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In a change to my normal pre-match routine, I was invited as acting chairman of the supporters’ association to meet our chairman, Ken Anderson.
Ken was genuinely as excited as any fan with what progress has been made on and off the field and we agreed it will take time to sort out the financial mess our club got into 12 months ago.
Then it was back to the Lower North Stand in time to hear Phil Parkinson had named his strongest team to play Swindon. Although we were not great, I am still scratching my head wondering how we managed to lose.
For the first 65 minutes Ben Alnwick should have been charged for admission as he was no more than a spectator.
Zach Clough could have put the result beyond doubt in the first half. David Wheater was at it again with a great volley at the start of the second half and their fans were singing how awful they were.
What could go wrong as it looked like being a question of how many we would win by? But Swindon drew level from a deflected Ben Gladwin shot and after that it was end-to-end stuff and they nicked the winner late on. We had the chances to win and I put defeat down to a combination of poor finishing and another man-of-the-match performance from their goalie, Lawrence Vigouroux, who also had a belter at the County Ground.
There is going to be the inevitable debate about whether a good cup run is affecting our league form and could jeopardise our promotion chances.
I do not believe it is as simple as that.
The second half of the season is the business end when lowly league positions do not guarantee an easy match.
It’s a time when teams scrap to try to get out of the relegation battle or join the promotion race. We have got to match that.
Source
Ken was genuinely as excited as any fan with what progress has been made on and off the field and we agreed it will take time to sort out the financial mess our club got into 12 months ago.
Then it was back to the Lower North Stand in time to hear Phil Parkinson had named his strongest team to play Swindon. Although we were not great, I am still scratching my head wondering how we managed to lose.
For the first 65 minutes Ben Alnwick should have been charged for admission as he was no more than a spectator.
Zach Clough could have put the result beyond doubt in the first half. David Wheater was at it again with a great volley at the start of the second half and their fans were singing how awful they were.
What could go wrong as it looked like being a question of how many we would win by? But Swindon drew level from a deflected Ben Gladwin shot and after that it was end-to-end stuff and they nicked the winner late on. We had the chances to win and I put defeat down to a combination of poor finishing and another man-of-the-match performance from their goalie, Lawrence Vigouroux, who also had a belter at the County Ground.
There is going to be the inevitable debate about whether a good cup run is affecting our league form and could jeopardise our promotion chances.
I do not believe it is as simple as that.
The second half of the season is the business end when lowly league positions do not guarantee an easy match.
It’s a time when teams scrap to try to get out of the relegation battle or join the promotion race. We have got to match that.
Source
