Swindon Town v Hartlepool United Official Matchday Thread

[Shaw Rosso]

Bournemouth now 6/4 to win League 1 at Coral, Town 11/2. Really? 

[janaage]

Would agree with those odds, Bournemouth look unstoppable at the moment, Town drawing a fair amount and with all the uncertainty at the CG I can see how Bournemouth are favourites as things stand.

Edit to say - also depends on how much money is being piled on Bournemouth too, which I imagine is a lot more than Town at the moment.

[kerry red]

If you're bored, have a look at the yellows forum.

I know the politically correct on here don't like anybody talking about them, but it is worth a look if you want a chuckle.

We have been bracketed with Luton as the most hated.

And they are "disgusted" with wovers fans for behaving badly and taking over their pub next to the ground

When ever it gets bad, with the whole takeover thing, and will Paolo go/stay, pop over to the Yellows Forum, and you will realise we actually in a very good place

There are a couple of clear-headed posters on there when it comes to discussing us.

'I'd rather be 3rd in League 1 than looking over our shoulders towards the bottom of League 2'

TBH cant really see them getting relegated but like a whole host of lower league clubs they have very little ambition - or to be fair, haven't got the funds to be

[GoSWINDON]

There are a couple of clear-headed posters on there when it comes to discussing us.

'I'd rather be 3rd in League 1 than looking over our shoulders towards the bottom of League 2'

TBH cant really see them getting relegated but like a whole host of lower league clubs they have very little ambition - or to be fair, haven't got the funds to be

sounds more like youve been reading  their   version of the gay times league in the middle of a orgy

[Frigby Daser]

Interesting game today. Hartlepools are far from the worst side that have come here this year - they closed us down all, won a lot of 50/50s and kncoked the ball about, albeit, mainly between the back four and Simon Walton. We did well to close down high up the pitch, but in doing so, I thought we should have thrown a man on Walton. Instead, there was a lot of chasing shadows - our midfield would close down one by one, and they'd then play through the space that had been created. We've not had that little possession at home, in the important areas, for a while.

As for us - as has been said, we were generally under par and lacking in width. Roberts is far more of a threat on the right, but he comes further inside than Ritchie did, and doesn't get back in position as quickly when we lose the ball. On the whole. everything he does is just that second slower, the crosses aren't as accurate, the short passing not as incisive. As a result of him playng narrower than Ritchie though, we probably saw more of Thompson going forward. Fingers crossed for wide reinforcements, to give us options as much as anything.

[GoSWINDON]

Interesting game today. Hartlepools are far from the worst side that have come here this year - they closed us down all, won a lot of 50/50s and kncoked the ball about, albeit, mainly between the back four and Simon Walton. We did well to close down high up the pitch, but in doing so, I thought we should have thrown a man on Walton. Instead, there was a lot of chasing shadows - our midfield would close down one by one, and they'd then play through the space that had been created. We've not had that little possession at home, in the important areas, for a while.

As for us - as has been said, we were generally under par and lacking in width. Roberts is far more of a threat on the right, but he comes further inside than Ritchie did, and doesn't get back in position when we lose the ball as quickly. On the whole. his speed of thought is just that second slower: the crosses aren't as accurate, the short passing not as incisive. As a result of him playng narrower than Ritchie though, we probably saw more of Thompson going forward. Fingers crossed for wide reinforcements, to give us options as much as anything.

A good interpretation of the game , i thought Hartlepoole were 10 times the team shrewsbury were  , although as kerry red said i was expecting them to fuck up big time at the back and we should of had them out of sight before the inevitable 5 -10 min spell they had .

[jimmy_onions]

Haven't been in the town end for a while...fair play to jay-oand his choir for trying to add a little variety to the standard stock four songs we have. What was the one to the tune of two unlimited or similar?

[Shaw Rosso]

Haven't been in the town end for a while...fair play to jay-oand his choir for trying to add a little variety to the standard stock four songs we have. What was the one to the tune of two unlimited or similar?

Something about TV's own Roy Walker?

[Benzel]

Haven't read the thread so I'm probably repeating a lot of what's been said but here's my thoughts:

We should've been out of sight by half time and certainly 15 minutes into the second half, if it wasn't for Flinders we'd have been comfortable long before they had their spell that brought about the equaliser.
Thought they tried to play decent football, if a little dangerous at times what with our high pressing style.

If Williams could finish it wouldn't matter if they'd have scored 2 yesterday - he does all the hard work but just seems to lack the composure to finish chances off on a regular basis.
Great piece of football for our goal and Macca was unlucky after an equally impressive passage of play down the left.
2 points dropped and a hell of a chance missed to go top, the lads sounded gutted on the radio, with the games we have left though, it's still all in our hands.

.

[THE FLASH]

Frustrating to say the least....

Should of been clear and spurned some good chances. Pools keeper was excellent including some great time wasting at the end and winding up the TE ...excellent.

PDC has to take responsibility for sticking with that useless cunt Martin and not playing Rooney.....he's no Charlie Austin but he does have some idea of positioning and making the right runs. It's like getting another player in on loan.....IMO.

Onwards....

[THE FLASH]

Oh yeah.....a little something for me old mate JJ Edmunds who last attended the Orient home game:

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

A below par performance yesterday for me. We seemed to lack the cutting edge needed to take all 3 points. Having said that though it was strange that we never really looked like losing and if it wasn't for their keeper making 3 world class saves at the start of the second half we could have been out of sight.

I was disappointed that we sat a bit deeper than normal from around 70 minutes and let them come at us a bit. Normally we press high and stifle the opposition but we didn't do that enough in the 2nd half and that was a big factor that led to their goal.

I thought Roberts was decent yesterday. He looks better on the right. The only downside was that he seemed to lack Ritchie's pace on and off the ball. Other than that though I didn't see anything from him that we didn't see from Ritchie except for the usual long range pops at goal.

All is not lost. In fact a point gained on the top 2 and an unbeaten run stretched to 11 games is hardly cause for concern. Given the amount of players we have available at the moment i'm actually feeling quite positive about us getting back into the groove in the next few weeks if we can get a few loan signings in. Tranmere in 10 days is a huge game now for both sides. Could be the difference between an auto and play off place for either side come May.

[Peter Venkman]

He sounded like he was on speed - said something about 'stupid donkeys'

I can't be assed to read through the thread so heres my take, first off....

He also said something like "fucking rubbish" it was certainly preceded by the word fucking, which was not picked up on by the interviewer!

As for the game, I thought it was not a bad game at all, we SHOULD have won by 3 or 4 goals their keeper though suspect on crosses at times played a blinder making 3 top notch saves 2 of them were flying into the top corner almost world class save, they threatened only sporadically and we didn't look like conceding even when we did!

Nobody played outstanding but nocbody played badly IMO, we passed the ball like Brazil at times yet still sometimes frustratingly hoofed it out of defence when a short floor pass would have been much better with Ferry running the game in midfield. Roberts a bit wasteful on the wing at times, especially 2nd half.

How the hell Flinders made the 3 point blank saves in the space of a few seconds in front of the town end I will never know.

All in all we played not bad but couldn't either finish it or their keeper kept them in it.

Oh and a bad miss from Collins when almost clean through and he kneed the ball out wide when trying to bury it hard...poor.

Very emotional when the whole ground stood up in the first half with scarves above heads singing "stand up for Di Canio" shame the noise wasn't continued all game.

[Peter Venkman]

Frustrating to say the least....

Should of been clear and spurned some good chances. Pools keeper was excellent including some great time wasting at the end and winding up the TE ...excellent.

PDC has to take responsibility for sticking with that useless cunt Martin and not playing Rooney.....he's no Charlie Austin but he does have some idea of positioning and making the right runs. It's like getting another player in on loan.....IMO.

Onwards....

Luckily though mate....you were in the loo when they scored so for you it was a 1-0 win

[BruceChatwin]

The team that decimated Tranmere at the turn of the year was unstoppable IMO, but without Ritchie and one of Bostock or Hollands to partner Ferry the honest truth is we look around about a play-off level team at the moment I think.

Still left with the feeling of 'what might have been' coming away from that game yesterday with the off-field issues. It's like a girlfriend breaking up with you and not fully explaining why. There's an unfilled space left behind of unanswered questions that's going to haunt me for a few weeks until we can move on with new owners and players to fill it up.

If we can get in Pack, Wright-Phillips and another winger (the latter essential in my opinion) then we're definitely back in the hunt, and though we're always going to miss the balance Ritchie gave us (still playing at LB FFS, what a miserable move for him after being the fulcrum of our team), we may have gained the prolific striker we've been missing all season in the form of BWP.