Oooph. That was a low blow. Coming off the back of a 5 ? 0 plastering from Walsall is never a good place to be diving from. Especially not into the Swindon paddling pool. So Peterborough were always going to be up against it. And the match! Oh, the tension! Oh, the football! Oh, the exaggeration of the last 3 statements!

What I witnessed today from Swindon was as exciting as peeling potatoes, as flowing as golden syrup, and so boring that even Rocky Robin was dozing. But enough with the ironic similes. Time for the match.

The first 47 minutes of the first half was a mixing pot of errors. The main ingredient were handling errors, such as Peter Brezovan’s nightmare’s and the terrible passing that seemed to have been drilled into the side whenever they caught sight of the box. There were several shooting errors, and a testament to that is that Swindon got their first shot on target in the 83rd minute.

And of course, sprinkled on the top were the spicy and noticeable errors of simple selection. Ince simply never got the ball. I actually saw Curtis Weston and Christian Roberts actively take the ball away from him. No small wonder he was substituted in the half-time. Andy Caton was like a dodgy signpost at left midfield when it came to passing. He was always led you in the wrong way. So at least Wisey had his head screwed on when he took him off at semi-frozen-chips-in-a-cup time.

However, it would be as evil as an Alquaeda suggestion box to say that all Swindon’s players as awful as James Blunt. Paul ‘Drowning in a Cuppa’ Smith was immense in the center of midfield. A few weeks back at Wrexham he hit a 40-yard exocet missile from a free kick and he was trying it on the whole game. He looked like he’d played at Swindon all his life, and held the defense and midfield together superbly the entire game. Down the right wing, Curtis ‘Robinho’ Weston and Christian ‘Top Gun’ Roberts took Peterborough apart but were sadly lacking when it came to getting crosses past the first man.

But then the ultimate insult came. Peter ‘Where’s the Soap?’ Brezovan took a poor cross from his right and promptly dropped the ball, letting a Peterborough player hammer home the finish like a bent nail. Trevor ‘Worth 1.5m once’ Benjamin, loaned to the Robins last season, was the one who smacked it, casting Swindon Town off into an ocean of uncertainty.

Half time came and went, and I was sitting waiting nervously for Wisey to reveal his genius. And he almost did. Fola Onibuje, an player most likely used for changing the lightbulbs in the floodlights without using a stepladder, came on to help Peacock and Roberts. This big black guy was unbelievable, showing not only a Crouch-like ability to win every 50/50 thrown at him, but a Joe Cole-esque skill on the wings, once nutmegging a player inside the box and placing a pass into the middle of the area. Even though in the end he couldn’t produce any gold in the box, he still found some gold in the game and made it far more exciting.

In fact the game took on a whole different guise in the 2nd half. Swindon pressured Peterborough so much that Lee Peacock hit the post from a goalkeeping error.If Fola Onibuje had been 2 steps back, he would have got the rebound. But it wasn’t our day.

So the day ended. Thank god that Lincoln lost to MK Dons. If Lincoln had won, we might have been 4th or 5th or even out of the playoff spots. As it was we were lucky that that day the top teams in League 2 had a terrible day as well as us. As it stands we are 2nd, 1 point above Walsall and Lincoln but only 1 point below Wycombe Wanderers. With only 3 points between the top 5 teams in League 2 still, we were lucky. It could have been a whole lot worse.

So now for the Swindon Team unnofficial scores, as voted by me.

Peter Brezovan: 4 Only saved by poor opposition
Paul Ince: 4 All alone in the center
Jerel Ifil: 6 Solid and cool
Ady Williams: 6 Fantastic captain
Aaron Brown: 6 Good back-up play but nothing special
Christian Roberts: 7 Good link up with Weston
Lee Peacock: 6 One chance was all he had
Ricky Shakes: 5 Poor for an international
Andy Nicholas: 5 Non-existent
Fola Onibuje: 9 Wonderboy just short of a goal
Paul Evans: 8 Giant at 1-inch high
Royce Brownlie: 5 Nothing sticks out
Curtis Weston: 7 Skillful summer signing
Andy Caton: 4 Poor

So there we have it. Now for predictions. Next week The Robins face off against Notts county, who have the only noticeable points gap in League 2. They’re 3 points down to MK Dons, in 6th. And this match is going to be a toughie. This is more uncertain than who America will bomb next. I have to say if Wisey gets this team ready, then we can win. He needs to bombard the hell out of those players to get it together both on and off the pitch. Bouncing back from a defeat that was entirely their fault isn’t going to be fun or easy. So let’s hope they can give it a shot.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 11:32 am and is filed under Swindon Town. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.