Thetownend.com

I've allowed myself to be distracted by the McKirdy signing.  Felt I needed it. Off to Newport, if you get there in time, hit the Tiny Rebel brew pub...you'll thank me.

The LS guys swear by it.

Highly recommend ''Weird Dad'' for anyone crossing the border to sample some beer {and maybe see some footy}  :pint:

Speaking as someone who doesn't live in Venezuela, why is this game not on ifollow?

It's *meant* to be Saturday 3pm, I think is the way it works.

It is on here ... ko  12:45 UK

Where is here?

The UK.

I am not in the UK. I watch from Slovakia on ifollow. The match starts at 12:45 UK time

z
To be more specific, why is the match restricted to those who live "abroad" when it's not a 3.00 pm k.o. I understand that there are ways to watch it that may involve certain clever behaviour but I lack the nouse to take advantage of these.

Our game goes past 14.25 in the normal 90 mins so is included in the ban as it will finish around 14.45.

I think the 3pm rule is a bit silly now. I bet if clubs negotiated more of the fee from iFollow then they'd soon drop it.

But for games that end before 3pm to not be available {in the normal way} is even more silly. To me, if a game is completed by 2.5Opm then that's a far enough grace period. Also, if a match were to overrun, surely iFollow could just ''black screen'' the feed and mute audio automatically if it passed the curfew?  :hmmm:

That's what I needed to know. Cheers PV.

Just to confirm, the game should be able to be streamed if you're using VPN or in a 'Chateau' you say?

You are very welcome.

It wont be renegotiated until 2029.

Where do you get 14.25 from JJ? According to this article -

"The rule prevents matches being shown on domestic television on Saturdays between 2.45pm and 5.15pm" Our game should be finished before 2.45 right?

It was from the Daily Mail so I've not shared the link to protect the innocent.

Aye, I understand that mate and the timing window. I still think it's silly in the modern era and we know eventually money will talk. Effectively, with most people who are watching via iFollow now, that blackout window is pretty much ineffective due to VPN viewers.

Which is probably why {and especially by 2029} a renegotiated approach needs to be administered for an adapted deal.

For me, it's a bit like the introduction of the smoking ban. Yes, it has done its purpose in taking it out of enclosed public spaces but people who smoke still smoke. Similarly with football in the EFL, even if they removed the iFollow blackout, I don't think it would overly impact in person attendances. Ergo {like smokers}, people who go to the football will still go to the football

BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-67626040

So who do we trust? The Daily Mail or the BBC?

I went with the BBC but others state 14.45, but, TBH even if its 14.45 our game will still go past that time with time added on for stoppages so its irrelevant really so thats probably the reason behind that still.

To be honest, if the Mail said black wasn't white, I wouldn't believe them.

Ah fair enough.

Like choosing "who's your favourite peddler of mistruth"

I’d imagine 2/3 first teamers won’t make the squad tomorrow.

On paper we have 24 fit pros with only Uwakwe, Clayton and Devine injured. So in theory that's six...

My back of an envelope squad leaves out Minturn, Genesini, McEachran, Shade, Aguiar and Dworzak. That has four forwards/wingers on the bench though so maybe McEachran makes it in over one of them.

Believe one of Mintirn or Dworzak has to be in to fulfil the club developed player rule

Sent from my SM-A346B

Bollixed if I can fathom out the likely set up or starting XI

It’ll be the same as last week, barring injuries.

Was expecting that to finish paedophile ring to be honest.

My guess is Brewitt in for Kokolo assuming the former is fit with FBT moving to left back. Bench harder to predict.

Sent from my SM-A346B

Gav did say that none of the potential signings were going to play at Newport, Zach maybe on the bench, not sure about those signed yesterday

prepare to quote me on this when it happens but FBT wont be playing lb for us in a town shirt. at hospitality last season he was adamant CB is his preference and it seems he has played that in every fixture since.

Damn right, too!

Club website saying tickets on sale on the day at Newport.
Thought this was all ticket and sold out,  anyone know what’s going on ??.

According to club’s twitter, not on sale tomorrow and were only 39 left about 10am today.

Wonder if McKirdy is in the squad, would’ve presumably only got to England yesterday.

Another admin error

Not one score prediction to date😁

Newport 1 Swindon 2 att: 5,877 (inc 1,050 Clem’s army)

Pre match drinking till I want no more in The Godfrey Morgan.

Always a pleasure to visit Casnewydd for the annual shit hole derby, where we all gather later in Rodney Plonker Parade for some playful banter deriding the virtues of our respective towns.
Sorry, our town, their city. :girlgiggle:

So the well oiled window has swung gently closed.
Surprisingly decent & hopefully part of the building process for next season.

Liking the look of the forward options.
Looking forward to seeing Zach in action, hopefully more Ndah & less O'Brien.

Might as well go for it for what remains of the season, there is nothing to lose.

The return of McKirdy is intriguing. Recovery from op aside, 20mins from the bench here must be better than little or no game time at Hibs. It's up to him assuming mind & body are up to the task.

The prediction from reading the dregs at the bottom of the glass would be getting soaked, playing rubbish & heavy defeat.

With tin foil hat fitted the prediction would be that Mad Gav manages to conjure what Morris & Flynn struggled with, and that's an away win.

In short, no idea what will happen today.
However, 3rd Feb has been a good day for us, never having lost away in a league game.
So there, a draw it is.

Hope the boozer has the cricket on, WB. Perfect morning that would be.

Woke up with a hankering to go to Newport. Must be for footballing reasons as I don’t need a passport and can think of no other reason to go. Can I still get tickets at the ground?

Or does anybody have a ticket they want to offload?

Wobbly
Hope you enjoy a wonderful day in South Wales and Town continue to enjoy not losing on February 3rd

Do we think McKirdy will be involved today? Looked like he was still in Scotland when he signed Thursday and can’t have trained yesterday if travelling down

I would be massively surprised if he's in the squad. The same really with the other deadline day signings.

They've probably not had a single training session yet.

Perhaps 1 or 2 could make the bench as an absolute last resort if we need a goal?

I suspect It'll be the same starting 11 as against Bradford. With Elbouzedi on the bench.

Since Newport came back into the league in 2014 we have played 7 times at the Exiles stadium with Town winning 2, drawing 2 and losing 3 times. No game has ever had either side score more than 2 goals in any game and no game has had more than 3 goals in total.

Hopefully we will see some of the new "exciting signings" we made today either starting or off the bench.

Stupid fucking kick off time, pandering to the Welsh egg chasers.

Game has 1-1 written all over it for me in front of 4,954 (1,341 Swindon).

I think that Rich on LSPOD was right in that the atmosphere for early kick offs is always a bit flat compared to 3pm.

Then again hopefully a fast start, an early goal & keeping 11 on the pitch will gain & retain the attention of the away end.

On way to Newport with Qunk, no tickets, can anyone advise if still selling as per website?

It’s sold out isn’t it?

Yep, 1400

I thought it was limited to 1,040 as last year was?

Apparently McKirdy, Drinnan and McGurk are there but not ElBow.

All on the bench

From the club

Nearly 1,400 of you joining us in Newport today! 👏

Let's do this, #STFC fans! ❤️

unchanged is right call

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFaNPGBXgAEHcYw?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

All 4 deadline day signings on the bench, nice. Also the return of Brewitt.

No place for McCreachan

He looked like a lost lamb when he came on last week.

The ex forest guy doesn’t even make the bench, he looked useful last week. No centre Mids on the bench either so a lot riding on Khan and Cain.

I'm guessing that international clearance might take longer for Zach.

Edit: On the bench. All good.

Excellent, the most we have taken there in many years with the previous limited allocations, must be in the new temporary stand they put up for the United game then.

Pair him up with mint(urn) sauce.

Apparently not :)

Probably scared the taffs might shag him.

Hopefully it didn’t as he’s in the bench.

Mind you with the clubs admin as it is that doesn’t mean anything ;)

Might be a case of supporting a ticket purchase in a home area with a "there's lovely for you".

Nevertheless, hope that you both get in.

The Swindon Male voice choir has just arrived at the turnstiles. One red flare confiscated.

I think Ben Garner is on co-comms today?!

Bbc Wilts just tweeted a pic of him and McKirdy chatting pitchside

Interesting. We might hear more of him on comms than we did in his season here!

Has enough time passed that we don’t actually give a fuck?

Oddly balanced bench.

Him and Johnson both here doing running.

Very reliant on Khan and I guess Cain staying fit for the remainder of the season looking at that bench.

It still feels very odd that we brought in so many forwards but didn’t address the main problem we’ve had for the last 2 seasons.

Jephcott on the bench for Newport.

Well we have McEachran and Dworzak and picked neither in preference to a second cover CB and a fourth cover attacker. It's probably our best 18 players but it's not really what a bench is for.

Still, it's a luxury to have this as the selection worry compared to where we've been most of the season.

The pitch looks dreadful with not much grass down the sides.

Said Khans brother with two comp tickets. Legend. Hope Saidou scores now.

Bah, Betfair haven’t got any odds on Harry McKirdy to score….

FWIW just looking at that bench I wonder if ‘Brewitt in midfield’ is an option?

Its a role he played at Liverpool as did Clayton when hes fit again, definate option.

A pity that some elements of Gen Z can't recognise a queue when they see one & when they do can't be bothered to join the end of it.

Oh Harry McKirdy!!

my eldest is there. if he's one feel free to twat him

Last minute McKirdy winner would alright wouldn’t it…

I guess he is the cover as there is nothing else.

But having witnessed how erratic he is on the ball and his positional issues I’m not convinced it’s an option that would work for any more than a couple of minutes at the end of games.

Perhaps that is because, in true Swindon stylee, he is a midfielder being played out of position in defence?

Didn't see Batch Jnr. I'm sure he's a chip off the old block when it comes to sensibility.  :)

9/1 on bet365

Garner is a fairly insightful chap but does have a boring voice.

Uh oh

Perhaps having CBs behind him to bark orders at him might help with that?
Who knows - just guessing

Newport straight at us from the kick off.

Please Mr Cameraman dont zoom in so fucking close.

Kokolo fouled near the touchline just outside the box after he beat his man.

That's a very soft yellow on two minutes. Will have to watch this ref I think!

FK hits the post from Devoy, keeper well beaten too.

Not a great passback to Bycroft by Dokes but he does well with good feet to find FBT under pressure.

Game is a bit like pinball so far by both teams.

Cain great pass to Glatzel but his shot is blocked.

Cain beats his man and has a shot from 25 yards, easy save by their keeper.

bright start

Kokolo gives away a soft foul near the touchline 20 yards out.

Austin heads the ball away, good defensive header.

Its all a bit frantic so far without much quality shown, but we are probably edging the game so far in chances created.

Still on defensive duties!

RHM turns and forgets to take the ball with his feet and loses possession.

Austin playing a fair bit deeper today so far.

A great challenge and tackle by McCarthy in the 6 yards box to win and keep the ball.

Blimey Newport string 4 passes together for the first time.

RHM fouls their player 40 yards out. Weak foul given.

Glatzel charges down the FK.

End to end stuff

Dokes cleverly beats his man and finds Cain who is fouled.

Quite frantic without much actual quality.

Just realised that Pharrell Johnson isn’t in the squad - Bet he’s not happy! 😎

(Thought he looked good last week - McCarthy also looking good today)

RHM is causing real trouble down the left.

It's like the whole game is RHM, frantic and fun but not quite the end product. The man himself is prominent along with Cain.

McCarthy seems to be the exactly calm defender we have been crying out for this season.

Austin wins the ball on the half way line and tries to chip the keeper with a half volley but it doesnt come off.

Its like thrash metal...lots of noise but no tune.

Newport player with a bad challenge on Glatzel witht heball out of play, corner to Town.

Devoy with a nice lobbed cross, taken by the keeper.

No Shade? Injured?

No, just crap.

Better attacking options than him TBH.

Devoy caught with a foot in by Newport player.

Newport are a proper dirty team.

Khan breaks but cant make his mind up on the edge of the box and loses the ball.

McCarthy with a 60 yard pass to Glatzel that the keeper struggles to clear.

McCarthy’s been very impressive on one on ones

I miss Hutton's crossing.

Good play by Dokes and then Khan in the box but his shot is cleared.

was just going to say same. been excellent so far

This is all thats needed :)

Newport a bit like a budget version of Stevenage last year. Nasty off the ball and just after the ball is played, big on set pieces.

Last season’s Hutton perhaps, this season he was pretty pony

They didn’t look dirty against United last week.

i dont miss hes defending. :pint:

Interesting move! Khan to Dokes and his pass finds Glatzel and his shot goes out for a corner.

Corner comes out to Cain on his right foot and its a terrible finish.

No they wouldnt on live TV, they are niggly and leaving their foot in after tackles etc so far.

Tactical😁

Glatzel lovely cut back to Devoy and his shot is miles over the bar, a great passing move by Town.

We look about a billion times better than late period Flynn

We are ripping their left back a new one so far, Dokes and Glatzel tearing him apart.

Bycroft with a fairly easy save int he end as they attack us.

playing well but missed a couple of decent chances (DD, Cain)

Devoy not having his best game so far, I would be tempted to try McGurk or Elbouzedi 2nd half is his role.

Khan pointlessly fouls the Newport player as we were attacking, silly challenge.

Bycroft with a good low save from 6 yards.

After that soft early yellow for a pull, the ref has now let four or five heavy tackles go.

Nice move by Town but the sideways passing should have ended with a shot, Austin offside from the cross.

Austin lovely pass releases Kokolo but his cross is missed by RHM in the box, nice movement.

He was OK up to November, then everyone downed tools.

Dokes slips in our box but FBT gets a header in to clear it well.

The ball is cleared to Glatzel who rips past the defender and his perfect pass to RHM in the box and he fires it high over the bar. Great chance.

This is a compelling game.

Its certainly lively and entertaining so far. More entertaining that the last 10 games Flynn had in charge.

I'm certainly but l not bored!

Think that's the right word. Blood and thunder, high tempo stuff. Very un Garner, ironically.

And very very un Flynn too.

It reminds me of watching Macari’s side in the early 80s.

I’d be terrified at this pace if we didn’t have a bench to call on.

McCarthy is a Rolls Royce of a defender compared to anything we’ve had in the past few years.

Yep, very promising start. FBT seems to complement him nicely as well, which is good to see.

And as usual, our best player is ours.  ::)

I think Ben Garner is having a decent game on comms :D

If we can keep McCarthy fit and we are able to sign him, then he would be a very good signing on the last 2 showings. He and FBT have a good understanding already.

Isn't?

Who’s the clown on the tannoy🤣

4 mins added.

Yes. Isn’t.  :headhurts:

First half has flown by

Newport are a overly dirty team - Bennet should have got a 2nd yellow for that challenge on Kokolo

Garner saying it’s a decent playing surface.

It's definitely better than it was.

Their LB had two high tackle fouls in two minutes and didn't even get a chat from the ref

The most camp tannoy annoucement ever, jeez

He did, yet it looks fucking awful and hard with little grass downt he wings.

Is it shared with Rugby🤔

TBF hes been roasted by Glatzel and Dokes this half.

HT 0-0

Entertaining.

Fun half.

The concern would be the chances we have missed might come back and bite us on the arse, but so far so good.

Yes,gives the impression he could make a decent manager

Newport comms complimentary. Says they’re tired after getting up for Wrexham then Man U.

Prefer him to Phil Smith tho!

Enjoyable half that. Couldn't quite get the cut back right but good stuff

Frantic.

We’ve definitely been more threatening. Just lacking that quality in the final third. Shame the cut backs have found the likes of Devoy & Cain rather than Austin.

Shame not to be ahead. Look a fair bit better than them. It was quite different to the end of the Flynn era wasn’t it.

Newport's passing accuracy is 53 percent. Christ!

Took them 15 mins to string 4 accurate passes together, that stat is wrong I would think.

On the eye-test, that seemed about right.

Their tactic was put some snow on it. Then incite contact, flail your arms about as if you have been fouled, and leave a foot in whenever possible.

Hope they don’t improve.

1-0 Glatzel.

Whats a pass from Dokes and a calm finish.

Lovely start, super composed from Glatzel.

GOLATZOOO!   Fuckin ave it!!!

Yes. Thought he was going to fluff his lines there (you know me), but he put it away calmly.

they was a cool and composed finish

Yes Glatzel

Beautiful ball through and very composed finish, get in!

Deserved a goal on his 1st half performance.

UGM the Regista

Offside?

Hopefully that doesn’t give Newport a kick up the arse to get going…

Shot by them an easy save by Bycroft.

Wow! Town come out and are straight on it!

Pleased Glatzel has got a goal. He has been lively in both games, but wasted a couple of chances. That will hopefully build confidence.

Kokolo yellow.

Called it, unfortunately.

McCarthy header out from the FK, good header.

1-1 😡

Corner to them off McCarthy.

1-1

Not great by Bycroft.

Kokolo off for Brewitt.

FBT to left back fans getting their wish

Elbouzedi on for Cain.

Cain off is a weird one

Newport’s change of shape causing us problems

FK to them 40 yards out near the touchline.

Well under Flynn we absolutely go to shit at this point. Let's see what happens...

I disagree, they have just come out better since the goal and putting far more pressure on us, their sub didnt change their shape at all.

Garner suggesting we’re getting over run in midfield.

We are at the moment but thats not their shape, the sub that came on is just better than the one who went off.

Elbouzspeedy

Elbow looks lively and put in a good cross.

Great from El Boozer

Shame Glatzel couldnt strike the cross better.

Trying to work out what our midfield is?

They are just much stronger in the tackle in midfield now.

glatzel should have done better there (but had been good)

I’m only listening to the radio so have to go on Garner & Hawes

a running theme of the season

Indeed, we miss a midfield enforcer. One signing we needed in the window IMO.

All Newport at the moment.

Good low save by Bycroft.

For about the last four windows. There must be a reason we simply refuse to sign one but it passes me by.

Diving Newport player didnt con the ref in the box. Should have been booked.

True.

An amusing advert on the hoarding for 'Welsh Diving' - please supply your own punchline.

Other than Khan I can’t work out what our midfield actually is at the momet in terms of shape or personnel.

Certainly read by the Newport player about 2 mins ago.

Devoy looks lost.

The Newport comms are doing my head in - every Swindon challenge is a late challenge, every Newport foul is a good tackle..

They are a pretty dirty side so thats massively ironic.

Is it just him and Khan in the middle, Brewitt is his usual headless chicken style I’m guessing he is CB not some funky deep midfielder.

Brewitt with an awful crossfield pass to Dokes.

McSubs

McKirdy on for Austin.
McGurk on for Glatzel.

El Boozy beats his man but his cross is way too deep.

McKirdy beats his man and wins a corner.

Was Kokolo injured? I thought he was playing well.

I’m not feeling so confident now.

Dont think so, he certainly wasnt sub worthy IMO.

McKirdy is back and so is our dissent (Devoy yellow)

Kokolo was on a yellow against a team that go down easily and had a tough few minutes.

We are definately hoping to score more goals than them with this formation.

He got leathered by Bennet just before HT and then got booked early 2nd, probably why..

1-2

Fucks sake

Sake

Poor defending again, Bycroft easily beaten.

Same old……

Drinan on

fucks sake

Brewitt is dog shit. Always has been.

Brewitt, mate.

Was talking earlier about Dokes’ defensive positioning

Drinnan on for RHM.

Thanks.

Brewitt  :crash:

Yep, completely at fault there. He isn't good enough.

Good low cross by ElBoozy.

Bad miss

McGurk hits it wide from a great position, after a cross by El Boozy.

All going a bit wrong. Too many attackers on I think, no midfield at all.

Drinnan looks bigger than i expected

oh mcgurk how did you miss

Love the look of this winger.

My stream is behind but as soon I saw who posted last I knew we were going to concede.
Only turns up when we’re losing.

415 it seems.

That is possibly the rest of the season for us given the lopsided transfer window.

Not getting another midfielder is looking even more stupid watching this.

Definately promising early signs

Taking Cain off seems to have been a bit of a blooper so far

Yep, he's arrived at last

All the individual forwards look to have a bit about them, there are just too many of them and not enough ball winners.

Should have taken off Devoy IMO.

Didn’t see him last week. Can’t think why

Dokes caught in possession but wins it back again, sloppy.

McKirdy heads wide from 15 yards from Devoys cross.

Feels like the first half against Gillingham last season.

The first set of subs has definitely made us worse

We have looked less solid at the back since FBT moved wide and Brewitt went to CB.

McCarthy has no understanding with Brewitt.

Think Cain poss went off as he is being brought back slowly. Think I would have taken Devoy off too, but brought McGurk on. Then I would have swapped RHM for Elbouzedi. Drinan would be the Austin replacement too.

Ref giving them everything now.

Thought Blewitt would be doing better

Kokolo was my second or third choice for MotM in the first half.

May have been better having Johnson and one of Brewitt/Minturn on the bench so we didnt have to move FBT in this circumstance.

I would have probably rather had Johnson on the bench than Brewitt TBH after last weeks performance.

I don’t see us getting anything from this now. Shame, as it was a good first half performance.

Khan has been awful today too, how many times has he lost the ball?

7 added. Come on!

Definately a game of 2 halves.

What a discouraging last 10 mins

Khan is an enigma, half the time hes unplayable, half the time hes unwatchable.

Thought he did OK in the first half

Off the fucking post!!!

That was the moment

McKirdy hits the post from 20 yards.

Bycroft slices a clearance, poor.

Khan stupid fucking fouls

Khan’s become a fucking liability at this stage.

Khan looked ok first half but 2nd half hes been a total liability.

There are some players here that could be in a top team, but not enough of them and not in the right places. Rest of the season will be equally fun and frustrating.

Did jephcott not get a yellow?

good first half and 1 minute of the second

then revert to type

And why wasn’t Jephcott booked for that blatant pull?

ref has been a homer all game.

Jephcott can't even foul well, got dumped on his arse

I don’t even think we’ve been that bad this half.

Newport have taken two of their chances and we’ve only taken one of ours.
We’ve definitely looked a lot more disorganised & erratic since Brewitt came on.

I know we haven’t seen much of him yet, but I really don’t rate him, very nervy on the ball and very poor at coming to claim the ball from corners or crosses!

You are right, we havent been awful just a few mistakes defensively have cost us, we have still created chance, even in defeat its been a lot better than under Flynn in his last 10 games.

FT 1-2

Definitely deserved a draw to be fair

Time management was old school from the ref

"Haven't" ? 🙂

Looked more threatening going forward, new players all looked alright. Sadly let down by poor bench selection and subs from the manager and defensive mistakes from the same old suspects.

I’d almost go as far as to say we were the better team (very marginally a lot of the time) for all but about 10-15 minutes of that….

Indeed, finger slipped.

Different personnel but very on brand for this season.

Basically, we’ve still got nothing except McCarthy and FBT in central defence, and no control in the heart of midfield.

Ah, yes. That makes sense now...

I didn’t wake up in time ( daughters fucking dog kept me up all night) to see most of it but some positives from some new guys.  Team was moving faster than before so I think that is good.  If mckirdy can keep his head for a few months I think he will create and bring goals.  

Which we’ve know for like forever and they refuse to address it.

Real shame mckirdy didn't score when hitting the post
Would have been the game changer...

We are lightweight End of as soon as we come up against physicality we crumble

Other than 2 defensive lapses it was way better than under Flynn, attacking and entertaining.

Far from shit IMO, that was fairly enjoyable at times.

Dont forget that Newport were on a 7 game league unbeaten run before today too so no pushovers.

Overall, the story is missed chances, hit the post twice and missed a sitter.  Take those chances and it's comfortable win.  Some great signings, Harry and Elbouzedi look a class above League Two.  Comms were excellent today.  

I thought we were the much better team in the first half, and very disappointed to have lost that. We looked like the better team.

Shout out to Khan’s brother who spotted me and my pal ticketless and despondent and gave us each a ticket. Utter gent.

Their second goal was miles offside

I thought we did have midfield control in the first half. Don't understand bringing Cain off

Were the better team, but the new players looked like strangers, a weeks training and watch the improvement.  Enormous potential if Gav can sort out the tactics.

I kicking off in the town now.

Where we looked quite comfortable in midfield the changes obviously upset the balance, not sure who was playing where at times. The Brewitt/McCarthy pairing did not work, Brewitt reverting to the playing out from the back style and there were not enough midfielders to give him options. Disappointed with the result but not the overall performance, a fair amount to build on but all too late for this season.

I don't think the midfield had control in the first half, they are still so blinking lightweight, but we had some decent structure in the first half that enabled us to work around them.  In the second half it was disorganised chaos, a bit like Gav's game against Gillingham.  Fortunately Newport weren't good enough to get total control, but it turned the game into a basketball game, and we lost out because we have nothing in midfield to protect the back four and defenders who switch off all the time.

I am not sure what to think of most of the newer players.  Seems like we've brought in a lot of what we had, so we have the option to switch.  However, none of them seem to give us what we were missing from the first team, other than maybe McCarthy.

RHM decision making is so so frustrating. A live wire but rarely makes those good moments count, although I guess he wouldn’t be in League Two if he did

Gunning:
- Performance very good
- Stuck 70 minutes together, but were really poor for 15 mins
- Bit scruffy. Missed a couple we could have passed in in the first half
- That's football. They had a spell and we were poor at the back
- We clicked back into bad habits. We didn't play the way we had been to cut them open. We changed, we didn';t get angles. 'That was my fault as I didn't make it clear what I wanted. I'll take that on the chin. I just need to be better as a coach'
- Glatzel was quieter today, but showed excellent composure to score.

Then the feed cut off

Harry is back!  Biggest positive from today.

A game we should have had something from. Shit view from behind the goal. FWIW, the home fans thought the ref was poor. Turned away from two pubs into town post match. Got in a third one with the two lads.

I’m not sure if the ref was poor or the majority of the tackles were that late he completely missed them!!

Also, the iFollow view wasn’t the best for it but second looked miles offside

Ditto adje

I've seen much worse from us this season.

Two very good chances missed in first half.
Some proper know how in midfield to protect & build on a lead would have seen us through.

McKirdy looked very sharp & Zach's pace will outstrip most full backs in L2.
Candidates to start the next game?
Can they be accommodated without another formation change?

Fair enough but I thought first half Cain and Devoy were far more productive going forward than their counterparts and it all changed when Cain went off and  Charsley came on for them. That's my view,right or wrong

Their keeper got some stick for being on the stout side but he did command his box very well.
That's a trait that seems to come with experience as opposed to being coached at elite academy level.

How many points have we dropped from winning positions? Must be the highest in the league.

He did and the young blokes by me were well up for it. 🤣

Att: 5,912 (1,309 Town)

If Kokolo stays on and Cain not Khan we don’t lose that game.
New players all look decent (Leeds lad not really involved).
More clinical in final third first half the game is won.
Other than result obviously/ two disappointments.
Devoy set pieces- poor all game.
Khan - attitude stinks. Pick your toys up you’ve thrown out of the pram (transfer window has closed) and play it’s that simple.
Even Charlie Austin had a go at him during the first half and also again at full time when he didn’t appear to acknowledge us fans !!!!
Keep the faith - COYR

Will be interesting to see how they find balance with the forward players. I noticed (and heard him mention in his interview) that McGurk plays as a 10 but likes to lean towards that left hand side of the pitch, if you played him at 10 and left him float left then you could play McKirdy down the left and give him license to float centrally with one of Austin/Drinan when going forward. Elboudezi looked quite handy down the right hand side as does Glatzel.

Good to have rotated options like Elboudzedi/Glatzel and Drinan/Austin and then RHM off the bench

1309 disappointed travellers apparently.
Didn't seem like a 6k crowd.

Seasons over now as we aren’t going to get approx 38 points from a possible 48

Cheers WB

Over 1,500 more than any other league game there this season barring Wrexham (and Man U in the cup obviously)

same as yesterday then 😁

need one win in 2 (or better) minimum to get to 72 - which may not be enough.

best just to enjoy each game as it comes

Exactly, there was a glimmer of hope after the signings but it’s clear for all to see that we’re lacking in certain areas and inconsistency will follow us to the end of the season even though I’m not expecting any goalless draws😁

Hope you both chipped into the Khan family benevolent fund.
Failing that "free loading bastards you know what you are".
 :)

Is there such a thing or am I being whooshed?

If there is we’ll both contribute.

Not being serious. I rarely am.
Good result bagging a couple of comp tickets, fair play.

nice thing for them to do

Been so far out of the loop recently (not just with regards to STFC but in general) I’ve lost the ability to tell jokes from reality 😁

Yeah, was really chuffed when he gave them to us. Completely out of the blue, we were on our way back to the train station. Spotted him at half time and got in another thankyou.

Disappointed to lose but there were signs of a decent side.

The subs (especially the first two) didn’t really work, hopefully Gav will learn from that.
One thing is for sure FBT & McCarthy should be the two CB’s.
Subs should include someone that can fill in at LB if needed so they can play there unless injured.
We needed a CM option on the bench, so we didn’t need to rearrange the team when Cain went off.

The new players again looked decent, but difficult to judge on a small sample.

Can we stop asking for FBT at full back please - he didn't do anything wrong as such but he is wasted out there. Thought Brewitt was awful when he came on.

In all honesty, he's not great at either role, FBT that is.  We've conceded a shit load of goals with him at the back.  As a centre back, I feel he gets dragged around too much, but Brewitt is just as much a danger because he just wants to get stuck into one on one challenges all the time.  In the couple if games I have seen him play, McCarthy has shown them both up - he knows where to be and seems content doing the basic defensive work.  FBT & Brewitt both seem to fancy themselves as a L2 Hoddle too much.

Centre back is about pairings. McCarthy and FBT work, just like MacDonald and FBT did. It's not just 'anyone would look good next to McCarthy" as Brewitt illustrated.

I agree

….and FBT has always looked better in a two rather than a three.

I think because in a two he’s more focused on defending, whereas in a three he was given licence to rampage forward (as was Dokes).

That's what I always have said. FBT is not a LB or LWB.

I think he's best as an FBT

Gunning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GEDVjWGR0

Flammable Ben Titan

christ

It's a shame Clayton is not fit, i think half a season playing with McCarthy as part of a 4 is exactly what he needs, and could turn Clayton into the player we need him to be - shame he seems to be made of pasta

If we had won yesterday we’d by 4 points off Notts County in 7th. Crazy league - any old shit team could still scrape in.

Oh it is still wide open at both ends TBH, there are few stand out teams this season, a run of 4 wins in a row and we could well be way up in contention for a play off place, not that I think we will, but it is possible.

All Gav needs to do is find that winning formula on the pitch which TBF we arent that far from finding, despite it looking utterly impossible after the Crewe game.

48 points available and I recon we need 40 of them.

Needs to stop all the multiple substitutions just to keep the newbies happy.

The CB pairing must be FBT & McCarthy - injuries notwithstanding.

The Flying Irishman must start

Subs bench must be more balanced

why did Cain go off? I assumed the switch was a tactical change in formation (didn't work) rather than injury/fatigue.

They all have a game in hand as well though. If we’d won yesterday we might have had an outside chance but we aren’t going to get a 8 or 9 point swing on 4 or 5 teams in a third of a season.

Other than McCarthy we’ve still got the same problem we’ve had all season, a lack of a central midfield and that’s going to stop us being anywhere near consistent enough to do anything.

I reckon anything from 73-77 points will be needed so take the median number of 75 then a minimum of 38 points may be enough although highly unlikely we will get anywhere near that total.

No idea, someone did mention that that it might be injury related (not that he was injured when he went off), but maybe injury prevention. If that was the case and we didn't think he could last the full 90+ then we should have had McEachran, Dworzak or Aguiar on the bench.

I think it's more likely a Mad Gav, lets go for it type sub

fair enough.

to let Kinsella go without replacement says to me he doesn't see midfield as an issue.

I thought there was a suggestion we had somebody lined up who was better than Kinsella so maybe the deal fell through.

I think you will find that was McGurk.

Maybe or even McKirdy

I say McGurk as he is a midfielder and not a striker like McKirdy.

Possibly although there’s an argument he’s not the type we desperately need at the moment even if he is a decent acquisition.

Listening to Gav at the forum he doesnt think we need a defensive midfielder at all as we have one of the best in Khan. So as far as Gav is concerned we have enough midfielders.

Despite the fact that most of us think we need a solid DMC, I am not sure Gav is in the same boat, and hes the boss (for now).

I think the key words are “for now” as he would surely have to change his tactics if he was here next season.

Depending on how we want to play we potentially do have enough numbers.
If we play with 3 in midfield we have Khan/Devoy/Cain with Aguiar/McEachran/Dworzak as backup.
If we want to play a four then you can pick Elbouzedi/McGurk to play wide.

Clearly taking Cain off was an attempt to get the wide players on, but made us very weak in the central midfield

For all the chances we had I don’t remember their keeper making a save.

According to the BBC, 16 shots with 3 on target. So only 2 he had to deal with Aud!

on midfield, numbers aren't the issue but variety is

Can’t said I remember those 2! Remember a few being skied, though.

one was Cain in 1st half from distance, routine save into keepers hands

Garner barely had a hand in recruitment when Garner was manager.

He did

Glatzel had one cleared off the line by a defender I think second half

Revisionist history with Garner.

Dull, slow football for the most part. 3 at the back bollocks. We were going no where until…
Hunt got injured and we bought in Egbo. Changed formation and looked better for it.
Absolute purplest of purple patches from McKirdy.
…and we still couldn’t see games out ffs.

If Hunt doesn’t get injured we finish 10th & Garner gets sacked anyway…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h57pf9?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

You can listen to Garner's version of events about 13 mins in. Blamed Chorley going and changes at the club.

 disappointed not to come away with something on saturday . with a couple of enforcements, we should be  upper mid table next season and not scrapping towards the bottom of the table.

yay!

not great is it really

Not sure about that - wasn’t Kessler Hayden our wing back until his recall. Egbo only came in late on.

Yes but I don’t think we went 433 till Hunt got injured & we signed Egbo to play right back.

Havent read back.

Disappointing, i thought we deserved a point.

Defending lapses, again, let us down.

I thought ours and their second was offside, i suppose it was the angles.

Plenty to be positive about. McKirdy showed we miss a player who can run and shoot.

New lad from AIK played well.

Newport were ok but not as good as the Welsh Comms made out.

No kids on the bench.

Roll on Saturday.

I personally think that Clem is planning for Charlie to be manager next season, which is not what we need.

The same thought did cross my mind, we turned down a bid from a local side on deadline day for him too I hear. I am not sure if Charlie has a managers brain but he may do, obviously we don't know what sort of a coach or type of leader he is in the dressing room or how good a tactician he is.

RE: 2021/22 - McKirdy scored 4 goals in the last ten league games before the Play-Offs. Two in one game so seven blanks in that time.

It was Payne, Reed and Baudry who were winning the plaudits at that time. Egbo was getting plenty of love but I don't think it was changing our season.

I'm not pleading for Garner's return but let's not accuse fans of revisionism when we're saying McKirdy's form dragged us to the Play-Offs. Even if the whole season was a purple patch for the unmanageable Harry McKirdy then surely Garner can take some of the credit for that too?

Harry showed glimpses of 21/22 at Newport, hopefully we see more against Salford and beyond.

Exactly, he could turn out to be the best manager we've ever had. I hope he does because I can certainly see it happening. He'd at least be cut a little bit more slack (but probably not much) than other managers would if results went badly...all hypothetical of course...

I cant see it happening tbh

Haven’t we basically left the assistant managers position open for Charlie?

Not read back yet and the memory a little hazy after a Sunday session, so this may/will be full of inaccuracies.

I thought for 46 minutes we were very good on Saturday and absolutely controlled the game. We got in behind their full backs again and again and only good defending/bad finishing (by Devoy and RHM in particular) kept the score goalless at half time. We started the second half in the same manner and the impressive Glatzel finished beautifully when put through 1 on 1 with their keeper. Unfortunately that was the catalyst for Newport to wake up and equalised less than 10 minutes later. Neat finish by Evans, I guess if you had to be critical Bycroft possibly at fault. Straight away Gunning through on Brewitt and moved FBT to the left and I don't think this worked very well at all and we looked really shaky. We were opened up again and Palmer-Houlden finished well.

Frustratingly we really should have gone away with at least a point, Elbouzedi was causing them all sorts of problems with his pace, one of his deliveries found sub McGurk in the box who did everything right until putting the ball wide of the post. You knew it wasn't going to be our day when HM's run and drive smacked the post.

Overall, clearly losing the game is vitally important but there were good signs, up until we scored, and then towards the end when we looked like we might fight back. Mcarthy was very impressive again, and Elbouzedi is going to cause havoc with his pace. Harry looked a little rusty but was very unlucky not to have scored. I'm not sure Drinan touched the ball in his 15 minutes. I know we give Gunning praise for making changes, but I'm not sure his totally worked on Saturday. Certainly Brewitt didn't and we looked much worse after he came on. Disappointed with Drinan also, You'd hope to use your target man a bit more. Definitely signs we can finish the season strongly, Salford at home I'm confident we'll bounce back. Mcarthy is going to love his battle with Matt Smith!

I hope not.

Matt Smith is exactly the type of centre forward we've been crying out for, for....it seems like forever...

Matt Smith and also Harry Smith.

Matt Smith is said to be on £4k a week at Salford though and is earning his money this season with his 20 goals so far.

We've got one now, sort of

Seeing as I have the spreadsheet, last 10 TEF MoMs of that season:

Payne
Reed
Payne
McKirdy
Williams
Egbo
Baudry
Baudry
Payne
Payne

And total votes over that run:

Payne 94
Baudry 79
Williams 45
Egbo 44
Reed 41
Conroy 40
Iandolo 37
McKirdy 24 (note: he actually missed four games of the last ten, and six of the last 12. Probably suspension!)


On the actual point, is it too middle of the road to say that I think Garner is both the best manager we've had under Clem and someone I don't particularly want to revisit? Although if the deal was Garner and Chorley I'd think about it!

Yeah that’s fair.

I don’t think Garner was that great and we still had massive issues with some things we still have massive issues with. I mean if you can’t hold onto a lead against 9 man Colchester…

I wouldn’t want him back on his own but if it was a package deal with Chorley I’d take it

Everything he said in that interview is exactly what you'd want from your Director of Football or Head of Development in a bigger club.  Precisely the role he seemed a good fit for when here.

Hmm..

A good interview. He comes across well but ultimately this is league 2. He comes across as somebody who's used to professional set ups, perfect pitches and 11 players who are comfortable on the ball. Which would make sense from his background coaching premier league academy teams but won't always be the case in the basement division.

Too many things need to be running perfectly for him to be successful.  

He'll be off to league one next season.

Wouldn't surprise me. I wasn't suggesting we had a cat in hell's chance of signing him...