playing. Any update on Louis? Is he actually out for the season or is there a slim hope we might make it back in time for the play offs?

Has Branco given away more goals than Nathan T this season? Even if he has, he does seem to get a disproportionate amount of criticism when you compare the two.

Both can be very good, and both can be liabilities.

I think Nathan is best as a right-back and could do a job as a wing-back.

I'd be amazed if Norwich agreed to let him play again this season.

Didn't Alan Reeves get done once, post-match, for getting caught on camera appearing to swear at one of the officials?

We can't compete with the level of shit spouted on the shitty forum, but there's been some bollocks spouted on here tonight. Branco deserved a red card. The ref missed the forearm smash (which is what it was) but the tv cameras caught it. He's bang to rights and deserves a ban.
I think Branco could become a decent defender, but Tuesday night he was a fucking liability. No point in comparing him to others who weren't charged in the past; he has been and deserved to be.

Fuck it...let's stick Barker in there too.....I bet the fucker goes on a scoring spree!

The Adver says that the FA has charged Branco with viilent conduct, and if found guilty will be banned for three games, added on to his present two match ban.  It should be interesting how we get on without him.

Don't worry, sure they will be able to bang in 3 against our lot!

I'm sure we'll cope....

Anyone looked in on LP's twitter account?

LP ?

Peacock??

If he means Lee Power, it's not really him...

https://mobile.twitter.com/lcperrott/status/586925458605891584

Huh?! Can't imagine what that'd be like if you actually cared about little old us.

...and then try to imagine the reaction of Bristol City fans if that was Swindon supporters singing instead...

(http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/103360/angry-at-computer-o.gif)

I actually find it quite amusing, fair play.

Indeed. It would have obviously involved about 30 threads on otib, loads and loads of hissy-fits and a couple of police reports.

Just reading Coopers notes in the programme from Yesterdays game...

'At Bristol City on Tuesday, we played well. It was one of those games where we needed to score because of the amount of chances we created. We didn't but they did and that's the fine dividing-line between where they are and us in the Play-Oss positions at the moment. That's also why they pay their players thousands of pounds a week.'

:D

one very good season for the first time in years and suddenly they think they are one of the biggest clubs in England. Oh dear

Yeah, after we bet them earlier in the season I was led to believe that it was considered a bit tinpot to celebrate beating your local rivals in your cup final......

(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/jjedmunds/11096388_10205298629597580_2650157693489479937_n_zpsz3hatdxx.jpg)

Be fair Venks, they've only been in existence for less than 40 years.

Don't forget their Welsh cup!

That was won by the now defunct club....

TBF I think we all realised that, even neutral colleagues said we deserved a share of the spoils but it is goals that count and they did three times and we didn't. Williams pen and open goal yesterday reinforced to me why we have run out of steam. I also heard someone saying that Williams is on 6k per week? If he is Fcuk me, he's in for some Aldi & Lidl shopping when his contract expires shortly as I don't see anyone offering him more that 2k going forward wherever he goes.

They're spraying so much beer around. Such a waste.

They actually sing?

Don't fret. It looks like Fosters. Panic over!

I can't get the video to work. I take it that it's just a bunch of Shitty celebrating winning their cup final against us? :toocool: