Swindon Town v Morecambe

Don, I'm predicting a win for us tomorrow but must admit I know little about Morecambes away form. I think they are the only team outside the playoffs who could take our place if they manage to take all three points off us. I would also like to see Ferry and Smith start in the middle but As you know Paolo will change things around depending on our opponents. Sounds like Magera took his share of the blame last week so would be surprised to see him start tomorrow, Jervis did better when he came on so maybe him and Connell to start up front ?
Think traditionally the crowds are down the weekend before Christmas what with shopping etc so not expecting any more than around the 7000 mark but hope I'm wrong. Will be keeping an eye on tonights scores/results and hopefully one of the top three teams will start dropping points over the busy Xmas period.

We've done our bit, best of luck tomorrow.

Good on you Bantam. Great win down there for you.
Barnet drawing with Cheltenham tonight is another result that has favoured the chasing pack so no excuses if our boys don't put in that extra few % tomorrow.
For what its worth I still think Bradford will be up in the
mix come May.

After seeing the results from last night we must win today, as it stands were 8 points behind Cheltenham and Southend so its vital we win and lower the gap.

Would also like Smith back in the midfield, he does the tackling and holding in midfield which gives Ferry more freedom. After PDC's rant last weekend be surprised if Magera plays, would like to see Connell and Kerrouche upfront today.

Going for a comfortable 2-0 win, think the players have to prove something from last week and if they don't play well then no crimbo party that'll get the likes of Ferry playing well.

EB...great result for you, so thanks for that! I can see you making a lot of progress in the second half of the season.

Great opportunity for us today.

Jervis and Magera up front then! Murray on the bench. No Connell (is he fit?) or Kerrouche (out of favour?).

Smith in midfield - good.

Great result, we may have not controlled the possesion, but when we did have possesion we were deadly the Ferry, Caddis and Ritchie down the right side is so effective. Morecambe kept the possesion well at the back but when they needed to move foward the pressure from the team as a whole pushed them back this happened all game.

The first goal was a cracking header from Jervis after a brilliant ball from Ridehalgh and placed the header brilliant. We had a few more chances in the first half but on the stroke on half time a brilliant ball from Ritchie spilt the Morecambe defence and De Vita with an easy finish made it 2-0. Second half was more of the same, Morecambe had more possesion, but we had more quality of possesion Ritchie and Caddis were having alot of fun down that right and those two linked up for Murray's goal which was a very cool finish and very much deserved.

M.O.M was given to McCormack, but I would have given it the Smith or Foderingham, Smith won every challenge, broke up the play and passed the ball very well. Foderingham was as calm and assured as always, a brilliant save at 1-0 and a minute later we scored.

Player Ratings -
Foderingham - 10 - As said above (Sign him up!)
Caddis - 8 - Mazey runs and brilliant link up play with Ritchie
Flint - 7 - Consistant as every won every header
McCormack - 9 - Had a great game, rattled their fowards and got them very frustrated
Ridehalgh - 8 - Defensively assured as ever, brilliant ball for the first goal
Ritchie - 9 - coming back to his best after a few dodgy performance, their left back couldn't with him and two assists
Ferry - 8 - Ferry is the hub of the midfield, box to box does the dirty work aswell as the beautiful passes.
Smith - 10 - As said above, won everything and used the ball very well.
De Vita - 7 - Scored that was about it.
Magera - 5 - Not brilliant, lacked confidence it seemed shame our fans got on his back.
Jervis - 7 - Same as De Vita.

Subs -
Murray - 8 - Came on for Magera and was sharp and closing their defence down, great first time finish for the third goal
Risser - 6 - on for Ferry, didn't have much time to impact few nice touches.
Gabilondo - N/A - Didn't see him touch the ball when he came on.

Overall a comprehensive win agaisnt a playoff contender. 15 games unbeaten in all competions, caught up to the teams above us in the top 3, off to Torquay on boxing day and hoping we carry on this run, COYR!

Great report ST...it's extremely helpful for those of us who can't get to games, please keep them coming! What you say certainly fits the BBC Wiltshire commentary.

Taking stock a very good weekend, 3 points, a clean sheet and most of the others in the top 6 dropping points, can't ask for more than that.

I just think we need to get our attacking options sorted out, we have loan players scoring but how long can we keep them. Magera seems a disappointment at the moment, Kerrouche is out of favour and what's the situation with Connell? The rest of the team is settled and very effective in my view.

Like Don, I can't get to games, so I value comments from those who can.
From what I gather, we have the Xmas cake done, now just need to get the icing on it right.

Good match day summary X. Morecambe did keep the ball well but mostly in there own half. At least they did try and play football and not hoofball.
Magera is a big unit but doesn't put himself about enough in the penalty box. Can't understand the sarcastic cheers though when he was brought off. You can see he is lacking in confidence so how thats going to help him or us is beyond me !
Also the pee taking when it was announced that Morecombe only brought down 70 odd fans. Not all clubs are going to take hundreds to away games especially with the unpredictable weather and distances involved.
I'm not going down to Torquay but have got my tickets sorted for the Wigan home and Barnet away games. A few more wins over the Christmas period is all that is on my wish list so fingers crossed.