Swindon Town: October 2011

Hello Readers and welcome back to my Swindon Town story. October was looking like a very tough month for us so lets get right to it.

The Fall season was upon us and we faced our most difficult series of matches ever as the schedule produced games against three of the four big teams in a row. First up was the visit of Arsenal to the County Ground whose form hadn’t been that great and who we almost beat in pre-season.We got off to a fantastic start with central defender Scott Cuthbert putting us ahead after just 15 minutes following a Fleck free kick that hit the bar and Cuthbert was first to it to head home. It didn’t take long though for Arsenal to reply as our hero turned villain 12 minutes later miss timing his jump for Aaron Ramsey to head home the equalizer. On the half hour Fleck picked up a loose ball in midfield and then went on an amazing run down the right flank beating 4 Arsenal players in the process and crossed the ball into the six yard box for Brandy to tap home. Get in there! Following the interval Brandy immediately went on one of his trademark runs flashing past the Arsenal defense but instead of shooting unselfishly pulled the ball back to an incoming Gibson who neatly placed the ball past on outstretched Fabianski in the Arsenal goal. It was 3-1 and the crowd were going wild. From that goal we created the odd chance but kept possession of the ball really well but unfortunately we began to tire which Arsenal eventually took advantage of scoring their second four minutes from time. We held on though for a well deserved and unexpected 3 points.

After a 16 day lay off we travelled up to Anfield to face Liverpool. Although morale was high I was concerned about whether we could produce the same type of performance with such a long break between games. We started of quite brightly with both Gasmi and Brandy getting shots on target within the first 20 minutes but those in the end turned out to be our only ones of the game. Liverpool went ahead on the half hour through Ngog who was at least 2 yards offside but the flag stayed down and it was 1-0. Liverpool easily broke down any attacks we launched in the final third of the pitch and they added a second 11 minutes from time after Tom Heaton made a rare handling error in the 6 yard box. I was a little disappointed with the result but not totally shocked.

Up next another away game this time to Stamford Bridge; what a nightmare schedule to play but if we could get a point against Chelsea I’d be more than happy with four points from this difficult three game series. Chelsea as expected were aggressive right from the start firing off volley after volley of long shots all of which were off target though Drogba as in our cup game last season was giving us all kinds of trouble. Just after 20 minutes Drogba created a chance that was cleared off the line which found Gasmi on the right flank. He then took off down the wing and played the ball inside to Mellis who found Guidetti unmarked and the young Swede placed it in the back of the net for the opening goal. Chelsea piled on the pressure and eventually found the equalizer through Essien just before half time. The second half was end to end stuff as we refused to sit back and hold on for the draw and Brandy who came on for Guiddetti was unlucky not get the winner after his shot hit the post following a break away run. We were all delighted though with a 1-1 result.

We were at home for the Fourth Round of the League Cup with Premier League side Wolves visiting the County Ground. Well, this was 120 minutes of football I’d rather not see again in a really dull encounter which we won via the penalty shoot out thanks to some brilliant goal keeping by Tom Heaton.

We stayed at home for our final game of October against Wigan and I was hoping for 3 points to end the month. The first 30 minutes we created 4 smashing chances with Gibson and Gasmi working well together teeing up both Fleck and Guidetti but neither of them could find that killer touch though Guidetti was ulucky in hitting the post on the half hour. Those four chances turned out to be it for the rest of the game and Wigan rarely caused us problems at the other end even though we had Beardsley sent off for a really dangerous tackle which deserved the red card.

So another 0-0 draw, that’s two in a row and once again as in previous seasons we’ve gone off the boil. I’m happy though with the month as a whole given our opposition and although we are in 12^th place there is only 2 points between us and 6^th place Man United who we meet next month along with their neighbors Man City.

October Results at a glance

Current League Table

Next Months Fixtures

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.