The Hotel End

Apparently we have a game tomorrow night at home to our fiercest rivals! You wouldn't know that though as it must be the lowest low key derby of all time!

It doesn't seem that long since we took a couple of thousand supporters to London Road for a game in this competition (in one of its former guises)

Anyway, their website is reporting 320 advance ticket sales as of 11:00 this morning, and with it being a fiver there should be a decent take up.

Any enthusiasm from our end?......come on, its the scum from the Blue side of the Nene after all!!

Nope, playing Tennis.

I went last week to the Arsenal game so, in 10 years time, I can look through the programme and say "I saw him play at Sixfields" for the then famous names in the Arsenal line up. Don't think I'll bother tomorrow though.

Nah, I'll be washing my hair. Or tidying the garden. Or watching tv. I'll think of something.

OCFC v Weymouth.

Will be at Bradford though!

There’s a programme on the dietary preferences of termites I haven’t seen and the area underneath the fridge could go with a sweep

Our group of 6 will be there as most have no hair to wash!!!

Meh.

My understanding of this competition is that if we progress we can make money a la Oxford? Surely a money spinning run helps the Club?

It does, however the attendance doesn't have much effect on the monies at this stage.
I'll be at Wembley if we get there though... ;D

We could play behind closed doors and progress.....having spectators present does not necessarily mean success! I'd argue that a 1500 crowd paying a fiver max does not even cover expenses anyway....so you actually lose money in the early rounds.

It’s the scum.. I be there.

Too many people have forgotten what we’re about.

Sadly you are part of a dwindling brigade of Cobblers fans who think like that........

Go back to being a cup competition for senior men's teams from the bottom two divisions of the football League and I'll think about going to the games

As long as 85000 turn up at Wembley for the final the EFL will think everything in the garden is rosy!

My thoughts exactly and of course I'll be there.

Not sure why you continue to watch the Cobbs. Seems pretty pointless to me!

Would you care to explain that comment please

Oxford United (aka Headington Amateurs) are on for their lowest ever crowd at the Kassam - beating the 1000 (including 117 Hardy Cobblers fans  8)) last season, against Norwich City U21s.
To counter this, hey...West Ham tkts for their 3rd Rd League Cup tie can be bought!
Moral: Even 'a la Oxford' are underwhelmed!  ;)

 You sound totally fed up with the NFC & or team. Your last few messages on this thread seem to suggest that?

Yes, the Cobblers were brilliant on Saturday...something that won't likely be repeated in a decade. Give up!  ;D

I am a Posh hater through and through, and my comment to Tel expressed sadness that we are part of a dwindling band....I wasn’t having a go at him, or the club.

I suggest you really think about what’s written before shouting your mouth off and hurling personal accusations....

Absolutely this.

Not for me tomorrow, not really a fan of this new format, made the decision to go to Bradford on Saturday instead,

Its only a Fiver!

If it was free to get in I wouldn't go.

Sadly very few people went when it was just the two divisions which is why they were forced to think of ways to try spruce it up.
If supporters had more respect for their fellow lower league teams it could be an interesting and entertaining competition.

The saturation on TV of live football doesn't encourage fans returning from work to turn round and go out in midweek to attend a football match, in a competition that is perceived as being sub standard by the managers by the fact that they play their 'lesser/recovering' players, when most nights they can catch a live game/sport of some form on the end of their remote control.

To be fair, I used to go to any home ties in earlier incarnations of this competition and found that, probably because it was undervalued by the managers, the games were often much more open and entertaining because a) no one was too worried about losing and b) some of the fringe players were going out there with a point to prove.

I'm just not going now because I don't agree with the introduction of Prem U21/23 teams. I'm not knocking anyone who does still goes, that's their choice, just as it's my choice not to go to them anymore.

The TV issue is a valid point, and quite often this competition is played when Champions League football is on, or as was the case last week on the same night as the EFL Cup 2nd round, however this week it is an international break, there is no other football on tonight (bar a full program in the National League) so there's no excuse this week!  :)

That said, this competition has suffered because of "weakened teams"......and to be honest that goes for the EFL Cup and the FA Cup too.

Cup Competitions have been devalued, by Clubs and Managers alike.....FA Cup replays scrapped because "they get in the way", FA Cup Semi finals at Wembley, weakened teams put out by the big clubs (quite why teams need to rest 10 or 11 players after playing four league games is a mystery) and so on.

English football does (I think) need to look at itself and ask whether they still want all the Cup Competitions. Sure the EFL Trophy has additional issues such as the U21/23/B team thing, but its part of a bigger picture. The Premier League is all about getting into Europe, The Championship is all about getting into the Premier League, and League 1 and 2 are just there because they always have been.

An idea to deal with what is essentially a problem of a number of Premier League teams having too many matches to play;

Reduce the Premier League to 18 teams (4 fewer league games to play for the over burdened sides)

Reduce the league as a whole to 90 teams - 24 sides in each league below premier league.

We could then enjoy competitive Cup games (which I particularly look forward to).

If 92 league clubs is a magic number to have (I don't think it is especially as the National League is now essentially League 3) increase League 2 to 26 sides (league 2 sides are more likely to be knocked out of the Cups early).

FYI;

http://www.theposhforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30377


I don't reckon much to that prediction.

A number of changes to the line up tonight, including the return of Fisher in goal, Wharton in defence and Smith up front.....the biggest shock is that Hoskins has been dropped!!  ;D

Fisher
McWilliams, Jay Williams, Wharton, Martin
Watson Lines, Adams, Waters
Smith, Warburton

Subs Cornell, Hoskins, A Williams, Pollock, Oliver, Morgan Roberts and Ryan Hughes.

or 'rested'. First time this season in any case.

How are we playing?
Im not watching today im dusting my plants

Curle out!!!

0-2 Game over bye

One swallow doesn't make a summer, normal service resumed, ffs.

Bubble......pop!

 ;D ;D ;D still worth £5?

(Fully aware only 30 mins gone and so may (unlikely) regret posting this!)

Oh dear oh dear.....normal service resumes......

We may have dropped a few first-teamers, but it looks like they are almost fielding a second XI.

May as well give Oliver the a chance to play the whole of the second half, Pollock and Roberts too.

Literally forgot this was happening till I logged in here.

Just what we need in this poxy competition - warburton has come off with a problem and it sounds like Watson has dislocated his shoulder.

Don’t worry, plenty of Out of Contract players we can sign!

And we have the Kajmeister..
Time to let him loose

Meanwhile Pish bring Toney on for a run out!!

Why does it have to be him, it could have happened to literally any other player and wouldn’t have had as much impact - Watson has probably turned into our best player this season. The chron journalist thinks it could be 6 weeks to 3 months depending on the severity. A massive blow when he didn’t necessarily need to play.

Injuries can happen anytime.
That said, anyone who played 90 on Saturday shouldn't have played.
I imagine curle was led by fans calls about beating the posh in what is basically a glorified friendly.

True. I’m coming to the conclusion that we’re jinxed.

Disagree, he did the same vs Arsenal last week!

Seriously??

More likely Curle was led by the Chairman calling for a victory which would have brought in £10,000 in prize money.

 ;)

He's the greatest.

0-2 FT
Beat Cambridge and we're good

I've got a very good feeling about this competition now you've said that.

Didn’t make the most of some decent service, say no more.

Talk is Watson broken collarbone

That will be 6-8 weeks if true. Although they are completely different types of player we need a fully fit McCormack to come back. In the meantime I guess it will be Turnbull into midfield with Wharton slotting into defence.

yeah, collarbone is quite a quick heal compared to other breaks

He requires surgery though, doesn't sound good. Warburton also suffered a cut and both Goode & Turnbull weren't selected because of injury. Oh dear!

Maybe a chance for Pollock now then. Looked good centrally in most of the games he played last season.
If we'd have stuck our chances away could have got a result. And Smith must score.....

This is the problem though. People bang on about managers not playing full strength teams in cups but then people moan when players get injured. Damned if you do damned if you don’t.

A word about the gate tonight.....a decent 2,234 including 553 Fen Dwellers.

However, the home contingent in the crowd was over 300 down on the previous week's gate against Arsenal U21's, that despite a decent performance on Saturday.

I don't know what to make of it......certainly doesn't look like a boycott of the games against the U-21 teams does it, and for a game against those youngsters to attract more fans than a game against our oldest and still (IMO) biggest rivals might suggest that the "glory hunters" are taking over from the "traditional" fans.

A random game.

Did the players on the pitch follow the game plan?

Have the "extras" proven to the manager that they are good enough?

Do the injuries mean a return to midfield to quality-man Turnbull?

The league means all...... But, only after 46 games.

This is our manager's season of success!

Still 1k down on the competition in its Paint Pot days,
E.g. https://www.11v11.com/matches/northampton-town-v-milton-keynes-dons-04-september-2012-298858/

The trouble is dear fan ::) that these off the cuff armchair anti NTFC opinions are irrelevant what happened at the match; they are false for a start. The foul against Watson was worthy of a red card! The pattern of play was similar to Saturday at least for part of the game. With six changes effecting mainly the defence. They scored against the run of play but sheer pace did for us with the second goal. Wish we had it! With the weakened defence we did pretty well. Fisher did make a ‘forced’ error for their first goal but made 2 or 3 decent saves in 2nd half. We did have at least two good chances first half and should have scored. As mentioned we defended ok but poor finishing is still an issue. Quite a decent crowd of well over 2000. Pity we did not see the Albanian!

I'd guess that the reduction of 300 home fans can largely be explained by the end of the school holidays, and the cooler weather.

And you stayed up till 1am to write that Franky boy. ;D

Plus there were quite a few Arsenal fans in the West Stand. I had five sitting next to me and I could see others in Arsenal shirts not far from where I was sitting.

I’m assuming all those that blame Cornell for everything are going to judge the replacement keeper with the same set of standards ?
Where is Clarence ? The missed punch is a goalkeeping error in your book ?

and Smith MUST score.........eventually during his THREE year contract!

How did the unchallenged Hoskins totally miss his header near the end?

and possibly the fact it was the 3rd home game in 8 days. Not everyone can afford it - even with reduced admission......

Whoever said that Cornell was to blame for 'everything'? Certainly wasn't me as that's very far from my view - unless all those posts I made about how I felt Buchanan and Taylor were nowhere near good enough beginning at the start last season were a figment of my possibly diseased imagination?

Does the GK's error last night mean that all is fine and dandy with Cornell as number 1? Because it doesn't.

I don't agree we defended ok. I thought Jay Williams was given the runaround by their number 10 and they were running straight through our midfield pretty much at will. I wish we had players that had this approach as it causes havoc.
Not only has Smith got to start getting on the end of Nicky Adams crosses he has to start holding the ball up and bring others into play. He often uses his chest to try a difficult pass or flick it on to nobody. He is also a moany childish t wat when things don't quite go his way

I agree . He needs to cut the antagonising and learn how to play the game. It strikes me he needs some coaching because he could be an asset . At the moment Oliver looks the better player.

I agree with this, I took my 13 yr old daughter last night it was her first game and she loved it but said she thought Smith needed subbing off he wasn't as good as the others on the pitch.

Don't agree with this. It was a cynical foul in midfield to stop a counter-attack, but it looked basically like an ankle tap - it wasn't viscious or dirty. Unless it's a goalscoring opportunity those kinds of fouls are always yellow cards. Watson must have just fallen awkwardly, which is what causes broken collar-bones (I've broken both of mine). Shame he'll be out for a while when he was playing so well though!

I don’t agree with much of this - the criticism of a young promising player is not only unfair but is callous and poor judgement. True Jay had a difficult time against their no 10 who was a very good player but he stuck to his task well to the extent he combated no10’s effectiveness very well. Proof of that was the 2nd half performance of keeping the score to 2-0. Well done Jay!
I thought Smith had poor service but he seems at odds with those around him.

I thought the service to Smith in the first half especially was quite good, plenty of crosses coming over. Smith just seemed to be struggling to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe is understanding with the rest of the team will grow as time goes on, but last night I would have replaced him for Williams early 2nd half to give us a chance at clawing it back.

It was a bad and premeditated foul made after the player had passed the fouler. It resulted in serious injury to Watson. No need for that type of (serious) play = red card!

they aren't the rules though

A couple of points not by any means significant but;

1. I enjoyed the match as an entertainment. Both sides going for it and plenty of good play.

2. The banter between the P'Borough supporters and our own especially post our fat bxxxxx's return of the ball to the pitch added spice and atmosphere to the occasion.

Serious premeditated play likely to result in equally serious injury = Red card

Peterborough were quick to substitute the old boy at a convenient point soon after. One more infringement.................

BTW I think it's good that the game get's us going like this.

No idea of the answer but perhaps he'd kept his nose clean to that point.

Good to see the Peterborough contigent have forgotten about the clearcut chances we created. "should have been 5-0 after 50 minutes".

So you agree he had a difficult time against their no 10? Pretty much what what I said. Does that also make you callous?  ::)

Not really  ::) " True Jay had a difficult time against their no 10 who was a very good player but he stuck to his task well to the extent he combated no10’s effectiveness very well. Proof of that was the 2nd half performance of keeping the score to 2-0".

The truth is , if that was Cornell you would have been on his back like a shot .

I've never seen Cornell save a shot with his back.

(a little jest.... ;D)