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Swindon Town v Rovers

Swindon Town v Rovers
Posted by Ian
County Ground
Saturday, August 18, 2018 - 03:00 AM
Until: Saturday, August 18, 2018 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
Love the bones of Jay but...
He's sold his team, and us the fans, down the swanee today.
As much as coming back from the dead at Stevenage was great for morale, how much will this have the opposite effect?
So, so disappointed.
What a perfect start as well.
Need a result on Tuesday against a better team than Swindle.
 

Sparky

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Chris Greenacre
If he’s got any sense he’ll make a public apology to the fans and his teammates.
 

drwhoman

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Disappointing. It sounds like L 2 is a step too far for Harris, as some have suspected. However, the rest of the team were not disgraced. I imagine that MM will now have to bring someone in. If Norburn had not bailed out he might not even have been playing.
 

Ian

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Aldo
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If he gets his head down and plays, he's not a bad footballer. His desire and effort cannot be questioned but he really doesn't do himself any favours with days like today. It's disappointing and we are now short in midfield for a few games. Looking at the positives, we were excellent at 2-0 up with 11 men. We were passing well, controlling the game and scoring goals. That's a real positive to take out of the game.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
It's Jay's temperament that keeps finding him out, not a lack of ability to play at this level. And it's never when we're chasing a lost cause!
If someone else had been sent off, and Jay was a sub, I'd want him out there. His workrate and commitment are unquestionable.
All teams need someone to do the dirty work. Unfortunately Jay takes it too literally.
As Sparky says, he's not going to change.
Let the dust settles, in three games time I'll be glad to see him back in the fold.
But today, he's an utter kn*b.
And I'm sure the players will let him know.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
As disappointing as it was to lose a game we should have won, there were a lot of positives to take from today. We more than matched one of the promotion favourites away from home with eleven, and for a period ten, men and some of our attacking football was sublime again.

In the first half Swindon's defence could not deal with the pace, skill and movement of Norwood, Jennings and Smith and we continued to make chances after the red card. However, the second period was basically a backs-to-the-wall job as the ten men tired and while Swindon were by no means scintillating, there was an air of inevitability about the result in the end as we should just could not press the ball and get up the pitch. That said, I thought our opponents were the best team we had played so far and Doughty looked a good player for them in midfield.

Individually, the three attacking players I mentioned were brilliant and Cole also played well in the first half, helping to set up the second goal. However, when we switched to 441 he became isolated and was pretty ineffective. Elsewhere, despite the goals conceded, I thought McNulty, Ellis and Monthe were absolutely immense at the back: I lost count of the number of headers the two centre halves won and Monthe had their right winger in his pocket. On the negative, Caprice struggled badly. He got skinned on several occasions by Adebayo, giving his man too much space and naively letting him run inside on to his right foot, notably for their first goal. Of the subs, Gilmour did OK in difficult circumstance but is not good enough to start in place of Harris in my view, and DMH was industrious but did not get much change out of Matt Taylor.

Another entertaining game and superb support again from the SWA. Two very important home games coming up, and we need at least three points from them.
 
Last edited:

Boz

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Iain Hume
Harris, like Norwood always has a stupid red card in him. It’s a shame as it sounds like a real game changer and our bad run at Swindon continues.

However, the failure to replace Norburn puts us in a very difficult position, as Gilmour does not seem ready to fill that hole in midfield. Funds must be found to bring another midfielder, whether on loan or a free agent, into the squad. Otherwise, losing the next three games is not beyond the bounds of possibility.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
Great stuff RLC, thanks.
Good to hear that Manny played ok, he is much maligned.
 
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Micky not happy with Harris, or the defending for the three goals. Jay will have had an absolute bo**ocking I would imagine.
 

Sparky

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Chris Greenacre
Thanks for the report RLC. As you say Micky whilst not happy with Jay, points to the fact that the goals conceded were avoidable and we had 10 men in the box for at least 1 of them.

Hopefully a one off as the likes of Caprice and Ellis will be in the team for some time with Sutton out for 2 months possibly and Buxton unavailable.
 

Ian

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Caprice likes to bomb forward and looks good when he has support but I'm not sure about his defending. Looks a bit ropey.
Regarding the defending, I think it's a bit harsh to criticise the defenders too much. They had a hell of a job on their hands for 70 minutes. If you're going to sit back like we do and invite pressure, it's going to crack eventually.
 
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ian goodison
harris can apologise till the cows come home we don,t have the biggest of squads and already have injuries his actions were plain stupid
 
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Regarding the defending, I think it's a bit harsh to criticise the defenders too much. They had a hell of a job on their hands for 70 minutes. If you're going to sit back like we do and invite pressure, it's going to crack eventually.
I agree completely with this. I thought the defence did well to keep us in the game as long as they did, and defending set pieces is the responsibility of the whole team, not just the back four. Caprice was terrible though.

Some of the reaction to this defeat elsewhere is way over the top.
 
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aldo
yes jh not great . look what happend to the crap defender who had a mare against posh in the cup last year . i can see harris not playing mutch now . i think you dont cross a line with mm . and think jay has done it. on a better note realy happy smith got one . and happy for cole setting one up
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
A reckless tackle in midfield when your team is 2-0 up and there are still over 70 minutes left is beyond stupid. However, I will always be willing to give some slack to a member of the Magnificent Ten. Jay played his heart out at Wembley, while playing out of position and keeping his emotions in check. I agree that the least we need is an apology. Given Jay's appalling disciplinary record, I also suggest an anger management course (similar to what seems to have benefited Jonjo Shelvey) is also needed.

I'm trying really hard to get some positives out of this. Apart from the obvious "If we'd had eleven men, we'd probably have won, so we are a competitive L2 side.", another possible benefit is that it should make sure we get another midfielder signed up soon. I think we now need to regard Jay as a squad member rather than a regular.
 
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I have just seen all the goals again. Very poor defending by Caprice for the first, but Swindon's winner was a complete fluke really. Their centre half has shinned it at a ninety degree angle, which wrongfooted Davis.
 
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Interesting that a few of the Swindon fans have said we looked like a top-half team.
 

Ian

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We looked top half they looked bottom half in that first twenty minutes. You just have to wonder what the score would have been had we played with 11 men..
 
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