A few Saddlers reflecting today on when we last won by three goals away from home (answer is here) - a performance summarised as follows by BathSaddler on the message board:

Excellent performance, as convincing an away win as you will ever see. A good first 20 minutes, including a first minute ‘goal’ by Mooney and a superb Holmes free kick, was followed by a very mediocre second quarter where neither side created anything.

I really expected Swindon to come out at us, but it never materialised. Holmes and Betsy in particular tormented them, and it was no surprise when both of them, along with Bradley, was instrumental in the second. After that, it was a case of keeping our heads. The referee ‘bottled it’ on a number of occasions, with challenges by a couple of home players in particular resulting only in bookings. How the player that decked Bradley stayed on the pitch I will never know. What disturbed me most was the attitude of the home fans when Bradley was stretchered off - it is customary at such instances for there to be a smattering of respectful applause. From what I could see, there was none. Pretty graceless, if you ask me.

The third was a only a matter of time, Nicholls expertly tapping in when Betsy’s shot was smothered.

Interesting to talk to a few Swindon fans on the way back to the station and on the train back to Bath. None of them thought that there was anything wrong with Mooney’s header [from where we were it was impossible to know one way or the other, but these were fans who were far better positioned than us to make a judgement]. They are not happy with Malpas, but thought that we were ’solid’, played well as a unit and could have won by considerably more. We overheard a few Swindon ‘old timers’ mutter amongst themselves that “the referee favoured them”. Just goes to show how one-eyed all us supporters can be. The truth was he was incompetent for both sides IMO.

Ince - only one real save to make and that was in injury time. Commanded his box well.
Weston - solid
Boertien - Solid
Gerrard - solid, distributed well
Roper - solid, distributed not so well, but did the simple things well
Sonko - had his moments
Wrack - okay, but some of his freekicks left a lot to be desired
Bradley - Got better as the game wore on until fouled out of the game
Holmes - sheer class, will be in Derby’s first team in the Championship next season
Betsy - started well and ended well, tends to ’swan about the place’ a bit tho, superb first minute cross for Mooney’s ‘goal’
Mooney - enjoyed winding up the home crowd and inspired his team-mates when necessary, unlucky with the disallowed goal

N’dour - a couple of good touches
Nicholls - excellent, a confident finish
Deeney - solid