Swindon Town (H) Tuesday 19th April, 7.45pm

[Ancient Moaner]

Strange tonight's match had disappointment written all over it, they had a weak recent record, so we were expected to roll them over with ease, but looks like they were the one's that looked the most likely to win in the end.
Opportunity lost methinks. However, on to Bradfud, hope we have a good turnout there, it's not only a 'must win' it's also a 'must not lose'. See ya all there! :)

[SoccerHQ]

How was the goal conceded tonight?

I would be surprised if J O'C dosen't run at the weekend, Bradford will be pumping plenty of long balls into the box and strong on set pieces so would prefer him in there to provide better aerial security.

[Walsallian7]

Positives

a) We didn't lose
b) We still have a game in hand on Burton & automatic promotion is in our own hands
c) Southend lost to Oldham. Sun tan man seems to be sinking like a stone :lol: :lol:

Let's stay positive

UTS

Precisely, when the fat lady sings and all that!!!!! 8)

[moaning saddler]

Happy with a point in the end.
After we had equalised, Swindon kept possession, found acres of space in midfield, and looked more likely to score.
Forde and Milan gave very little today, Mantom's passing was appalling, and Chambers looked as if he needs a rest.
Even Rico was a bit under par.
Think Morris deserves more game time - he is direct and offers much more of a goal threat than Forde or Milan.
Now we need a typical away performance on Saturday.

[JonnyOwen]

Draw a fair result.

Mantom was god awful. He is far more frustrating than Sawyers.

[ChopperWFC]

Frustrating night but calming down now and not too unhappy with the point . On to Bradford with whitneys excellent interview on WM getting me excited !! He is just so positive !!

[chunkster]

i thought we got out of jail tonight. i thought swindon were a very good side. after the first 10 mins i though we were going to walk it. forde started superbly. then we just seemed to go to pot? never really offering anything. swindon broke up our play superbly. they stuck a foot in when it mattered and looked the more industrious. i think the only effort we had on target was a week effort by milan. we didn't start to play until morris and bradshaw came on. we scored and could have won it with a shot hitting the post. but to be honest it would have been a travesty. mind you after we battered them at their place and lost i would have taken it. a very good tactical game tonight. and it will have learnt whitt's a thing or two. must say i thought henry had a shocker tonight. he just looked uninterested. offering little going forward and just seemed to prefer passing back. he did show glimpses late on but got shoved off the ball to easily. oh well at least results went for us tonight so we haven't lost any ground. on to bradford and a win :D

[Walsallone]

A good point in the end as we were not at our best and were clearly feeling fatigued after last Tuesday and Saturday. Henry in particular looked tired and in the last few minutes a whole number of players were on their"last legs". Whitney more or less confirmed this in his interview and pointed out that Demetriou went off with a groin problem caused by so many matches in a short time.
I would certainly play o'Connor and Taylor Saturday thereby saving Henry and probably Pennington for the Shrews game.
All is not lost however so UTS

[latviancheese]

Thought we played alright, and Swindon have got some decent players. Their goal was very fortunate though.

Mantom and Demetriou were blowing from minute one, and Henry was poor all night defensively.
Sawyers had one on him tonight, looked like the only one with anything in the tank at the end.

Swindon had a very powerful team with pace, our midfield chased shadows all night. Chambers, sadly, is clearly starting to decline.

Bradshaw and Morris livened us up, but probably a bit too late. Morris with a lovely goal, Forde was unlucky to smash the post.

Pennington will go on to play at a high level, what a class player. If we managed to get him on loan again next season i would be amazed.

Some people with comments like "Walsall were shocking" etc etc on Social media are completely laughable. We have some proper mongols as fans.

[Mazza01]

Very lucky to snatch a point tonight, for me Swindon deserved all 3 especially on chances created and possession.

Felt for Chambers tonight as Mantom offers nothing whatsoever.

Has to be viewed as a point gained. Fingers crossed Burtons draw doesn't boost their confidence especially with them heading to lowly Colchester. Saturday could be very defining.

[Mazza01]

Forgot to mention the ref , another spineless twerp when will they take control of time wasting? Yes he got the card out on one occasion but he let so much go :twisted:

[scott_powell]

Fair result. Swindon's number 15 was fudge ace! Reminded me of Rico on a good day.

Everyone was a 6/10 with the exceptions of Pennington, Morris and Sawyers who I'd give 7's

I don't think we played badly but we certainly wasn't as good as Saturday. STILL IN THIS. WE MUST WIN SATURDAY END OF

[chunkster]

just to add i thought downing had a good game tonight. his running at their defense in the second half was quite pleasing. and laying the ball off just outside their box, then running into the box expecting it back was a bit of an eye opener as well :)

[chunkster]

Forgot to mention the ref , another spineless twerp when will they take control of time wasting? Yes he got the card out on one occasion but he let so much go :twisted:

i wanted to run on and kick their goalkeeper up the arse the way he was taking the piss pretending to run to take that late free kick :evil:

[kshammer]

Mantom was god awful. He is far more frustrating than Sawyers.

This X 1000. The Invisible Mantom with another cop out game in a big match. Has so much more in his locker when he tries a bit harder and plays more adventurously.

Thought Lalko was cack too. Offered no help to Rico and has zero consistency. Bit more effort and a lot more variety in his play would help.

A point isn't bad against a Swindon team I was impressed with, but I feel disappointed we didn't have a but more drive and fire in our bellies. Tiredness and a young team contributed to that... we needed a few more leaders tonight.

Frustrated rant over. We will still definitely get second...

[The Bosted Slab]

A draw was probably the right result, as neither side did enough to justify a win.
Swindon played well and had a few useful players. I was particularly impressed with Brophy.
We weren't able to generate enough pressure on them and as such there weren't that many chances created.
I wouldn't be too critical of any of the players, but it just didn't happen for them.
Forde's shot against the post would have been a fine goal had it gone in, with Morris scoring an excellent goal from a similar position soon after.
Still all there to play for though.

[Bristol Fan]

I thought we had exquisite little spells, but Swindon cleverly nullified us in a very different way from the way teams usually try to nullify us, by pushing their wing backs so far up to prevent Demetriou and Henry getting forward, holding their midfield three higher up to force us to go long. It was a risk for them (our front four were often all higher up the pitch than their whole midfield and wing backs), but we really struggled to get through. I liked the way the three behind Hiwula often swapped roles (and sometimes Mantom and Sawyers swapped too) but we just couldn't create enough chances, and when we did Hiwula wasn't clinical enough (can't help but think Bradshaw would have stuck a couple of those chances away).

"All" we need to do is match Burton's results and win our game in hand, and tonight we did match Burton's result, so I'm not too negative. Swindon played some nice football and looked a much better side than their league position suggests.

[Welsh_Saddler]

I can't add much to what's already been posted - the biggest surprise for me was the fact that for most of the game we were out-thought and outplayed by a team way down the League One table. Swindon's players seemed to have more energy and at times more skill than ours showed tonight. After we got the equaliser the Swindon tactics very quickly went to possession football - "if you prevent your opponents from getting the ball, they can't score" - and in those last 15 minutes or so we desperately wanted a repeat of the Southend United scenario, but it was not to be.

Good to see Tom getting some game time - he didn't look to be carrying an injury, but he faced the usual problem of being marked VERY closely by 2 or even 3 gorillas. Towards the end we did have a couple of goal-bound shots but there were other Walsall players in the line of fire......it should be said that the Swindon keeper didn't have a save to make that was worthy of the name - there were 2 attempts he couldn't get to, 1 that hit the post and 1 that was our equaliser.

Kinsella did well coming on to replace Demetriou. The ball was out of play when the substitution happened, and it was slightly amusing that play was held up (a) for Jason to walk off, and (b) for Kinsella to trot the width of the pitch and take the throw-in. OK, the throw-in was in the full-back territory, but did everyone deliberately wait for Kinsella to take it (bearing in mind his track record of throw-ins!!)?

All in all, a slight disappointment not to have come away with 3 points, especially as Burton only drew as well. This season is evidently going to go "to the wire", but as others have said - it really is in our own hands, there are 4 games left and if we can win all 4 then we will be automatically promoted (unless Burton win theirs by huge margins!).

Was Mantom playing? I honestly didn't notice.

[Guest]

As someone said earlier, win our last three matches and we should be up.
(The fact that we have 4 games to go does not invalidate that statement.)

Even if we lose at Bradford, we still have a chance, providing we win those last three games.

Things could look bleak on Saturday - we might easily be 6 points behind Burton. The following Saturday we could still be 6 points behind them, since we don't play until the Monday. And here I am assuming that we beat Shrewsbury.

Nerves of steel required. Anything from Bradford will be a bonus.

[Aldridge_saddler]

Have to say quite deflating really.

A couple of frustrating points;

- We desperately needed to even things up in the middle, they had 3 against our 2. We were chasing shadows as a result.
- We love to work it wide, and we do it pretty well. But a) we don't put it in he box b) there is no one there when we do!


Overall we looked REALLY leggy, quite sad really.

[booster cogburn]

Very lucky to snatch a point tonight, for me Swindon deserved all 3 especially on chances created and possession.

...but not on goals scored which is the only yardstick that counts. They deserved a draw, nothing more nothing less.

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

One goal and the difference on our season will be immense,

We would be in sniffing distance of Will Grigg's wallet if the Burton game stays a draw

Love your avatar by the way, good to see another like minded 'injuneer'! :mrgreen:

Come on lads one last push!!

Its a lot more flexible and less rigid than the manufacturer's name-sake

The Roll's Royce of lathes.

[PT]

As others have said, a fair result. Impressed by Swindon but we were half a yard slower than on Saturday and Swindon had a game plan to take some advantage of that. Their defenders carried the ball from deep and were often very close to the edge of our box before we got close to them.

The good news s that despite that, we didn't lose and lost no ground on the other pair. My worry is that having scored and not lost against top of the league, Burton might re-find some belief.

I think Mantom was OK. But he doesn't have the power of George Evans. We miss that.

I think Milan was disappointing again. Gives Henry no protection and is very erratic in possession.

Some need a rest on Saturday. I'd be tempted to bring in Tom, Jimmy and Kieran.

It's still on.

[booster cogburn]

A draw was probably the right result, as neither side did enough to justify a win

..you mean "score more goals than the opposition"? How else do you do enough to justify a win? Just curious.

Swindon really surprised me given their league position. The way they kept possession for long periods in the second half was impressive if frustrating for us. Brophy (15) played like the ball was glued to his foot. Having said that they didn't create much of any note, Downing and Penners did well against the front two.

[Leatherman]

Swindon pretty much controlled the game from start to finish.

We looked knackered and let them come at us. I don't think we won a tackle al night and second balls were nearly always theirs.

We spent too much time when we did have possession getting the ball out wide to people who already had markers all over them - too predicable. I wasn't in the best position to see, perhaps those behind the goal could comment, but it looked as thought Hiwula had space down the middle on a number of occasions but Chambers and Mantom always looked to get the ball out to the full backs instead of taking a look first. This is a scenario which should had suited Sawyers with his 'vision' but alas fell short.

Forde was unlucky again with his shot that hit the post - perhaps he should get his internal compass realigned :D .

It was left to Downing of all people to show the way to success by providing the pass from which Morris finished superbly.

I going to dread this but, I really think it's going to be decided at Port Vale.

Get your tickets and batten down the hatches.

By the way, I enjoyed Whitney's post match interview and thought he was very positive and not too down hearted. Unlike me who thought it was 2 points dropped.

Ah well, Bradford here we come...

[The Bosted Slab]

A draw was probably the right result, as neither side did enough to justify a win

..you mean "score more goals than the opposition"? How else do you do enough to justify a win? Just curious.

Swindon really surprised me given their league position. The way they kept possession for long periods in the second half was impressive if frustrating for us. Brophy (15) played like the ball was glued to his foot. Having said that they didn't create much of any note, Downing and Penners did well against the front two.

Hello Booster.
I don't want to become embroiled in a discussion which I suspect comes down to the narrow and indisputable point that if you score more goals than the opposition does, then you win, whether "deserved", or otherwise.
I hope that your curiosity will be satisfied by my explanation, which I suspect you already anticipate.
Contrast last night's performance with the one we gave at Crewe, ending in the same result. In my opinion, we did more than enough to have justified a win in that game, had we done so.
I'm sorry that my vocabulary and phraseology fell short of reasonable journalistic standards.
Must do better.

[booster cogburn]

A draw was probably the right result, as neither side did enough to justify a win

..you mean "score more goals than the opposition"? How else do you do enough to justify a win? Just curious.

Swindon really surprised me given their league position. The way they kept possession for long periods in the second half was impressive if frustrating for us. Brophy (15) played like the ball was glued to his foot. Having said that they didn't create much of any note, Downing and Penners did well against the front two.

Hello Booster.
I don't want to become embroiled in a discussion which I suspect comes down to the narrow and indisputable point that if you score more goals than the opposition does, then you win, whether "deserved", or otherwise.
I hope that your curiosity will be satisfied by my explanation, which I suspect you already anticipate.
Contrast last night's performance with the one we gave at Crewe, ending in the same result. In my opinion, we did more than enough to have justified a win in that game, had we done so.
I'm sorry that my vocabulary and phraseology fell short of reasonable journalistic standards.
Must do better.

Nothing at all wrong with your vocabulary and phraseology mucker. Just that in my book having most of the possession and creating lots of chances does not mean you've done enough to justify winning. (Unless you've been shafted by a ridiculous refereeing decision). We didn't do enough to justify victory at Crewe cuz Thomas and Romaine and others missed easy chances and we failed to keep a clean sheet.
Funny you should mention journalistic standards because this "justified" the win and "deserved" victory stuff is just the sort of lazy phraseology and lack of vocabulary that journalists regularly peddle.
Yes I can hear myself. Now going out for a long walk off a short pier.

[Sadders]

1-1 was probably a better result for us than Swindon, but in reality - this weekends fixtures look tough on us and that's probably our chance at the Automatics completely blown out of the window. Swindon did a good tactical job on us, pressing 2 wingbacks up near the half way line which meant they always had a man over or extra width and an easy get out ball when we tried pressing the defence high up the pitch. Definetely a performance above the league position, no surprise to see that you have a team fully back to fitness.

We missed the better chances and Swindon got lucky with Forde shot as for 90% of the time it left his boot, it was in, but it just swerved at the last second, but I felt Swindon were always the better and more fluid side on the ball as we looked flat, tired and nervous in possession. 3 games in a week is going to ruin our chances. The ginger left wingback Brophy was exceptionally good at not losing the ball and always having an option, it's a shame for Swindon his final ball was horrendous as he got space down our left hand side all evening.

As for us, same old same old at home. Look out of the running, then perform, get the chance to really really apply pressure to Burton and flop, especially at home. The simple fact is, a play-off place is great for us, but over the course of this season we have had SO many chances to catch Burton and frustratingly, fluffed absolutely ALL of them - anything but the top 2 feels a dissapointment and the stress of the play-offs really won't suit a team like us. The most annoying aspect is that had we taken even a third of those chances, we would be right at the top with Wigan now, not really having to worry about chasing or being caught. This side IS good enough to be in the top 2, but our bottle and lack of performance at home makes me never want to watch at the Bescot again.

Mantom was absolute dogshit AGAIN, no wonder Chambers looked tired he does the work for an entire midfield. How can Lalkovic moan at being subbed or not starting each week? 1 decent performance at Gillingham and then he has offered precisely NOTHING in the following 2 games. Forde is too slow to play at home, can't beat his man, constantly check's back and then the pace/threat of our counter is nullified, sides re-arrange there defensive/midfield lines quickly and so we end up passing it backwards. We didn't get any link up play from Sawyers/Hiwula which has made us look such a threat in the last couple of games. Bradshaw didn't look fit. Morris has to be worth more than a 20 minutes sub appearance? I suspect Whitney will ring the changes on Saturday as we look to freshen things up with another game next Tuesday. For me, O'Connor will come back in, along with Taylor, one of Forde/Milan will drop out too.

[philthesaddler]

I wasn't at the game, but 3 games in 8 days probably left us a bit leggy.

In hindsight, changing the lineup may have helped.

[Walsallian7]

As someone said earlier, win our last three matches and we should be up.
(The fact that we have 4 games to go does not invalidate that statement.)

Even if we lose at Bradford, we still have a chance, providing we win those last three games.

Things could look bleak on Saturday - we might easily be 6 points behind Burton. The following Saturday we could still be 6 points behind them, since we don't play until the Monday. And here I am assuming that we beat Shrewsbury.

Nerves of steel required. Anything from Bradford will be a bonus.

This. Couldn't have put it more perfect myself Guesty.