"It’s time for us to come to grips. Beat this virus" said stern faces, While some returned from skiing trips And others, Cheltenham races.
Mike Miller
A topical quotation (for a change) as we try to forget the Southend United experience and renew our acquaintance with the upper half of the League Two table. The Robins are currently occupying an automatic promotion place even though they’ve lost twice as many games as we have, which only goes to show that an excessive number of drawn matches won’t do your promotion ambitions any good at all. An ex-Saddler who might be on view is striker Reuben Reid, although he was only a substitute in their most recent fixture. Some readers might remember goalkeeper Scott Flinders’ mighty hoof clearance (70 yards) when playing for Hartlepool against us in 2011 - it bounced over Jimmy Walker’s head and was destined for the net when Colin Nish raced on to it for an easy tap-in. Earlier in the year Flinders became the first ever keeper to score for Hartlepool in open play, with a 94th minute header against Bournemouth. Anyway, Cheltenham Town’s current League form goes like this:-
October 20th Scunthorpe United (H) Won 1-0
October 24th Mansfield Town (H) Drew 0-0
October 27th Port Vale (A) Lost 2-1
October 31st Forest Green Rovers (H) Won 2-1
November 3rd Oldham Athletic (A) Lost 2-1
November 14th Carlisle United (A) Won 1-2
What to expect from Darrell Clarke? Regrettably the crystal ball remains as cloudy as ever, both in terms of team selection and tactics. Some of his reported comments following the home defeat by Southend United might well have had a demotivational effect on his players, because he was almost implying a lack of effort on their part - and not only is that unjustified, but negative comments are surely best delivered privately rather than for public consumption? There don’t seem to be any major injury worries apart from wondering when “Flash” Gordon might be getting near to making what would be a welcome return to action. Time will tell …
Prediction? Just as it was confidently forecast that we would hammer basket case Southend United (and lost), this fixture looks for all the world like a 3-0 away drubbing. However, in a spirit of optimism it’s worth noting that Cheltenham Town’s defence is just as leaky as ours, so let’s get back to the draw standard with a 1-1 result with either Elijah or Rory scoring for the Super Saddlers!
My prediction is that we’ll try and match up their 5-3-2 formation, but because they’ve been playing it consistently for two seasons we’ll be chasing shadows.
Can’t see anything other than a defeat, probably by a couple of goals.
It worries me that listening to the manager, the fans, the press, so on Cheltenham Town are now a team expected to roll us over and even more worrying that I can’t argue the point.
Whatever we do, we need to be solid. Would snap your hand off for a point. In League two. Wow.
Best side I saw us face last season away at their place. Ran rings round us. Looked a proper well drilled side who could have done their jobs with their eyes closed.
I suspect the same this game, hopefully the tinkerman is learning but I have my doubts, I think that is his way and he’ll live or die by it.
Expecting a reaction after what can only be described if your a Walsall player right now as a torrid week the managers had his say the fans have had there’s so now it’s time to man up and face the challenge of this horrible league we find ourselves in head on, a solid defensive display with no individual errors and a beautiful headed 89th minute winner from a set piece 1-0 win it is
But we do though mate i said last week we tend to perform badly against the poorer sides, i don’t know if it’s a mindset or what? but it really wouldn’t surprise me if we beat them
If we beat this lot or indeed Newport, it will be the biggest coupon buster in the history of betting!
As I pointed out in the Clarkey Out thread, this is a bish bash bosh league, we are more like flounce trip fail.
We have a mediocre set of players, who could, with proper coaching in the requirement of 4th Division success, be capable of finishing top half, but Clarke can’t get a response out of 'em, cus I think they have lost it with his tinkering and over the top ‘project’ management style. We need a fresh impetus, otherwise weem buggered.
i said last week we tend to perform badly against the poorer sides, i don’t know if it’s a mindset or what? but it really wouldn’t surprise me if we beat them 
