The Hotel End

The final group game in the newly named Papa Johns EFL Trophy takes place tomorrow night when we entertain Stevenage.

The results scenarios are as follows......a win for us sees us through as group winners, a draw for us and winning on pens sees us through as group runners up, and a penalty shootout defeat or a defeat in 90 minutes would leave us third in the group and out.

For the knockout rounds the group winners would be at home to one of the other group runners up. Winners from the groups that have finished so far are West Ham U21's, Arsenal U21's, Oxford United, Cheltenham Town, Leyton Orient and Cambridge United. There is one group other than ours still to be decided. The qualified runners up so far are Portsmouth, Gillingham, Norwich U21's, AFC Wimbledon and Peterborough.

Kickoff is at 7pm, 90 minutes, no extra time and straight to pens if necessary.

Chris Sarginson is the appointed ref for the game, he's taken charge of 10 games this season in Leagues 1 and 2, the EFL Cup and Trophy, and has handed out 28 yellow and one red card. He has reffed many Cobblers games over the years, but his last one was in December 2018, coincidentally also at home to Stevenage, that game ended 1-1.

Is anyone bothered? Do we care more about this competition now that it is the last cup standing? How annoying would it be to see a full strength side for this one after a weakened side last Monday in the FA Cup? Does Keith "go for it" or does he concentrate on the League?

I'm bothered. I'll pay my £10. Yes, it's our last Cup competition this season. I enjoyed the Southampton game. I chose not to bother with Oxford City or Accrington post the MK Dons bore draw.

Did we ever get a reasoning for the weakened team last Monday ? Baffled me given the time available for recovery and the time for preparation. National humiliation, loss of revenue and anger of own supporters being amongst the others.

I did get the impression from KC's post match interview after the Oxford City debacle that League 1 survival is paramount.

I’ve had a bit of an “overload” of Curle ball till next weekend, therefore will give it a miss  :P
I am also prioritising the league.

I dont care about this competition but I do about getting the team on a winning run and getting some resemblance of a performance out of them.
For me, Curle needs to treat it as a league game. Put his full strength team out and play how he would in the league. There are clearly issues with the 11 so they need as much match practice as they can get.
I think we have lost the luxury of putting the fringe players out, and after Oxford I dont think they deserve to be either

He should have done that last Monday in a much more important game!

If I was Curle , I would use this game to trial 4 at the back .
Yes , the players need to perform but this needs to be a practice for the game on Saturday and moving forwards .
I don’t mind if we lose , so long as we do something different and change the formations around .
If we carry on with the same formation and the same cave man football tactics then good luck in the future because the manager is going to get both barrels from all quarters .

0-2 Stevenge.
Curle gone 24hrs later

Nice summary, thanks Grange. I'm sitting in the "I'll probably watch it" camp as it would be nice to see us progress.

This gives him the opportunity to trial something different and demonstrate he’s listening to the feedback. Will he just do a Boothroyd though?

I can't see him playing his strongest team with two important league one fixtures coming up. However, he should bed in a new system 4-3-3.

Tonight's team something like this:

Arnold

Harriman, Racic, Horsfall, Martin

McWilliams, Missilou, Lines

Marshall, Ashley-Seal, Holmes

Subs: Mitchell, Bolger, Roberts, Korboa, Chukwuemeka, Watson, Rose

Give Ricky 60 minutes max then bring on Roberts or Korboa.

Marshall & Holmes to interchange and not stay static (able to roam).

Why are people convinced he will now revert to a back 4? He's far too stubborn, same goes for zonal marking!

I'm not convinced he will. The team is what I would like to see or something similar. 

I agree this is the perfect game to try something new. probably wont happen though :(
One 'fundamental' that needs to change is, our players start passing the ball to each other.

That team would get him the sack within 24 hours .
Good choice and I would go with it for that reason alone !

Probably means a win as your predictions are often off-key. Still, Stevenage is a happy hunting ground so you maybe right?

Wot no Pots for Stevenage ;D

Why, have I missed the game?
I thought that it was being played tonight?

The previous game in this competition against Southampton was probably the most enjoyable game to watch in this wretched season so far. So I'll probably pay my £10 and hope for something similar.

It's the only game this season that Hoskins missed, both Marshall and Adams started and we had Seal and Rose up front first half with Seal and Chuka second half. We also got a rare 45 minutes from Shaun McWilliams. So long as Smith doesn't start it may be worth a watch.

Had completely forgot Lines was still at the club!

He's gone strong but kept his three at the back.

Mitchell; Bolger, Horsfall, Sheehan; Harriman, Watson, Sowerby, Adams; Holmes, Ashley-Seal, Rose.

Subs: Arnold, Lines, McWilliams, Roberts, Missilou, Chukwuemeka, Marshall.

Super Sammy rested?

Yes, along with Smith, Korboa, Martin & Racic. Pollock & Mills still injured.

A stronger starting 11 than I was expecting. Perhaps KC knows, even if he would not publicly admit it, that this is a game he cannot afford to loose.

I doubt three of those are being "rested"......Korboa, Martin and Racic were not in the frame on Saturday either.....a reflection on their performances last week? Keith wielded the axe!!

Two important League games tonight too....Oxford entertain Crewe and Swindon host Accrington. If the home sides both win we will drop into the bottom four.

A surprisingly strong lineup for the Pizza Trophy... Maybe the fact that there is actually prize money available in this competition has increased it’s importance given the lack of match day revenue?

On a more positive note... First time McWilliams has been named in a squad this season by my reckoning? Would be great to see him get half an hour in the second half.

I should have said, not included  ;)

McWilliams played against Southampton u21s and Wigan.

So we are sticking to 3  at the back - great .
That said , if playing that formation it’s the strongest side he can put out and he must be worried .

Riding our luck, could be 2 or3 down already

Shocking so far, last week all over again. We just cannot control or pass the ball and are dreadful at the back. Should be 1 down. come on lads, you are paid football players ffs.

I was thinking of watching this tonight to get me away from fùcking Bake Off but hadn't realised it was an early kick off. Oh well, I'll have to think of a different reason to absent myself from the living room...

No one looking confident on the ball and just putting long to get rid

We won’t lose to Stevenage reserves because we’ve got a strong side out
That said is it really worth progressing in this cup?

We are matching Stevenage at the moment and our extra league one quality is bound to tell....
Isn’t it ::)

Good ball from Seal but poor shot from Adams

Typical , I  shout "dont just go long". Bolger picks out Adams with a pin point 40 yard pass  ;D

Watson given the ball away several times now with poor passing

We are competing well now and matching their workrate

Akinwande looks far better than anyone in our side

I think this may have something to with the writing being on a wall for KC if we loose tonight and on Saturday...

The scene is set for Chris Lines to score a 35 yard thunderbolt in the last 10 minutes.....and to celebrate he runs to the bench, stands in front of KC and just folds his arms and nods his head!!

Alex Revell style!

Mr.Curle is a good manager.

Maybe deal for selling the club makes everyone worry?

Tuned into the second half... Seal sets a new record, floored 6 seconds in.

Have you ever been called Frank in the past?

Mcwilliams on for Watson.

Lines on for Holmes
Chucks chucked on for the Seal

 :)

No, Mr.Kid.  Sometimes ozbiljno

 ;D

Is it the right time to point out that League 2 Stevenage have gone 12 games without a win (in normal time) in all competitions? Their last win was against Southampton U21's in this competition, they have one one league game all season and are currently 23rd in the table?

What was that from Bolger ? calamitous

No, now is not a good time.

Devoid of confidence, he is looking like a rabbit in the headlights at the minute?

ok, I won't mention it......

Its strange because I had on in banter with my mate who supports Lincoln over who was going to sign Morton.

As soon as we signed Bolger he was waxing lyrical about how good he had been for them. It has to be wither confidence or having no idea what to do in this system.

Seriously?

Horsfall getting ear full from Adams

 ;D ;D

A really good display against a quality Stevenage side who despite having not won for ages are more than enough for us to handle at this moment in time.
If we can get to penalties we’ve got half a chance

Nothing is any better .
Nothing has progressed .
Nothing has changed

Would it be the right time to mention that Stevenage have won 2 of their last 25 games stretching back to January, and are only in the league thanks to Macclesfields points deduction?

Imagine that, putting out a strong line up at home to a team who were worse than Macclesfield and not being able to score against them let alone beat them!

 ;)

GARBAGE

We're not going to score many goals this season, are we?

Oh well, clean sheet and MAYBE we can hit the back of the net in a penalty shoot out...

He's the greatest!!!

Penalties not good.   :(

Germany losing.   :D

Yes Mitchell, is he the new Kitson ?

Horsefall on pens..

4-2 pens.
Never in doubt.

Phew

Thats worth another a 12 month extension to Curles contract......

That pen Miss was possibly the brightest moment of the season - hilarious

A good night, through to next round and more importantly Oxford and Swindon both beaten.😀

No home goal in 430 minutes of football. A very worrying stat

So Happy for Mr.Chukwuemeka.

Big respnsibility.

He isa winner!

Call yourself a fan....how dare you? We won didn't we? We are the greatest, you watch us kick on from here, promotion is on the cards after this confidence boosting penalty shootout win over the 91st placed team in the league...... ;D ;D ;D ;D

No it wasnt. This is the team second bottom of the football league. Whe should beat these, in open play. And we didnt. And also lost to Oxford City. I worry about this season.

did we widow we win?

Shows how much attention I’ve been paying to this competition then  ;D

Stats for the game don’t make for very good reading but I suppose we won on pens rather than losing on pens. So that’s... Something.

Uninspiring again, not sure we take any confidence from that into Sat

This game has probably left more questions than answers. Some on here were saying this is the strongest starting line-up given the formation, after that performance I’m not convinced. I’m sure with the weak opposition Rose & Seal were selected to get some confidence building goals but we were poor in attack.

If this doesn’t show that we are a league two quality team masquerading as a league one club I don’t know what does......
We have decided to buy league two quality players to play in league one....

How about offering some league one quality players league one wages and follow other league one clubs blueprints....

For all the happy clappers we have played half a team and lost to Oxford city and played a strong team and failed to beat or score against league two relegation battlers Stevenage...

The squad is much worse than the team that played in the play offs and as I said before a ball was kicked this season we have failed abysmally to acquire players of the required standard to be able to compete in this division.

We don’t score.
Look whose playing for us....

Bernard -a lad who has never scored at this level
Smith - a very poor target man at this level and not a patch on Oliver
Rose - unfortunately not good enough for this level
Chuk -not good enough for this level(some say he’s the second coming but he can’t score against Oxford city or Stevenage)
Nuttall- injured before we even signed him
Korboa - signed from Chippenham and destined to be the latest in a long list of non league flops just like the bloke who scored 1,214 goals in 30 games for buckingham
Who do we actually expect to score out of that lot??

All transfer window all we heard is the power will be with the clubs..
How exactly have we ended up with this rabble then...

We had x,y,z in the building and will look to hold further talks...
Nonsense
We were not prepared to pay wages for decent strikers..

Mk signed Cameron Jerome who is a veteran but is scoring for them,
They didn’t piss about with unproven dross

We had David nugent in the door a proven striker at a higher level but rather than pay what was required we decided it would be better to buy a load of unproven dross and are now reaping what we’ve sown

This club really makes my blood boil sometimes...

Seriously who do we expect to score from our plethora of shot shy strikers
I do hope they read this because it’s not a knee jerk reaction
None of them have showed any goal scoring form at all this season.
Il tell them this..
Not one of them has a chance of carving out a career in the football league and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if not one of them was playing league football in two years time

Consider that a kick up the arse.

 ;) Made me chuckle - Irony Kid  ;D

Chuck shows more promise than Seal but is not consistent enough when in possession, still young but we don’t have the time to wait. I have to agree with Shoemaker no proven goal scorers in the squad. No goals in 4 games and didn’t look likd scoring this evening.

Great attempted Rugby Style Conversion which cleared the away end!

ZZZZZZ
 
By the way, Korboa was from Carshalton.

Mr.Shoemaker.You are angry.

Please relaxed.

I check on results last year.13 games in league Cobblers 18.No good.  Everyone want Mr.Curle out.Mr.vanVeen take the piss.

But we win!

Big players join Cobblers in January.I promise.

that Stevenage penalty, Ox and Swin losing plus a winning draw all made for a good laugh ;D

Great response you fool

Are you the only poster who has failed to grasp we aren’t scoring goals

Zzzzzzzz all you like but the facts are we are not scoring.

That seems to be lost on you.

Rather than post embarrassing replies please add to the debate by giving us all your insight into who in the current squad are you expecting to score the goals to win matches and keep us up???

A serious question seems as you seem to shy away from the glaringly obvious facts ..
Are you actually kelvin Thomas or Keith curle as I can see no other reason why a poster on here would be in total denial of our piss poor striking options at this time and the rationale that has left us in this situation.

Please enlighten us with your opinion rather than a flat denial to accept the obvious
I genuinely would like to hear who you think will start scoring for us from the above options.

Everbrite, the comment was made based on his 1st half performance when he was creating various problems for us! If you are pleased with a 0-0 draw against a team 91st in the League then no doubt you’ll be happy to see us playing L2 football next year.

Well done Town. I’ll take any win. I’m happy with that.

You really are an unhappy man.

ps Would take winning draw against any side.

ps Modified after a complaint from GPS ;)

I can't make out whether you are deliberately antagonistic and whether it all some sort of perverse game with you, or you just don't know you're doing it!

I've only watched the Oxford City game in full this season. Are our 'strikers/forwards' being provided with the opportunities/chances and missing them or is the problem further back, with them not being supplied with the ammunition?

So onto the first knockout round as group runners up.....that means we face a trip to one of the following....

West Ham United U21's
Arsenal U21's
Oxford United
Exeter City
Cheltenham Town
Leyton Orient
Cambridge United

Cant remember whether West Ham are playing at the London Stadium or not, pretty sure Arsenal will host at the Emirates though.

Any preference anyone?

The next round will be played on 8th/9th December, between our home game with Doncaster and our trip to Crewe.

How about Cheltenham?
After our last visit they'd be having nightmares about facing down and out Northampton ;D

No comment

Has to be Poxford, we can be knocked out of cups by both half’s of a tiny city  :P

 ;D ;D

Many a true word said in jest ::)

And Karl Robinson sounds like he's been having a breakdown tonight...  ;D

Very poor game two crap sides.
Stevenage should have been 2 up by halftime.
Curle has to go hes taking this team backwards.
Nice to see the Revmeister again

He’s the greatest!

Would definitely tune in for Arsenal or West Ham. Not keen on the others as we play them enough and are not playing well enough at present to be a no brainer to watch.

And there was me thinking that you didnt have a sense of humour... the Mr Spock of this board.  ;D ;D

I was responding more to your constant ranting, making the same points over and over again. But yes, there is a problem with scoring goals this season but I'm sure we can all see that without being reminded by you every few minutes.

Did you know you have to speculate to accumulate and the owners are only in it for the land ?

Just in case you have forgotten those points.

What's that got to do with anything I've said ???

I suppose other would boycott any games which involved the U21 teams as a matter of principle...... funny old competition this one isn't it?

Prize money for last night..... £5,000 as the game was a "tie"...... would have been £10k for the winner outright.

Each club gets £20,000 just for participating in the competition, and a win in the next game in the Round of 32 is worth £20,000 more

Rather bizarrely, last seasons final has not been played yet! Portsmouth v Salford was scheduled for late March but was called off as Covid was just starting to do the rounds then.

Ordinarily the game would have been played behind closed doors but this option was not taken as 50000 Portsmouth fans had bought tickets for the game. So rather than refund everyone they've just said, and continue to say, that the game will be played when conditions allow....ie when everyone can watch! Fans have been told that tickets remain valid for the rescheduled date...whenever that may be!

Despite signing a 3 year sponsorship deal in 2019 Leasing.com got a clean break from the deal after one season as the showpiece final was not played.....

I didn't know that. Absolutely outrageous. If the same 2 sides make it through this time they could play them on the same day.

I was joking about his constant repetition not yours  ;D

Our prize is a trip to Exeter City who topped Group E (with three wins out of three). Game to be played w/c 7th December.

Probably the worst and least attractive draw we could have got......

Back to the debate about Rugby  towns/cities.