Gas vs The Robins MM Cup

personally would not run him out in this weather, cold and damp ,no good to a suspect hammy!! unfortunately with the rules of this dumb competition sort of restricts bringing on the wannabees

Hope Benno does well.Has more about him than either Nichols or Tyler-Smith .
Swindon ,two early injuries and have used two subs already.

Well, we are one nil up now .

Just time for Ollie to get himself booked before the final whistle went.

Hope those that attended enjoyed it.

It's a win. No goals conceded. Tom manages to prove, yet again, that he's amongst the most consistent players in the entire League.

What's not to like?

Have you seen JCH goals to games ratio?

No, I thought not.

Btw how's goal machine Ricky Miller doing this season? 🤣

JCH is nowhere near his normal self yet. It'll take a few games I reckon. THD, on the other hand, was fit and raring to go, and looked different class when he came on. His pace and quick thinking got us the goal in a dull game that was heading towards a penalty shootout. Fingers crossed he stays fit this time because he is a real asset.

Talking about the goal machine TN, Cocko is reported to have said in an interview (BL) last night:

"The lads love him in there, I have a lot of time for him - I often think of putting him in the car and taking him home to adopt him because I like the kid, he's a great lad..

and,

"He's a great kid and if we can get him going, get him a couple of goals under his belt, then who knows, he may just kick on... [my bold]

if? may?

TN gets pelters from a usually benign set of supporters as he has not scored enough in over 2 seasons full stop.

Went to game. It was wierd to be in such a small crowd and I was only one in ticket queue 15 minutes before kick-off. A tenner to sit in East Stand, although my jeans were soaking wet from walking to ground.

Onto match.

Always interesting to watch a match from East Stand. What stood out was the slowness of our play. Everyone wanted a second to look up, especially from the back. Angles of running off the ball were limited, so we tended to telegraph every move. Swindon had their reserves out and we struggled to open them up.

Football people are obsessed with personnel and formations, but the game is about pass and move...at pace.

I maintain what I have said about GC. We are poorly coached, although defensively organised. The end-product is stodgy. A side playing in his own image. Roll your sleeves up, ugly, not pretty.

He said in pre-match interview that he wanted a quick tempo. Impossible with this team. Too much lateral movement of the ball and never enough confidence to drive forwards.

Pros

Craig as an organiser.

Upson's contribution.

JCH's willingness to call out players who don't do basics. He was grumpy as hell with service.

Reserve keeper is commanding.

THD - best player for us. First touch and willingness to get head up and "pass diagonally"

Cons

TN is almost frightened to shoot as he knows it's never going to go in. GC trying to defend the indefensible afterwards? Laughable.

Mark Little - so lightweight in confrontations and lacked a yard of pace when faced with urgent defensive
situations. Worrying performance for me.

KB - floats around, but never enough zip or end-product. Compare him to Bodin and you will want to weep.

OC - not a good enough footballer. Full-stop.


So this is not a top 6 League 1 team. Manage your expectations accordingly to avoid disappointment.

I thought that it was a shame that Kieran Phillips was not given an opportunity, even as a sub.

An interesting side-note is that Swindon Town were forced by rules to play some first-team players, but 2 of them feigned injury to avoid action.

That really sums up the competition. Players pretending to be hurt so that they don't have to take part.