Two minutes with… Swindon Town

Tuesday night saw the first leg of the area finals for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. We took on Swindon in the Southern section, with another 90 minutes at the County Ground to decide who will play at Wembley. To get this far in itself is a massive feat for the club, the furthest we have ever progressed in the tournament; although, reaching Wembley would be a remarkable occasion. In this instalment, I spoke to two Swindon fans, mates, Ollie and Robin.

10/01/12
Barnet 1–1 Swindon Town
(Hughes ’72 – Flint ’44)
Attendance 3,915 (away 1,414)

How did you get to the game?

Ollie: There were four of us who went and got the train over. We left Swindon at 4:41 and got into Paddington around 5:50, to then endure a long, hot and stressful tube journey on the northern line. We arrived into Barnet at about 7.25, the first time we had tasted fresh air since Swindon station!

What did you do pre-match?

Robin: The plan was to find the much talked about chippy that neighbours Underhill, followed by a pint in a local drinking establishment.  However the London Underground had other ideas.  Delays on the Northern line meant we didn’t get off the tube at High Barnet until about 7:25.  Therefore it was straight to the ground from there.

Ollie: Our pre-match routine was spent staring at peoples backs on the Underground and complaining at how hot it was... Sadly nothing to brag about!

 Where did you sit/stand in the ground?

Ollie: The four of us had the pleasure of standing in the side terrace, with our view being restricted by a pillar. Standing just in front of the food kiosk which was good, as could go back and forth when you wanted without worrying.

Robin: We had an excellent view of the two goals scored on the night, both at the South Stand end.

What did you make of the game?

Robin: The first half was an even encounter without too many clear cut chances.  Our goal from centre back Aden Flint was the obvious high point.  In the second half Barnet grew in confidence as the half went on, with Marshall and Deering a threat.  Most Swindon fans (and players!) were glad to hear the full time whistle.  It was predominantly Barnet pressure in the final 10 minutes!

 Ollie: The game was nothing spectacular in itself, scrappy at times and not recalling many chances for either side. Second half out come a very tired Swindon side after their victory against Wigan and the performance showed. Barnet had Marshall causing up problems and deservedly got MOM award. In my opinion, I think we did well to keep it 1-1 as I could see Barnet snatching a late winner. But I think the defence done well to keep it a draw.

Was the scoreline a fair reflection?

Robin: Although drawing 1-1 from a winning position always feels slightly disappointing.  It has to be said, from a Swindon perspective, we are pretty content with a 1-1 draw going into the second leg at the County Ground.  Our cup exploits against Wigan on Saturday really showed in the second half, with many of our players looking very tired.  I still expect a tough game in the second leg though.  Some Swindon fans now think a trip to Wembley is a formality, but on the evidence of last night, Barnet are a much improved side from the one that got beat 4-0 in Wiltshire earlier in the season.

Ollie: Overall, I think 1-1 was a fair reflection on the game. Neither teams creating many chances. Neither teams standing out as winners. Some very sloppy play at times with both teams giving the ball away too often.

Who, in your opinion was man of the match?

Robin: It hard to pick one for Swindon given we created very little in the second half. Simon Ferry, our central midfielder and playmaker, was probably our best player if I had to pick one.  For Barnet I would go for our former player Mark Marshall.  A much improved player since his spell at Swindon.  His pace caused us problems in the second half, particularly against some tired legs.

 Ollie: For Swindon, my MOM is Simon Ferry. Controlled the midfield well and picked up any loose balls. Opened up the game a bit more and used the space to exploit the channels at times.  Ferry has been one of our stand-out players this season and will continue to improve

Who do you play next and how do you think you'll get on?

We have Rotherham away at the Don Valley on Saturday.

Robin:  Another tricky away game.  Hopefully the players are sufficiently rested come the weekend, added to the fact I expect Di Canio to bring back Paul Benson and Alan Connell to the starting 11, I will travel to South Yorkshire fairly hopeful of getting a positive result

Ollie: We are missing McCormack who picked up his tenth yellow card of the campaign. Alan has been fantastic in defence alongside Flint. Originally a centre midfielder, Alan has adapted extremely well since being tried at CB and gets forward a lot causing problems amongst the opposition. I am predicting a Rotherham 2-1 win unfortunately.

Thanks lads

You can follow Ollie @olliehowitt and Robin @RW_Sharpe and check out their blog: ‘My Swindon Town Review’. You can also find my entry pre-Tuesday night’s game here.

Two minutes with… Brentford

It was another cup competition for Barnet on Tuesday night, in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy this time, as fellow Bees, Brentford came to Underhill in the area semi-finals. The winners were to face the winners of Southend V Swindon in the regional finals, a two-legged affair. Brentford fan Terry Latham went to the game, and in this edition of ‘two minutes with…’ shares his experience.

06/12/11
Barnet 0–0 Brentford (5–3 on penalties)
(Hughes, Holmes, Deering, McLeod, Senda – Alexander, Reeves, Saunders)
Attendance 1.970 (away 899)

How did you get to the game?

Living in Hutton, Essex, I went by train. I went to Liverpool Street, before getting the tube to High Barnet on the Northern line, via Tottenham Court Road.

What did you do pre-match?

I met a few mates en-route at Tottenham Court Road and had a few drinks at a pub there.

Where did you stand/sit in the ground?

I stood on the away (East) terrace.

What did you make of the game?

I thought the game was very poor – as the scoreline suggests (0–0 at the end of 90 minutes).

Was the scoreline a fair reflection?

I felt Brentford were the better side and could have won the game in the first 20 minutes – but we were guilty of not taking our chances. Although credit has to go to Barnet’s keeper for pulling off some outstanding saves to keep them in the game. I have no real complaints, I’ve seen us play a number of times this season and know we’re capable of better. Well done to Barnet for scoring all their penalties.

Who, in your opinion, was man of the match?

That has to be Dean Brill, Barnet keeper for some of the saves he pulled off.

Who have you got next and how do you think you’ll get on?

Back to League action for us after two bad results in Cup competitions (the FA Cup and JPT). It’s Hartlepool at Griffin Park. On paper, we should win this one, particularly as Hartlepool haven’t won a game in a while now, and sacked their manager. However, we need to play better and take our chances.

Thanks Terry.

Important dates:

Barnet V Swindon (first leg) – Underhill – Tuesday 10^th January

Swindon V Barnet (second leg) – County Ground – Date to be confirmed

Cup competitions: should they really be a priority?

Our unsurprisingly bad start to the campaign continued last week with two league defeats (at home to Northampton, 2–1 and away to Shrewsbury 3–2) on either Saturday with a victory on the Tuesday night – 3–1 in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at the hands of Gillingham, at Priestfields.

This was our second win in the competition, following a further 3–1 victory in the first round against Colchester United at the Weston Homes Community Stadium. The draw which took place on Saturday morning before the game at the Greenhous Meadow saw us pitted against Cheltenham, which will be in the Southern area quarter final (for those who are remotely interested, games will be played on the 8^th/9^th November) – a mere three games away from a trip to Wembley for the final. It’ll also be our fifth away tie (out of five games) in all Cup competitions this season so far!

I think it’s fair to say we seem to be performing a lot better in the cup competitions this season, in comparison with recent years; however, for me, this is massively frustrating, as despite decent runs, we are clearly underachieving in the League. The table doesn’t lie and I would much rather be getting the points on board (now, and throughout the season), than be having these cup runs. Even more so when you take into account one is nicknamed the “paint pot”, and the other, the “Mickey Mouse” trophy – both inferior in terms of prize money and overall club revenue, and the former inferior in terms of the quality and stature of the teams that participate.

Talking of the League Cup, a further example of where we fared well (up until the second round, that is). Round one saw us paired up with a massively difficult away tie at Fratton Park and Portsmouth – where we triumphed to a victory, albeit a 1–0. The second round wasn’t much kinder to us, again another trip on the road, this time at Burnley. Despite unfortunately losing in extra time (with the scores levelled at 2–2 after 90 minutes), we gave a very good account of ourselves – it’s just a shame we cannot put those kind of performances in on the average League game, where ultimately it matters.

With the FA Cup still in its preliminary qualifying stages and us not scheduled to play until the first round proper (November 12^th is the date for that), the following month is surely high time to get some wins together and more importantly, gain some points. We haven’t got the concern of any Cup competitions up until the second week of November – but it looks set to be a busy month with the League and two Cups to worry about.

Now, let’s be honest, if you’re a supporter of a League 2 club like myself, you’re only ever interested in a cup run if it culminates in your team getting a glamour tie at the stomping grounds of the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham etc. This is where the League Cup was harsh on us (with no disrespect to Burnley, of course) – in our case, it’s all about getting a tie we as fans, and the players could only ever dream of.

After looking at the prize fund in the said, JPT, I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed and that surely our priorities should be focused elsewhere, i.e. the League. Obviously this is scraping the bottom of the barrel for the worst case scenario, but imagine if we (or any other club, for that matter) got that trip to Wembley and won the £40,000 jackpot at the end, but then got relegated. Think of all the money lost as a consequence. Like I said, worst case scenario, and it doesn’t really bear thinking about.

For beating Colchester in the first round of the cup, we received a measly £5,000 – probably covering the wages of Izale McLeod and Mark Marshall for a week! The victory against Gillingham last week saw us pocket £7,000, again not much better! A win in round three against Cheltenham will see a prize of £10,000; area semi final winners receive £17,000 and area finalists, a more modest £25.5k. I was unable to find the prize pot for each round of the Carling Cup, but I can’t see a knock-out after round two really generating that much cash. The FA Cup has yet to release its prize money for this season, but again, that will also depend on how far we progress.

In the long run, is it really worth it?

Fan Poll:

To see if it was just me who felt this way, I decided upon putting a poll on the blog for a couple of days. The question posed was: ‘As a fan, which do you feel is more important?’ – with the answers ‘League’ and ‘Cup progression’. The results are as follows.

Travelling taking its toll?

20/08/11 – Rotherham – Don Valley Stadium – 310 miles

23/08/11 – Burnley – Turf Moor – 444 miles

27/08/11 – Bradford – Coral Windows Stadium – 392 miles

30/08/11 – Colchester – Weston Homes Community Stadium – 130 miles

So in just 11 days, Barnet fans, players and staff have been travelling a little under 1300 miles. Obviously when the fixture list came out, we could have no complaints about expecting to have two away games in succession – regardless of distance, especially with most teams being ‘out of the way’. But for two cup competitions (the Carling Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy), resulting in a further two away trips to fall in between those two League games is somewhat unfortunate.

For a small squad like ours, with the numerous injuries to players like Darren Dennehy, and Steve Kabba (who should be okay to play on Saturday against Accrington), the three long trips ‘up North’ have been difficult. With fatigue setting in with the countless training sessions and miles racked up, it’s with no real surprise the team have found it difficult to deliver positive results (Colchester aside).

Managing to hold a Championship Burnley side at the end of 90 minutes in the Carling Cup on their turf could well be the highlight of the aforementioned fixtures. Taking them to extra time miles from home, and then having to travel a similar distance three days later for a League 2 fixture, it’s clear that the same energy and determination would be lacking. Which of course was the case in a 4-2 defeat at the hands of (then manager-less) Bradford City. It would probably be wrong to quickly jump to conclusions and say the team weren’t good enough, and although the defending was similar to what we have been used to expect – how many teams of a similar size and calibre could say they’d not fall short?

I’ve not been able to get to any of the games, so thought it’d be interesting to hear the opinions of someone who was; as well as how the team think they’ve coped.

Fan’s view:

“4 away games in 10 days is not a usual occurrence – beginning with two league games in a row on the Saturdays were scheduled league games at both Rotherham and Bradford. Our progress in the League Cup gave us another away game at probably the longest unattractive game available in Burnley and in the JPT handed us another away game at nearby Colchester on consecutive Tuesdays.

It is apparent that four away games in such a small amount of time is bound to affect the players mentally and physically. However, in our first two games previously at Morecambe and Portsmouth we put some really impressive performances in and ended up winning both 1-0.

At Rotherham we continued to impress and we really should have won this game in which we mostly dominated. Although it’s also fair to say at the start of this four game away special most would have taken a draw, which is how it ended (2-2).

At Burnley we put another decent performance in but tiredness must have kicked in after the initial 90 minutes, and we lost out in Extra time.

At Bradford after a fairly even first half in the second half we just fell apart some bad defending did not help but you have to wonder had all the travelling had taken its toll on some”.

Thanks to Chris Emery

Player’s view:

“We are looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd on Saturday; it’s been a long few days”.

Thanks to Dan Senda, who can be found on Twitter here