Back from the swindon game...

[Bovril 264]

• rose - man of the match, good tackling, got forward well in the second and set up holt''s goal
• draw was a fair result, not really that many clear cut chances
• forster - superb saves at the end, deserved a clean sheet, but once again poor marking at a corner let him down
• ref - really poor, completely got away with a penatly decision for swindon in the first halve, clearest penalty (nelsons missed tackle on nouble) your ever see, would have been livid if it was in the swindon box
• another point on the road to promotion, 4 out of 6 from two tough aways is a good result
• elliots chance was not clear cut at all, header right on the byline, he did well with it, looks a tricky player
• hoolahan''s workrate has improved tenfold when opposition has the ball

[Trent Canary 0]

Agree with all of that. Id add that Martin (C) did very little, and I think Russell and Smith took a bit of time getting up to speed in the game.But I agree with your points, particularly about the blatant penalty they didnt get for Nelson on Nouble. And Hoolahans workrate was impressive - made Holt and Martin (Who spent far too much time in offside positions, and making no effort to get back on) look lazy

[Europe_93 50]

whilst it was a foul, I give you the full guarantee, it was outside the box, though the player tumbled in. That''s why Nelson committed to it there. To me it was good defending, I would rather concede a free kick there than let the player pass. Obviously if he could win the ball cleanly that''d be better still, but def worth committing to the challenge where he did.

[paul moy 235]

The tackle for the penalty was on the line in my view, but should at least have been a free kick, so a very poor decision by the ref. I agree that Martin did little, and it was quite telling that the fastest he ran for a ball in the whole match was when Elliot was waiting to substitute him.  Overall, I''m happy with a point as this keeps Swindon on the tail of Leeds, and I''d love them to take second spot however unlikely that scenario.

[Mello Yello 2,572]

I felt that it was a definite penalty for them....bit o'' good fortune for the ref to ignore it.....

Holty worked hard, Chrissy Boy looks like one of his spark plugs needs cleaning and a re-gap....

Forster gained us a point - rather than us dropping two....Swindle under Wilson, have only lost six games this season.

I think they should rename the Merlin boozer ''The Sweaty Pore Pit''....

Nice beer in the Pear Tree and quaffed a few tasty Hobgoblin''s in the boozer next door, down in the centre of ''Swindle''....

Not a bad away day (apart from the train to Swindle stopping to pick up passengers at Slough as their train was kaput)....

Quite annoyed to concede at the death, but, I am more than happy to have 4 points from 6 from two tough away games....

I don''t think Swindle will have another attendance of that magnitude this season...(I quite enjoyed standing on the bank and the rain didn''t damp the enthusiasm)....

Bring on Leeds.....

 

 

[0 0]

that tackle was miles outside the area

[the bristol nest 0]

[quote user="The Lord"]

• rose - man of the match, good tackling, got forward well in the second and set up holt''s goal
• draw was a fair result, not really that many clear cut chances
• forster - superb saves at the end, deserved a clean sheet, but once again poor marking at a corner let him down
• ref - really poor, completely got away with a penatly decision for swindon in the first halve, clearest penalty (nelsons missed tackle on nouble) your ever see, would have been livid if it was in the swindon box
• another point on the road to promotion, 4 out of 6 from two tough aways is a good result
• elliots chance was not clear cut at all, header right on the byline, he did well with it, looks a tricky player
• hoolahan''s workrate has improved tenfold when opposition has the ball

[/quote]

agreed with most of that tho from the arkell stand the foul looked a foot outside the box. i thought that smith was excellent and would have given him motm.what a keeper we have!

[Graham Humphrey 13]

I was very very close to that incident and I have to say I am amazed that the ref didn''t give a foul against Nelson, he blatantly brought him down.  But it was also definitely outside the box.

[W-H 0]

rose - man of the match, good tackling, got forward well in the second and set up holt''s goal - agree, really good performance although I thought that our left flank was exposed which gave him a lot of work to do.
draw was a fair result, not really that many clear cut chances - agree, was really chuffed with 1-0 at 90 mins!
forster - superb saves at the end, deserved a clean sheet, but once again poor marking at a corner let him down - agree, Doc seems to have gone to sleep and allowed free header.
ref - really poor, completely got away with a penatly decision for swindon in the first halve, clearest penalty (nelsons missed tackle on nouble) your ever see, would have been livid if it was in the swindon box another point on the road to promotion, 4 out of 6 from two tough aways is a good result - couldn''t see the "penalty" from where I was.
elliots chance was not clear cut at all, header right on the byline, he did well with it, looks a tricky player - agreed, very tricky chance. Difference between him and Martin was that Chris wouldn''t have been in the right position to create the chance in the first place.
hoolahan''s workrate has improved tenfold when opposition has the ball - Wes really impressed but we needed someone to anticipate his movement when he had the ball, too often there was nowhere for him to go. I reckon Elliott seems to be a right place at the right time man.

Over all a good performance and a good result!

[Snoots 0]

It was a clear foul by Nelson, he took the Swindon players away and I winced ! Whether it was just outside or in the box I couldn''t tell from wher I was behind and slightly to the left of the goal but it looked mighty close. Swindon had another penalty shout in the 2nd half rejected by the ref to the anger of the crowd at the other end but it was too far away to see.

Rose - IMO average to poor in the first but much improved in 2nd half.

C Martin - didn''t seem particularly "up for it" but then that is his laconic style anyway. Nevertheless not much of a contribution yesterday and he cocked up a fabulous intricate move involving weaving and short passes down the Norwich left with Martin receiving it in the box and giving it away. This was preceded by a another very casual pass which ended up with a Swindon player at the end of another promising attack. Elliott by contrast has obvious hunger, energy and pace.

I thought Holt looked tired in the last 20 and i think that Lambert should have paired Oli with Elliott. He had Oli warming up but then changed his mind.

[grantroederdisaster 0]

rose - man of the match, good tackling, got forward well in the second and set up holt''s goal

draw was a fair result, not really that many clear cut chances

forster - superb saves at the end, deserved a clean sheet, but once again poor marking at a corner let him down

ref - really poor, completely got away with a penatly decision for swindon in the first halve, clearest penalty (nelsons missed tackle on nouble) your ever see, would have been livid if it was in the swindon box

another point on the road to promotion, 4 out of 6 from two tough aways is a good result

elliots chance was not clear cut at all, header right on the byline, he did well with it, looks a tricky player

hoolahan''s workrate has improved tenfold when opposition has the ball

Not far out with that assessment!

Swindon had about 3-4 penalty shouts but they were making a meal of the challenges which didn''t do them any favours when Nelson made his clumsey challenge. I thought a couple of their players took easy dives and were fortunate not to be booked!

We looked solid albeit a bit stretched by one of the best teams in this Division at the back and Chris Martin was our weak link!

Gutwrenching to concede that late but then again we were riding our luck by then and we''d of taken 4 points from 6 before the Hudderfield and yesterdays game!

[Tim Allman 1]

We witnessed a first half notable for only that the fact that very little happened. My view on the “penalty” was I thought that Nelson fouled Nouble, but it was outside the box. Nouble was travelling really quickly at the time so it looked a pen. Can’t understand why the ref gave nothing, but we had trouble understanding what the ref was doing on the pitch for the majority of the game.

Nelson had a header saved by the keeper which he might have done better with. Apart from this chance that was it.

My stomach was starting to rumble at this time due to the half a gallon of Stella I had drunk in the Merlin and the “cheeseburger” I had eaten in a the ground which was served to me through an iron grill and in a white red and blue presentation box. It tasted as it if might have been a left over from the JPT game. In hindsight I should have thrown away the burger and eaten the box.

I had a chat with Mick Dennis at half time. He seemed very optimistic despite the poor first half. Mrs D looked glum. The game could only get better.

The second half was more open and enjoyable with some much better play. Russell and Smith were more effective in midfield and Rose did well. Wes came into it much more.

Holty scored a lovely goal from a great cross from Rose, and we could have killed the game off, but didn’t and it looked as if we would hold out comfortably.

Elliott was subbed on for Martin who, his free kick aside, played like Cureton did in the JPT game at Swindon.

The game changed in the last ten minutes when Pericard came on and suddenly the intensity went up a notch or two and Forster made two very good saves.

I can’t complain too much about their goal as we have benefited from so many late wins, so when it happens back to City, we need to take it on the chin and move on. It was a fair result, neither team really deserved to win and we are still twelve clear of third.

We headed back into town, and had a beer in the Weatherspoons with some really friendly Swindon fans whilst discussing some old Swindon / Norwich matches.

At Swindon station we bumped inyo Stephen Elliott and Michael Rose who were travelling back to the North West. Elliott is a top guy, chatted to us for a few minutes and kept on referring to Norwich as “we” which was a good sign. I congratulated Rose on his game and the great cross. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the Capital.

Overall – a point won. Nine games to go and a tough game completed. Three more wins and one of the teams below will need seven wins from their last nine games and Leeds would also have to get past us.

Happy Days as a City Fan