Moving on from Wembley...

I've finally had time to sit back and mull over the past week and a half. I'm not going to match report the Wembley encounter or anything like that, rather chat shit sitting at the war table.

As I stood at The Valley following Stephen Darby's penalty kick, I felt pure exultation of the highest form; how I imagine one would feel upon receipt of your first-born or landing that dream job. This is no exaggeration. For me, getting the opportunity to watch my beloved Swindon at Wembley for the first time caused this, and you may or may not be able to relate. If you're unable to, try to find your purest passage of joy; how would it feel to top that? In light of this, perhaps I was not ready for a Swindon victory at Wembley just yet.

Regardless, the 11 days between the thrilling 2nd leg encounter with Charlton and our big day out at New Wembley saw me on top of the world. No cheap-shot, sucker-punch, slobber-knocker or crippler-crossface could knock me down. Even with such anticipation, those 264 hours felt more like a mere 24. In hindsight, I wish it had been the opposite. To have been able to bask in the glory of the evening of Monday 17th May for longer would have been nice, and our Wembley defeat brought myself and I expect many a Town fan back down to earth, too hard and too soon. Alas, the organisation of transport to Wembley and the purchase of tickets consumed many of these hours and before I knew it, it was squeaky bum time and Destination Wembley Stadium. A huge thanks must go to Trevor Wainwright, Gig Talmage and Wayne Talmage who gave up a huge amount of their own time and money to make our Wembley trip possible.

Final day was an absolute stonker. I had an absolutely amazing time journeying and whilst at Wembley, and I'm sure many others will agree. The only thing left was Town being en route to the Championship, but this was not to be. For days I thought about what could have been, and in my head what should have been, but finally my pint is once again half full.

A long and fruitful season has left me with much to be grateful for; the unearthing of starlet Charlie Austin, some of the best football I've seen grace the County Ground, unbeatable away days, back to back victories over both Leeds and Southampton and of course the privilege of watching the mighty reds grace Wembley's hallowed turf.

This was my third visit to New Wembley, after previously watching Exeter's rise to League 2 and an England friendly. On my 2nd visit I stopped off at the statue of Bobby Moore for a quick prayer to the footballing gods. As my father and I turned to leave I said "The next time we see this statue we will be here to watch Swindon in the playoff finals". If only I'd have added "winning" to my statement...

League 1 climax most exciting in England?

Tomorrow, we make the short trip to South East London. Destination; The New Den, home of Millwall Football Club. The buzz ahead of this encounter is huge, as the race for second place and the fortune it brings, gets set to climax on the final day of the season.
The excitement is phenomenal; as only Norwich have secured a route to the Championship, one of five teams will take the other automatic spot tomorrow afternoon. So here is how it pans out:

Leeds Utd currently sit in 2nd place on 83 points. They are the only team in the fray with fate in their own hands. A win on the final day of the season will seal automatic promotion for the whites, but they must overcome Bristol Rovers at Elland Road to achieve this. The Pirates sit in 9th place after losing their early spot in the playoffs and on paper, Leeds should take all 3 points, but we all know that 90 minutes are played on the pitch and not on paper. So bearing this in mind, what can happen if Leeds and Bristol Rovers share the spoils?

Millwall and Swindon are hot on the tails of Leeds United, holding 3rd and 4th spot respectively and joint on 82 points. With these two teams meeting at The New Den, both players, management and supporters will be keeping a close eye on the game at Elland Road. If Leeds slip up, there is EVERYTHING to play for. And if either team steal all 3 points, with that will come the automatic promotion place. In the event that Leeds draw, and nothing separates Millwall and Swindon, 2nd place remains open to...

Charlton Atheltic, who are in 5th place on 81 points. Though 3 points alone wouldn't be enough to steal automatic, they would need a 12 goal advantage as they travel to Oldham Athletic. So Charlton will also be hoping the Pirates take all the plunder of Elland Road, and that they can swashbuckle their way to 3 points at Boundary Park.

And finally, sitting safely in the final playoff spot; Huddersfield Town are the last team who could take the coveted 2nd spot. Though currently on 80 points, if results go their way; namely a Bristol Rovers victory, a draw at The New Den and Charlton failing to beat Oldham, then Huddersfield could pip the automatic place on the home straight. They will of course need to take all 3 points from Exeter at St. James Park, but also win by 6 goals. 5 wouldn't be enough as Leeds would take 2nd place based on the number of goals scored throughout the season. Such a goalscoring feat could send shock waves at the other end of the table...

There is of course still 1 relegation place to be decided. Tranmere currently occupy the place but are on 48 points along with Exeter City, whose goal difference keeps their head above water. If Huddersfield achieve what they need to be in with a chance at automatic, that would likely sink Exeter to relegation from League 1 if Tranmere manage to gain a point against already relegated Stockport County. Above them on 49 points sit Hartlepool United. Thanks to their goal difference, it would require both Exeter to beat Huddersfield AND Tranmere to beat Stockport to relegate them if they fail to win their final match away at Brentford. Safest bet here is to take all 3 points from the Bees!

Above them and still not safe sit Gillingham. The Gills are on 50 points, and again, if they fail to win away at already relegated Wycombe and the aforementioned teams pick up 3 points, the Gills will be relegated to League 2.

I think football fans across the country will be tuning in to see the League 1 culmination tomorrow afternoon as we are set for what could be one of the most exciting final days of football in a long time. Its a time when heroes will be made and jobs will be lost whilst pride and dignity hang in the balance. I implore you to pick a team and cheer them on until the death whilst watching Jeff Stelling and the lads on Soccer Saturday. Be the 12th man and get involved in a historic day of football!

Of course, Leeds might win and Tranmere might lose, rending my pre-match speech completely void, but I've got a hunch that their could be a surprise or 2 in store when Saturday comes.

Who wants automatic when you have a record like ours at Wembley?

Mulling over the past few results, I'm sure I wouldn't be ridiculed for thinking that perhaps we didn't want automatic promotion, and would prefer going up via the esteemed route of Wembley? OK I admit it would be nuts to think like that! But we do hold an unbeaten record at Wembley, albeit dating back quite a few years. But for those of you that didn't know, as far as I'm aware Town have graced the hallowed turf a total of 3 times, and have come out victorious each time. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Anyways, in 1969 we defeated the mighty Arsenal 3-1 to win the League Cup, and is by far the highest regarded point in the club's history. The rules stated that League Cup winners would gain passport to the then "Champions League equivalent" if you will; the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. It was later revealed that this was not the case, and only League Cup winners from Division 1 would be eligible for the tournament. Instead, the short-lived Anglo-Italian Cup was created. Town appeared victorious in both incarnations of the tournament, which was made famous more for hooliganism, than a European footballing extravaganza. The final had to be abandoned, with Town being awarded the trophy as they were 3-0 up, and the tournament was never held again!

20 or so years later we made our 2nd appearance at Old Wembley, and won promotion to Division 1 (now the Premiership) with a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Celebrations were short-lived as financial irregularities seeped through the foundations laid by a previous regime and Swindon received tough punishment for "illegal payments", which saw their promotion overturned and were further relegated to Division 3, the latter being successfully overturned under appeal.

Our final and most recent trip saw Town being promoted to the Premiership for our first ever foray into top-flight football. In 1993, a 4-3 victory over Leicester in the Division 1 playoffs sealed the promotion.

Now, 17 years on, it is becoming more likely that a trip to Wembley will be inevitable to successfully complete the promotion push that has been launched by Danny Wilson's men this season. If we make it there, will we have what it takes to keep our untarnished Wembley record in-tact. Or will the mounting media and public exposures see us crack under the pressure similar to our close-season?

A trip to Wembley would be great but give me automatic any day!

The Race for 2nd Place!

Wow its been a month since my last blog post! Football and work have been keeping me busy over the last few weeks, but with things looking so good for Town at the moment, I felt I had to get typing again! Since our 4-1 victory over Stockport, results have been up and down for Town. Directly following that home victory we slipped to a 3 game streak without winning. Firstly, being involved in a drab 0-0 draw at Brisbane Road with Leyton Orient, where the highlight of the game was a rogue flare. Then we stumbled to a hammering from local rivals Bristol Rovers in a 4-0 reverse and a 2-1 defeat at Stadium:MK.

But just as things started to slip away, the boys dug in and ground out a well battled 1-0 victory away at the beautiful Withdean Stadium, courtesy of Charlie Austin as he slipped the ball past ex Town stopper Peter Brezovan. The Robins built on this with a stunning second half performance at St. Mary's to over-turn in-form Southampton with a brilliant 1-0 result. And finally, the jubilation continued as lady luck donned her Swindon shirt and Town salvaged a point with an injury time Gordon Greer header during the visit of top of the table Norwich.

The past few weeks haven't been without their tribulations however. Amongst the celebrations, Swindon's boys having been falling left, right and centre to injury woes. Stopper David Lucas fell victim at the Brighton game after a hamstring injury forced him off with just 12 minutes on the clock. Hats off to Phil Smith, though not everybody's favourite shot stopper, Town's current longest serving player has come in and held his own in a tough run of games, playing an absolute blinder at St. Marys in particular.

Billy Paynter was left out of the squad for the clash at the Withdean Stadium due to a hamstring injury he picked up in training (what is happening to our hamstrings??!!), causing Mr. Wilson to call upon the emergency loan window. Danny called upon the services of 18 year old Frank Nouble of West Ham. The striker is highly thought of at Upton Park but is currently not in the first team plans. Nouble played his first game in a Town shirt alongside Charlie Austin at home to Norwich. His strength looked good and he really wanted to take players on, but he will have to start scoring goals to win over the Swindon crowd, who have recently been giving Vincent Pericard a torrid time thanks to the goalscoring antics of Charlie Austin. Town fans are not easily pleased!

It became apparent that Kevin Amankwaah had been playing through the pain barrier for some time as he fell victim in Milton Keynes after receiving a kick in the glutes. Wilson again dipped into the emergency loan window and bagged the services of young Stephen Darby from Liverpool. He had an onerous debut at the Withdean trying to contain Kazenga LuaLua (younger brother of Lomana), but managed to come through unscathed and has so far held his own in place of big Kev.

And finally, Scott Cuthbert was withdrawn during the 1-0 win over Saints after taking a blow to his medial ligament, stretching the Town side to its very limits. But with Alan Sheehan having returned from his injury and resuming his role in the left-back berth, the man he replaced Mr. Lescinel "nobody knows which is my surname" Jean-Francois filled Scotty's role at centre back, and has performed admirably!

I think that's the lot of our recent injuries. To add to this Simon Ferry was dismissed at St. Mary's (yes we beat Southampton with only 10 men) after receiving his second yellow card, and therefore missed the Norwich match (yes we drew with leaders Norwich with a side weakened through injury and suspension). And to look at our league position now, I have to take my hat off to Wilson and his men. With the help of a few results going our way, such as Colchester's draw with Brentford the other night (and Leeds slip slide gets an honourable mention), what was once a distant dream, is now within touching distance, and Swindon certainly shouldn't be counted out of the race for 2nd place!

Swindon vs. Stockport - Playoff consolidation at the expense of The Hatters

Stuart Pearce was on hand last night to witness yet another win at the County Ground last night. A win that stretches our unbeaten run in the league to 12 games, 9 in all competitions, with our last set-back being far from a disgrace against Premiership outfit Fulham at Craven Cottage. Supposedly Pearce's 4th visit to the County Ground this season as he looks to bolster his Under-21 side, it was a chance for the likes of Danny Ward and Charlie Austin to make the step up to represent their country. Bristol Rovers were the last League 1 side to take all 3 points against Swindon, with recent performances a long way from what we were forced to sit through at the Memorial Stadium back in December.
With many fans expecting a complete drubbing of midweek opponents Stockport County, it would be typical of Swindon not to make things easy for themselves, even after opening the scoring early on. In fact, a rather drab first 45 minutes, even with 3 goals, saw Town fans expecting A LOT more from their side in the 2nd half, as the domination had not quite paid dividends in the half time score.

On the 6th minute, expectations were raised as many a Swindon fan would have been thinking "this is going to be a rout!". A short corner from Jon-Paul McGovern found Jonathan Douglas on the edge of the area who managed to mishit an attempt goalwards. However, welsh stopper Owain Fôn Williams' attempted save was typical of amateur football, not something you would expect to see in League 1, and his poor block allowed 18 year old Danny Ward to fire a shot of his own, which eventually found the net after the melee of red and blue shirts in between Ward and the goal deviated the ball past a helpless Fôn Williams.
Ward's contribution was short and sweet as he was forced off on 28 minutes after picking up a knock; a precautionary measure from Wilson, allowing Matt Ritchie to make his first appearance after joining on loan from poverty-stricken Portsmouth 2 weeks previous.

As the game quietened down and begun to stagnate towards half time, Swindon's dominance over nethermost Stockport County was showing, though the score told a different story. There were plenty of chances as in-form striker Charlie Austin's effort was matched by Fôn Williams and top scorer Billy Paynter sent a sitter far wide off the goal after being found unmarked by McGovern's inch perfect crossing. Shortly after, the scouse frontman had Stockport's stopper at full stretch as he pulled a powerful shot back across the goal after finding a lot of room just outside the area. The keeper make a good save to denyPaynter and Swindon. Even 19 year old Sean Morrison, who recently returned from a loan spell at League 1 rivals Southend United, got in on the action but the giant defender could only head straight into Fôn Williams' clutches from a corner.

But Stockport's 22 year old keeper's heroics were finally beaten to strengthen Town's lead with 45 minutes on the clock as Paynter turned in another spill from Fôn Williams. Alan Sheehan burst into the box and his low shot was parried by Fôn Williams, and Billy Paynter was on hand to finish the job, putting the ball in from what looked like a very tight angle to take his tally of the season up to an impressive 21 goals.
That wasn't the first half over and done with though, as Stockport restarted with some fire in their bellies. A sloppy free-kick was given away on the edge of the Swindon area, and Greg Tansey was on-hand to convert, suddenly changing the whole complexion of the game bang on half time. Perhaps just deserts for not putting away the countless chances we had squandered.

Wilson was forced into another change and a reshuffle of formation during the break, as wing back Kevin Amankwaah was swapped for midfielder Craig Easton due to a hamstring complaint. And our lacking right side showed as stand-in captain Jonathan Douglas also became stand-in wing back to fill the hole left by Amankwaah's departure.

It seemed Douglas' presence bossing the midfield was sorely missed, as Stockport pushed on to find an equaliser to stun playoff hopefuls Swindon. As they grew in confidence some sloppy defending could have gifted County a point. Stockport's best chance came in the form of Jabo Ibehre, who found himself racing clear of Sean Morrison, only to be thwarted by on-rushing David Lucas.

Stockport's league position began to show as they were unable to capitalise on the chances given to them by an out-of-sort Swindon team, and Town managed to weather the storm and deliver the killing blow on 74 minutes. Jon-Paul McGovern's teasing cross was met by Celtic loanee Simon Ferry's head at the far post as he bagged his 2nd goal for Swindon. An assist for Jon-Paul McGovern that is a testament to his performance throughout the season.
The goal proved to be what Swindon needed, as the wind behind Stockport's sails disappeared and their heads dropped. It was only a matter of time until number 4 came as Town pushed forward with their 2 goal advantage. It came in the shape of a sublime 25 yard finish from striker Billy Paynter, as he looped a stunning shot over Fôn Williams and into the back of the net.
The 83 Stockport fans were sent packing as Town set themselves up nicely for the trip to Leyton Orient on Saturday. It wasn't the best performance, but its +3 points, +3 Goal difference, and we're now a point behind Charlton, who failed to overcome Brighton, with two games in hand.

See you in London!

Swindon vs. Charlton - Deja Vu at the County Ground

Saturday saw most of League 1's promotion hopefuls have a rare slip up as the top of the table opened up for a split second, but only Millwall really grabbed the opportunity with two hands as they recorded a memorable victory over leaders Norwich City, top of the form leader board across Europe.

Elsewhere fellow promotion favourites Leeds United failed to gain as much ground on Norwich as they would have hoped as host Hartlepool scored a dramatic 93rd minute goal to share a point with Leeds, I would have loved to see Jeff Stelling's reaction! Huddersfield failed to overcome visitors Carlisle as they drew 1-1, and Charlton and ourselves will have to wait for another rare opportunity to push for automatic promotion as a sickening 93rd minute equaliser saw Charlton head back east with a point in their swag bag as they robbed the Robins of all 3.

County Ground officials were expecting over 10,000 for the Saturday afternoon tie between two teams sat in the playoffs, with both knowing there is still a possibility of reaching the elusive 2nd place. However, the official attendance was recorded at under 10,000, no doubt hit by the surprise small number of Charlton fans. What has happened to their away fan base? I was extremely shocked by their numbers and their noise.

Wilson made one change to the side that threw away 3 points at Southend the weekend before as David Lucas took his regular spot in the between the sticks after recovering from a niggle, and Phil Smith would have to make do with a seat on the bench. Fellow recovers Alan O'Brien and Lloyd Macklin had a space reserved for them on the bench as well.

The first half was a cagey affair, with few clear cut chances for either side. Gordon Greer put his header from a Jon-Paul McGovern corner onto the crossbar. Then at the opposite end Nicky Bailey shook Lucas' goal as a thunderous effort from him was also kept out by the woodwork after Kyel Reid managed to find him unmarked on the edge of Town's box.

Danny Ward saw his poke towards goal turned away by the backside of team mate Billy Paynter after Charlie Austin had played in the Bolton loanee. And Austin saw an effort of his own flash wide of the goal as he managed to make something of a ball bouncing behind him, but was unable to connect cleanly.

Simon Ferry nearly put Town ahead with an audacious dipping effort but this went just the wrong side of the post, and looked like it was going in from where I was sat. The spirits of the home support was high as a physical first 45 came to a halt, knowing that we were definitely in with a shout against the Addicks.

As the players were reintroduced to the pitch, the pace of the game continued from where it had left off. Strong tackling and classy passing however allowed Swindon to grab the initiative. Ward played a short corner to McGovern, a move that riles up Town support as usually we see possession squandered from such attempts. However, this time the moved worked as McGovern played a first time ball to Gordon Greer, who had found himself involved heavily in Town's attacking play today. The captain had lost his marker at the near post and flicked the ball across Charlton's box where big wing back Kevin Amankwaah applied the finish for his 3rd goal of the campaign, causing the County Ground to erupt.

With just under half an hour remaining, it seemed Town took the gear down a bit too early and as we have on so many occasions, let Charlton back into the game rather than putting it to bed. Nicky Bailey was guilty of wasting two great chances to get Charlton back into it as Town's attacking prowess from the first 60 minutes disappeared, and our classy passing football turned into an un-confident "'AVE IT!" fest. And as the fourth official raised his board to display 5 minutes of added time, deja vu struck, and the chances of a boxing day repeat were on the cards.

And in the 93rd minute, lightning had struck twice for The Robins, and it would be Nicky Bailey, undoubtedly Charlton's biggest danger throughout the game, who would send the hearts of around 8000 Town faithful sinking.

Charlton broke down the left flank and Deon Burton, who was once on-loan at the County Ground, played a ball into the area and finding un-marked Nicky Bailey. Bailey drilled his shot low and hard, giving David Lucas little chance of scuppering Charlton's celebrations.

Once again, and for the 2nd time in a week, and for the 2nd time against Charlton this season, we conceded a late, late injury time equaliser. The draw felt like a loss to me, as it had on Boxing day at the Valley, and rather than having a cushion going in to our game Tuesday night against Oldham, the home faithful will be thinking that 3 points are a must if we want to keep up our push for playoffs or automatic promotion come the end of the season.

But there is a lot that we, and Danny Wilson can take from the performance that we put in. And the results around us have proven that any one can truly beat anyone in this league. And this, coupled with our thumping thrashing of Leeds 7 days ago, and numerous other results this season prove that we deserve to be competing come the end of the season, its now a question of whether we can weather the storm and keep on pushing.

Anyway, I'm off the Stamford Bridge now for the Super Sunday clash between Chelsea and Arsenal! Sat in the away section so expecting a brilliant atmosphere and great day out, should be a cracker!

January at Swindon Town

You'll have to speak louder, the atmosphere at the County Ground is deafening!

The January transfer window usually brings a flurry of players in and out of clubs. However, January at the County Ground has been strangely quiet off the pitch, perhaps to compliment the storm The Robins are currently kicking up on the pitch!

Now that the transfer window has slammed shut, lets sum up the hello's and goodbye's so far. Though not all restricted to the transfer window, in a busy period a couple could have been missed:

Players Out
Yinka Casal (Terminated)
Anthony McNamee (Norwich)
Alex Revell (Loan End)
Ben Hutchinson (Loan End)
Hasney Aljofree (Terminated)
Lee Peacock (Grimsby)

Players In
Alan Sheehan (Leeds Loan Extension until end of season plus playoffs)
Danny Ward (Bolton Loan Extension until end of season plus playoffs)
Vincent Pericard (Free Agent)
Simon Ferry (Celtic Loan Extension until end of season plus playoffs)

Wilson admitted he failed in a bit to add 3 new names to his squad as deals broke down at the 11th hour on deadline day. Strong rumours are linking two of the names as Scotland Under 21 Captain and Celtic Right Winger Paul Caddis and Portsmouth's 20 year old midfielder Matt Ritchie. Wilson has promised he will be following up his enquiries when the emergency loan window opens next week, so hopefully the latter list above will grow.

In comparison, on the pitch Town's football has been raising the decibel level at SN1 as Town have moved themselves into a very strong position to compete for a playoff spot come the end of the season. This has been aided by another unbeaten streak, this time of 7 games, with just our gutsy fall at Craven Cottage in the FA Cup being the blemish since our poor performance against Bristol Rovers back in December last year.

A certain two men who play off of each other better than Ant and Dec, or even Phil and Fern, have been setting alight League 1. Billy Paynter has bagged 16 goals to his name this season in all competitions, whilst non-league prodigy Charlie Austin has put away 10 in his last 13 outings in a red shirt! A feat that has earned 20 year old Austin a new 2 and a half year deal, putting the mockers on all those rumours floating about telling me the lad wouldn't be helping us push for promotion come the end of the season.

And the form we've found ourselves in hasn't been due to poor opposition. Town have racked the points up against worthy opponents, with the most notable points this season coming from a 1-0 victory over Southampton eons ago back at the start of the season, a 2-2 draw with Charlton at The Valley, and of course the 3-0 thrashing of Leeds United just 8 days ago. That one will certainly live long in the memory of every Swindon Town fan in the first sell out crowd since 2007 at the County Ground.

But its not going to be a cruise to the playoffs at the end of the season, as now we find ourselves coming up against teams in and around our position, and when you are doing so well, teams will come up against you with added vigour as a victory will mean so much more.

Saturday we welcome Charlton Athletic to the County Ground for the first time in League competition since the season of the millennium. One Michael Carrick scored for Town as they fell victim to a 2-1 Charlton victory. In 2007 Charlton made the trip West down the M4 as the teams were drawn in the League Cup. Charlton ran out 2-0 winners as the gulf in class became evident after a battling first half from Town. The likes of Nicky Weaver, Lloyd Sam, Marcus Bent, Darren Ambrose and Andy Reid outshone Town's battlers of Peter Brezovan, Miguel Comminges, Christian Roberts and Lee Peacock.

Hoping for another bumper crowd at the County Ground, as the other half of the ground who turned up for the Leeds game were treated to a Swindon carnival of football in our last game. Keep the performances up and the fans will stay, COME ON YOU REDS!