Thetownend.com

Well on paper a nailed on home win. Or is it? Dare mortgage your wife, kids and house to screw the bookies or will we implode the ‘Swindon Way’ gifting the opposition a very, very early Christmas present?

Swindon Beer Festival @ Steam this weekend.
Fiver on the door tomorrow from 11.
An opportunity for a fine ale or two before the game.
Ideal.

Piece of piss, 4-1.

Maybe the Man from Laramie can get some ooomph into our attacking third.

We've been alternating wins/losses for the last 8 games (including Pizza Cup nonsense). This game should be a win as a result.

Fingers crossed.

Anyone got any freebies? I am a tight bastard and the boy wants to go...

As I mentioned in the Pizza Cup thread, we continue to look good on the ball without ever looking overly dangerous. If SL and various coaches can sort that out, we could be looking up the table.

In Colchester and Hartlepool at home we couldn't have had 2 kinder fixtures before tougher assignments at Valley Parade and Field Mill. (or their sponsor heavy equivalent names) We got the 3 points against a pretty abject Colchester, if anything on paper this crowd are worse and putting them to the sword would be lovely. They have Menayese as a CB. Last time he played here Walsall were taken apart, a repeat would certainly be peachy. 

Indeed, we look an excellent football team in the middle of the pitch. If we could look even half as good at the top end we'd be onto something...

Absolutely agree. I do still think our defence looks a mess at times but we've conceded 13 in 14 games, probably thanks to having Sol Brynn who has been busier than perhaps SL would have liked. I guess getting the final third sorted is the hard part. SL and co look to have the middle of the pitch sorted as you say. (Would be nice if we can get Reed integrated somehow) We've come unstuck against Northampton and Stevenage so far, Bradford and Mansfield will be a barometer of how much we've learned from those defeats. Going into those games off the back of a big win against the monkey hangers would be a right fillip.

Everything points to a win. Say 1-0.

Adeloye to score a wonder goal

3-0 Swindon Att: 8.590 (135 Pool)

Anything other than a high scoring win would be unacceptable. Last week was drab, I'm hoping for a far better performance which excites, an early goal for Town would certainly help that.

0-0 in front of 8,789 with 115 Poolies there.

Khan MotM.

Same as last week a dominant 1-0 win where Town create very few chances with 80% possession.

I will take that. I am going for a 3-0 home win

Swindon 2-0 Hartlepool. 8111 with 132 monkeyhangers.

Jephcott and Gladwin

New poster...welcome😀

Welcome you Cunt

 :D :D

Lost an old Mate this week, opened up some wounds and special memories.
Taking a detour on route to the match tomorrow to have a beer in the Swan Pub at Radcot.
Was a special place where we went fishing, camping out on the 15th June, waiting for the glorious 16th June, the start of the season, 3:30am sunrise just breaking, it was magical.
Special memories, fun, laughter and not a care in the World as the mist rolled across the fields, with the sound of the Curlew breaking the Morning.

A chance to pay my respect, a chance to reminisce and the Rock tracks of yesteryear in the car to roll back to those memorable years.

Swindon Town the constant, never stopped going, never intend to stop. Times like this make the bond even stronger and why I am looking forward to going to the game tomorrow.
“The club that refused to die.”

RIP Mate - See you at the bar 🍺🙏

 :toocool: :pint:

Must be home win and has to be an improvement on last week so going for a 2-0 win and Gladders with a brace ! 8220 with 101 well travelled fans from Hartlepool.
Birding note to the Duke: I remember Curlew and Redshank at Radcot both long gone from the area now.  :cry:

Any win will do.

I think we are going to lose this 1-0.

119 travelling fans.

I discovered Ye Olde Swan this summer, absolutely beautiful pub!

Sorry to hear about your pal.

No home fans 🤔

Can’t go today as I have to actually look after my own children (bummer) but have given my brother my season ticket so it’s not wasted. Hoping for a repeat performance of Colchester, drab 1-0 win rather than missing Town give out a drubbing (cue 2-1 defeat now)

I'm out this afternoon so today's MoM thread probably won't be up on the final whistle - if someone else wants to do it then that's fine, otherwise I'll have it up early evening.

Not being negative but Hartlepool have won just once this season (Doncaster home 2-1) and have lost 7 of the opening 14 games (10 in all 18 league and cup games) scoring just 12 times and conceding 25 in the league (scoring 14 and conceding 35 in all games) the most goals conceded in league 2 so far.

Their leading scorer is big striker Joshua Chukwudinma Umerah on 7 goals from 15 games followed by winger Wes MacDonald on 3.

Hartlepool had an almost entire squad swap in pre season bringing in 18 players including ex scummer Chris Maguire.

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/15068121.oxford-united-striker-chris-maguire-message-swindon-town-fans-remember/

They have ex Town players Rollin Menayese and Theo Robinson in the squad as well as ex Town trialist Mikael Ndjoli.

The Monkey Hangers play a typical Keith Curle style with large strong players and longer ball tactics, they have kept just 3 clean sheets so far.

Interestingly they have a pass completion rate of 66% (Swindon are 2nd highest on 77%).

For those that are interested they have averages 48% possession(14th) so far (Swindon 2nd on 61%).

For shots Swindon sit 4th with 150 shots and Hartlepool 9th with 112 shots so far.

In open play in games we have 121 passing sequences of 10+ passes per move sequence (2nd), Hartlepool have had 63.

We have had 28 moves of 10+ passing sequences that ended with a shot (1st), Hartlepool 10.

Direct Speed is an indicator of how quickly a team progresses the ball upfield (metres/second).

Swindons Direct Speed is 1.27 is the 20th in league 2 (Stevenage top with 2.07) and Hartlepool sit in 10th on 1.58.

I am off out for lunch so wont be posting anything from now until probably after 4 but will keep an eye on things on my mobile. So MDT could be a fair bit quieter without my ramblings :)

I’ve got FBT @ 12/1 anytime scorer. He’s been close lately - could be today.

Seeing as JJ is off galavanting

The ‘and’ at the end of the listed substitutes bugs me way more than it should.

Struggling to find a team here. 442?

Well annoying

Oh,y'know Phil "y'know" Smith on comms. Tough listening

At least they fucked the Oxford comma up. We don't want anything O related in the team sheet

You and me both

And?

Early goals for Crawley (v Mansfield) and Northampton (v Stevenage).

Any later in the game that would’ve been a booking

Orient ahead at Carlisle too. Lots of early goals in L2 today.

I hate the way Gladwin always does this just in front of his own defence

Great pass Gladwin great move

Cheers then. Hopefully should make the game a bit more interesting

Jonny "the wizard" Williams. Get in!

Great ball from Gladwin on his left. Onside by half a yard, GK was convinced he was offside.

Jephcott’s been lively early on

And just as I post…

Hutton's recent creativity gets it's reward.We want 6!

Summerbee esque from Hutton and great movement from Jephcott. Time for a cup of tea

Just goes to show doesn't it. Put the ball in the box with enough quality and we have players who can score goals.

*Against the league’s worst side

Blimey. He knows his stuff but "Y'know,I mean,sort of,kind of" Phil Smith is very hard to listen to.

granted, but we've been in hundreds of those positions this season and the crosses have been shocking.

I can't make up my mind whether Phil Smith or Dave Hockaday is the lesser of two evils

Clumsy, casual, complacent

It's a tough one

At least we’ve got lots of back up at centre back. Oh…

FFS Baudry!

They can't defend crosses, so why piss about with short corners?

I’d go so far as to suggest we need to sign a free agent at centre half, we have so little depth there.

I think FBT could do a job there if needed.

Will Gladwin ever shoot from open play again?

Borderline booking for Willo that

Some good, some bad and some ugly. Would hope for another goal and a tightening at the back for the 2nd half.

2-0 from two great crosses and cruising.

Baudry fuck up and it's not so certain

sigh.

I'm not there today, come on Town get a couple more.

If I were Hartlepool I would put everyone behind the ball and wait for us to make 1 or 2 mistakes.

Phil Smith 'Cant work out whether it is good play by Umera (sp) or poor defending'.

I think it's a bit of both.

Yes!

Got what you wanted.

Yep. Decent.

Irrespective of the result, this isn’t football I can get excited about.

It kills any atmosphere.

Attendance: 8,527 (123)

Good chance that for Wakeling after Jephcott flicks on a Hutton cross.

I'm getting closer😀  3-0 Swindon Att: 8.590 (135 Pool)

3 shots on target against their 2. This is the bottom club, at home.  ::)

Iandolo on for Jepchott.

Thats not a very attacking substitution, seems like we are going to sit back on our lead.

Oh good. Smiler’s back.

Saving Jephcott for two tough away games maybe!

That’s what he did last week you shouldn’t be taking off your attackers when winning against a lower team at home by 1 goal in my opinion

Very solid header from Frenchy from a corner but quite easily saved.

Brynn saves Town blushes.

Agree 110%

Just got back, feels a bit nervy after a good start?

Could still easily go either way TBH.

Tell me about it, if only we’d had 20 shots on target but only 1 had gone in.  ::)

Which is rather worrying.

Never a pen that. Even after lower league VAR.

Definately not a pen on Khan.

How has Clayton got it over the bar from there? Offside so doesn't matter but an impressive feat.

How the fuck did Clayton not hit the target then from 2 yards?

Given offside anyway.

What the fuck was Iandolo doing with that flick on the right wing of all places, we were on a good attack until then.

Are Hartlepool sponsored by Shit Direct or are my eyes going?

Two weak league two shots there

Wakeling and then Khan both miss great chances, decent saves though TBF.

Hutton gets sponsors MotM.

Town get away with that again from a good cross, poor control.

Aguiar coming on.

6 mins added time.

Khan shot saved well low down.

Good choice. He's up and down that wing all game and his deliveries into the box have been effective. He's come on well this season.

Khan in with a shout, poor shot notwithstanding.

6 mins has there been any lengthy stoppages🤔

1st half he was excellent, been more quiet this half but still probably my choice too.

Definately between Khan and Hutton for me, Hutton maybe just edging it.

Aguiar on for Darcy.

Looks dead cert to me

https://twitter.com/jiff1967/status/1583847532488462336

Iandolo with a theatrical dive, and is booked.

Still doesn't look a pen to me, the defender got the ball first IMO.

FT 2-1

A win is a win.

Meh. We shouldn’t be letting sides this poor stay in the game.

Up to 5th I think

Exactly chuckles.

Oh I agree, we are struggling to kill off teams, but we did still win at least.

Not the prettiest performance but we managed to score 2 goals for the first time in 6 games.

Not a great performance. It's obvious to me why we beat the weak teams and lose to the good ones this season. I'd be very surprised to see a win at Bradford.

Up to 5th in the league sandwiched between Mansfield & Bradford

 ;D

If we can stay there after the next 3 games I’d be impressed - Bradford, Mansfield, Tranmere.

Got there in the end. Heavier work than it should have been.

in a good league position and have beaten the teams we are expected to beat.

Now onto a couple of tricky ones, the type that may dictate where we end up

Thought that was a battle between 2 poor teams.

Surprised that we are up to 5th. Shows there must be a distinct lack of quality in L2.

I rejoice in another 3 points.

Most of today's attendances.....beat the piss stains again😀

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/fixtures/_/date/2021001022

Good team Bradford drew 0-0 at Grimsby who we beat having despite 10 men for half an hour. One win in 5 in all comps.

I'm confident of a point at least there on Tuesday.

Also surprised Crawley beat Mansfield.

Think our performance was more dictated by Hartlepools style of play. 5-4-1 even at the death and they never looked like threatening us. We aren’t pretty a lot of the time but we can grind out wins which is the sign of a pretty decent team. Into 5th can’t complain too much really

It’s a win, but we need to play so much faster and take one touch not three. It wasn’t entertaining at times and the atmosphere continues to suffer as a result. But up to fifth. Can’t wait to get out of this division.

Hutton, Clayton - good performances and delighted with the win, but the size of the matchday thread may give some indication that the football hasn’t been the most exciting of late. Maybe it can’t be against teams like that?

Probably needed to win the last two, and we did. Certainly doesn’t seem like we’ve peaked yet! Always will be an element of being brought down to their level, when poor sides come to try and not get beaten. These are the sorts of games we managed to mess up last year. Onwards  :beers:

Whether it's down to formations or instructions. Darcy and wakeling are not having any impact on this team. Not today or last 2 homes games. Where does darcy play? Because he seems to be absolutely everywhere and almost everywhere I wouldn't want him to be.

We need to adapt formation or adapt personel to get the best out of the team.

3 points is brilliant and that's not me overlooking that. Last season we would crave these home wins.

Williams and Hutton were very good once again.

Again I think there is an over allowance of wanting to play out wide and hartlepool after the first 30 mins really closed down that option and we don't have the setup in the middle of the pitch to truly punish teams that do that. I want darcy in a number 10 role like his shirt states. Anywhere else we have better players for those positions.

Williams and Darcy together doesn't work.

Williams drifts into Darcy's spaces. Meanwhile we have no one on the left side who wants to put a cross in.

Blake-Tracey is a neat footballer, good defensively and in the air, but he doesn't want to cross. Then with Williams continually moving into the number 10 position we run out of ideas down the left side.

I hadn't thought it conceivable before, but given Lindsay has put him on there a couple of times now, playing Iandolo wide left of the 3 behind Jephcott (with Williams at 10 and Darcy rotating with him and Gladwin as needed) starts to make sense.

Hutton has been getting in great positions consistently since coming back into the side - today he remembered how to cross and put a couple of great balls in. That was the difference between today and e.g. Stevenage where he had the same, if not better, positions but his touch failed him.

Good to get another win

Blake Tracey comes across as the type to fill in for bauldry at cb and have ellis back at left back. Bauldry keeps having a couple of really bad moments every game but then he dealt with the big no.9 perfectly throughout.

Agree with Williams and darcy. Williams is a float around player and we can't have 2 of those in the midfield.

I'd rather Reed back in and Khan for darcy if we are sticking with formation

Blake Tracey for Baudry when we’ve already got a left footed centre back in Clayton would be bizarre

It would. But I don't think I would trust any of our sub cbs to replace bauldry if lindsey decides he needs a rest or needs to be dropped.

I still think we're missing a predator in the box

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/12727642/swindon-town-2-1-hartlepool-united-league-two-highlights

Deserved win against a poor Hartlepool side. With better finishing we’d have won comfortably rather than it feeling a bit tense in the later stages.
Mixed performance from the ref - let the game flow (good) and got some key decisions correct - eg Williams penalty appeal just before half time. Lack of complaints from players generally highlighted that he did ok. However, the Khan penalty decision looks wrong after seeing again, and it was ridiculous to book Iandolo for diving - I thought that was a foul, but even if not, the contact made it difficult for him to avoid going down. Also lack of action on the shirt pulling was frustrating at times.
I assume Baudry presented their No 9 with his shirt after the game, as he was always trying to get it off him.

 but as a percentage of the population of each town/city Oxford win don't they ?

They're the ones always crowing that they're the bigger club plus never known a Swindon supporter defend them.

just commenting on your post . I understand that you and possibly another on here have a real interest their attendances

Yep always, hated them since the mid 70's

Metro area populations for the two are both around 1/4 million. I think Swindon shares it by 5 or 6k but not much in it

Ive not read anything about the three penalties we should have had🤔

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mXPTJJV5o8A

JBZ?

Good shout :clap:

There was definitely one on Khan in the second half

Didn’t Williams get a shove as the ball came to him in the first half. That looked like it could have been given.

Baudry has an odd mistake in him, but moving Blake Tracey to cover just moves the issue to left back.

I would be tempted to try Ellis at CB.

Ellis would be far too one-sided to play anywhere centrally, I think. He simply wouldn’t have the positioning to play at centre back, in a back 2. He was tried (and I recall, did well) one the left of a back 3 years ago. Baudry has the odd mistake in him, but he is a good defender, who sometimes overplays. Yesterday he tried to turn the number 9, in a way 90% of League Two centre backs would never even think of. Still better than what we have seen of Harries and Brennan by some considerable distance.

The first 20 minutes the performance was better and we attacked and scored goals. The atmosphere was still really shit. There comes a time like last season where fans just need to get behind them.

Rightly or wrongly it just feels like we have a support base at the moment that are more vocal when things aren't going well

Thats true

I would happily have FBT at CB but not Iandolo at LB, he just doesnt work there defensively, keep him in midfield or wide left, hes a liability at LB as he showed yet again at Rovers on Tuesday.

I hope Devine can get some fitness, otherwise I would say possibly Lavinier at LB as he has played there for Spurs previously.

Ian Dolo played well there previously but only as part of a 3 CB set up, I wouldnt want to rely on him in a 2 CB pairing especially with 2 left footers at CB.

i dont know how one of our most consistent and best players last season can't start in his most played position.

in the vast majority of games we play at home we don't actually need to rely on him that much defensively anyway. visiting teams with a back 5 means we usually only have 2 centre backs left at the back when we are attacking. can't help but think your going a bit Trent AA on your view point of him

because he's bang average at left back when defending

I can't remember this critism last season over the 44 games he played when this very forum voted him as one of best players. To go from playing every game to not even wanting him play left back as he's below average.

It's very strange. You could argue that Blake Tracey is below average in attacking from left back so just depends what people want from a possession dominating team that heavily rely on width, passing triangles and crossing.

you could, but he's fine at defending

we've done 'iandolo isn't a left back' argument a fair bit. it's not new

It's a balancing act for. If people want us to be more attacking then you need a more attacking left back,I'm happy enough nicking wins so would rather we leave things how they are.

 

Seem to remember that Iandolos best performances last season came when he played at centre mid..

he played well there indeed

Is he better long term there than Reed, assuming he can get form back?

I suspect Reed is finished here, so moot.

Havent read back.

At 2 zip i was looking forward to going back to the pub with us 4 or 5 up.

It didnt happen.....what was Frenchy thinking with that defending?? Did he think he was on Strictly?

After we gave them one it was a huff and puff battle.

Their keeper made two good saves in the second and from the TE it wasnt a Penalty (could of been if Khan was a bit more committed).

Seems the results are coming rather than the performances....so fine by me.

I will be at Bradford tomorrow night and we will need to show up then for sure.

Haven't read back but with only 11 pages, it's not going to take long!

As with the Colchester game it wasn't overly impressive. From our 2 goals it was clear that their keeper was glued to his goal line and the defence had zero confidence. From our perspective 2 good goals but if you are a Hartlepool fan you'd be livid at the keeper and defence. From then on it looked like a case of how many but Baudry dropped a clanger and Hartlepool got one back. You could see from their body language however that even though they were right back in it, barely anyone went over to their goalscorer or even tried to gee up their side. Clayton and Baudry were both having a poor game and Umerah up front was getting nothing from the referee thankfully, a good honest battle with Frenchy giving as good as he was getting against the big number 9.

The second half was quite dull, we probably did enough to score at least 1 more but I actually can't remember what happened now so won't dwell on it any further. Another 3 points in the bag and up to 5th in the table. I still don't think we look particularly convincing, I do think the wing-backs with Hutton and FBT are the only 'settled' part of the pitch with both players consistently playing well. I thought Baudry and Clayton looked shaky and running the danger of tempting fate, I think Brynn has a clanger in him around the corner. Don't get me wrong he has been excellent this season but there were 2 or 3 moments on Saturday that could have ended up disastrously on another day, particularly when he kicks the ball ahead of him and does run the risk of a striker nicking the ball away from him or his hurried clearance blocked. I thought Gladwin ran the show well, his range of passing is excellent, a tough skill which at times he makes easy. Khan and Darcy ok I guess, good between the boxes but never really penetrating enough. Still not sure about the front 3, all work hard and have good running and whilst it seems a bit silly given 2/3 of them scored, I'm not sure the way we play suits Wakeling.

At the end of the day we got the 3 points, but it was much more of a grind than it probably should have been. Bradford and Mansfield will be much more of a barometer of where we currently are. I wonder if Reed might come back into the fold to add a bit more nous for the tougher games.

One thing which makes it harder for us is the poor finishing when one on one with the keeper
 
Both Wakeling and Khan through on the keeper which were saved

Colchester game Jephcot through and keeper saved

There is not what I would class as a good finisher in the side.

We should be putting away at least 1 in 3 and more likely 2 in 3. Would make these games so much easier

1 in 3 would probably be a reasonable 4th tier return.

Top league 2 goal scorers

https://www.soccerstats.com/scorers.asp?league=england4

I didn't think wakeling even took the shot on his 1 on 1. Dithered on the ball for that long that their defending tackled him which carried the ball towards the goal keeper.

Good header from Jephcott his goal.

There's a player in there that we need to unlock. The stats say so too (not meant sarcastically)