Crawley Town FC v Swindon Town FC Official Matchday Thread

[BruceChatwin]

I would start him at Colchester.

Problem is every time he's done well he's done it off the bench - the few starts he's had has been where he's developed an over the top negative reputation (a bit like Roberts, who while not setting the world alight, does not deserve to be abused by the fans every time he makes a mistake).

I don't think we should get carried away. Williams and Collins is still our best strike-force despite that showing in the first half. In terms of what Rooney adds, he always seems to create a few very good chances for himself - I think he drifts into dangerous positions better than any of our other strikers - the problem is his finishing which has been inconsistent to say the least (though that applies equally to all our striker TBF).

[Benzel]

I've always liked Rooney, really pleased with his display last night. Also pleased for Roberts who was good for the most part, although he did frustrate me at times with some lazy passes, on a pitch like that you have to make sure the ball is getting to your man and don't sell them short.

[Batch]

There's was a soft penalty, fortunate. Ours was a fabricated penalty, god knows what he saw. When Sky said the ref had given 12 penalties in 24 games I'm not surprised.

But our second half performance was not vintage, you don't get vintage on a ploughed field, but it was good enough to deserve the draw. We upped the tempo and tried hard to force the game to our advantage.

Key save by Fods in the first half, he's won us 2 points in the last 2 games.

With Ritchie gone and Martin seemingly off, Ronney and Roberts have a big big chance now.

[TheMajorSTFC]

The game never really got going but I felt we were the better team. Fantastic support by all that were there, really did the club proud! Couldn't hear Crawley sing at all, except one guy trying to start something that quickly filtered out!

Really hope Di Canio doesn't go!

Oh and I managed to get myself on Sky 

[chalkies_shorts]

Neither penalty was a penalty. Their guy was falling before Macca made contact with his back foot. Macca though was fucking stupid to make the challenge. As for ours, never in a million years.
I'm not a fan of Rooney's but he changed the game for us and looked really sharp and maybe deserves a chance. We also looked a lot better when Nathan cam on.
All in all a good point. MOM for me was either Flint or Ward.
From making the worst debut in my time watching Town, Ward along with Fods have got to be the first 2 names on the teamsheet.  

[Reg Smeeton]

But our second half performance was not vintage, you don't get vintage on a ploughed field, but it was good enough to deserve the draw.

You get vintage traction engines/tractors on ploughed fields, at steam rallies etc.

Looking back at the classic Eastoe/Moss/Anderson period vid clips last week, yesterday's pitch would have been viewed as a decent surface, by those standards.

If, as seems increasingly likely, we're in for a period of Osbourne stylee austerity, then we may have to get used to again having a shit pitch.

[adje]

To be honest McEveley was poor-couldnt understand the switch from the Orient game.DeVita was in my opinion by far our best player and Roberts-still poor for me Im afraid.Dont get the "wont miss Ritchie" camp.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

To be honest McEveley was poor-couldnt understand the switch from the Orient game.DeVita was in my opinion by far our best player and Roberts-still poor for me Im afraid.Dont get the "wont miss Ritchie" camp.

Has anyone actually said that? I must have missed it.

[TheMajorSTFC]

Also Wes made a cracking save in the 1st half, down low to his left and kept us in the game!

[wigglesworth]

Watched this on mute in a pub in Frome with the Fulham game (and commentary) on in the rest of the pub. Was with a mate watching Man Utd so kept getting distracted from the main event... Met another Swindon fan too wearing one of those half and half scarves from Wembley wasn't sure what to make of that. Nice enough bloke though.

Missed their penalty as they hadnt switched over from the rugby, replays looked a bit soft but can't complain too much. Thought we came back into it well in the first half and there was only one team in it second half, fancied us to get all three points but will happily take the point away from home cliche etc but its true
Thought our penalty was pretty soft too but will never complain about crawley being hard done by, ridiculous little club sooner they get back to the pub leagues the better.

Noticed Sky cutting to film our dugout at least five times per half - no idea what they were saying but imagine they were loving the drama.

Thought Rooney looked decent. Fair play as always to those who travelled  

[adje]

Has anyone actually said that? I must have missed it.

may be bravado but Ive heard several people say we have enough quality to compensate.

[sonicyouth]

Has anyone actually said that? I must have missed it.

I've seen a few people on Twitter saying that he's overrated and won't be missed

[Peter Venkman]

I've seen a few people on Twitter saying that he's overrated and won't be missed

I think that is indeed the bravado that Adje is saying.

He will be replaced but yes he was a good player, its our fans trying to look on the bright side of the deal I think, no one would actually genuinely think that though because Ritchie was an integral part of the team, but we can replace him, but it won't be with a similar player as there is only one Matt Ritchie.

But we must move on because he is not our player now.

[RedRag]

We do have to move on but just for the first post-Ritchie game I would like to say we certainly missed him yesterday , whether the whip on the ball from free kicks and corners, the quality of his short, linking game or his sheer hard work covering back

[wigglesworth]

Fans always say this when players leave, but I'm not overly concerned by Ritchie leaving.

Whilst he was probably our best player, he is one of a number of real quality players we have. The squad is fantastic in my opinion, which is probably why I don't think we'll feel the loss. Certainly not as much as when say Cox or Austin left. This is more similar to when Paynter left.

The money recieved here was shite granted, way below what we surely could have got had we been able to afford to wait etc. but I was far more gutted at Caddis leaving as he was the driving force of our team. Still gutted about that, he was a proper Paolo player, epitomised the Di Canio way for me.