Thetownend.com

I was going to put this in the Sutton MDT, but it possibly is slightly off topic so maybe worth it's own thread.

The league is as tight as you can get, from 2nd - 10th are separated by 7 points so each and every one of these teams are now in a right battle for automatic promotion and to get into the play-offs. Out of the promotion chasing sides we only have Sutton, FGR and Newport at home, which looking at both opponents form you would fancy us to get the points. I haven't looked too far ahead but looking just at Tuesday, when we play Sutton, Port Vale are at home to Mansfield and therefore if we can get the 3 points can extend our points advantage over those sides. The fixtures that matter tomorrow are;

Bristol R v Colchester - unfortunately think Rovers win this. Colchester are merde/murder.
Carlisle v Newport - Carlisle under Simpson are a different beast. Think they will take at least a point.
Exeter v Crawley - Home win sadly.
FGR v Orient - Wellens to do us a favour? Not convinced but they might get a point.
Vale v Mansfield - Really tough to call, think a draw.
Stevenage v Northampton - Stevenage are dreadful but the Cobblers are wobbling a little, shock home win.
Tranmere v Harrogate - Harrogate going through the motions at the moment, simple home win for Tranmere.

We still have to play Newport at home!

That'll teach me not to look at our fixtures Jimmy! Thanks for that, I have edited the initial post.

I wasn't putting you down Bob! I was thinking about potential 11,000 - 12,000+ crowds we could possibly get and realised Newport could be one if we stay in the mix.

I’ll be back for this one!

I know you weren't fella. Perfectly fair to correct the posts and appreciate it. I reckon that's probably our toughest home game left, Newport are a good side and they will bring a decent following i'd imagine.

FGR have 3 points and 0 wins from last 6. Surely they won't bottle it...

it feels like Rovers are coming in strong, and they are. But they only have 1 point more than us last 6.

it's all tighter than a nuns chuff

I am not sure about FGR I think they are perrenial bottlers and can't take the pressure, I have a feeling they will probably still go up but not as champions, they have gone to pot lately.

Until next weekend when they miraculously pick up form again.

The chasing pack are all very inconsistent at the moment though. They've got enough of a gap to get up. Fancy Rovers join them given their current form (who'd have thought!). Our injuries will hinder us which is a massive shame as I think with a fully fit Tomlinson, Cooper & Barry we could have made a push for the top 3

I fear Rovers too they have hit a rich vein of form (results if not performances) and there is always one team that does that and ends up in the autos after a great run in, if they carry on they could even catch the Vegans.

I agree, with Cooper, Tomlinson and Barry we could be challenging for the autos but the injuries seem to have hit us hard at a bad time of the season and with little chance any will return to fitness before the end of the season apparently.

Rovers will falter. They've hit form too early and will not sustain it for the remainder of the season. Well here's hoping..

They've got a harder run in than us. Northampton, Port Vale, Tranmere, Bradford, Salford and FGR

We might want them to take a point here and there from that run though, rather than totally falling off.

Yes a few draws maybe quite handy.

Rovers certainly are in form. But they have just 1 more point than us over the last 6.

FGR game postponed.

Shame as I think we could have beaten them as they are on a poor run.

This fixture will now take place at SN1 on Tuesday 26th April - 7:45pm Kick-Off.

I think we are all hoping that! :D

makes mother's Day easier (given can't do Sunday)

also, maybe Barry and outside chance of Tomlinson will be back

The quote that Sutton was the last game under the lights this season was a little premature😀

And bottled it again last night, couldnt hold on to a lead vs struggling Orient at home last night, thansk Wellens. Orient had more possession (against a possession based side) and more shots than FGR too last night. Orient even though they drew haven't won in 16 attempts now.

FGR and Mansfield the only sides to drop points last night. FGR's poor run of form continues and Mansfield's away form is their achilles as they lose 3-1 to upwardly mobile Port Vale. All the other teams in the promotion hunt win to keep things very tight at the top.

Saturday's games involving the teams at the top.

Newport v Hartlepool - Simple win for the Welshmen.
Crawley v Swindon - we have to fancy our chances.
Sutton v Tranmere - Draw would be beneficial.
Northampton v Bristol Rovers - Another draw would be beneficial.
Mansfield v Stevenage - Mansfield should be able to beat manager less Stevo who are awful.
Bradford v Port Vale - tough one for Vale against a resurgent Bradford. Fancy a home win.
Oldham v Exeter - will El Dino do us a favour? Wouldn't have thought so, away win.
Colchester v FGR - FGR to slip up again against a side fighting against relegation. Shock home win.

I want Northampton to batter Rovers. Need to halt their progress.

The only decent team Rovers have beaten since the start of Feb is Sutton. 5 of their next 7 games are against teams in the top half, and the other two are Bradord and Carlisle. If they come through that and are still in touch then fair play to them. In fact, based on current standings their run in is the hardest of anyone in the top 7. Tranmere have the easiest run in but Exeter have two games in hand.

Average current position of remaining opponents:

2 Northampton: 14th
3 Newport: 12th
4 Tranmere: 15th
5 Exeter: 13th (with two games in hand)
6 Swindon: 13th
7 Rovers: 11th

Sutton didn’t do too well

Uh, yeah them as well!! :)

Stevenage have asked for tomorrow game vs Mansfield to be postponed due to Covid cases at the club. The EFL have not called it off yet though.

Would that be Stevenage who has just appointed a new manager who would probably benefit from some additional time with the players, a manager with a rather dubious past?.....

 :hmmm: :wink: :D

Its all above board!

Says Lee Powers mate Steve Evans!

Nothing dodgy to be seen here....move on....

.

https://youtu.be/Ni2FohbJnJc

Good start to the weekend. Hartlepool win in Newport. 3-2

Anyone know why Mansfield v Stevenage is posponed and why Colchester v FGR is Monday evening.

Stevenage requested the postponement as they have Covid cases. Not sure about the other game, maybe its on TV?

Cheers Bob

Great result for Town😀

Ohhhh yeahh! That's right baby...It's business time....come on!

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

2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven!

No worries Jimmy. I double checked and the Colchester game is indeed on the box.

Quick update on recent results:

FGR win 1-0 at Colchester to potentially put an end to their run of form. Apparently they didn't play that well, but they got the points.

Last night Vale drew 0-0 with Exeter but the other games went against us, Sutton winning 3-1 at Oldham and Mansfield striking late to win 1-0 at Rochdale.

thanks. forgot there were even games.

Clinging on to that playoff spot by the skin of our goals scored

Port Vale and Mansfield have games in hand... it's going to be very tight.

even Salford could get in the mix

We'll finish outside the play offs, no point worrying about it.

it ain't over till it's over

There’s an awful lot of 6-pointers between the top 9, so some clubs are going to lose points.

If I had to bet who is likely to drop out of the POs it’d be Sutton, Newport and Cobblers

Top 3 FGR, Exeter and any one out of Mansfield, Vale, Swindon, Rovers and Tranmere.

We’ve lost to some right old shite this season. Those 2 points dropped at Colchester could make all the difference between autos or POs.

I'm talking top 3 of course  :)

Very nice 4D :)

Rover's look good. Barton will be rubbing his hands together. I've got it on good authority that he's had a sizable bet on their promotion. Old habits etc. etc.

I too have heard something very similar...

McKirdy apparently out for the season

Where you seen this?

Friend of a friend stuff but fairly reliable. Hoping they're wrong

Eh?  :doh:

600 extra tickets for Rochdale no idea how many the initial allocation was

Let us hope that if they don't go up, that he doesn't then turn to his other old habit

Let's hope he gets sent down promotion or not!

If there's anything happening I would expect Duke, JJ or JoeMezz to get wind of it

Initial allocation of 543 sold out another 600 on sale tomorrow

London Pride & Quagmire have proven to be the most accurate this season…

Although Tails did get the ‘bald man with a beard’ right before anyone else!!!

Some know and don’t post the details.
Yes we do have a serious player loss.

Not good this one.

My biggest glory!

The guy that told me this also mentioned about Lyden being out long term before we knew. No idea how he's so involved with the injury status of our players.

oh well. maybe next year

McKirdy has knacked his calf. On the plus side, Barry is back from injury.

And Tomlinson is close too.

I personally haven’t heard it but given his ankle injury I wouldn’t be surprised. Calf injuries often stem from ankle injury / overuse so yeah wouldn’t be surprised. Barry being back is a plus though

1 out 2 in.

massive one to lose though. not sure we can cover that.

we'll see. Harry out, Barry in? maybe it'll work

I am in the minority here i know and it is really weird to say this but this will help Garner. I still think we have kind of lost the fact that if we do not go up the club is not as unhappy as we are so to speak. Every week we win we are just exceeding expectations

God help us if we have to rely on JML

…and some post ambiguous stuff without committing to anything.

We won’t score enough goals with McKirdy, period.

if mckirdy is out this pretty much makes the dream of promotion fade away i think....even if barry and tomilson come back, not really a goal scorer on the squad to step up...but who knows  :hmmm:

Davison?

Davison is already playing and chipping in with goals.
He’s not suddenly going to start banging in hat tricks because McKirdy is out. Not like they play the same game and are taking goals from each other…

indeed

if Barry is back it'll help, but he's not yet McKirdy .

Drove past Swindon station at about 12:25. There was a group of lads going in, one of them was Davison, couldn't make out who the others were but one of them was on crutches and wearing a protective boot. It definitely wasn't McKirdy though. 

Lyden has been in a protective boot for weeks.

It could well have been Lyden to be fair.

Been convinced for a few weeks McKirdy is destined to score the winner at Wembley so that's the jam taken out of my doughnut. Disappointing news.

Is this McKirdy news official?

no.

reckon it won't be until the next pre match PR or the day of the teams sheet.

Does "out for the season" include play offs I wonder?

still hoping it is a more minor tear than thought, and they haven't had the scan they

wishful thinking

---------
my old body didn't like calf strains, easily took 4 weeks minimum for a grade 2

See, this is quite a good analogy because even without jam, you've still got a doughnut. Remember last year you had a prehistoric shit sandwich.

You're usually on the money Joe when you do post anything

It's on the Adver site now FWIW.

Expecting 2 back for Rochdle though - presumably Barry and Tomlinson.

Been getting their news off here again i reckon

It does say a couple of sources so that's probably TEF and Twitter/Facebook.

Tomlinson and Barry will make a huge difference but don’t see who’s going to score. With our defence mckirdy out is a huge issue

No doubts McKirdy will be a big loss but there's no guarantee he wouldn't have got sent off in one of the games and we would still have to cope without him for up to 3 games.

4 to 6 weeks with these.
Tomlinson and Barry fairly quick recoveries thus fingers crossed.
Gladwin not far away.

McKirdy has just posted a pic on insragram of him with caption

‘Til the fat lady sings’

Optimism :pint:

What a strange post… considering he hasn’t been sent off at all during his whole career?

Anything is possible when he gets petulant

Don't like the JML abuse. How many consecutive games has he started this season? has also won us some valuable points this season

abuse? he's not been very effective

last game he started he looked a lot brighter

Not sure hes getting much abuse hes just really not very good, I don't honestly remember him winning us any point? I may have forgotten but I only I don't remember him contributing anything other than the win at Plymouth in the Mickey Mouse Cup.

I may have genuinely forgotten any contribution to us winning points but I truly don't remember, just that his point blank misses have (possibly) cost us winning games.

I think he offers something. He’s very quick and good against tired defenders and also quite tricky. His final ball is very poor so he would benefit from some coaching to address this.

Definatelyy as I mentioned a while back.

My main concern about JML starting is that it undermines his attempt to be our most used substitute ever in one season - he's come on 23 times already, tied with Lukas Jutkiewicz in 2006/7. Without a sudden spate of starts, he might well get to 30!

Not the biggest JML fan, he's not had a huge crack o the whip tbf to him. Think he came on and won us a pen vs stevenage and harrogate and by all accounts did well in his start vs oldham..Barry for mckirdy straight swap would still see him on the bench for now imo.

Wow didn't realise he had been a used sub that many times ^^
Musnt have made too much of an impact for me..

Cheers I had forgotten the 2 penalty wins he had a hand in that did indeed claim us 2 points earning late draws in both games.

No problem, if I remember I think both were on the 'soft' side..

Yeah I viewed them both again and I didn't remember them at all! yes they were a little soft shall we say but still had to be won, probably better that he won the penalties than actually being left with just him and the keeper to beat TBH as he showed last week with his clear cut chance.

Yea agree about that!

 Now I'm thinking about it, I was sure at the time that he scored our late equaliser home vs crawley. I know it was credited to gladwin but I was almost certain he deflected it in!?

No it hit the defenders face even though JML was stood next to him.

Fair enough..

Maybe abuse was the wrong word but it's the type of critism which snowballs between fans like with conroy and spills into the terraces during a match. JML has very much had a hallam hope season but with even less opportunities to impress. if he started every week ahead of better players then it's very different but he usually comes on when in a losing position or when we have big injury problems. from reports he played well against Oldham I believe and he can't have started many at all

Think he’s started two league games

JML is no David Fairclough.

The problem is, he's not a Michael Owen either.

(If we want to keep it a Liverpool analagy)

Bottom line is he is not good enough to start games and not likely to come on and completely change the course of matches. He's an athlete and is quick. But, brain, touch and finishes are not as well developed

Ticket office saying we've already sold 1700 for the Walsall game even before general sale tonight 5pm

Next lot will be terrace standing.

I thought they only allocated 1500 for the league game so surprised we've already sold 1700 before general sale

None showing for purchase yet as we pass 5pm

No tickets available for me so I presume sold out

From the STFC site earlier

Just posted by the Ticket Office:

“SOLD OUT: 🎟 Our trip to Walsall (07/05) on the final day of the season has now sold out!! The team will be backed by 2K+ fans!! This is an incredible effort! We have asked Walsall for more tickets and awaiting confirmation! 🔴⚪️ #COYR”

What fantastic support let's hope Walsall give us more

Gasheads getting excited and seems they aren't aware of Harry's tweet about the fat lady singing😀
https://gaschat.co.uk/thread/19395/swindon

If fairness, most calling out the OP for calling a player being ill/injured ‘good news’

Fair point and you're right most are calling out the dickhead

He’s just phrased it badly imo.

We’d see a fellow promotions chasing teams top scorer being out injured as good news for our season on a purely footballing point of view.

Agreed and no malice from fellow posters

I intend to bet on all the worst possible results for us today and then of course they won't happen

Strangely enough, I’ve done the complete opposite

I hope you win thousands :pint:

I was amused by the poster who said “stay classy Gasheads” .
 Classy wasn’t the most obvious adjective I could think of to describe them!

Their not used to writing big words so don't really know the meaning of anything with six letters! I like the bit where they've written us off already😀

Well if that comes off you deserve every penny. I have a hunch you’ll get three out of four with the Monkey Hangers letting you down.

I'm still amazed we've sold 2000 tickets for the Walsall game already!

Two schools of thought there Mr. Quinn. Massive support if we need a result for either an automatic place or a PO place or fucking great party to attend if we’ve actually secure one of them by then or even better an automatic spot.

 :clap: :clap: I wonder if they will give us more tickets

Club shop were hopefull.

jeez, I got that one wrong leaving it a bit!

And Oldham predictably let in a last-minute winner to Mansfield. Dino, the gift that keeps on giving. Grr.

Rovers and Tranmere lose. Newport draw. Should boost the PO hopes.

Top three drifting away fast leaving seven teams chasing four play off spots after today's results

long way to go Jimmy. many twists and turns. A bit too early to pull up the auto promotion drawbridge just yet

Drifting away Batch but I get your point and yes still all to play for😀

2 points from their last 8 games.

Did extraordinarily well to get back in touch. But the honeymoon is well and truly over.

Carlisle now flying, 5 out of 6 wins. they've got Tranmere, Exeter and Mansfield to play.

Orient at home is starting to look a little tricky😀

win our game in hand and we are 2 points off autos.

though Mansfield can stuff that up with 2 games in hand on us

Port Vale have sneaked right into contention. Mansfield still have to play FGR x2 Northampton and Sutton so not easy

Rovers  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Meltdown on gaschat....ball boys are cunts😀

Staying classy then.

What's annoying if we did get them in the play offs we would probably give them around 2700 tickets and get 700 odd in return  at their dump

Didn't JML also get an assist quite recently too? Whilst he is caught in a bit of limbo land (not really yet a starter, not quite an impact player), I do see him slowly making improvements. Possible patience will avail and he's a handy squad player. Some decent coaching and another season and he could possibly improve again. A season is a long time in footy. Even a month is.

Similar with Davison. He's starting to contribute now with goals, yet he took a while to get going and has had more opportunity (starting) than JML. The signs are fair to good, they just seem quite slow going. However, I would take slow and sustained rather than a flash in the pan. Better in the long (in modern football terms) term.

 More tickets available for Walsall. Going on sale tomorrow:

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1509455526937219073?s=20&t=8mPrTPjStd_GV6A_jV93WA

An extra 1,360 tickets can't argue with that.

We won't sell those out too unless we need a point in the final game then we will 100% sell them all.

Agree its an awful lot to sell out with over a month to go and everything to play for.

If we do indeed sell out (3,500ish) it must be one of the highest away followings of the season in L2 and thats over about 90 miles too.

I did read that Gas were hoping to sell over 4000 tickets for Port Vale away on the same day.

The same Gas that thought they would easily break 12k the other week vs Exeter when only 9.5k turned up and 1.5k of those were Exeter fans.

I think after the last storm we had they have a restricted capacity at the moment under 9000 so another reason we don't want them in the play offs as we're sure to only be given 700 tickets again.

no idea where to put this but Dale Vince  has revealed Ecotricity is up for sale and he's moving into politics...

wonder if this will be the beginning of the return to village idiots for FGR, or whether he'll continue to support them (personally, or ensuring it continues via ecotricity)

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2022/dale-vince-to-leave-ecotricity (https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2022/dale-vince-to-leave-ecotricity)

assuming it's not an april Fool

That’ll be an April Fool, he won’t leave them, not with his ego.

true, true.

got picked up by the local tv news - in on it or fooled ?

Sounds good news for McKirdy

Garner on injuries:

"We have Louie Barry and Joe Tomlinson back after training all week. Harry McKirdy is not available for tomorrow after picking up an injury and we have one player ill who won't be available. Harry will be out tomorrow but it shouldn't keep him out for the remainder of the season. He has responded really well to treatment.

A bit more on the additional allocation for Walsall. Of course, it's all about additional income for them but a decent gesture nonetheless. We've done something similar in the past on a few occasions that I can think of.

https://www.saddlers.co.uk/news/2022/march/important-ticket-update-ahead-of-final-game-of-the-season-against-swindon-town

Barry and Tomlinson back in is a huge boost, especially with McKirdy out for a bit.

That's great news and certainly making us look stronger ornthe run in

If we were in their position, I'd fully expect the club to make the most of the commercial opportunity. It'll be a dead rubber for them and they can probably make an extra £20k by accommodating the extra Town fans on ticket sales alone.

Nice gesture to offer something to the home fans being moved.

doesn't really say though if that's one week or 3.

After Easter is going to be too late to make any gap up

Would be content with a draw for us at Rodney Parade tomorrow. The anticipated win at Rochdale would take you above Newport, and set it up really nicely for next Saturday's clash at the CG, where I'd be happy with another draw !

Love The Run In, well, whenever we're in the mix at the right end that is !!  :D

The top three is yours to grasp now surely it's time you went up! Here's hoping you beat Newport!

This is your season im sure.

Agreed.

Appreciate that, Jimmy, and obviously hoping you're right, but as we both know things can change very quickly ! Critical couple of games coming up for Town, and looking at your run in I wouldn't be at all surprised to see you come up on the rails to secure a top three place yourselves.

Might even venture in to watch you muller FGR on Tuesday 26th, if I can get a ticket. That said, should be plenty of room available on the Bank.  :nod:

Reckon you will bag second place. The best side I’ve seen us play over two games this season.

As for us I would bite the hand off for 7th spot right now, just think there are better equipped teams than us. Crawley was woeful how we lost that one. Have to win tomorrow which won’t be easy, or else a gap could be forming and that will add to additional pressure with a young team.

The extra Walsall tickets seem to be shifting quickly. Have passed the 3K mark:

https://twitter.com/STFC_Ticket/status/1509862046720053272?s=20&t=ai4OhZMOxUWDSeIUq0vWPA

Thats a damn great turn out.

Thats more fans travelling to a game 90 miles away than the home average attendance of Barrow, Sutton, Rochdale, Stevenage, Colchester, Scunthorpe, FGR, Harrogate, Crawley and Salford.

Put together.  :)

Hopefully we'll still be in the running for either top 3 or the autos.

If not, then just a celebration of a very fine football club that has still exceeded expectations in it's rebirth.

Think it will be a case of the former rather than latter so all to play for.

The way that Garner communicated Payne's return vs the reality makes me nervous that the original rumoured prognosis of McKirdy's return could be closer to the truth than what Garner was spinning today - i hope I am wrong.

Just bought 2 Walsall tickets, numbers 3173 and 3174, so the remaining few look to be going quick

It will be a bit of a pisser if our season has fizzled out and we have so many fans in the Midlands for an end of season dead rubber! Let's of course hope that's not the case.

I think we will get a minimum of 15 points from now until EOS. Giving us 77 points. Anything else will be a bonus. If I am right will it be enough for a PO spot any less then no.

I hope so. Not sure I see double figures.

I think 15 is possible,especially if Reed,JOB and McKirdy play in these games

Wouldn’t count on McKirdy, tbh. Maybe be OK it we reach the POs. Just hope we can still be in with a shout come Walsall.

Lot of six pointers coming up and some tricky top v nothing to play for and relegation threatened teams.

Six pointers

Apr 5th
Vegans V Stags
Salford v PV (more peripheral for Salford but tricky for PV)

Apr 9th

Town v Newport
Trannies v Gas
Carlisle v ETC (long way to go & tricky)
Sutton v Lorient (smoke Derby)
PV v Oldham (resurgent Oldham?)

Apr 15th
Stags v Sutton
Gas v Salford

Apr 18th
Carlisle v Stags (IMHO tricky)
PV v Gas
Sutton v Newport
Tranny v ETC

Apr 22nd
Gas v Vegans

Apr 26th
Town v Vegans

Apr 30th
PV v Newport
Salford v Stags
Northampton v ETC

May 7th
Stags v Vegans
ETC v PV

Feel free to add in any other fixtures you feel could have a significant baring on the final positions with a reason, I started to be then felt I’d done enough.

I think this gashead needs to get his facts right when comparing our last three results with the taffs!

nsblue Avatar
27 minutes ago nsblue said:
Newport and Swindon have both not won for 3 games, they both look out of the running, not sure what's happened with Newport as they looked like they might finish in the top 3 after they beat us fairly convincingly.

The Easter weekend games will go a long way to decide the season so it's who comes out of them in a good position.

The teams who have made the late run recently to come back into contention have still got to maintain their good form until the end of the season.

Their form can easily turnaround with one or two bad results especially when the pressure bites. A lot of teams winning by single goals yesterday which can turn to draws on another day.

We need to be in touch of top 7 coming out of Easter and then have a good finish in the last 3 games.

I fear we will end up drawing too many and the points thrown away at home when leading against Rovers, Exeter and Salford since Christmas will cost us.

Matty Stevens top scorer at FGR has done his ACL and out for the season. They probably have enough points to get automatic but play a lot of the top 10 before the season is out

Mansfield 1-0  down and now down to 10 men.

FGR are uncatchable imo, so not bothered if they get 3 points

What's the best result out of the other game a draw or Salford win🤔

depends if you think think we could still get autos.

with PV winning 1-0 it's looking very very tough. would have preferred a draw tbh

Ah just seen they've taken the lead! Getting in the play offs is going to be tough so not much chance of autos

We've gone up a place without playing

that's how good we are

Those yellow lot will be thinking the same tonight.
Up the Shrimps.

Let's hope those Mackems beat them on Saturday

looking at the stats the piss stains battered them. which is funny

Battered Shrimps off the menu in Oxford tonight 😂😂

:)

Not sure they have them in the suburbs only in the university's 😀

Just seen last nights results. Ooo win Saturday and our GIH v Vegans and that puts us right back in the mix. Walsall could be fucking MASSIVE if it all’s goes to plan. The Vegans are at least guaranteed a play off place after last night even if they lose all their remaining fixtures. In fact I think another two wins will give the promotion whatever.

You’ve got to look at what teams currently in the top 7 are likely to drop out so we can sneak in. In fact, I reckon the top 3 now will stay there, so of the others the 2 I think may slip out of the POs are Tranmere and Cobblers.

Still all up for grabs.

All about our own performances.
This is what concerns me the most. Reed has been a massive loss.

Rovers and Northampton have pretty tough run ins, this is where I hope two drop below us  :) We have to start winning mind.

Out of the possible PO contenders who would you prefer/not fancy to play?

Wouldn’t fancy Mansfield or Vale, we seem to have a good recent record v Rovers, Tranmere we have PO history with, Cobblers are shite I reckon.

Walsall has now sold out so we will have 3.5k at the final game of the season.

My first away game for some time  :toocool:

Now is the time for us to turn on the literal after burners and go all out to end the season strongly. 2 massive six pointers at home against Newport and FGR and a fairly comfortable set of fixtures aside from those on paper.

Fully aware that games are not played on paper and we've flopped badly in other easier games, Crawley and Rochdale spring to mind. However Reed is back for Saturday, other players are getting back to fitness (Barry will hopefully be sharper after his runout last weekend) and we have 7 massive chances to get into the play-offs. I hope that Garner and co will be working on adding some intensity into the side and giving the end of season a bloody good go.

We can beat everyone in the top 9 so I'm not really concerned who we face. The important thing for me is just getting there, anything can happen in the playoffs.

The only one I'd be concerned about is Tranmere as they seem to be the best at shutting us down.

I think its whether we can handle the pressure of needing to win games to keep up the play off fight, not sure this team is able to hand the pressure when it is really on sadly.

I'm inclined to agree. We have a very young squad of players with very little experience of battle hardened players that have been there and done that. As good as they are, I don't think we are cut out for the fight. Clearly I hope I am wrong but that's how I see it.

3 games and do or die.

either way, I hope we go for it, not

- look good for 30 minutes
- run out of ideas
- let oppo have chances
- pass it round the back, midfield at slow speed

maybe Reed will unlock us

Read the other day that we've won 1 game without Reed. Scunthorpe in August...

All 3500 Wallsall tickets now sold

It's true but we've only had 5 games without him. Granted the opponents haven't been great on the whole. Scunthorpe (W), Crawley x2 (DL), Exeter (L), Rochdale (D).

I'm sure he didn't play at Tranmere?

I just checked he didn't play

Gladwin, Iandolo, Williams & Tomlinson in midfield

Yep you're right, had removed that from my memory. 1 win in 6 without him then and that was against the worst team in professional Football!

Says a lot! No more reds for him please.

Especially as both were easily avoidable

Some interesting stats about McKirdy and Reed and also a few other interesting oddities I found.

We have never lost a game when Egbo has played for us.
We have never lost a game when JML has started for us.
We have never lost a game when Parsons has started.

We have never won a game when Reed hasn't started (if you ignore the 1st game of the season when he only signed the day before, too late to start. He missed the Exeter, Tranmere, Crawley, Barrow defeats and the draws with Crawley and Rochdale.

When McKirdy hasn't played we have only scored 5 goals in those 7 games with us never managing to score more than 1 single goal per game in any game he has missed.

We've never lost a game when you play either Venks ;)

True story.

I think it does highlight the impact of the 2 players and also how we struggle to score goals without McKirdy in the team.

Christ,  that’s bloody amazing Venks.  Where the hell do you get all these statistics from ??  !!.

JJ the tef stato😀

I used to work part time as a statistician for the company I used to manage, I have also worked (unpaid) as a Football Manager (FM16 & 17) analyst for Swindon Town FC for Sports Interactive a few years ago.

I love facts and statistics! I find it interesting collating information to see relative patterns.

Too much hair for me TBH.

I think that for a club the size of Swindon we are blessed to have commited club historians like Mattick & Plowman with the excellent quality of printed output and not to mention the fantastic efforts of Banyard in maintaining the go to resource on STFC facts & figures.

No doubt there are plenty of other keen STFC statto's out there who keep their own records as well.

The TEF as well of course a dynamic record of fan interaction & opinion going back for many years now.

The LS Podcast as well!

Wouldn't be surprised if a fair few much "bigger" clubs probably don't have anything near as much historical reference material available as we have access to.

I concur we are very lucky to have these, all excellent too I might add.

Yep, couldn't agree more...

Update on where things are realistically for the PO places we can steam (or not)

Note that some teams are playing Saturday, some bank holiday Monday


6th Mansfield (P43, 72 Points, +13 GD)
Mansfield v Stevenage (tommorrow)
Salford v Mansfield (Monday)
Mansfield v FGR

7th Sutton (P 43, 70 points, +14)
 Sutton v Crawley (tomorrow)  
 Sutton v Bradford (Sat 30th)
 Harrogate v Sutton
---
8th Salford (P44, 69 Points, +16)
Salford v Mansfield (Monday)
Stevenage v Salford

9th Tranmere(P44, 69 Points, +10)
Tranmere v Oldham (Saturday)
Orient v Tanmere

10th Swindon(P43, 68 Points, +18)
Swindon v FGR (Tomorrow)
Swindon v Barrow (Saturday)
Walsall v Swindon
-------
Surely dead:

11th Newport(P44, 66 Points, +10)
Port Vale v Newport (Monday)
Newport v Rochdale  

I am certain many of you, like me, are looking at the fixtures and asking yourself who is going to blink first and lose their nerve? I doubt Mystic Meg could work this one out, after all like all purveyors of bollocks they don’t see their own demise coming.

So looking at Saturday, (where all the teams in contention are playing must win games), I think the ones in danger of a slip up are The Gas, oddly Sutton Utd at home to Bradford and Mansfield.

Any thoughts? Of course you have.

Yep been doing the same LL. Not the most likely team to bow out but after recent performances I'm going for Port Vale to blow it and lose at home against Newport (a bit like us) on Monday and lose again at Exeter next week.

Only team I can see slipping up is Mansfield. Sutton and Rovers are going well and have a perfect run in on paper. Mansfield got to play Salford and FGR. As above, Vale possibly too.

If we take it we win both our games - 77 points. No need then to worry about Salford and Tranmere

I can see Gas losing at Rochdale but a guaranteed 3 points v Scunny - we end up above them on GD

I can see Mansfield only getting 1 point from Salford and FGR - finish on 76

Sutton to get 4 points - 77 above them on GD

Vale to get 1 point v Newport, lose at Exeter - 76 points

Cobblers - need them to get just 1 point out of Barrow and Exeter

STFC finish 3rd!

Potential problem comes with a couple of those final day fixtures where a certain result would suit both teams.

I was adamant the sags would have stumbled by now but they look the most guaranteed a PO spot. Wouldn't want to have either Port Vale or Mansfields last 2 so they will drop points. So in true Swindon fashion we will make it hard for ourselves with another stupid result somewhere.

Put me money where me gob is

Saturday will be another tense affair now that it's a must win game and then hopefully on to Wallsall who have won five out of their last six at home :noway:

If we sneak into the play offs then we’ll join a combination of Northampton, Rovers, Port Vale, Mansfield & Sutton right?

All teams we’ve beaten this season right?

Un fortunately

Really can't see many if any of the present teams above us slipping up  :doh:

head says we are a win short. but much stranger things have happened.

we have to win our last 2 yet, equally dubious

Head says we shouldn’t have fucked up against Colchester. 1-0, against 9 men, let in injury time equaliser.

Criminal.

We can only hope.... will make a commitment to come over for the final as I did for the Sunderland game at Wembley.

Would be great to see Town beat the Gasheads in the final. Can only hope and dream.

COYMRs

I can't see us being able to win 3 on the trot (let alone 4) with the threadbare squad we have remaining at our disposal, and if we did manage to get in, i can't see us getting through an extended high presure play off attempt.

We shot ourselves in the foot ahead of this period, and took a gamble not to get in the numbers that we really needed for the 2nd half of the season - we all know why, but I fear the gamble hasn't paid off.  Valiant attempt, but just not quite enough of the type of urgency seen on Tuesday in those 4 or 5 winnable games in the last month or so to get us over the line.  We are too reliant on the 12 or 13 players that have the capability (with very little in reserve) to get us there and the cracks are very much visible now.

If we don't make it,  once the dust settles we'll see to get so close under the restrictions we are on if fairly miraculous looking at the other teams in similar circumstances.

But that's loser talk.

5 games from league 1 (potentially). 

In my eyes it's que sera.

Booking up for Wembley already? optimistic!

Bollocks to how other sides are doing, we just need to win the last 2.

 :clap: :clap:

We could win both our games and still miss out.

Totally this.
We had ample chances to win that game should have been out of sight especially when that young kid came on in goal.

Colchester away 2 points dropped
Newport home 3 points dropped
L O home 1 point dropped possibly all 3.
Rochdale away 2 points dropped
Could have been fighting for the championship not to enter the playoffs.

We need to get to League 1 before we start thinking about the Championship :D

I know.

Similarly though we've gained points from last minute exploits and perhaps won games we didn't deserve to. Every single team from 4th - 24th will rue games in which they dropped points and should've won.

Yes, but I think we've lost more points from winnable games than we've gained when we shouldn't have.

On our day we can easily beat any team in this league, and with few exceptions we should have beaten them all, only a few have genuinely outplayed us.

Conversely if we arent at the races then any team can beat us, often by bullying us and putting lots of high balls into our box and pressing us into errors.

I truly can't call it.

It's too hard to call all I know is we need to win and hope that the following teams win or at least draw this week end.

Bradford, Exeter, Newport, Oldham, Rochdale and Salford win or at least draw.

Was saying this to a mate earlier.
Northampton for example could point at the game at ours right after their squad had, had COVID.
Do we smash them otherwise?

There are 24 games we could have gained more points from this season. Pinpointing individual moments is foolish

I was only saying games fairly recent therefore fresh in people's minds that we SHOULD have won. I didn't add Exeter to that as they did a good job on us twice.
You can't argue that Colchester, Rochdale, Newport and LO deserved anything from the recent games.
If, if we had won those we would be in a position for the autos that is all.

So we cant suggest where we think we should have got results?

Surely thats the point of fans forums? expressing an opinion of how we think things could have gone differently?

Its purely hypothetical anyway, let fans have their say.

There is this….
….But there is also not being able to see out a game against a 9 man Colchester team.

Well with 2 games left to play for each club there is still all to play for with many possible outcomes.

All we can do is win our remaining 2 games, which on paper are very doable against sides currently sitting in 21st and 14th place. Any side from 3rd to 10th could possibly make the play offs or also any of those could miss out on the play offs too.

1st FGR on 83
2nd Exeter on 83
--------------------
3rd Northampton 76
--------------------
4th Port Vale 75
5th Mansfield 75
6th B Rovers 74
7th Sutton 73
--------------------
8th Swindon 71
9th Salford 69
10th Tranmere 69

Every side in there has 1 home and 1 away game left to play.

The remaining fixtures of the top 10 teams.

This weekend fixtures -

Forest Green Rovers (1st DLWDL) v Harrogate Town (19th (LLLLW)
Northampton Town (3rd LDWWW) v Exeter City (2nd WWLWW)
Rochdale (18th DWLWL) v Bristol Rovers (6th WDWWD)
Sutton United (7th WWWLW) v Bradford City (16th LDDLW)
Swindon Town (8th LWLWW)v Barrow (21st LWDWL)
Tranmere Rovers (10th DDDWL)v Oldham Athletic (23rd WLLLL)
Port Vale (4th WWWLLL) v Newport County (11th LWLLL) (Monday)
Salford City (9th LWLDW) v Mansfield Town (5th WLLWW) (Monday)

Final day fixtures -

Barrow v Northampton Town
Bristol Rovers v Scunthorpe United
Exeter City v Port Vale
Harrogate Town v Sutton United
Leyton Orient v Tranmere Rovers
Mansfield Town v Forest Green Rovers
Stevenage v Salford City
Walsall v Swindon Town

Mansfield with the most difficult fixture.

Rovers with the easiest.

Port Vale could very oddly manage to lose both of theirs and manage to go from 3rd to 8th in 3 games.

Think this season has proven that it just really isn't that simple. I'd rather be playing 2 teams in the top 7

We aren't alone. Bristol Rovers conceded an equaliser to 9 man Salford!

Weirdly I think Northampton are in a horrible situation - the pressure on that team is going to be immense.  3rd place by a point and having to play a team going for the title and in great form and one of the promoted teams away that have gauranteed safety and will be having their last party of the season at home.  If they manage to remain in the top 3 then fair play, they deserve it - but drop any points and they are likely to be in the play offs or worse - imagine picking yourselves up for the play offs after being in the automatics and then dropping out at the last hurdle.

I think the Cobblers will be spending another year in League 2

All we can do is win the last 2 games and hope that somebody drops points, it would be an amazing run from us after only a couple of weeks ago everyone thought we was done for.

After the determination from the players against FGR lets hope they can show that same level of performance in the next 2 games and see where it gets us.

I really do hope we can snatch it at the last though and then see who we meet in the PO's.

Well somone has to drop points as some teams are against each other. Its just if it goes correctly in our favour or not.

Interesting for us if we win vs Barrow and both Exeter and FGR win too.

More teams with stuff to play for on the last day!

I wished my Bradford supporting workmate all the best for tomorrow  :)

The proverbial goal early doors from us to settle the nerves tomorrow with a second just before half time would put the cat amongst the pigeons for our competitors to think about. Trust me, every manager in the mix despite what they say will be looking at the latest scores.

That would be very nice - Don't want the stress of another sending off or injury though thank you! :-)

Swindon Town Football Club are delighted to announce that fans will have the opportunity to take a penalty against Clem Morfuni on Saturday!

do we know the level of skill of this owner ???

I would be more worried by the skill level of the fans taking the shot, that Rolex clock is valuable!

Whilst I have a lot of time for Clem and what he has done for the cluib, things like this are all a little bit tinpotty!

Have to say I tend to agree, very cringe IMO.

Is that before or after he’s served pints in the Merlin?

You'd do well to hit the clock from the Town End! (assuming it'll be that end).

Theres some expensive signage at the Town End too! :D

Where's your sense of fun?

Its not based on that, more an interpretation of what would be said on here if say we went to FGR and their fans were firing penalties at Dale Vince at half time...

You don't need to worry what anyone else will think. No Barrow fans will be there.  ;)

FFS - you miserable cunts - it's just a bit of fun.

Couldn’t disagree anymore. The engagement between club and fans is massively under appreciated and things like this break down barriers and builds relationships. We all love hearing a story of a manager or owner stepping out of the comforts of the boardroom to meet and interact with the fans. Or would you rather Clem stayed in Australia, hated the fans, popped up every so often to speak to Shaun, bled the club dry and then complain there’s no money left to bleed out?  ;D

Exactly. Down to earth and a fan too. Fair play to him. Some like to keep up the misery/moany town fan narrative  :)

Its just a bit of fun and something the young fans will enjoy. Marriage proposals on the pitch now that's just cringey😀

There's depressing news seemingly at every turn at the moment, on here as well.

Anything that puts a smile on people's faces is very welcome.
Fair play to Clem and the club, I'm sure it will be good fun.

Good for a rendition of "Does she take it up the arse?" though.

Or get your tits out for the lads😀

+ "you don't know what you're doing"

Memories of that FA Cup game at the piss stains

Be ok if they were firing pork sausages or beef burgers at him.

One won by the skin of their teeth, one as predicted, let’s see what happens on Monday.

74 points now.
Only 1 team has ever reached 74 points in this division and not made playoffs since playoffs started 35 years ago.
Could happen to 3 teams this season.

Barton vs Garner in the play offs anyone?

Not sure it would end well.

No, because selfishly I'd like a chance to get a ticket and that won't happen at Rovers.

 :nod:

Spot on we would get around 700 at their place which wouldn't be snapped up by season ticket holders and they would be allocated around 2500 at ours😡

If we do make the play offs - is there anything stopping the club from only giving the away side the corner of the Arkells stand, and using the Bank for home fans? Regardless of who the opposition may be.

Assume it would be like a cup game and the minimum we could give is 10% which would be about 1,350ish so not sure the bit in the Arkells would be enough. Unless you could remove the netting and use those seats…

You wouldn’t need to give them the whole bank but then giving away fans a section of the bank and giving home fans the rest brings up a whole lotta other issues and costs with stewards / police.

After a quick Google, you are bang on.

If I'm counting dots correctly and the dots correctly correspond to reality, there are 1,200 seats in the away corner of the Arkells... I can't see how the Bank could be policed safely with mixed fans in there so we'll most likely have to give up the Bank to facilitate but then I question how we were able to get away with filling the Bank today? Offered and not taken perhaps?

Good shout.
That was great seeing the Bank full of Swindon fans yesterday.
Made a difference.

Absolutely this.

Long time since I’ve been in the Arkells but is there any legal reason why we couldn’t move the netting. Block the door off (as I assume the doors around that block would lead to the home concourse) and just have a smaller gap / a entire line of police / stewards along the divide. That would take us past the 10% and leave the bank completely free for home fans.

I’d imagine the extra stewarding costs would be more than offset by the extra tickets we could sell.

Maybe police advice would be getting Swindon fans out and past away fans in the Arkells would be problematic.

Only Vale, out of the other PO contenders, have a respectable capacity for away fans.

The others are tinpot so why give them any advantage at ours - in the event of us qualifying, of course.

We wouldn’t lose out on money as I’d expect home fans would sell out the Bank.

Bollocks to ‘em.

On the subject of money, I think the gate receipts are split between clubs and the EFL. So although giving any away team the Arkells and bank if they had the following we’d not get the full cash benefit anyway.

Would any, other than Rovers, need the Bank anyway?

Apart from Sutton, I’d say yes - all of them.

I can see us v Mansfield. Another chance to put one over Clough in the POs.

Isn't Mansfield's away end petty big, too?

1600+ from memory

According to footballgroundguide.com - away capacity for the teams in and around the play offs are:

Bristol Rovers - 1000
Mansfield - 1800
Northampton - 1200
Port Vale - 4500
Salford - 1200
Sutton - No Number Given
Tranmere - 2500

I thought the reduced capacity  was just because  it was us and we'd been silly for a few games

didn't realise it was permanent

Yep, they have capacity to accommodate more - not a permanent reduction.

Apparently they suffered damage in the storms a couple of months ago and now capacity is low 9000.

This was it

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=4835616613152157&_rdr

 :clap: :clap:

Rovers gave Bradford 1,042 tickets for the match 4 weeks ago so this must be their max away capacity.
How did they get away with only giving us 700 or so for the league game as that breaches the 10% rule?

Police advice probably because a few of our fans had misbehaved at other away games.

The repercussions from Stevenage and the pyrotechnics being let off sadly.

Cheers for that.  Vale it is then!

Tranmere in the semis would bring back a few memories.

What a night!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV6bUJpx6PI

Don't think that is even possible looking at it?

Salford 1 up on Mansfield.

Ah there is a thread for the games today. Hadn't read (back)

Mansfield level now.