Half Time Break

Swindon Town 2 - Charlton Athletic 1


Our 'live on television' jinx continued last night in the countryside of Wiltshire.

I had a deep sigh of relief typing the score just now. We are still in the tie, despite being battered for much of the game.

We were a very second best for the first half at the County Ground but I consoled myself with a half time pint of Fuller's London Pride.

Swindon had thrown everything at us, yet we had remained firm, not least due to some fantastic stops by Darren Randolph.

We could hold our heads up. As the away side our role was to soak up the pressure.

Those of us in the Rose of Denmark on Woolwich Road, gasped in disbelief as Nicky Bailey beat the 'keeper, only for his swerving long distance shot to come spinning back off the post.

No sooner had we thought our luck was turning than a poorly defended cross beat everyone, for Charlie Austin to score.
The country boys went mad, only to be sent into ecstasy, (XTC for all you 80's kids!) less than ten minutes later when Danny Ward caught us napping at the back and accelerated past our defenders.

2-0.

Bugger.

The Rose of Denmark became a seething mass of ugliness as angry patrons shouted their displeasure.

I exchanged SMS messages with Crispy.
We both felt the tie was now dead.
Ketts, (at the County Ground), stated he felt it was now even more important we scored so we'd have at least something to bring back to London.

The Rose of Denmark erupted when a long hoof by Randolph was raced onto by Deon Burton.
He showed bravery to beat the onrushing 'keeper to the ball and nod it into the yawning goal.

(The gods of symmetry sent London Pride onto my trousers and then Crispy announced he'd nearly wet himself.)

The rest of the game was a far more cagey affair with Swindon worried they were going to blow it and Charlton worried to leave too many gaps at the back.

Swindon should really have restored their 2 goal cushion late, late into added on time when Vincent Pericard managed to miss an absolute sitter, sending his free header against the base of Randolph's upright.

Phew.

I walked home feeling mightily relieved that Swindon weren't out of sight.
They most certainly looked the better side and had far more shots on target, yet we had far more corners and our possession in the second half, according to Sky, was at times a 60:40 advantage.

Swindon will be on a high after their impressive performance.

However, it's only half time and we have at least another 90 minutes to earn that trip up the Jubilee line from North Greenwich.

Parky knows what we have to do.

Attack! Attack! Attack!

We need to push forward and show the same kind of purpose shown recently against Norwich and Leeds.
I'd give Mooney the shove, bring in Forster, (who apparently 'always' scores against Swindon), move Bailey into the middle and Kyel Reid onto the left, sacrificing Racon.

Just my opinion of course but we all know there's no point in sitting back.

Home advantage worked for Swindon, we need to make it work for us too on Monday night.

See you there!

Casual Rating
Deon Burton for his bravery and Darren Randolph for his stops are earning the Lacoste polo this time. Well done fellers.

The dreaded Primark novelty slogan tee shirts are going to the supporters of Swindon.
 -The television close ups of their crowd made it look like they all have loyalty cards at budget shopper paradise Matalan anyway ;-)

I can't have been the only one who found the incessant 'clackety clack' from their strange cardboard contraptions unbelievably annoying.
Grrr!