"Excellent" defenders found wanting again as McCarthy's men race towards the bottom.

Keystone Cops like third goal the lowlight as defensive chickens come home to roost.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

Good read Bob! I would rate the 3-0 cup loss to Northampton last September as being in the same category of the routings you mention - that day we had a pretty much full side team out against newly promoted (and then relegated) L1 opposition who absolutely played us off the park as if they were top of the Premiership - much the same time albeit in the cup - the signs of our defense being no match for league one defenders, and our lack of any sort of creativity up top was evident pretty much the same time last year and still haven't been addressed. We had lost Mendez Laing, eventually stopped using Hoilett, Murphy was just as hot and cold as ever, we'd brought in Ojo and Wilson and we still felt short for most people's liking. Now Mendez Laing, Hoilett, Murphy, Ojo and Wilson - less, we are stuck with the same dross in the middle of the park from the usual suspects and with some promising youngsters fighting to adapt and learn. I love seeing real promising looking youngsters being blooded into the team more but it really should say it all when a team is having to make regulars of 3 or 4 of them. It's a low point like many low points, and we must hope things are addressed and get on with our day for now trying to not get too wound up by CCFC!

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Originally Posted by gabbsthenewt

Good read Bob! I would rate the 3-0 cup loss to Northampton last September as being in the same category of the routings you mention - that day we had a pretty much full side team out against newly promoted (and then relegated) L1 opposition who absolutely played us off the park as if they were top of the Premiership - much the same time albeit in the cup - the signs of our defense being no match for league one defenders, and our lack of any sort of creativity up top was evident pretty much the same time last year and still haven't been addressed. We had lost Mendez Laing, eventually stopped using Hoilett, Murphy was just as hot and cold as ever, we'd brought in Ojo and Wilson and we still felt short for most people's liking. Now Mendez Laing, Hoilett, Murphy, Ojo and Wilson - less, we are stuck with the same dross in the middle of the park from the usual suspects and with some promising youngsters fighting to adapt and learn. I love seeing real promising looking youngsters being blooded into the team more but it really should say it all when a team is having to make regulars of 3 or 4 of them. It's a low point like many low points, and we must hope things are addressed and get on with our day for now trying to not get too wound up by CCFC!

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Northampton would be the one I’d select out of all of the early round cup exits to lower league teams we’ve suffered in the last fifteen years or so as the worst, so I know what you mean to some extent, but it still was a cup game and, clearly they figure a lot lower than league matches on any list of club priorities.

This summer, the attacking midfield/winger section of the squad has been decimated, while the central defenders and four central midfielders who, collectively, have restricted the number of styles we can play in to one in these last two and a bit seasons remain in place. Apart from Wilson (who I’m certain would have chosen Fulham over us even if we had been able to match their offer), I wasn’t too bothered to see any of others you mentioned go, but they were all capable of making an impact at this level and to expect Giles and Colwill to match or improve on what the lot of them would do over the course of.a season is asking an awful lot.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Keystone Cops like third goal the lowlight as defensive chickens come home to roost.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

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Good summing up of the match as always Bob. I'd just like to say thanks for the 'Real Madrid' book. My daughter bought it for me some time ago, and I took it on holiday with me recently to Lanzarote to read on the beach.

I look forward very much to your '75/76 Season' book. The first season I attended every home game, and my first away one, the nightmare that was Swindon on Boxing Day

Frankie Burrows got the third!

We were shocking that day and I’m fairly sure Swindon were bottom of the league at the time, but then played brilliantly in a top of the fable clash with Peterborough the following day and beat them 5-2.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

We were shocking that day and I’m fairly sure Swindon were bottom of the league at the time, but then played brilliantly in a top of the fable clash with Peterborough the following day and beat them 5-2.

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My memory is that we were 4th from top and Swindon were 4th from bottom. I may be wrong though, the game was a very long time ago

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

My memory is that we were 4th from top and Swindon were 4th from bottom. I may be wrong though, the game was a very long time ago

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I’ve not got a clue of the exact position we were in, but we were on a good run of results and in the too six, so fourth sounds right.

I have a mental image of the league table in the programme showing Swindon at the bottom of the table, but I imagine that could be me just trying to make the story look better - they were definitely in the relegation zone though, so, again, you may well be right.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I’ve not got a clue of the exact position we were in, but we were on a good run of results and in the too six, so fourth sounds right.

I have a mental image of the league table in the programme showing Swindon at the bottom of the table, but I imagine that could be me just trying to make the story look better - they were definitely in the relegation zone though, so, again, you may well be right.

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When you get around to researching the book Bob, it would be interesting where both teams positions in the league were. On that game though we looked certs for relegation and Swindon definitely promotion candidates

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

When you get around to researching the book Bob, it would be interesting where both teams positions in the league were. On that game though we looked certs for relegation and Swindon definitely promotion candidates

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Yes, we went for a quiet pre match pint at a pub some way from the ground and got talking to some locals, we were very cocky about the outcome and there wasn’t any disagreement from the Swindon fans.

Attachment 4574

Hereford went up as champions and they also thrashed us in the February 4-1 with the great Dixie McNeil getting 2.

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Originally Posted by gabbsthenewt

Attachment 4574

Hereford went up as champions and they also thrashed us in the February 4-1 with the great Dixie McNeil getting 2.

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So neither Bob nor myself were right then. I could have sworn we were higher up the table than 7th position on that Boxing Day.

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

So neither Bob nor myself were right then. I could have sworn we were higher up the table than 7th position on that Boxing Day.

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I find that table hard to read, but I’m assuming that it represents what it looked like after the Boxing Day results, so you may be right about City being fourth and I might have been about Swindon being bottom.

Right, I’ve just dug out my old Rothmans for that year and we went fifth after winning at Millwall and then won at Southend on the 22nd, so it’s certainly possible we were fourth going into the match - Rothmans confirms we dropped to seventh after the match, but, within a day, we were third after beating Peterborough.

It’s much more straightforward regarding Swindon, they’d been twenty third (last but one) for a few weeks and stayed there despite their big win.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I find that table hard to read, but I’m assuming that it represents what it looked like after the Boxing Day results, so you may be right about City being fourth and I might have been about Swindon being bottom.

Right, I’ve just dug out my old Rothmans for that year and we went fifth after winning at Millwall and then won at Southend on the 22nd, so it’s certainly possible we were fourth going into the match - Rothmans confirms we dropped to seventh after the match, but, within a day, we were third after beating Peterborough.

It’s much more straightforward regarding Swindon, they’d been twenty third (last but one) for a few weeks and stayed there despite their big win.

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I had to use a magnifying glass to look at the table. I remember Palace were the big favourites to top the division and go back up. They seemed to fall away a bit after Xmas, but I think they still finished fourth?

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Originally Posted by gabbsthenewt

Attachment 4574

Hereford went up as champions and they also thrashed us in the February 4-1 with the great Dixie McNeil getting 2.

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But we beat them in April and got promoted as runners-up. All's well that ends well.

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

I had to use a magnifying glass to look at the table. I remember Palace were the big favourites to top the division and go back up. They seemed to fall away a bit after Xmas, but I think they still finished fourth?

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I know Palace could still go up on the night we won at Bury to clinch promotion- they were playing at Chester I think it was and needed to win and us lose to get a promotion place - our win ended their hopes, but they ended up losing anyway.