Thetownend.com

Tickets for our upcoming trip to Forest Green Rovers will go on sale this Thursday.

Due to the game being on SKY, there will be limited Seating Tickets and these will only be able to be purchased over the phone or direct from STFC Store.

#STFC 🔴⚪️

Is this one up for postponing as its international week?

Potentially yes, but even if we get enough call ups we may not postpone. Who knows

Forest Gump Rovers

Be mad not to call it off. With JoJo away Ward takes over in goal but we don’t have another keeper for the bench.

Then there’s the matter of him isolating if he goes to Zimbabwe.

From this mornings 'presser'. This can't be right, can it?

Garner on International call-ups:

"The Forest Green Rovers is a televised game so no matter how many players are called up we have no option to call the game off and we have to play it."

Garner on FGR match:

"It's the rules that we have to play the match because it's televised and it doesn't matter too much what my opinion is on that.... "

Ebou Adams one of FGR best players has been called up for the Gambia.

I think that Charlton were in the same boat when they came here for a televised game in 2016.
Missing some first teamers, couldn't call the game off, lost 3-0.

Plymouth v Pompey from earlier on this season was called off due to international call-ups. Not totally sure of the rules, perhaps both teams need to have 3+ more players missing or something?

https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2021/august/plymouth-match-postponed/

1,224 allocation. Bigger club than Rovers?  :)

Tim Sherwoods first game of the era he was never here and had no input

Gilbert now called up for Ireland under 21’s

Government confirm agreement reached over red list exemptions for release of international players for forthcoming internationals. As expected, they must be vaccinated and must observe “stringent protocols on testing, vaccination and bubbles” as well as transport.

That's 4 key players gone now. I'm definitely now in the camp of getting the game called off if at all feasible.

5 isn’t it? JoJo, Grant, Williams, KKH and Gilbert.

Just looked up squads and cannot see call ups for KKH nor Grant. At least not yet anyway

Grants was announced last night by Jamaica but only for the 1 game

Looks like KKH hasn't made the England U20 squad at the moment so that should be one less to worry about.

Gilbert has been called up for the irish U21s though.

Can't eat daffs*

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/19618988.forest-green-v-swindon-town-will-go-ahead-despite-number-international-call-ups/

i read that FGR only serves vegan food at their stadium....is that correct??
that just offends me!!! 

Well more fool us for entering into such an agreement so self inflicted… great!

Grass munchers.

Are there still tickets for FGR? Keen to get a ticket first thing Monday morning if there are some left!

Club tweeted yesterday they still had 400 tickets available due to a system error for ordering online.

Cheers! That's first thing Monday morning sorted then!

Tree hugging Druid bastards.
No milk either. Bastards tried to poison me last time with soya milk that was off.

The food at FGR is the best quality food you'll get at any ground in the league

Sent from my CLT-L09

How could you tell the difference :)

The hot chocolate was fucking rank though, so steer clear of hot drinks. The food though... Bangin.

Sent from my CLT-L09

Anyone doing fancy dress? A bacon bap or hot dog would be good

Kesler called up for England now according to his twitter

There was talk he might get released to play. If not then if we are without 5 players on Saturday then serious questions need to be asked and answered by club and the league, would be a complete farce.

Should be asked of the league i agree. THe club when asked in August had 1 player they had to worry about

The club has some culpability as well, they aren’t above criticism. Agreeing to play a game no matter what is beyond naive, but either way being without 5 players, 3 of which started yesterday should fall into the exceptional circumstances bracket. If we pick up any injuries during training in week we’ll be in big trouble Saturday and struggling for numbers.

On the plus side good ol’ Doris Johnson is virtually doing away with the red list this week so any extra isolation shouldn’t be a worry.

I'll take your word for it.

You need to start queueing now if you want some. 1100 fans, 1 hatch, 1 server. Tinpot

Yeah the year Doughty score a pen in the sun, I queued just before half time and made it back to my spot after the 2nd half started. Take a flask this time, the hot drinks are nasty.

Sent from my CLT-L09

Games going to be a total farce,  Vegans must be rubbing their hands.   Anything from this will be an absolute bonus.

Unless you're in the home end  ;)

What players do we know are definetly missing

Grant - Jamaica

Williams - Wales

Gilbert - Ireland U21

Wollacott is in the Ghana provisional squad. Whether that gets trimmed down before the game I don’t know.

KKH - maybe England U21 but that’s only from his twitter account.

I don't think it's a game we are expecting to win, be good to rotate the squad a bit.

Ward
Crichlow Odimayo Conroy
Iandolo Hunt
Reed Gladwin
Payne JML McKirdy
Simpson

First team looks fine really, but bench would be callow. Lyden, Baudry, Parsons, East, Aguilar, Dabre and then the youth teamers

We basically can't afford to pick up any injuries in training this week or really during the game on Saturday, then to add to the farce we'll have to play almost the same team in the pointless cup on Tuesday as we've very few players to rotate. I see we're even trying to get another keeper in for Saturday as well just to really put the cherry on the top....

I know we’re at a disadvantage with players missing but I don’t think the EFL will let us play 12 😀

Its only fair under the circumstances :D

:D

Now Cooper has gone do they still play a similar style to ourselves? Be interesting to see who can dominate the ball.

Does it honestly matter if these players are missing?

Two aren’t in the starting line up. One’s been ifish and one’s been good and may not make the final cut.

If we can win this despite their absence, that sends a hell of a message to the rest league.

Just looked up the England U20 squad/fixture. They’ve got a development game on Thursday. That’s it. No reason he can’t play Saturday as well.

Unless I’ve got that wrong!

Just double checking.....the game is at noon time in England?  Which is 6am where I am.

Another question.  where can i buy an adult sized jersey?  when i look at the Swindon FC webstore, all i see is kids sizes.

thanx.

yeah noon kick off fella. I'm not sure if you know already but the game is live on Sky Sports and so won't be available on IFollow. I think you'll be able to get it on an American sports cable channel.

Bit of a sore issue that. Last I heard we have sold out with no chance of ordering more (supplier issue?)

Yeah it makes a considerable difference as you always want to play your best players and have options.

There is a third kit due for release in the upcoming month or so, keep an eye out for that. I imagine given the issues with getting Home and Away kit, this one could be a good seller.

good information...i will have to start hunting for it..i have about every channel you can have i think.

It's on ESPN+ mate.

Can't get skysports with out a whole VPN thing BUT  espn+ is going to have it and i have paying for that service in a Hulu/disney/spotify bundle for years....Finally it pays off!! 

5:55 AM   Forest Green Rovers vs. Swindon Town (English League Two)

www.hesgoal.com usually cover matches live free with no sign ups.

5 will be missing.

JJ, Williams, Gilbert, grant and? Think we have KKH

KkH will not be available.

Why not? He wasn’t named in the U20 squad I saw. Have I missed something?

A social media post for him saying he was off on international duty.

As much as a pain in the ass it is having 5 players missing, only 3 of them started Saturday and one of them was replaced and was pretty poor.
So Ward in for Wollocott, Hunt for KKH and McKirdy in for Gilbert.

It’s still a strong 11.

On standby evidently which is even more frustrating.

The Grant situation is an absolute piss take. I assume his contract is up at the end of the season but whenever it is, I would not be looking at renewing it if I'm Chorley / Garner... good player or not..

Isn't literally everyone's contract up at the end of the season?

What Grant situation?

For me Grant has been one of the worst players so far this season and with him travelling away to far flung parts of the world and then having to quarantine etc it made little sense to have him play for one game on Saturday when you are trying to build a settled, structured side. I do however wonder why he wasn't on the bench at all as he can play Midfield or CB so a useful guy to have as an option.

Given his camaraderie and obvious popularity amongst the players I wonder whether he is being utilised as a potential future coach at the club. I imagine this will be his last playing season for us.     

I have to disagree about Grant mate. For me I have only seen Grant play 1 poor performances so far and that was Tranmere, he was average vs Salford, he has been at least as good as he was last season.

In the other games he has played (6 in total) vs Tranmere and Carlisle he gained votes for MoM, He played well vs Scunthorpe too, he was easily MoM vs Tranmere the only other game he played was at Cambridge which I never got to watch.

I think hes been very hard done by losing his place after 1 poor game vs Mansfield where he has not featured since.

I didn't see the Scunny or Carlisle games so can't comment on those. My memory isn't as good as it was but for the games I did watch I don't think he took as much care of the ball as say Reed or Payne. He got his pocket picked a fair amount and his passing was wayward. Obviously that's just my own personal opinion JJ. Obviously there hasn't really been enough games under Garner to really justify my opinion but I personally don't see Grant featuring much, especially when Lyden is fit.

Which equates to almost a quarter of our match day squad and all 4 did play. Not having them in training either in terms of numbers for things such as practice matches isn’t going to be ideal either.

I’d happily wager no other game has gone ahead in the EFL where a team has been missing 5 players due to international call ups. Saturday was our first win in over a month and rather than build on it we are now forced to change a significant part of our XI.

For me it also doesn’t send out a great message to the fans in terms of what we are looking to achieve this season in terms of do we actually want to challenge? You’d expect us not to want to play games without players if at all possible and we’ve done it against Stevenage and doing it again Saturday with even more players missing.

Lot of comments about Grant on the Scunny forum after the game with their fans saying his experience was the difference between the teams, vs Tranny he ruled midfield.

I know he has a reputation that may preceed him off the pitch of being difficult but I do really think he can feel hard done by, if hes good enough for the Jamaica natianal team but not good enough for a L2 team.

All it seems off the back of 1 poor performance and 1 call up, something doesnt add up.

I think they are fair observations. But I still disagree with you!

It misses the excellent protection job he was still doing too. Thought he looked a shed load better than last season -  to me anyway..

However, would he displace Reed - absolutely not. I'd have him on the bench though because our midfield can be too lightweight in certain games.

I suspect that he didn't inform the club properly of the call up/isolation period and that lead to the current issue. But that's speculation

The more i think about Grant the more it makes sense. Who would you drop for him at the moment

Gladwin against better teams. We aren't going to get away with playing one centre midfielder in games against better teams especially as the weather deteriorates.

100% this.

Gladwin. Or at minimum put him on the bench.

There seems to be a couple of threads within this match day thread. Grant and why are we playing this fixture with the international call ups. Grant I suspect is an internal issues. Regarding the game I can only assume that the club saw £10k? And thought yeah we’ll have that. I also think they would have known certain international call ups would be an issue but still feel a result is achievable either way. If you feel strongly on these matters we have the truth and reconciliation committee to contact if you wish.

I do wonder whether Grant's historical ability to fall out with the vast majority of his managers has reared its head here.

Its a tricky one, over the moon for him about the call up's (which is also a great advert for what the club are doing), but if he is all over the place it gets to the stage that its difficult to keep pissing with a reasonable settled team just to accommodate this, especially as with him getting older I imagine keeping missing training while flying here there and every where ain't gonna help.

If that's the case can we expect JJW to be excluded going forwards as he's going to be subject to quarantine and what not and equally as disruptive.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the club tried to call the game off. I'm not sure of the specific details as to why it was turned down.

Its been mentioned numerous times, but is all a lie I tells thee, they are lying to us all!

I wasn’t aware of that. End of.

We requested to get the game called off, it was denied. End of!  ;) :D

Why you!!  :headhurts: >:(

Every game in L1, bar 2, is off due to international call ups. Either international talent is cascading down the pyramid or there’s a distinct lack of true international players and country’s are reduced to whatever they can get.

As for Grant, he’s a must for the bench at least - especially if we’re defending a lead in the 2nd half. The fact he’s a fans favourite shouldn’t blind some of us to his actual worth to the side at this moment. No way would you drop Reed to accommodate him so maybe Garner sees Gladwin’s ‘going forward and ball retention’ skills as a price worth paying for his inferior defensive skills.

Where does Lyden come into this, as well? It wouldn’t surprise me to see Grant leave in January.

I’ve also been thinking about our, touches wood, lack of injuries so far. I’d presume the majority of injuries are sustained as a result of physical contact and the fact that our possession stats are high and we don’t seem like a team to get stuck in has resulted in players steering clear. I’m guessing here, but has Conroy ever played 10 consecutive games before?

Oh come on, lighten up. I’ve a face like a hamster today with a throbbing tooth abscess. I needed something to make me smile. If it helps, I don’t really like that either amongst other modern parlance. And to think I was accused (not by you) of not getting irony.

I really had not seen we tried to get out of the match so I assume we signed some form of contract with Sky?

If Lyden was fit I can see we could let Grant move*. But he never is for more than a month or so.

* I don't think Grant is done yet, but...

(https://y.yarn.co/fd448696-0f7a-4c37-9e01-99cb826a0e18_text.gif)

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/19625509.ben-garner-explains-reasons-anthony-grant-omission-bristol-rovers/

There you go. All clear now.

The club has made heavy investment in the medical side that was severely lacking before apparently. Sports science etc etc. Can't be a coincidence that we do have a much cleaner bill of health injury wise than we have had for a long time. Conroy's fitness and run of games the perfect example.

Sorry my message appeared to be lost in translation/emojis. It was supposed to be a light hearted note LL. I think I was a winky face away from making that clear.

I dont know why all leagues just have an international break regardless. Would stop all this crap

Why you have to jinx it, that's Conroy out for the season now!  ;)

The game will be shown in the Legends Lounge. Bar open from 10.30am!

It makes perfect sense to me if i am honest.

Apart from not being on the bench - just in case.

Thats my main complaint, not bringing him back in is fine, but to have East in front of him on the bench does not make sense to me.

Word

Grant is pretty much the only player in the squad that brings something we are severly lacking quite often, that little bit of guile and nastiness..  as well as it has gone so far, we are sometimes too nice against certain opposition.  Whether he was avaialble or not, Port Vale was a perfect example of a game that Grant was very much needed in - we were bullied and harassed, and Grant when he is playing well is a perfect foil in that situation.

Spot on. Even if its bring him on for the last 20 mins if we are trying to hold onto a lead.

This.

In retrospect, last season under the tw*t of a manager we had did him no good either as he was playing when injured and the lack of fitness has to my mind carried on into this season a bit and allied to his age he is not the player of three years ago. That being said he would always be in my squad purely for the reasons Berniman states.

Not sure my mrs will be happy.

I've stupidly booked a flu jab on Saturday  :badmood:

Mine is happy to kick us out.😂

200 tickets left

Surely we have to sell out there?

If we didn’t that would be a poor showing.

TBF they only went on general sale yesterday, plenty of time to shift 200.

As per duke's post, the 5 are confirmed missing

Checked and saw Ghana is not on the red list as far as I’m aware… so only miss JJ for this weekend?

I think Zimbabwe might be though. Looks like Ghana are playing in Harare on Tuesday. Think he misses 4 matches in total as he has to quarantine.

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2021/october/five-on-international-duty-for-town/ (https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2021/october/five-on-international-duty-for-town/)

The five will miss this Saturday's televised fixture against Forest Green Rovers and our trip to Plymouth Argyle in the Papa John's Trophy on Tuesday night, and we'll keep fans up to date on when each player is expected to return to SN1
------+--

haven't the government recently fudged things for international sport

Farce.

Also would love to know if clubs such as ours are getting compensation or wages paid for this especially the quarantine period....

Oh and if we can't call Saturday off due to Sky, why aren't we calling Tuesday's match against Plymouth off as all 5 will be missing for that as well!

I am not overly familiar with "call ups" but I think it is a positive that there are a number of players in the organization that are worthy of being recognized by their home countries and are skilled.  but i can see it also sucks to lose those players when the games still count.  Get off to a good start, players are playing well on your team and then you lose them.  doesn't happen in american sports other than soccer i guess. 

Hopefully there are some players that will take this as an opportunity and make the most of it and show what they can do and get the victory!

Plymouth, lets get it done. It doesn't matter win or lose tbh.

Farce indeed otherwise. We may have made a contractual rod for our own back, but surely it laughs in the face of EFL league integrity.

Hey ho. Just got to win it then against the odds. Then nobody will care.

This chat about the non-cancellation due to international call-ups is as tedious as the repetitive queries on the Northampton match day Fred as to why it was a 2pm kick off. 

The Plymouth match may be pointless but it will stress a stretched squad as we won't have many players to rotate in on Tuesday and playing Saturday/Tuesday always increases the risk of injuries. If something happens to Ward then we'll have no keeper for the Rochdale match so again I would love to know the reason we haven't got this called off as well.

Ok everyone. I do believe the Orange one would like a permanent cessation of the afore mentioned conversation. Period.

I believe Garner said he was looking to get a keeper in for the short term to cover this eventuality. Do we have a decent youth keeper anymore or has that ship long since sailed?

I'd also like to see Garner playing 3 or 4 youth players in that pointless Plymouth game so as to alleviate that injury risk as you stated.

I think the EFL have relaxed the rules somewhat. Anyone who has 40+ first team games can play irrespective of whether they are regular starters or not. That might not help us muchly on that front. I think the likes of Parsons, Cowmeadow et al will have to play and bollocks to the rules. We should get a helluva lot of slack seeing as we are going ahead on Saturday.

What is ridiculous is the poxy £10k we get from Sky is exactly the same amount we get for winning a group game in the Pizza Cup.

End of
FACT

 :D

There is some glorious shit being lost on Facebook about this, getting close to tin foil hat territory......

Curious if Forest Green has players that will be missing as well due to call ups??

Just Ebou Adams who has been called up for the Gambia I think. He's a good player but clearly they come out of it better than we do. 

well that is bullshit...

I'm sort of cool with it all.

The major loss is JoJo but Ward seems competent enough.
Hayden is a loss going forward but assume Hunt slots in and he is more than capable at this level when playing right back.
Gilbert is a talent but his replacement from the bench on Saturday got the MotM award, so I'd be more than happy for McKirdy to start anyway.
Grant has not been in the side.
Williams has been a sub and we seem to have been using Mitchell-Lawson ahead of him from there as well.

It means we are a bit less able to switch the team from the bench, but maybe a bit more solid plus the addition of McKirdy adding some drive.

We played a load of second string in the last silly cup anyway, no different this time around.  Plus you have Baudry and possibly Lyden to try out in that game.

It may even create a bit of team spirit.  The not quite guaranteed first teamers will know they are a central part of the success or failure of the team.

Yep me too

This

In addition, ultimately  as supporters there is sod all we can do about it and in Clem/Garner we trust.

all i know is i will be in my garage cooking this for breakfast at 5:30am on my smoker..

You are so Mid Western ;-)

And what is that breakfast delicacy might I ask?

Something eggy? Frittata?

this will be a egg,sausage, mushroom, green peppers breakfast casserole smoked....

there is a reason Americans are fat!

BTW, last weeks ribs were a success....cooked way too many....ended up with about 2 racks left over but that ribs are actually better the next day! 

I only need to see the number of Waffle Houses near me!

It looks and sounds delicious to be fair. Can I have mine without mushrooms? by peppers do you mean chilli peppers or the non-offensive vegetable?

you show up and I will cook it however you want.

If you are late, I will be doing smoked burgers and brats for the Husker game that evening.

The portions on the States are frankly ridiculous. I remember one of the first times I went, was in Boston and I can't remember what I had for a starter, but that was literally all I needed. When the main course arrived and I saw the mountain of food my first thought was 'what the fuck are they going to do with the leftovers!!'

It does sound immense!

Sadly I already have plans on Saturday night, some cheese and a few glasses of red on the agenda, hopefully toasting a Swindon win on telly earlier in the day! :)

I am concerned I may starve if I make it over to the UK someday..

portions in small town midwest are probably 50% more at least of what you would get in Boston.

Where I am from a 12-15oz steak, salad, loaded baked potato, and green bean is like $15

Yeah, that's incredible value!

What is the story with the Legends Lounge? I see the game will be shown there.  is this a bar that is open every game day at the stadium?  is it just for "important" people normally?   It seems like from what I have found, that there are a number of meeting spaces at the stadium for rent.  Do people rent those spaces for wedding receptions and such? 
seems like a cool place to rent before a game for a group to Pre-game before watching the game itself.   Our local stadium has a "bar" but that is for people that aren' teachers  :D

As we’re playing the Vegans I suggest more meat. Nevertheless, the evenings meaty effort is excellent.

It's basically just a bar area in the ground that's open on match days. It's ticket holders only but not VIP, there are other areas for the hoi polloi.

I had my wedding reception there, and we've had a few other family parties there. It was very cheap, and if you wander around upstairs you can see the club trophy cabinet (such that it is).

I told my wife, if i were able to be at the FG game, i would smuggle in a steak and throw it on the field in protest of this hippie food selection!    >:( >:(

That sounds cool!!  If i ever make it over to the UK for a match, I will be hosting a party for all of you there!  be a few years away from now though  :)

I have been to a few places in the US of A and Canada and was disappointed by the food portion sizes. I don't think that I am particularly greedy.

JBZ, you would have told John Holmes that his size was disappointing.

That's unfair my friend. I think I had heard tales of every meal being the size of what is now known as a man v food challenge. 

Is that the chap who had the music shop on Farringdon Road?

So glad we have an active member over in the states.

I have family in Seattle so have visited loads and have done all the states on the western side of the continent. You yanks know how to do BBQ food! The ribs my uncle Charlie used to cook up (He was from Alabama/Georgia) have never been matched in my many visits to the states. The meat fell off the bone.

My best burger was at the Washington state fair where they cooked up the burgers and then let them sit in the BBQ suace in a slow cooker.  

I am bloody hungry for some BBQ food now!

I had a lumberjacks breakfast in Jasper, Canada many moons ago. It was huge. My daily intake on one plate  :)

I am bloody hungry for some BBQ food now!

Some gorgeous sunshine and a cold beer to go with it sounds good too.

I have some Spanish black pudding from a stall in Borough market to have a fry up on Saturday. The sample I tried the other day was very, very nice.

I love BBQ'ing.

Recently 'upgraded' to a cheap Aldi ceramic Kamado (cheap is relative). That sucker can burn for 16 hours low and slow without a refuel. Makes overnight Brisket a lot easier (i.e. I can sleep).

Mmmm brisket. Definitely my favourite.
Then ribs and pulled pork/lamb.

drool building.

Could have sworn there was a game on!

It's only Thursday Aud. You've lost track of days with your new Mediterranean  retired lifestyle.

Are you meat free now Aud?   ;)

Meat has to be discussed on an FGR matchday thread.

TBF I had a Beyond Burger in Wetherspoons yesterday in Cheltenham and it was far better and tastier than I thought it would be, maybe I have turned.

I had a bottle of Merlot last evening that didn’t agree with me. That, plus a fuck off out the way lightning storm overnight and still continuing, has put me out of sorts.

Stupidly, I’ve invited a couple of friends to join me and Mrs Audrey to watch Garner’s finest with us on Saturday.

Recipe for disaster!

Have we sold out yet?
If not the excuses as to why not.

Shit ground, shit away ‘stand’, nightmare to get out of, early kick of, on Sky and under strength team. All good reasons.

Certainly not the last one

National Poetry Day today and the theme, apparently, is 'Choice'. Well, I live in Stroud but obvs am a Swindon fan - I read the eulogy at Reg's Beehive Wake. A mutual friend was under the illusion that I had switched allegiance and wrote the below on the night of Reg's eulogy. It fits nicely with the theme and Saturday. I've just got tickets for Saturday - away fans' seating area. COYR: https://sootallures.wixsite.com/topographersarms/post/revoir

Agreed, not happy we aren't full strength but c'est la vie.

Its the KO time that killed it for me.

Ouzo in case of emergency. Lots.

I thought the game is not available on ifollow because of Sky. Are you planning to watch by other means?

It is definately not on iFollow, stupid fucking Sky rules, I don't have Sky Sports so will have to find a decent stream online for free somewhere.

You can get a NowTV day pass for £10, same as a normal iFollow pass would be and you can watch whatever else is on Sky Sports that day too.

Cheers for the heads up mate, doubt I will pay £10 for a sky game though probably find a stream online or check on kodi with old plug ins see if there is one, on iFollow I pay around £3.50 a game with the season pass.

I think the iFollow abroad issue is when a local broadcaster has the rights for the game via Sky.

It's on ESPN+ for me, so covered either way.

For those desperate - vipleague.cc is a nice website for excessive forced pop up ads if you are into that thing

Have to agree to disagree on that I think it's a legitimate reason as an element of it is self inflicted by getting into a contractual position with no way out.

I’ve got Sky Sports

So do I via Now TV but wouldn’t swap that for being at the game.

Back to the original question I guess no one can confirm if we have sold out?

Surely if yesterday they went on general sale, 200 left and walking distance compared to most grounds we would sell out?
Poor if we didn’t.

They're not sold out yet, they're still available on the website - I was able to add tickets to my basket in both the covered & uncovered sections.

Bit of a difficult commute from Greece, though! I do hope to get 3 games in during April when I use up my EasyJet vouchers from last year

what is black pudding?

Congealed blood

dont forget they dont serve meat!

Beautiful is what it is.

can you get espn+ in the UK?  that is where i am watching it...kinda sucks that one pays for ifollow and then it has blackout dates...that is horse shit.

are you fucking serious????

Known elsewhere as blood sausage

Nope - blood sausage - don't knock it till you try it :D

remember i am from the states...i have no idea what you are saying...i am seriously envisioning blood from some animal sitting around in a bowl getting hard and you eat it....seriously?

Mix it in with some kind of grain, make it into a sausage shape, and you're basically right.

It's lovely.

It tastes a lot nicer than it sounds.

4 cups fresh pig's blood
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups steel-cut (pinhead) oatmeal
2 cups finely diced pork fat (or beef suet), finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice

I am not trying to be rude but FUCK ME!  

Almost certainly pigs blood. Mix with fat, barley and oats and, voila, a disgusting concoction.

Next to some bacon, sausage, eggs, bakes beans, hash brown and brown sauce... Delish!

That makes the sausage, then you slice it and fry it off in a pan (it blackens, hence it's name).  Like Chorizo.

At the risk of bring all hell down upon me, you can get a damn good vegan version of a black pudding in Tesco up here (as part of a "Scottish breakfast pack (http://=https://thescottishbutcher.com/product/veggie-breakfast-pack-click-and-collect/Scottish breakfast pack)" with a square sausage and a link (normal) sausage.

The Irish do a cracking black pudding. Not found anything as good in England yet.

White pudding also in Ireland, think it’s much the same but without the blood

Yeah I love both black and white pudding. I'm not completely certain but think you might be right about the white just being bloodless.

Well i guess we need to get a mess of Rocky Mountain Oysters and have a buffet with your blood sausage...

The blood in black pudding is not congealed. It should be free flowing. Sadly getting fresh pigs blood is pardon the and not intended pun, bloody difficult. Dried blood, now that apparently is more s easy but somehow does not quiet bit the mark as fresh does. Also has to be cooked which comes under different H&S and food Hygiene regulation for preparing food stuffs.

Whatever. It’s fucking foul!

Plenty of spare pigs hanging about at the moment apparently

Oh and it is rank

Essential part of a 'full English' for me Aud.

I try not to think too hard about what's in it

This.

You could apply that to a shit sandwich!

They stick the pigs and use trays to catch the blood. That's Calne boy knowledge  ;)

Best Black Pudding comes from Bury.

Personally I prefer Scottish BP  as theres way less lumps of fat.

With you there JJ

Kinda feel like i should just start a new thread entitled "random american dumb questions" but since you all seem to be here.... is this time of year considered your "fall" season?  i mean we are both in northern hemisphere but when i listen to bbc wiltshire each morning before my students get to my classroom, it sounds like your weather is kind of cold.

i could have sworn they were saying like 6 celsius which is like in the 40s in F.  it is generally noon when i am listening your time so that seems cold for october.  we have been in the high 70's-80s and sunny for the past few weeks, we will be low 90s this weekend.  so i am curious if you get that time between hot as hell summer to cold winter?

Think Oregan/Washington/Canada

Yes, they used to. Animal welfare and all that has changed the way we treat what we eat from the animal world at the point of despatch, which even as an ex butcher and die hard meat eater I’m all in favour of.

11c overnight tonight and 20c Friday with a mixture of broken cloud and sunshine.

Weather is a bit variable this time of year. 21C is high, but come the end of the month it can get chilly, 0C at night. Or not.

Doesn't exactly get mega cold in winter on a constant basis

Temperate climate heavily influenced by the Gulf Stream.

And we call it Autumn, you yank fuck.

:D  You are now officially part of the TEF family, and that is a mild version of the usualy TEF welcome..

Think of Jayo as Animal, from the Muppet Show  :)

I reckon he lives in Chippenham and is "yanking" everyone's chain

Looks like no keeper on the bench tomorrow. Had one lined up from a Championship club but it was stipulated he had to play and not sit on the bench.

Hope Ward doesn’t drop anything on his foot between now and midday tomorrow.

Can we use a youth team keeper on the bench, or do they have to be registered as a first team member.

We can indeed put a youth teamer or even a player on schoolboy contract on the bench if needed.

Maybe we have an outfield player who thinks he is good enough to fill in between the sticks if needed and also gives us an extra outfield player option off the bench?

I am sure most of us old enough will remember Rowland, Quinn, MacDonald all filling in, and (yes I know hes missing tomorrow) Grant has said he can fill in, in goal previously.

I've only just now realised how much I want to see Harry McKirdy in goal.

Get Mildy registered he is only 43, Burridge was still playing at 46!

Imagine him dropping the ball on the edge of the box, dribbling around the whole team of grass munchers & smashing it in the top corner, or alternatively falling over his own feet after the tenth step over leaving the goal empty for them to roll it into the empty net.

Can we play with a rush goalie?

Would rather we played rush goalie last season instead of Kovar, infact I think Kovar thought that was his actual position at times.

Have we sold out yet?

I wonder if we will play in our yellow and green away kit tomorrow as we have only won once in our red and white kit (home to Mansfield) so far, we have not been beaten when wearing the yellow strip so far.

Might be our lucky omen.

I suspect so, noticed we wore it last week against Rovers for no discernable clash reason. Perhaps we could wear it at home as well?

I hope we don't ever decide to wear it at home TBH lucky strip or not.

Going to be a massively difficult task tomorrow to get anything with a weakened side, but still Jojo is THE big loss for me, I hope Ward is up to the task.

Swindon to suffer a single goal defeat in front of 3,445 fans with 1,205  Town fans there.

I wasn't being altogether serious.....

This is my concern, I’ve never rated Ward when I’ve seen him play for other teams. Remember Doughty pretty much scoring direct from a corner at his near post when Ward was playing for Exeter and he was awful in their play-off match as well at Colchester and got dropped for the 2nd leg. He seems a bit Fryer like in that he’s big, but a bit immobile, poor with his feet and had quite a few injuries that seem to have ruined him.

Of that I am aware but I am sure the thought has crossed some peoples minds....

The online tickets being removed from the website could be a positive sign.
Thus hopefully we have. Would be rather embarrassing if we didn’t.

I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to get hold of someone at the club to try and sort my ticket out (purchased and sent in the post but has not arrived..). Aside from the fucking annoying hold music, the bloke at FGR said that we had sold all our tickets so suspect we’ll be close to sell out if it hasn’t.

Has anyone else been trying to get hold of the club? I’ve surpassed an hour on hold waiting. Been thinking for the last 30 minutes that no one is there but so committed I don’t want to hang up until someone picks up…

Try [email protected] as that seems the only way I ever get a response in any kind of reasonable timeframe, the rest remains a bit of a shambles.

So I think our line up will probably be....

                            Ward
        Odimayo    Conroy      Critchlow
Hunt                   Reed                           landolo
Gladwin             Mckirdy                          Payne
                          Simpson

Subs:
Aguiar
Dabre
JML
Parsons
Lyden
East
Youth Keeper

If they haven’t posted don’t worry they send all tickets on the coach and can pick up at the FGR ticket office.
Take your receipt of purchase just in case, reckon you will be sorted 👍

I managed to find a telephone number to call Reception at the club. Got promised a call back before the end of the day and at 4:55pm, gave up waiting and called back again. After a lengthy wait, got confirmed my ticket was sent by post and now deemed to be lost in the post, taken down my name and will on a list somewhere at FGR tomorrow. Apparently if I ask a steward, they will point me in the right direction. When I asked where should I be asking the steward to direct me to, she didn’t know and it was only when I suggested the ticket office FGR, that’s where she said ‘Yeah, go to the ticket office’..

I’m all for better communication from the top but fuck me sideways, the organisation beneath the PR smokescreen seems to be in disarray. I should be able to get in and they keep the quid for postage but have a feeling it’s going to be a fucking nightmare tomorrow getting in.

Let’s hope the stewards aren’t as much of a bag of tools as the Stevenage lot!

While you all where sleeping I checked my mail and finally my flag and shirt arrived.  Only took a month  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Just about to set off for Portsmouth & Southsea station.
Will be sitting this one out and shouting at the TV today.
Conquering the north face of Nympsfield Road remains on the bucket list.

It's pleasing that our new friend from Kansas has chosen not to follow the yellow brick road, opting instead for the much more difficult red paved one.
It's a rocky path and many have fallen by the wayside over the years.

Anyway, the unruly munchkins need to behave themselves today, as the Wizard of Oz will be watching, that's for sure.
Some Prutton abuse is perfectly acceptable of course, assuming that he will be there & not in the studio.

Should still have a decent starting 11 with some good quality, so by no means a walkover for the league leaders.
Would expect McKirdy to play like a greyhound that has discovered where the rabbits are kept.
Also have a feeling that Gladwin will show his class today, so no pressure Ben.

Hopefully the unbeaten away record will remain intact.

The best people to make contact with when you get to FGR are either Sally or Mark, who run the Travel Club. They will be on Coach No 1.

This is my experience to date and with all the changes and staff turnover it is understandable to an extent. They are very reliant on supporters goodwill at the moment but that won’t last forever so customer service really does need to rapidly improve to a level you’d expect from a normal business.  For example when the weather deteriorates people aren’t going to tolerate the queues to get in the CG for home games due to the QR code fiasco so that needs to be sorted as a matter of urgency.

I should imagine there will be a place in the squad for Baudry unless he is injured again!!

You are probably right, in for Dabre or Aguiar or for the perennially injured Lyden most likely.

Any links or suggestions to free coverage online ?

Just chatting to a friend in NZ. Is it being shown there?

A £10 Now TV pass will do it.

But free is better ;)

If kick off was later so I could take in the F1 and anything else being shown tomorrow I've have gone for this

Feeling it today.just got my now TV pass bets on Simpson to score 1st and a 4-0 win=500-1 that will do nicely.had my 1st pint  :pint:so raring to go "come on the town"from sunny bridlington.

They are late announcing the team.

They seem to be a bit late all the time this season.

Thought the same, the vegans was out over 5 minutes ago.

Late fitness test for Ward!

Don’t!

They do but not normally 10 mins late, this is a record!

Dabre in goal

Probably checking with Sky if the team is ok

Ward; Odimayo, Iandolo, Conroy (C), Crichlow, Gladwin, Simpson, Payne, McKirdy, Hunt, Reed.

SUBS | Baudry, Lyden, Mitchell-Lawson, East, Aguiar, Parsons, Dabre.

No sub GK

Wasn't exactly rocket science but looks like I guessed right.

Gonna be interesting to see how we deal with Matt as he always seemed to bully us when he was at Newport.

Almost worth it for them to crock Ward - even getting their player sent off. Farce.

Will be following this from the beach in Rhodes and just noticed that my phone network here is vf-GR. hopefully not an omen.

:D

I’m on Vodafone Greece. Don’t worry!

A great target man at this level, Crich or Conroy will have a game on their hands for sure.

Yep, a big concern as none of our centre back convince me in the air.

Please guess that we put in a good performance and win an exciting game!

Hesgoal don't have a link for the game - anywhere else anyone recommends?

Breakfast is cooking.  Match on in 10 min

LETS DO THIS SHIT!!!  FUCK EM !!!

Good to watch this via NOW on my big TV, instead of on my PC monitor

https://streambible.org/matches/football/717470

Cheers Bob.

Christ....FG uniforms look like a fat womens workout spandex from the 90's....fuck me

Really trying to build up the massive local derby aspect.  Load of bollocks.

Good move by the town but the shot is saved, fucking bastard drum.

What the hell is their left back doing with his shorts?

Distance wise it is our closest neighbour but football history and actual rivalry is almost zero.

AW fuck!!!! seriously just standing off sides?  Lazy

Great double save by Ward

Decent save by Ward.

great save either way....obviously off sides....

Great chance then. Reed to Hunt down right. Cross and Iandolo goes for the penalty dive.

FFS iandolo.

He does great approach work then unfailingly goes to pot in the area.

The Vegans aren’t really pressing and seem to be going long quite a lot, not quite what I was expecting as they were billed as another passing team.

McKirdy shot rebounds to Simpson who puts it in the back of the net!

Ruled out as Simpson pushed over the defender

Simpson brings ball down (eventually) and shoots against a defender

Well we've started much more aggressively than in any other game this season. Unlucky with that disallowed goal.

Commentators saying that FGR tend to start slowly. We are playing in their half at the moment

need to get 1st touches under control, especially in the back...their touch is letting them down some.

I will let those watching on Sky do the commentary today as my feed is lagged by about a minute.

what feed are you watching on?

Simpson harrying their defence, looking strong and hungry.

If Gladwin is going to play centre mid he needs to start committing to tackles, he keeps dangling his foot in and invariably loses the challenge usually in dangerous positions.

https://fbstream.me/live/stream/forest-green

He looks far more up for it than he did last week.

First corner well claimed by Ward

Good claim by Ward from that corner.

Awful ball out from Gladwin, should have been to Payne who was unmarked.

It was a good hit by McKirdy. Either side of the goalie and that was in.

The ref's being very hard on Simpson every time he goes near a defender.

Critchlow cuts out threat down our left. Corner

Wasted break when we had 5 up!

Playing with his arms is part of his game but he needs to pull them in a bit at times, hes strong enough not to push defenders off him.

The Sky comms cant tell the difference between Conroy and Gladwin!

Great save from McKirdy shot

Harry's on fire, their defence is terrified.  :beers:

Shot by McKirdy very close, decent save.

Iandolo shot from corner deflects wide

Critchlow wide

Iandolo volley deflected wide.

Gladwin very quiet.

We're so sharp today, its great!

Just given away a corner...He's been linking well with Hunt

This referee is a proper wanker.

That was a foul on Crich.

Wow! Good save from Ward from. Twine special into top left corner

Ward playing a blinder.

Good save from Ward. Ref is shite.

Great save by Ward from the FK.

The ref is fucking shocking, a real homer.

Ward looks a cut above most of our backups in recent years.

Good pressing from Iandolo results in defensive mistake and corner

Shit defending by FGR corner to Town.

Reed, Payne, Iandolo, shot, corner!

More good attacking by Town ending with Iandolos shot saved and another corner to Town.

We've spent more time in the oppo area than in all our other first halves combined.

Soft foul by Hunt Infront of lino

And the linos. Pond life.

Fucking ref giving them EVERYTHING.

Sniper in the stands there

Nicky Cadden viciously beaten around the face by Rob Hunt there. Not

Ref a cunt who knows he’s on TV. Gonna win the league on this performance with 5 missing from squad and now confirmed we have two gun keepers.

Matt flattens Conroy.

Odimayo defended Matt well there

Starting to throw his weight around now, always looks like a red card waiting to happen.

Oh do fuck off ref.

For who? ;)

Ward wandering. Could have been costly. McKirdy clipped . We waste the free kick.

Iandolo looks fucked

Oh Simpson!

Breaks into the left of the area and crosses to a tightly marked McKirdy rather than putting his foot through it!

Sweeney wrestling Simpson. Yellow

Nice move by Town but Simspons cross cant find anyone.

McKirdy all on his own in the centre but Simpson possibly late in spotting him

Ref looks like Boba Fett.

Cynical foul on Simpson. Liked the shove afterwards though

Matt wrestles Conroy. yEllow

HT 0-0

why is that a fucking retake?  that is a new foul...rather have it at the 18 any day...fuck that

HT 0-0

FGR desperately hanging on there. Really hope this isn't the sucker punch scenario.

Decent first half, should probably be winning just lack in the final third as always.  Hopefully our lack of options on the bench doesn’t cost us.

Agreed. Strange decision.

decent half. should be 1 up.

To have 5 regular first teamers missing and to take the game to and control most of it against the league leaders is very good, we have played quite well IMO and not looked too much at risk of conceding.

very good half. unlucky not to be in front. think simpson and mckirdy looking good together up top, causing them lots of problems. need that goal- not through lack of attempts and trying

Great half. Fuckin vegans, soft as fuck. Never a foul for the goal.

Camera angle is shit.

I mean, we've had the ball in the back of the net, it was just disallowed at random.

Only 45% possession? Well I'll be kippered.

Looked much better in the final third than the last time I saw them live at Northampton...

Low quality game of football that. Swindon were the better team but I am guessing Forest Green have a few gears to go up yet. Hopefully Town can Nick a one goal win but we definitely need more attacking reinforcements in January as everything is too predictable as per usual.

Well happy with that,  Matt being well contained, much better performance than expected, usual second half away from home performance will see us walking away with three points,  still struggling to see what the problem was with Simpsons goal.  Nice to see FGR with two yellow cards.

A reliably weird view from the Barcelona season ticket holder.

Yep.

Absolutely blinding save from Ward by the way.

Totally agree. Unlucky to have the goal disallowed. The only blemish is that we haven't turned the dominance into goals. I fear we may rue that at the end of the game.

You must be watching a different game to me. Swindon were the better side and the disallowed goal was harsh.  However going forward we don’t really look dangerous (neither have FGR though). The overall quality of football by both teams has been poor but hopefully it will improve in the second half.

Can’t agree it’s low quality.

I think you're watching a different game to all of us.

Thought Parkin summed that up well - Simpson and McKirdy 'hopeful' while their threat was more direct.

Enjoyed that half a lot, excellent pressing, hope we aren't too knackered second half.

You are a fucking knob, that was for league 2 a great standard of football, you are the most negative poster ever.

That was a millions times better than under your hero Sheridan.

If this is a guessing game, from your comments I have absolutely no idea what game you're watching.

Absolutely what an utterly ludicrous comment.

Hes doing it for a reaction.

That was ok.
We are stronger in the 2nd half but so are they.

Gladwin needs to get in the game a bit more.

Club record up for grabs here?

How does Jamille Matt get a yellow card once a free kick is taken for a foul but the free kick has to be taken from the original place again? Ref is a cunt and he has let go more than what he disallowed Tyreece Simpson goal for. #thefootballleaguehateswindontown

Even with the replays on Sky still can’t see anything wrong with the goal.
Defender made a meal of it but there was no more physical contact than we see from many strikers.
FGR got out of jail there. 

Playing well. Obviously the grass munchers are a threat, they’re top and at home, however, we’ve been very proactive going forward which is enough to worry them if they ever thought that with five out we’d be an easier opponent. Defensively, the free header, nipped in cross a cross the face of goal a bit worrying. The free kick save, very competent. A little bit of a concern but overall LL here is a happy bunny at HT. one thing I think could be interesting as this could get rather tasty in the 2nd half.

Please Sky can you mute the microphone near that fucking shitty drum, thank you.

The constant 'local rivals' bullshit from sky is getting tedious

Hopefully,  especially with the vegans on two yellow cards.

Good play resulting in Simpson shot. Corner

Simpson wins a corner.

Iandolo and Reed linking well down left. Cross claimed by keeper

is the left back normally a back up?

Nice name change, good work to whichever admin applied that :D

Ward punches corner clear. Good punch

Iandolo looks like he’s treading water.

Big big let off from fucking about at the back.

Iandolo is a natural left wing. We make use of that. He's a rubbish LB

What a miss

Bullet dodged.

Nearly 1-0 down. Defensive mix up. Ward stands big. Striker puts it wide

Terrible miss by them.

Simpson runs and crosses. Claimed by keeper

Wasn't he originally a central attacking midfielder? Might have imagined that, mind.

Goal!

Yes

Great goal.

Great goal!

Yeeees. Hazza!

Get the fuck in!

Get in Macca!!

Wheyhey! Lovely move.

1-0 McKirdy.

Conroy drops shoulder twice. Pass to Gladwin. Whipped in from right and McKirdy scores!

1-0 Town

First bit of attacking quality and bang a goal. Great finish that.

McKirddddddddddddddy!!!

Ridiculous cross by Gladwin. Good goal

Tell you who has a good game - Rob Hunt.

You wont see a better ball into the box than that from Gladwin all season.

Agreed

Come on you redddssssss  :pint:

The fact these are clear leaders says everything about the quality of this league. If actually start playing forward thinking football at home with some urgency we have a decent chance this season.

Should be 2-0

Beautiful move down left McKirdy heads wide!

Nearly 2-0

This

Would try KHH on the left side next game, keep Hunt on his favoured side and KHH must be better than Iandolo even on the left.

Gladwin puts in another glorious ball after turning defender twice. Noone runs on to it

Ironically, the ball he just put in was better, just nobody gambling to get on the end of it :D

Gladwin stretching. Injured?

McKirdy 'Ref!!! That's a f'ing foul!!!'

Save by Ward

As clear as day :D

Big chance wasted by the vegans, fucking about in our half again.

Great save by Ward there.

What a hit by Crich..

Critchlow with 40 yard shot - wide

McKirdy yellow. Dissent?

Would have been if it was a goal.

Crich just wide from distance.

Backheeled the gk away.

Persistent mouthing-off perhaps?

Going to be standard every game he plays I think

That was really very close from Crichlow. What a goal that would have been.

Lovely pass and movement by Gladwin, Simpson and Hunt. Comes to nothing.

It was still a good hit..  shots are not good shots unless they end up as a goal in your eyes?  No wonder you don't enjoy football..

Simpson definately took the wrong option passing to Hunt there.

Another chance. Long free kick. Hunt whips it across. McKirdy sliding in puts it over.

Lovely fk routine there.

McKirdy might have done better from that cross.

I would prefer 1 scruffy messy goal rather then 100 good shots that just go wide.

What's going on with Bernard's shorts? Looks like he's wearing swimmers.

Ref just allowed them to take an offside free kick in our half, the standard of officiating is abysmal.

Need a second here. We are being wasteful

So you don't enjoy football then..  why do you bother watching?  just curious..

Great save from Ward

Gladwin's played a few lovely passes today. Closer to the player we remember.

Another decent save from Ward.

What a miss

Wtf? Great claim from Ward from corner. Then he's fouled and ref plays on. Eventually free header goes wide

Another awful miss by them.

For all our domination they’ve had 3 or 4 guilt edge chances and been even more wasteful than us.

Good ball from Hunt to Payne. Corner

I watch football mainly to see teams try and score goals and win games. Scoring one messy goal In my eyes is better then 100 shots that just go wide. I guess you were the type of fan happy last year under Sheridan as we did have some shots on target under him.
  

Great work by Simpson down the left wing. Cross headed away from McKirdy (or was it Hunt)

Good cross from Simspon just beyond Hunts head.

Great save. Awful defending.

Gladwin with a saving challenge....

What a save from Ward!!!!

What a save!

I don’t get your point? The best players like Messi have loads of shots every game as soon as they get an inch of space so you don’t enjoy watching them?

It's a pity your limited and miserable views are intruding on this thoroughly upbeat afternoon. You understand absolutely nothing.

Forest Green should have scored 3 goals but Town deserve to be ahead.

Got to stop these crosses.

Best save of the match from Ward.

We need some fresh legs now, mute point but Grant would be ideal now.

2-0

Gladwin to McKirdy. Runs in the box and chips it over the keeper!!

2-0

Lovely timing that.

Up yer chuff Troll!  :beers:

Yessssssssss

What a beautiful goal. Great move.

2-0 McKirdy.

Great goal

Not sure if Simpson got a touch before it went over the line

Not at all, I am just able to recognise good play and good skill..  I don't judge my comments on the end result only.  If a player does well or produces something good then I will comment on it, even if the action doesn't quite achieve the result that I would have liked.

It looks like the Barcelona comment earlier was pretty accurate when it comes to your views when following a Lge 2 team.

Much prefer that then a 40 yard shot that narrowly misses.

Lovely stuff. Class from Harry o/

Fuck all!!!  :beers: :beers: :beers: :beers:

not sure why you guys have been worrying about 5 guys missing all week

Simpson! Or McKirdy! Don't know, but cracking play by McKirdy one way or the other. 2-0

We’ve been decent but fuck me the Vegans are awful on this evidence just a bang average league 2 outfit. Do they just usually finish some of their chances and that’s been masking their lack of quality?

McKirdy for Baudry

Hush now. What you know about football would fit on a postage stamp. We don't need to hear any more.

McKirdy great performance today.

Awesome! What a player.

Tru dat

Such an entertaining player to watch. Hopefully keeps his place once the others return.

Is Ward going to give Garner a selection headache? He's been superb

This ref is a complete twat

How is that not a foul on Gladwin?

He’s the difference, his directness and energy. Without him we are slow and turgid.

Another routine save from Ward

Payne for East

But that is a foul when their winger falls over with no contact :D  This ref is a special one

All i know is i am 2 for 2 in watching a victory..

not sure what all the negative tones were about....Swindon FC should win the league

Gladwin for Lyden

Iandolo wins a corner

my buddies that showed up at 6am to eat breakfast and watch the game want to know if Fat Toni pizza is worth a shit?

McKirdy will get the plaudits, but Reed has been fantastic today.

Ward dives in and gives away a penalty.

Ward saves it!!!!

Shame for Ward that.

Scrub that!

Dive, striker bought the contact and justice done.

Blatant dive.

Fucking hell Ward - fair play

Never a penalty. :)

What a day for Ward.

 :clap: :clap: :clap:

Justice well and truly done. Ward has been fantastic.

great win and fair play they've proven me wrong. McKirdy is key though, different team with him in it. The vegans weren't at all what i expected though, they were billed as a big passing team but just looked like a bunch of hoofers.

FT 2-0

Ward is a Baller!!!

Two wonderful away wins back to back. Brilliant.

That is all

Jojo has a fight on his hands

Great win. The only downside to me is I put money on Ward to get booked as I thought he'd be done for time-wasting. Gives away a pen and no card?  :cry:

Brilliant stuff, what a display from Ward! Magic

Not sure I have ever seen a keeper play so well for Swindon ever.

Up to 2nd  :D

Majestic

Brez first game ?

Exciting Game!!!!

On a Win Streak...

Need my Huskers to beat a league leading team today...

last week all my teams won, looking for same showing today!!

Wow! What a performance!!!

Was it due to McKidy's spark?
Was it because Ward was unbeatable?
Was it because our back 3 played Matt out of the game?
Was it because Reed ran the midfield?
Was it because of a couple of moments of class from Gladwin?

That was an awesome all round performance.

What a thoroughly entertaining game that was. We were lucky that FGR were so wasteful in front of goal, but we worked so hard as a team - correction: squad. Our most complete 90 minutes of the season against a decent team, that. If we can get a bit more adventurous at home, we might start building a bit of momentum now.

Just been on their forum and there's about 6 posts on the matchday thread. Tinpot

Hats off to the keeper. Fantastic!

Brezovan's debut is the gold standard, right?

He didn't make the stunning saves that Ward did during the rest of the game IIRC but is remembered for the penalty saves mostly.

MOTM IMHO.

Lots of flashier players but Louis Reed continues to be the perfect midfielder - slows the opposition down and cleans up so often, not as obviously dominant as Grant was last L2 season but he's very much as effective.

Before the game we all felt that JoJo was going to be the biggest miss, but Lewis Ward was outstanding and the biggest praise you can give him is that we didn’t miss JoJo at all.

Great result, especially considering the circumstances

He makes us tick.

Not if it’s vegan.

Well at least one poster on here is going to be grumpy for the rest of the day..

Fingers crossed for you mate.

Well that was unexpected, not the win, but the way we went about it.  Didn't have the control of previous games, a bit more up and at em, created some chances and put them away.  If we can mix that in on top of our possession based football we will be a much more difficult proposition for teams.

McKirdy remained a nuisance, Simpson played his role well, Reed has really controlled the midfield since his first couple of games bedding in and Ward decides to put his best career performance in on live TV as a back-up.

Rode out luck a little by letting in a few too many crosses, but they are top, so you can't expect to control the entire game.

Absolutely agree mate.

only in this regard, mind, but his non-stop impudence reminds me of George Best

Bit of a quandary about who to vote for in the MoM poll. Was going to be Ward even before the pen save - so it’s got to be him.

Could have been McKirdy, Reed, Simpson, Hunt. Jeez, what a team performance!

Great performance and result. Dead heat for MOM between McKirdy and Ward...

He has the skills to be a great player, if he can get consitancy and a slight attitude change he can still go far.

He has a spark thats different to anything else we have got.

Didn't Digby and Hammond put on a couple of blinders in the 92/93 season?  Maybe even back to back or close to being so.  In my muddled mind I have West Ham and Barnsley as the opposition.

McKirdy would win MoM every time if it wasn't for Wards practically perfect performance today.

Well, if they’re top of this league we’re going to piss this. 

Michigan are one of the best college teams are they not, your boys are going to have their work cut out.  Fingers crossed for the Huskers fella, will keep an eye out for the result - shame we don't get some of the college football on the box over here..  we have a dedicated NFL channel, you would think that they would put some of the college games on when there are no NFL games playing

Digby for sure had a few great games, Hammond my mind is foggy on as I thought he was a poor keeper at best.

The free kick save in the top corner, the low save from the header going in the bottom corner and the penalty save were all absolutely top notch.

Shhhh their 1 best player was away on international duty......oh wait a minute!

Go Huskers! They're showing the game over here on ESPN...I'll check it out...

Totally bosses midfield. Broke up everything and drove us forward.

That low one from the header the pick of the bunch for me. Really top notch save.

McKirdy was great, but Ward my MOTM.

Ooh, I'll check that out..  good spot

they are playing well this year BUT they are known chokers!  so who knows...we have had opportunities to win 2 games this year against ranked teams...one was #3 and other #15....so who knows...we have to play as well as STFC and we will be good...thanx for the support

Keep in mind,,,if you catch the game...we suck and are rebuilding...

You are really starting to sound like a Swindon fan now :D

I miss Kovar.

Shay Given away at Hull, 1995. Steve Finney goal.

That was a great debut.

In the spirit of this new found love of College Football, I will be watching the Bulldogs take on Auburn later.  I looked for tickets for one of their games and while the $150 ish cheapest seats was eye watering, it was the $500 per night rate to stay in a Motel 6 (think Travelodge at it's worst) that broke the deal.  Instead, taking my son to a weekend in Atlanta for a Utd game on the Saturday and Falcons game on the Sunday - talk about chokers!

West Ham away. IIRC 1-0, Maskell, last minute.  Best keeper performance bar Downsborough's. FG away not exactly the biggest occasion but Ward was exceptional today and the penalty save was the icing on the cake.

It’s not vegan, I know the one in Stroud is really good, so I assume it would be good generally.

$500 a night for Motel 6, but the six legged pets are complimentary.

Not old enough to have seen Downsborough play for us so unable to comment but the West Ham game I remember Hammond making 1 good save but not much else TBH.

Well, that win got my acca off to a good start

My first 90min watch of the season. Was impressed that we didn't seem to miss any of the 5 internationals!

Garners got a few 'nice' headaches for the next game. Ward hardly put a foot wrong.

Conroy and Crichlow really good defending kept Matt quiet and conroy superb for our first.
Reed brilliant we're solid with him there
Gladwin has a bit of quality about him. getting up to speed now hopefully carries on
Mckirdy carries our spark
..and the rest were decent aswell.

Att: 3,442 (1,200 Swindon fans).

How very apt.

(https://i.postimg.cc/YqYjWBM3/244719500-5094418503907588-7344351275575998843-n.jpg)

Minnesota Vikings the local team, here.  Where do I begin.........................."Why don't Iowa have a professional football team?  Because the people in Minnesota would want one too."

And some post match views of FGR fans....

My rose tinteds perhaps (inspired by the non stop 2nd half pressure in front of a hostile crowd and a stolen win but there were at least a couple of saves inc a memorable one - in my mind at least - from Trevor Morley and another double save.

Although he occasionally got the nod ahead of Digby, Hammond was the no. 2, so that is a performance that stuck in my mind.  Even on a lesser stage, in so far as he came in as a no. 2, Ward's performance today had parallels - and the substance may very well have been even better.  

Very balanced, tbf.

Whatever the reasons, I'm glad today's game on Sky proceeded as originally planned :pint:

Absolutely! I admit I was wrong about my fears pre game.

Heard the comms say Swindon have remained unbeaten in the first 6 away games of a season for the first time ever. Nice.

Takes a big person to admit they were wrong. That said I doubt you were alone and I doubt there were many bets won on a 0-2 away win.

That was a good performance and win today.
I thought we deserved to win on balance - we seemed to have more control - but Ward made several top class saves. The one from the downward header at 1-0 being the best.
Good performances through the side, Reed is very consistent and vital to our style, and McGirdy provided the spark up front. I thought the decision against Simpson on the first half disallowed goal was harsh, so I’m glad he got a goal (he has scored 4 goals all from inside the 6 yard box now which is a good sign) and likewise the penalty was harsh so justice done when Ward saves.
We concede some chances through giv8ng the ball away in bad areas (again) but thankfully Ward and their finishing meant they didn’t cost us. 6 points from 2 away games is better than most of us would have thought we’d get, especially with 5 missing this week.
Some tricky decisions for Garner now as the international players return.
Hopefully those who have been critical of Garner and the style can now see what he is trying to do and is getting it right.
My worry is that tHese results are starting to increase everyone’s expectations now - the pre season “I’d be happy to stay up” has become “play off contenders at least”.

I was with you.

It was so pleasing to see the wider squad step up or play well as a team.

We nearly conceded from fannying about at the back today but I reckon some credit must go to Garner et al for the cohesiveness shown today.

In 2003-4 season we started with 7 away games unbeaten in every competition, 3 wins and 4 draws. 5 league games and 2 LC games.

Southend U 3 - 2 LC
Colchester U 1 - 0
Bournemouth 2 - 2
Brighton 2 - 2
Grimsby 2 - 1
Barnsley 1 - 1
Leeds 2-2 LC (lost on pens)

So far we have gone
Scunthorpe 3-1
Cambridge 0-0 LC (lost on pens)
Salford 1-0
Stevenage 1-1
Northampton 1-1
Rovers 3-1
FGR 2-0

And by way of celebration, here's an old favourite..............

Yea very similar starts results wise looking at that..

Well we're at the magical 10/11 league games mark and overall I'm well bloody happy with the start..

my buddy who watched the came this morning with me says

skol!!!!   :smugfu:

We're top of the away form league and 20th at home. Hope we can turn that around on Saturday.

The fears may have been wrong, but the sentiment that we had 5 players out and still had to play the game wasn't.

But since we won, who cares.

Incidentally it was stated the reason we couldn't call it off was because we missed the deadline - which is much earlier for a TV game. We didn't know JoJo and Gilbert would be called up at time of deadline

Of that I was unaware, add to that KKH who wasn't called up until last week as well then.

We had until August 31st i believe to call it off, no need to back then was there. It's not just us who sign these deals but i would be amazed if we did again.

Really happy with that result and performance. It proved to me that Garner knows what he is doing aswell as he mixed that up a bit and after the subs and formation last week it showed he isn't afraid to.

I would like to see the fans create an atmosphere from the off next week and us really create something, it's the chicken and the egg scenario at the home games at the moment but i think we will come good.

Some superb performances notably from those mentioned but i have to admit i thought Conroy was also brilliant back there today as many predicted a much tougher afternoon than we ended up with. I know many will say Ward was man of the match but their keeper was also theirs.

Notable mention also for Simpson after last week. I know he gets a bit of stick but if he continues at his current rate he will have finished on around 16 goals in his first pro season. I will take that

I'd not been at all convinced by Garnerball but a few more results/performances like today and at Rovers like last week and I'll happily be doing a complete 180...

I agree mate, the jury is still out for the full decision on "Garnerball" but we are making moves in the right direction for sure.

Last week and this week we didn't piss around with short passes at the back putting us under needless pressure but with McKirdy we have a player who can change games and take a risk, something so few of our players are willing to do very often.

Simpson needs that type of player closer to him than Gilbert gets, McKirdy fills the gap between midfield and Simpson better and wins the 2nd ball so well and then runs directly at defenders creating chances. Too often Gilbert and Payne are chasing the same ball and taking up the same positions and getting in each others way.

McKirdy playing also takes the pressure off Simpson to be our only real attacker and today Simpson relished that and for me with Reed was in our top 4 players after Ward and McKirdy but nobody played badly and all played as a unit making the league leaders look pretty average today.

Conroy and Crichlow as well as Odimayo kept possibly the best target man in L2 in Jamille Matt very quiet and frustrated today, defensively we are improving and looking pretty solid, keeping the opposition down to a couple of chances per game which in L1 may well go punished but far less so in L2.

Just got back from the game, cracking win from the lads today. I'd have happily taken a point today pre-match.

Talking to a few FGR fans pre-match, they seemed quietly confident and who could blame them being top of the league and all. First half I think Swindon edged it by a whisker but hardly anything in it. The fans that were bullying and abusing Sweeney were hilarious, I don't think Sweeney knew how to take being targetted for no obvious reason, he tried hard to play at his best but his game just fell apart. Tried to play balls forward but our midfield just picked them out and attacked. Sweeney ended up playing short and safe passes in the 2nd half and lost contact with McKirdy in the 2nd half to go 1-0 up before getting subbed off. 12th man at its best!

Simpson was back to his best, dominating and destroying the centre backs, brushing them off with ease. Would love to cough up some cash and sign him permanently!

McKirdy tore Sweeney apart but I think my MOM has to go to Ward, but a tight call with the impressive McKirdy. With Ward stepping in for Jojo and producing some of the saves he did, couldn't fault him at all today. The penalty was soft as playdough to award. Just watched back the highlights and the FGR player moved the ball away from Ward, dragged his foot back to make contact and then falls over. The Ref was frankly a joke and was itching to give FGR something. Worst ref of the season so far? But back to Ward, it's awesome to know that we have 2 solid goalkeepers in the squad that from what we've seen today from Ward, both could be first-team starters!

2 away wins on the bounce, sat in 3rd place, 4 points off the top - We should be fearing no one! In Garner and Clem I trust! EIEIEIO

Sutton with a comeback win against Port Vale bumps us up to third, although Sutton would leapfrog us by a point if they were to win their game in hand.

Talking of Clem, did anyone of you Herbert's go to the LL and watch with the Grande Fromage? Did he have much to say to those who asked a question?

Ifs and buts and pots and pans. We have them away at their shed  a week Tuesday.

1202 Town fans. I’m sure somebody on here predicted that!

Told Dion Conroy coming off the pitch to empty his pockets out as Jamal Matt was inside them.
Special call out to Reed, easily motm was just everywhere, and just never wasteful with the ball.
A footballer with a footballing brain.

What a cracking day out.
Tin pot Club with a fair few Swindon not getting into the ground until after 20 minutes into the game.
Countless tickets were not scanning, two poxy turnstiles, fans having to reverse out of the said turnstiles and then let in via a side door.
Jobsworth stewards should have let a few more through the side door to reduce the queue.

I detest having to go to FGR.

Sutton & Harrogate are definitely the surprise teams so far and who knows whats gone wrong at Mansfield

Soon be put in their place by the town.

McKirdy has been absolutely dynamite the last two games. Given us that cutting edge we'd been missing before.

Great team effort. Reed so impressive, nice to see Conroy getting back to his best and Lyden returning is the cherry on the cake

No reason to fear anyone now although Bradford away is always a horrible game

That was a very different ‘watch’  for me. The pointless tippy tappy at the back was less evident. Whether that was by design or the way FGR set up I don’t know.

Maybe Garner was right. The team and the performances are evolving. Proof of the pudding will be the next few home games.

Great performance and so much purposeful than just a few weeks ago. Credit where it’s due, we looked an impressive side today. Simpson a bulldozer, McKirdy a livewire, Gladwin warming up, and Louis Reed just keeps us ticking. Great to see Lyden back and Lewis Ward, that was one to remember. Nicky Hammond had a game away at Millwall in maybe 91/2 or the year before midweek where he pulled off some incredible saves. That was Lewis Ward today - backup coming in and stealing the show….

Today was a pretty complete performance. Even Iandolo who has been poor recently had a good game.

If we can keep up this form over the next few games then our season expectations will have to be raised, and Clem will have to get his cheque book out in January to add another goalscorer to the team.

A few more comments from the FGR forum...

"We didn't underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought."

I would have thought that's the very definition of underestimation  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Commonly known as double dutch😀

You are right on both counts.  Hammond was immense against Barnsley.

Reed was everywhere but he had a few successive corners that barely registered above chest height and failed to clear their first defender

The turnstiles were awful. Mine scanned but didn't let me through the gate. Had a female steward telling me to scan it again even though I told her the ticket scanned but the turnstile didn't move, made me scan again and it rejected me, then told to scan it again for the damn thing to tell me I'd scanned my ticket too many times. Just tear the fucking stub off and let me in!

I understand it was a very famous Bobby Robsonism :)

Rebuilding? I'm a New York Jets fan.  We've been rebuilding since 1969...

Ah, I see...it was tongue in cheek...hence the "  "   ;)

Up the Shagging Meat Eating reds

Forest Green were good opposition for Swindon as they also like to try and play possession based football (all be it they were no where near as good as Swindon were on the ball). They never really pressed Swindon so as a result we had lots more time on the ball.

The weird thing about the game was that in my view Forest Green never looked like scoring (even though they missed 2/3 guilt edge changes and the penalty). Swindon defended pretty well and this has been the basis of our success this season

I still stand by my comments that the quality of football in the first half was poor and neither team got any sort of rhythm going. In the second half Swindon dominated the game and came out worthy winners. It maybe that our game plan is to pass teams to death in the first 60 minutes and then hit them when they are tired.

I still think we need reinforcements upfront as if Simpson gets injured or fatigued (he’s only 19) then it will be interesting to see how we adapt.

Being 3rd at this stage of the season considering where we were at a few months ago is a minor miracle.

If we did somehow get promoted this season then it will be interesting to see how much Clem invests in keeping us up next season as this season was all about survival.

Here is what I got for those grass eaters!!!!  Now time to prepare for husker game. 

Can’t wait until Tuesday game. 

Too much was made of that.

Out of the 5 players only Jojo & KKH would have started today if available anyway.

Also love how, half way through McKirdy’s Sky interview, you get the Town End “bird noise” man (or whatever it is) loud and clear from outside the ground…

Probably not wrong but a back up GK is often an unknown.  Just happened to play like a BOSS today

Missed the last 30 mins or so as I had to drive up to north Wiltshire for a family do.

Another very pleasing result.

Took a quick look at forest green message board.  Very gracious with their loss.  Makes me hate them more!   :badmood:

They were probably Swindon supporters before the Vegans were founded as we've always had fans in Stonehouse!

A peacock, apparently

Now that is a true support. 🤣🤣

Makes a change for opposing fans to say we were the best team they’ve played this season instead of the ‘they were the best of 2 poor teams’ comments we’ve had.

Looking at the rest of he league, on yesterday’s showing we should be showing them a clean pair of heels.

The real league leaders turned up at The New Lawn yesterday. That was our 'weakened' team ffs. Fingers crossed we can get the off field stuff sorted so we can really go for it in January.

Sent from my CLT-L09

If you knew him bigcock would be the word you'd use !!.

Think that’s a given, slowly, slowly catchee monkey. Let the players do the talking, the rest will fall into place nicely.

And Nailsworth where Forest Green actually is!

(As a Stroud valley person then I'm touchy about the location and naming of the club. There have been calls in the past to move it to Ecocentricity Park at Eastington near the motorway (5-10 miles away) and rename FGR to Stroud Utd)

Call 'em whatever you like, it'll always be a pleasure to beat them.

Seen this comment a couple of times, can anyone point out what was so bad about the ref's performance? I hardly noticed him so thought he must have been decent.

I live in Stroud too and getting to the game for us was interesting. Ended up biking, red and white scarf flying: https://sootallures.wixsite.com/topographersarms/post/get-me-to-the-match-on-time

I thought we were great yesterday from start to finish. Everyone played their part with the spine of the team solid from Ward (outstanding) to Conroy, Reed and Simpson (his best game for us). Loved the first goal - Conroy Cruyffing it through them, Gladwin doing what Gladwin does if you give him time and space and a brilliant finish from McKirdy.

If Garner can sort our home form and find a way to break down teams that park the bus then we could be in the mix come the end of the season. Over to you negligent Ben.

Seemed to have it in for Simpson,  gave him virtually nothing, fouled several times not given,  struck off what appeared to be a perfectly good goal by him, obviously doesn't like big strong physical strikers,  watch out Akinfenwa !!.

I got very close to both!

Att: 3,442 (1,202 Swindon fans).

If I guessed at 3 more Swindon fans I would have been spot on with both figures!

Should have done guess the gate, you'd have cleaned up !!.

I brought my mate who works at Yeovil Town FC along to a game vs Brentford at the CG a few years back, he was about 100 out on Flash's guess the gate competition and went home £40 better off!

Th good old days - lucky if it gets to £20 these days,  but still nice when you win.

I know 3 that were in the home end 👍😂🍺

You keep making me feel hungry.
Get yourself over the pond and bring that BBQ with you.

I’m putting my BBQ away today for the winter.

We did that when the weather started getting bad in July :)

I’m always an optimist when it comes to BBQ’s. TBH I did belatedly ask some of our neighbours over to see if they fancied some BBQ sweetcorn from the garden but they do have other prearranged plans, so away it goes.

Currently holed up in a Hotel near Hertford !

Does anyone know if the EFL have put  highlights up. If so, what is the site please?

Cheers.

Here's the goals

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Iojfwl6n4

I’m still living that lovely, unfamiliar feeling of buzzing at yesterday’s performance and counting down the days until the next game. Everything feels that much sweeter after a season where I couldn’t choose between COVID and Power-Sheridan for shitfest of the year. This is catharsis.

Has anyone stopped to admire the West Country Laureate’s paean to shit transport services and snivelling youth? With Reg’s passing, we need to cherish the cultural torch that WoT continues to bear.

I don’t know if we still have an official club chaplain, but in these times we certainly need an official club poet.

C’mon Rob Angus, do the progressive thing.

Sky highlights here

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/competitions/league-two/12429870/forest-green-1-2-swindon

The EFL highlights look like they were edited by the ref., no disallowed goal.  Otherwise it was the Lewis Ward show, giving a wrong impression of the balance of play.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Iojfwl6n4


Extended highlights are better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6iOYkh5C8&t=13s

I enjoyed that :pint:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=klN_OlBO1CY

Week Tuesday Son. Sutton Utd v Swindon Town. Just up the road from Brighton. Away end again 😉

There's a good chance he hasn't yet been to Sutton 😀

Fair play to the lad very good 👍

Frazackerly. Trying to tempt the DNA to accompany his old chap for a midweek boys day out.

Agreed. Could make it a hat trick of Swindon wins.

Only knows what allocation we will get here.

I may be wrong but I reckon around 500

SUTTON UNITED

Borough Sports Ground (capacity 5,013)

After groundhopping for the first few years after their formation, Sutton United moved to Gander Green Lane (currently known as the Borough Sports Ground) permanently after the First World War, and have remained there ever since.

The stadium itself is a simple affair, with a single tiered, all seated Main Stand which runs half the length of one side of the pitch. The seats in this stand are blue and red, which do not match the club colours. This is because they were donated by Chelsea FC during the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge. The other three sides of the ground are small covered terraces, with some open terracing in the corners.

Away fans visiting the Borough Sports Ground are located in the Collingwood Road End, with an allocation of 500.

Correct you are you, young Jedi supporter.

May have to buy into the home supporters if it is over subscribed.

Wow just an educated guess from watching FA Cup games on TV😀
It will be a scramble amongst season ticket holders as soon as they go on sale!

Decent away fans resource.

Is it still an artificial pitch

Looks like it from the PV highlights.

It might explain their good home form

No, it isn’t, they had to change it to grass after being promoted.

Vale had 576 at Sutton yesterday. I think they could have requested a few more.

Bang goes my theory😀

That's a decent turn out considering the distance and they didn't bring anywhere near that amount here.

Well, it certainly looked like artificial to me. The pitch surface had no visible cutting up that you’d expect to see and none of the goal scorers dropped to their knees when celebrating at goal. Doesn’t matter either way, we will win.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/36920/12371930/sutton-uniteds-opening-two-home-games-moved-due-to-new-pitch-delay

Fake news.

It got delayed in August because of bad weather but dosen't say if grass was actually installed or not.

Well unless they have been planting seed on top of the artificial pitch. https://www.suttonunited.net/news/2021/august-2021/let-there-be-grass/

Plus wasn't there a rightful outcry when Man U played someone on an artificial pitch in the CL suggesting it was absurd that artificial was OK in the CL but not in the FL?

Just watched the 'highlights', how the fuck is a disallowed goal not a highlight, watching that you would think FGR played us off the park. Nice to see us win in red!

Not read back.

Made the short trip to the Bug and Spider in Calne to take this one in...6 of us in total to take in the spectacle.

Probably the best i have seen us play so far, with some key players out.

I would say that Wards debut (i think) is the best one for a keeper i have seen. Hes was epic. Last season we played months with no decent keeper at all and now we have two great ones!

Simpsons disallowed goal was because we were on Sky end of. That would be given most days.

McKirdy never say die attitude was a joy to behold and the goal was superb. Was the second going in anyway?  His MOM was deserved although a bit tough on Ward.

The Gump pen was a penalty for me, slight delay before he dived but a great save anyway.

Gump are a good side and now maybe we can start believing that we might do something this season.

I got pissed with Victor Mildew anyway....darn those Pitcher deals...happy days!

Going Saturday Flash?

Indeed. But missing Bradford....

Peter Brezovan might disagree with your opinion on Town goal keeper debuts.

I said on Saturday....

And I stand by that, league debut or not.

I wasn't there to witness Brez at Hartlepool so my statement definately still stands for me.

I was thoroughly impressed with us from start to finish on Saturday. We pressed high and this seemed to throw FGR off their game, they were sloppy in possession whereas we used the ball very well and won it back whenever it was lost. Yet again no goals in the first half but I think Simpson's should have counted, he does tend to get penalised just for being stronger than the defender. Perhaps he just needs to be a little cuter when using his body as the full on shoulder charge (which I thought was legal) always seems to be penalised.

Second half we continued on the front foot and Gladwin's inviting cross was diverted expertly into the goal by McKirdy. A superb finish which he made look easy. More great work from McKirdy with 10 to play, showing the same energy he had at the start of the game, driving into the box, drawing the keeper out and again expertly dinking it over the keeper to be finished off by Simpson. (I think it was going in)

It doesn't really tell the full story however, whilst we were miles better on the ball than FGR and to a man the performance was very high from everyone - the midfield 3 of Reed, Payne and Gladwin are really on song at the moment - yet Ward had to play out of his skin to keep a clean sheet. The save down to his left from the header was absolutely out of the top drawer and looking back on the highlights there were 4 or 5 really top saves, not just ones for the cameras either. If you are being critical some of the chances that FGR had, were free headers with markers nowhere near their men. This was a bit of a let off for me and I think may be our achilles heel this season. However if we can show attacking prowess that we did on Saturday, it may not matter too much.

The whole squad seems energised and in a positive frame of mind. We are nearly 2/1 to beat Rochdale at home on Saturday, I find those odds bizarre given we are third and Rochdale nearer the foot of the table.

I see the green Messiah has switched the gaslight on...

"Saturday's game wasn't a sell out - there was still space in the away stand. Our stewards do all they can to ensure fans spread across this open area. Too many away fans arrived literally just before the ref's whistle - and it takes time to search fans and admit them safely." Dale Vince 2021

Not as egregious as Swindon vs Yeovil which they have tried to peddle.

Fucking Brentford is closer and you'd get to Walsall quicker.

There is not 1 single FGR player that I would take over any of our side on Saturday, their passing at times was dire in comparion to ours with few balls finding their target, so much for them being a "footballing side" they looked ok at best but we passed them off the park at times.

I like Jamille Matt as a centre forward/target man but Conroy and Crich kept him totally out of the game and Simpson had a better game than Matt did.

surprised you found some. They don't seem to exist on twitter judging by the replies to their official account.

Their forum is more active than several better supportered teams TBH.

https://forum.fgr.co.uk/the-first-team-810523

Brez’s performance v Hartlepool even better than Wards.
Both top class but all my history of watching football that was the best keeper performance I have ever seen. Two pens aside, one save from a deflection, can even see it now he was already committed but arched his back and somehow clawed the ball whilst going the other way.
Unreal.

Complete shambles from FGR.
Fans were queuing way before the kick off, 2 poxy turnstiles, tickets not scanning.
Woman with 4 kids with pre booked seat tickets redirected to the terrace 20 mins after kick off as all seats were taken.
Detest that poxy football club as every time I visit a complete shit show of incompetence and cannot manage a reasonable away following....Dale Vince bollocks.

Agree - fuck off Dale that's total bollocks.

It gets worse every year.  What happened to the marquee and the samosas?   It just means that now you get a sizeable group of fans stood drinking on the road and pissing in peoples front gardens.

A 20 minute queue to get in because, rather than have 2 people checking tickets, they now have 2 people standing too far away to actually help scan them - utter bonkers.   Oh and 30 mins to queue for a water in the midday sun!

5-6 years ago it was a cracking away day, but now it's a horrible tinpot club that treats away fans with distain.
Over sold the terrace by a couple of hundred at least - clueless

If we weren't so good every time we play there and it wasn't so close, not sure I'd be mad keen on going back.

My worst away day experience.
Detest the club and place and wouldn’t be upset if I never had to go back again.