Swindon Town FC v Oxford United FC - Official Matchday Thread - edited...

[Gnasher]

Pretty good game, played by two teams that wanted it. We played pretty well and have been undone by two set pieces. Big weakness for us this season I think. Duberry was absolutely immense - that hurt to say that. We'll be fine if we play like that all season. Just need to sort out defending from set pieces.

I know b3nny, we did play well. But we've just lost to Oxford. Why are people acting like it doesn't matter?

[Benzel]

I know b3nny, we did play well. But we've just lost to Oxford. Why are people acting like it doesn't matter?

I'm trying not to think about it.

[Parkin09]

I thought we were really good today, we absoutely battered them everywehere, they scored 2 set pieces and apart from the one on one (which Smithy saved brilliantly) that was it, the only weakness I could see was Devera, did not rate him at all, Gabilondo looked really good and Clarke put an absolute shift in though that sitter was horrible!

[hobodan]

I thought we played well today, looked really good in the second half, just need to replace Phil smith , he wa dire.

Why does Aden Flint remind me of Hoddle?
 
Also nice to see the scummer in the north stand get a slap from the old boys , that made me smile along with the loon in the second half

[DV]

Can't for the life of me see how P Smith was at fault for their winner (as per the texts on BBC Wilts). Maybe a Townender will enlighten.

he plays in goal.

we're used to our goal keepers saving everything.

[woolster]

Pretty good game, played by two teams that wanted it. We played pretty well and have been undone by two set pieces. Big weakness for us this season I think. Duberry was absolutely immense - that hurt to say that. We'll be fine if we play like that all season. Just need to sort out defending from set pieces.

just back, how you can say they wanted it is beyond me, oxford were shit sat back time wasted every oppotunity they were on the ground, apart from us not being able to defend 2 set pieces oxford did fuck all, devita is a waste of fucking space as is devera, clarke was superb, but having said that if we had austin or paynter up top we could of scored 10, all in all this is the lowest ive felt as a town fan for years

[dogs]

One of th e lowest moments az as town fan right now, but we did batter them. Just gona have to be patient this year

[Gnasher]

At least we're top of the league for something!

Average Attendance Rankings    Team                Pld      Total   Highest   Average       Capacity   Pct 1   Swindon Town (19)   2   20361   12113   10181   15728      64.7% 2   Bradford City (21)   2   19799   10205   9900   25136      39.3% 3   Bristol Rovers (-)   2   14239   8427   7120   11976      59.4% 4   Oxford United (7)   2   12625   6523   6313   12573      50.2% 5   Plymouth Argyle (22)   2   11915   6015   5958   19500      30.5% 6   Shrewsbury Town (14)   2   11471   6421   5736   10000      57.3% 7   Port Vale (6)   2   10504   5889   5252   18900      27.7% 8   Gillingham (3)   2   10413   5360   5207   11582      44.9% 9   Southend United (13)   2   9899   5105   4950   12392      39.9% 10   AFC Wimbledon (10)   1   4629   4629   4629         0.0% 11   Northampton Town (17)   2   8735   4621   4368   7653      57.0% 12   Rotherham United (2)   2   8030   4484   4015   8300      48.3% 13   Crewe Alexandra (23)   2   6859   3458   3430   10118      33.8% 14   Burton (11)   2   6597   3608   3299   5000      65.9% 15   Cheltenham Town (12)   2   6437   4402   3219   7407      43.4% 16   Torquay United (9)   2   5800   3142   2900   6283      46.1% 17   Crawley Town (1)   2   5609   3220   2805   4996      56.1% 18   Aldershot Town (20)   2   5026   2790   2513   7500      33.5% 19   Dagenham & Redbridge (5)   2   4967   2904   2484   6000      41.4% 20   Barnet (15)   2   4726   2466   2363   5550      42.5% 21   Accrington Stanley (18)   2   4143   2652   2072   5057      40.9% 22   Morecambe (4)   2   3707   1874   1854   6400      28.9% 23   Hereford United (24)   2   3654   2045   1827   8843      20.6% 24   Macclesfield Town (16)   2   3431   1865   1716   6335      27.0%

[Bogus Dave]

75% of the goals we've conceded this season have come after devera has lost his man at a set piece. The other was a penalty. Says it all. Why the fuck are we getting another striker when we so glaringly need another center back.

Nothing else to add really. Not convinced smith has what it takes to cut it at this level, looked out of his depth at times today.

Final point, di canio needs to reign himself in. The blusters all well good, but it's no substitute for actually winning a football match

[sonicyouth]

We were the better team and look more like a team than I expected from hearing/reading comments on previous matches. Serious work needed on defending set pieces, absolutely awful.

J Smith doesn't look good enough, we needed a presence in midfield alongside Ferry and he was largely anonymous. De Vita looks too lightweight and out of his depth.

Gabilondo looks very good, would prefer to see him and Ritchie on their natural sides.


Going to book my ticket for Rotherham now.

[SirWinston]

Just got back.  Gutted with the result, but strangely encouraged by the overall performance (set pieces aside).  Thought Ritchie and Caddis did well on the right and Esajas and Gabilondo on the left, but switching them over now and again to prevent them from having to cut back onto their favoured foot might not be a bad shout.

This league is full of big, strong boys who are going to be a threat in the air, so the set piece defending needs to be sorted out a bit sharpish or it is going to prove very expensive.

The police appeared to have it pretty well sorted outside, but they seemed to have the YTS bizzies inside.  God knows what the bang was in that second half, but something big and explosive somehow managed to get into the ground which wasn't too clever and as for trying to take the Town fan out along in front of the Pox fans, that was legendary police thinking.

Revenge will be sweet in March.

[sonicyouth]

Final point, di canio needs to reign himself in. The blusters all well good, but it's no substitute for actually winning a football match

I honestly don't think Di Canio being sent off made the slightest bit of difference - it's not as though his moment of ill discipline inspired the players to start assaulting the opposite (as much as I wished they would). 95% of the work should be done by the matchday and whether Di Canio is in the dugout or in the exec box shouldn't really be the difference between winning and losing matches.

[Bogus Dave]

I honestly don't think Di Canio being sent off made the slightest bit of difference - it's not as though his moment of ill discipline inspired the players to start assaulting the opposite (as much as I wished they would). 95% of the work should be done by the matchday and whether Di Canio is in the dugout or in the exec box shouldn't really be the difference between winning and losing matches.

Not just the sending off. the way he's been building this game up in the press, the goading of the oxford fans after we scored. it looks amateurish.

[Parkin09]

I feel weird, I hate the fact we lost to the Pox but we played well enough to make me think if we can get Comazzi in for Devera we can go up, we gelled a lot better today

[cheltred69]

I'll probably get shouted down for this, but I feel nowhere near as pissed off as I did after Cheltenham.
Last week we were poor and beaten by a poor team.
This week we dominated the game and showed that we have the potential to do good things in this league.
(Also I don't know any Oxford fans which makes it somewhat easier to live with)

I think that most of the previous posters on this thread since the match have summed up the highs and lows pretty well.
I couldn't believe some of the texts being read out on Radio Swindon and wondered if they had been watching the same game as me.
Clarke looked good but was knackered in last 20 mins or so - if Kerrouche had not been crocked he (Clarke) would prob have been substituted.
It's always tricky when a team plays 10 behind the ball and we did well to create some decent chances.
Ferry must retain his place in the team and I didn't think J Smith was too bad, though McCormack should come back in when fit.
Weak link definitely down our left side with Kennedy & Devera and Oxford noticed this by directing most of their attacks that way.