The Hotel End

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/april/barrow_tickets/

We have been allocated a total of 575 tickets for this game (112 seating tickets and 463 standing.)
On sale after the Bradford game.

How early are we going to need to leave the Bradford game, to get in line for one?

There'll be a few who won't bother watching the game or the stands will empty half way through the second half?  :o

I think many of us will be in the home end !

Trouble is, its a long way to travel, on the off chance that you might get in.

Home End ?

If you look back at Risdenes post, and my response to it, then you will realise that was what I was referring to.
Anyway, if you stick true to form, then you will be running around, two days before the game, to see if anyone has a spare ticket.  :D

Is everyone queuing for Barrow or was it that bad today?

Some of us do it other ways!  ;)

I left about 10 minutes before the end and there were already probably 60 or 70 ahead of me and by the time I’d got my 2 I imagine the rest of the queue would have taken up all our allocation.

Surely Cobblers fans aren’t that fickle they would walk out with 10 minutes to go at a 0-0?

Only to get me tickets.

I agree it was careless of me to not check previous emails which might have mentioned Barrow Home End. Should imagine it may happen again?
 

So, have you got your ticket then?

Should have been sold before the game ... missed an opportunity to keep fans around Sixfields.

Not sure when they cleared the queue, bit it didn't seem to move all that quickly.... but was well organised enough

Still 50 tickets remaining though, so possibly a panic about nothing  ;D

 ;D Yes today but it’s standing and looking to swap for seated one.
Anybody please? 8)

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/april/barrow_sold_out/

Home end it is then.

Personally know of at least another dozen!  ;)

Could be a riot then? Is your tkt Seated or Terrace?

To anybody going into the home end, make a mental note of the local postcode, just in case they ask you.
Its LA Lancaster.
Blackpool is FY, Grimsby is DN, the list is large.

I don't do rioting, I am a good lad.

I will be travelling with another local resident who grew up in Barrow. He can sort the ticket and I will stand with him. Hopefully we will do better than I predicted for his trip down to Sixfields.

Unless you look inbred, it might be better that you claim to live in Ulverston. If you are from deepest East Northants, you can probably get away with the inbred look, so don't worry, you can say that you are from Barrow. It's the arse end of nowhere, so describe Rushden or Irthlingborough and you will be fine.

I think that you missed my point. And Barrow and Ulverston both have LA postcodes. Just trying to help.

Wow you are ruffling a few feathers on the home end issue 8)

Thanks for your help Tabasco, always good to have people helping their fellow supporters. In my case I could give them my real Yorkshire postcode and they will be just as confused. It is very similar to the person I will be going with who grew up in Barrow and who regularly buys home and away tickets from them.

Cobblers tweet. As long as its not on that poxy scoreboard screen.


Northampton Town
@ntfc
·
5h
We are exploring the possibility of a beamback of the Barrow game at Sixfields. We are currently in discussions with the EFL, Barrow and the police to see if this may be possible and will update when we have more details. Thank you for your support. #shoearmy 👞

probably be the accent you get caught out on rather than the postcode

Or the fact that you can string a sentence together rather than just grunt.

Great idea and should create interest of perhaps up to 1000 fans. As you say, would need a better quality screen, more centrally placed.

Can play it on the TV's in Carr's Bar  ;) ;D

Why can't they just let us watch it on ifollow. It's the last game of the season and it's a sell out for Cobblers fans so surely it won't affect the gate. The trouble is that if it's shown on a big screen and the sun is shining directly on it, it will be difficult to see what's going on.

you can watch it on ifollow

We've been to a couple of those outdoor cinema things at Delapre Abbey - the screen is mounted on the back of a lorry. I wonder if that's something they'd be able to bring in? I'd have thought you'd more than make the rental costs back in ticket sales, even if the EFL made you share the revenue with Barrow.

I remember the carnage at The Spinney Hill for the last World Cup when they advertised the biggest screen in town in the garden then was surprised when so many people turned up. That was on the side of a truck. Local Tescos got cleared out as well as you couldn’t get served in the bar so everyone brought cans.
Cracking afternoon but can’t remember much about the game

If it is screened live would it just be ifollow's coverage with the usual satellite delay meaning you may receive a goal notification on your phone before you see it on the screen?!

Not if you turn your phone off at 3pm!

Only those abroad can watch it on ifollow as it's a Saturday 3pm kick off, unless they have changed the rules for this game.

VPN.

Everyone watching will need to turn their collective phones off!

This is true!

Port Vale have successfully negotiated a beam back to Vale Park for their final game of the season at Exeter.

Then if they can do it there’s absolutely no reason we can’t if the club is serious about doing it. I’d completely missed that Exeter have Port Vale last game.

Any whispers on the 'beam back' the club were looking into?

I'm keeping quiet on the matter..  ;)

Well done club.


https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/april/beamback/

Booked my tickets, but the option to download them seems to be failing - has anyone else had the same?

Edit: never mind, I went back in through the link on the confirmation email which took me to a different screen and that worked.

Yes, well done club. Two tickets booked, should be an interesting experience. 

Whereabouts do you live? Only asking that's all 8)

Why are you asking though? So you can make some snide comment about going to a beamback instead of the actual game?

  ;D

Cracking stuff from the club and sponsors that. 

i don’t mean to sound churlish but isn’t a 5.5m x 3 m screen quite small for the beam back ?

A 75" TV has a screen width of 1.70m approx, so about 30% percent the size.
Depends on how close you get to sit I suppose. Unlike Cineworld I'd be going for the front row.

hmmm i thought it sounded small .
Is there still tickets left in the home end ?

although the square yardage (meterage) of it comes out at 13x larger  :)

Barrow have lost their last two games and are comfortably clear of relegation. Their players have virtually no incentive to compete to a degree that might cause injury - an outcome that could be catastrophic to the player and detrimental to the club as well. You would think that one game is hardly a criteria to determine whether or not to offer a new contract to any individual. Possibly even a game to field their leavers. Possibly even a game to field their youngsters - rather a baptism of fire though.

Meanwhile we have every incentive - new improved contracts, incentives associated with promotion, the considerable support of the Cobblers faithful, promotion to a higher level, the real possibility of a better future, professional pride, the glory, an earlier end to the season, the joy and celebration of a job well done and completed.

We really should win this at a canter. We need to go for it. 

In their last 5 games Barrow have played 5 top 10 teams losing Narrowly 1-2 at Exeter and Swindon and drawing at Salford. At home the have beaten FGR 4-0 and Sutton 1-0 so I doubt that they will be " on the beach" and we will have to be near our best to get the 3 points.

A few people are saying we SHOULD win this, A lot more were saying it when we played them at home! The way results went on Saturday IE Forest Green losing to Harrogate, who lets face were awful at Sixfields, anything could happen.

The screen size in square meters is just a tad smaller than the goal.

In their last 10 games they have won 3 drawn 1 and lost 6  That's beach form.

I'm assuming the game won't be on iFollow due to it kicking off at 3pm

Its not the beach form I see every day.  :-X

For a team that has just avoided relation taking 7 points from their last 5 games all against top 10 opposition is far from "beach form".

If it is Beach form its more waikiki than Weston-super-Mare.

If we had took just 7 points from the last 5 games then people on here would be calling for Brady's head, no matter who it was against.
I appreciate players have to avoid complacency against weaker opposition but we are the spectators and can be as complacent as we like, it will make no difference

Anyone taking claret smoke bombs

Well let's put it another way taking 7 points from their last 5 games all against top 10 teams is 1.4 points per game. In our 18 games against the other top 9 we won 6, drew 6 and lost 6 totalling 24 points or an inferior 1.33 points per game and nobody is calling for JB's head.

You are picking random amounts of game to make our chances of winning and gaining promotion lesser than they actually are.
To play your game, we gained 11 points from our last 5 games and Barrow got 7. You must have been pretty desperate to find a statistic where ours are inferior to Barrow's judging by randomly choosing 18 games against top 9 teams and even then its a minuscule .07 points difference.
How about the overall points difference being 77 v 44 or are you really that desperate for us to lose?

Larry, I doubt that anybody is desperate for us to lose and yes we have gained more points from the last 5 games than Barrow although 4 of those games were against teams in the lower half of the table and theirs were all against teams in the top 10, so hardly a like for like comparison. Also I did not randomly select games for comparison as I compared our seasons results against the other teams in the top 10 against their current form against similar opposition. However, if you want an exact comparison in our 5 games in the same fixtures that Barrow have just taken 7 points (which does not impress you) we actually only got 5.
You don't seem to like it because I disagreed with your view that Barrow would be on the beach and it would be an easy 3 points I merely pointed out that their recent results show that they are not on the beach although they are safe from relegation which may have something to do with their new manager.
I hope we do run out comfortable winners which would make Bristol Rovers chances of overhauling the goal difference more difficult then we will all be as happy as Larry.
When they beat us at Sixfields it was one of our worse performances of the season so I am sure JB will have the team primed for this one, what greater incentive could they have.

It’s all subjective opinion. The real proof is that we are promotion contenders as opposed to flirting with relegation! In the game against Barrow we were poor and they easily dealt with us! So obviously we have to take them seriously on the day. I do especially after the hammering FGR received from them. We have been prewarned of a difficult game up there!

Quite right, that was the prediction of several posters on here!
As I left the ground on Saturday I was feeling low, but that shows we have to look at the season overall, not one game in isolation.
Barrow won't roll over any more than all the other teams in the division, it is a winnable game though.
We have over achieved this season and still have something to play for on the last day, can't be bad! :)UTC

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/may/beamback/
Club showing game live at Sixfields.

If we were to choose any club to play in the last game of the season Barrow would be pretty high on that list

as would scunny  :-\

We very rarely do well at Scunny though.

That’s a pretty extensive list of reason why one team will be the other next week.
I think we will win because we are better at playing football than Barrow.

Can you get in the home end by click and collecting or paying cash in the day?
If you can it would surely be more sensible if Barrow were to increase our allocation.

Its practically a three sided ground with away fans given part of the terrace behind the goal, There is a segregation fence within the terrace, and the end is shared with home fans. Only if they tipped all those home fans with tickets (including season ticket holders)out of the end completely could they increase our allocation, and that seems unlikely to happen just four days now before the game.

Realistically, how many more would we take at late notice? A couple of hundred? Can the travel clubs get more coaches at late notice?

I daresay there may now be more Cobblers fans at Sixfields watching the game on the big screen than there are at Holker Street....and the club won't mind that one little bit!

Apparently the middle bit of the away end is given up for segregation is quite big. No fans behind the goal…. Very odd.

Tinpot!

I predict that there will be fans behind the goal, and that the home fans get ejected for their safety, sounds like everwhere I'm reading not enough tickets for us and ppl buying home tickets, is that true?
I have my ticket and I'm travelling up on Friday anyway but going up before they stop sales of home tickets you could surely buy one by turning up in person. If they question your accent say you are doing the 92 clubs and thought this was an interesting chance to visit Barrow. Tell em you are from London, I bet they think we sound like cockneys anyhow.

Or save yourself the trouble and slip a local a few quid to get one for you. Everyone has their price.

Having just looked at their site you can purchase online and have your ticket emailed to you. No need for a local.

You probably have to register first and that is where you need a local'ish post code or a friend who lives up north as that will also probably work. PM Tabasco Kid who has pals all over the place and good knowledge of suitable post codes.   Am on talking terms with the Earl of Westmoreland eldest daughter.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

seems you can use any (genuine) address you like as long as you select the email option and get the ticket sent to you. Not too difficult for anyone? No registration needed.

 Not Lady Daisy??                                                                                          

You would have thought so though I have a CV postcode so that probably would have validated me in itself, but no, you just need an email and any address, doesn't even have to be your own.
This must be an indication of the lengths some of these tinpot clubs must go to in order to swell their attendance.
Is that because you're his valet or squire?

Barrow beat us at home so they are more than capable of beating us there.
Infact Im already getting a horrible feeling about this one.

Rest easy my friend. Neptune is in Uranus. You can relax…

is it sold out in the home ends ?

That'd be uncomfortable, if he's got his trident... :o

We're already being discussed on their forum;

https://www.barrowafc.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30388&start=30

Go to Barrow in 100s/1000s

Beat them get promoted. (But we must keep a eye out for Bristol Rovers score)

I think anyone expecting Barrow to roll over for us is in for a disappointment. It'll be a tough game given their recent form, we just have to hold our nerve, keep our composure and trust in our own ability. No disrespect to Barrow, but at this stage the league table shows we are a better team (or at least a far more consistent one!)

I'm sure Brady will keep the players focused and there's no way the team will be taking anything for granted.

And you can change the dressing.  ;D

Im the same, but think thats natural at this time of the season!

I just hope the players aren't complacent, or panicked. This is where hopefully Calderwood can have a positive influence over not just the players but also the management team and keep them calm.

Spotted Neverbrite on there shouting about driving a BMW.

Never fails to amaze me  ;D ;D

Good old Evers, put those northern scallywags in their place.

Well sorry to disappoint you but that was some imposter, could be you as you have done this before and told off too🤣
Might possibly be Tabasco Kid who knows ::)

They are giving them away FOC now.


https://www.barrowafc.com/news/2022/may/250422-barrow-afc-launch-back-the-bluebirds-ticket-office-for-northampton-town-game-with-tickets-for-local-emergency-services-schools-and-junior-football-clubs/

Is the Stan Laurel pub worth a visit in Ulverston?

I heard it can be a bit rough so you have to be hardy to go in there.



Here all week!

       ;D ;D ;D

Good one!

Barrow through NTFC are now cancelling tickets if on our database it appears!

Well done for broadcasting on their forum...idiot!

I pretty sure it was you. How ironic that a person that castigates anyone that can’t make a match, looks to have been one of the main reasons for preventing people from watching the Cobblers….

You’ve been told so many times to not interfere  ::) ::)

Not sure if this is a wind up.
I wish to make it quite clear to you that the mail posted on Barrow Forum was not from me. Have reported the false and inaccurate post to Barrow Admin and am awaiting their reply. Furthermore may have a good idea who it was and if you wish can PM the info to you. 
Under the circumstances please withdraw your comments which are based on a false assumptions.

Over 900 tickets sold so far for the beam back, sure to be more demand after yesterdays results.

I'm looking for a double at Barrow, not them completing the double over us but us becoming the second team to celebrate promotion there as Exeter did.

It was at Exeter.

So you’re ok with the idiot comment then  ;D ;D ;D

I do have some issues following your train of thought ::) In any case I replied pretty swiftly to Coolie advising him he was too hasty with his judgement as the message on Barrow Forum was false. If I may say so pretty obvious to anybody with a modicum of savvy brain power that it was clearly false and misleading info' based on suspect assumptions.  Again please withdraw your spurious comments.

Bit hasty Coolie, that wasn’t me somebody inpersonating and using my id. In contact with Barrow Admin but have a good idea who it was! Happy to PM you with the details?

I only said I’m “pretty sure” it was you.. If you say it’s not fine. Only you know. And the IP address 😁😁.

Can only repeat that have asked their Admin to investigate . Again you have lost me on the IP address comment but I use a Norton VPN facility basically to discourage scammers etc. Please be patient as Barrow Admin are investigating so will keep you informed.
UPC

Personally I wouldn’t give a damn if I knew I hadn’t said anything. I said about the IP because we have yours. So we can compare it. But I’m not sure if it’s always the same..

Or… Don’t bother at all  ;D

Where has this been reported/mentioned?

On the Barrow Web site mainly and repeated on here!

Can confirm this has happened.

I thought the same..... Like they all ride tractors up there. They'll be asking for selfies sat on his bonnet....

Good to see that you can take your drink to your seat to watch the barrow game at Sixfields.

I hope fans police any p*ssheads so it encourages a future rule change so we are treated the same as Franklin Gardens.

i can’t make my mind up if it’s worth going to sixfields’s considering the size of the screen and the amount of people …. it’s a difficult one !
I hope McGowan is fit but if not i think i would rather see Harriman at RB so that it doesn’t disrupt our style of play from the last few weeks .
A back 3 or Hoskins at wing back changes things too much .
If it has to be a back 3 i would go for Dyche over Mills .

Worked ok against Exeter with Sammy at right wingback and Mills at LWB. However the 4 3 2 1 seems to suit us best so Harriman maybe best solution. Any news on McGowan injury?

Agree Harriman is less disruption.

Mills would be my preference over Dyche because the occasion will require experience and reading of situations (if 3 at the back)

We need goals so I would not change the front 4.

Hopefully fans will dig out their flags to populate the stand!!!

Not so sure, I think he should have done more to block the cross for their goal

Possibly - for me who was marking Nombe at the far post. Pretty sure Roberts would not enjoy being beaten at the far post so easily?

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/brady-not-yet-ready-to-rule-mcgowan-out-of-barrow-game-3678357

After he left the game on crutches it seems unlikely that McGowan will be fit but a great bonus if he is. Harriman is the obvious like for like replacement but has not played for weeks and seems out of favour although I think he has never let us down. It would also mean we could keep the 4231 formation instead of reverting to 3 centre backs.
This is replacing a full back (McGowan) with another full back (Mills) but means dropping Sam deeper and then we have a front 3 instead of 4 and we need to win and score as many as possible.

The other option is playing Kanu at RWB but that has to be a risk .
Dyche has also played there but he is surely too slow at this level .
I don’t think JB will want to lose Hoskins’ goal threat and so will play either Mills or Harriman on their wrong side .

Did you research that on the internet?

In the unlikely event that JB does play Harriman it would be on his right side as he usually has played right back.

Can't see Harriman playing at all. Won't be anywhere near match fit as hasn't played for ages...

Exactly and it's obvious our management team don't favour him. His mind must be on the future elsewhere as well.

Perhaps he'll pair up Zimba with Appere, move Eppiah to the Sam H forward thinking position and move Sam back to Right Back with a few days to ensure everyone knows what they are doing.

Kanu has done nothing to impress me and Mills always looks a weak link (though our management team clearly think he's viable).

I'm also assuming we need to get goals and the sooner the better.

Didn’t stop the clown AB playing Clive Platt - and he hadn’t played or even trained for 7 weeks

The clown still got us to the final.
Bayo went on Soccer AM. Same rules for for all the team.

There was a simmering disregard between player and manager all along. Remember the KFC cartons?

Not sure that's right Larry.

Platt 5 goals in 37 apps
Bayo 16 goals in 41 apps

Bayo scored in the semi-final and was dropped in the final for Platt who by his own admission was still injured.

Bayo could have broken some records if he’d seen his career out with us. He’s not done bad for a big lad.

I think you might have had too much wine on those days.

He could have broken some records if he stuck to concentrating on football training, instead of gym work. I have worked with body builders in the past, and theyre all the same. Tins of Pilchards and bunch of bananas for breakfast, along with unlimited chicken and pasta every two hours. And unlimited preening in front of the mirror, muttering "just a bit more". I was a big fan of Bayo first time around, that night away at Bolton when he left the pitch to a standing ovation, and a white bandage wrapped around his head, and a chorus of "theres only one pint of Guinness" was superb. He could probably have played for an Allardyce team.
Second time around, too focused on media work, book signings etc.. and a bit more gym work, instead of his football. Shame really.

Bayo is great player but you do need to accommodate for this limitations, I feel we didn’t do that second time round which is why he wasn’t quite as good although for me still decent. I doubt he stopped the gym and off the field activities after he left us but still achieved great success.

That's not the point.
Bayo is, or was, impossible to manage. He regularly missed team training preferring to build his body in the gym claiming various injuries. Ainsworth must be so relieved he's left Wycombe.
He was told not to do media prior to the final but made an appearance on tv. Boothroyd did the right thing by the team and dropped him for that. Bradford scored 3 goals in 15 or so minutes mainly because they has already experienced Wembley early that season so didn't need to get used to the environment. We didn't let in three goals because Bayo was not on the pitch. He came on in the second half and did squat.

Really? that’s why he kept him there 6 years till he was 39 years old. Surely would have got shot of him much earlier if he was unmanageable

The point was he is our 12th all time top scorer and if you added the goals he’s scored since he’d be our all time top scorer by some distance. Instead he holds that honour for Wycombe. As it is he remains the top scorer in the majority of our lifetimes, plus made a valuable contribution to KFC. Unsurprisingly for such a character he divided opinion.

Sorry but I thought this was the Barrow match thread, not the Bayo appreciation thread.

Back to matters Barrow, I notice Nigel Clough is suggesting we aren't favourites to go up but Bristol Rovers are. Mind games have started, I'm just glad JB doesn't involve himself in these type of things. Next up will be that twat Joey Barton, he'll probably have plenty to say on the subject.

I just hope whoever ends up getting promoted its not them, and hopefully they fail in the play-offs also. Not that I'm bitter  >:(

this'll be why the fa cup final is always 3-3 by half time these days

Harriman got parachuted in for the playoffs final 2 seasons ago and did a very good job after not getting a sniff for ages before that.  He's a 29 year old pro footballer, I'd play him in his favoured position when McGowan isn't fit everytime. He might not be the quickest but he'll have Hoskins ahead of him running around like a blue arsed fly all game.

Don’t start picking the bones out of the redevelopment FFS  ;D

Let’s make sure our beastmode is on at Barrow  :P

Using the template of a L2 final with one of the teams having recently played in a League Cup final at Wembley then 3-0 would be the expected score at halftime

Don’t ever go on Twitter, it’s all over the place

Still not too bad even second time around and for a few years did ok for AFC and WW.

Of course it’s the point - yes Bayo was pushing it doing media stuff but remember there was a long history of clashes of egos here (and I agree the man was a nightmare to manage)  but AB had a duty to 20,000 plus fans to play his strongest team and not to win his own ego battle -  surely if he was a man of principle Bayo should have been dropped completely but my main point was Platty was so unmatch fit his selection was a complete joke - the man hadn’t trained properly for 7 weeks! Remember also there were also other team selections/omissions more to do with egos than ability.
As for your theory as to why Bradford went three nil up well that’s exactly what it was - a theory. My theory was we started with a weakened team which effected both the crowd and the other  players. It’s also a lasting legacy - the consequences of that game will take at least 5000 of the gate if and when we return to Wembley again

So we let 3 goals in the first 15 minutes because Platt was the striker rather than Bayo?

A few years back, having the day off, I was walking my partners rottweiler around Abington Park. The team were there (pre season training) and were getting set for a team jog around the park. Off they went en mass, apart from one, who was on a mountain bike. And very uncomfortable on it as well. It was painful to watch. Me and Bruno, stood around watching, I dont recall seeing someone who was so adverse to basic fitness training.

Starting a embarrassingly weak team because the manager wants to win an ego battle has huge ramifications on both the crowd and other players on occasions like that so yes quite possibly.

Just looking at some of the outrage at Nigel Clough‘s comments I think they are over the top (although being the slight underdog is no bad thing) - all he is saying is the gas have an easier game than us and I don’t see how anyone can disagree- any neutral would say on form we are more likely to drop points than them - I’m as nervous as hell even for the 6 goals plus scenario but still think we can do it - have to believe!

Thanks for pointing that out, think I'm losing it! I meant to say set up the goal for Luke Guttridge

Barrow wont be a push over either.
They beat FGR recently and only narrowly lost to Swindon, Exeter, and Vale, and beat Sutton.
We're going to have to be on it and the start is going to be key. If we go behind the players might panic, but if we can get an early goal or 2 Barrow's focus might switch to the beach (hopefully)

Here it is in a nutshell.
At the start of the season if someone had said we have to beat Barrow away in a one off game to get promotion we would have ripped their arm off.
Barrow are in the bottom 4 for a reason.

100% - given our post Christmas form until recently even a playoff position started to look at risk - whatever the outcome on Saturday its been a season that exceeded most expectations

Judging by the people around me on the day, half were so drunk it barely registered they were at a football match, the other half weren't sure which team were The Cobblers. I dont think any of them were concerned with the finer points of team selection.

Ding ding ding.

If we don’t go up, it’s because of failure to beat any of Scunny, Barrow, Rochdale or Carlisle in recent times.

Should we win, we will go up.

Into page 9 of the match day thread with still 2 days to go, more than most match day threads after the game has been played.
Only 7 visits to Barrow in our history with 3 wins a draw and 3 defeats. They only have 5 home wins in the 22 games but as we know the last 2 were Sutton 1-0 and FGR 4-0, the others were against Swindon, Newport County and Hartlepool. Prior to the recent 2 home victories they did not win any of the previous 10 but bringing in Phil Brown has had the desired effect. They have drawn 9 and lost 8, goals 24-25.
Only 3 teams in Div.2 have scored fewer goals than Barrow but their defensive record is decent and only Leyton Orient have conceded fewer goals outside of the top 10. So they are averaging just over a goal a game conceded at home but when we played Orient they had conceded less than a goal a game and never more than 2 in a game and we know what happened there, a similar performance would be most welcome. At home they have just 6 clean sheets and 7 times the away side have failed to score, also only 5 times have they scored more than a single goal.
When we played them at home they played 3 centre backs but in recent games have revert to a back 4.
Ross Joyce is the referee who we have not had for a league game this season but we had him at Sixfields for our 0-1 Carabao cup defeat to AFC Wimbledon. He has already done us a small favour as last week he had the Rochdale v Bristol Rovers game and sent Rovers captain Coutts off late in the game who is now suspended for Saturday.
I'm going for a 3-1 Cobblers win with Rovers failing to win by 7 so we are all happy come Saturday evening.

Different views - makes the world go round but to be fair my reference was re playing Harriman who someone thought not match fit and my point was simply for what ever reason manager do pick players that are not match fit.

Because they haven’t played us twice yet.

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/appere-determined-to-seize-towns-big-opportunity-against-barrow-3681432

Looks like the M6 is closed all weekend at Junction 10, M6 Toll looks favourite.

M1 to junction 24, and get on the A50 to Stoke, and rejoin the M6. Easy route. And count how many people on the coach say, theres Stokes ground.

Every time... ;D

1400+ sold for the beamback coverage which is good.

At about a third of the size of a cinema screen, they’re gonna need a bigger telly.
I hope they’ve done a test run and mapped the area out. Definitely get there early.

https://www.thebigscreencompany.com.au/big-screen-rentals/mobileledscreens/

an example of the size of screen that is being used...... 1400 tickets sold equates to more than a third of the West Stand, so the later you get there the more "off centre" you'll be, and the less you'll see!

My nephews got a bigger screen than that, in his front room. Its retractable, and after it was fitted, the kids used the packaging as a see-saw.

I find it totally bizarre and baffling that you can drink alcohol during the beam back I. The stadium seat but not during a live match

What crazy laws we have in the UK

Makes absolutely no sense

exactly .
On that basis i am not going . They need double that size or 2 screens .
it’s the radio for me i think

8m screens are available at £3k - we are generating about £15k . why aren’t we getting x2 of these !

Don’t worry about radio, watch it at home. Nordvpn…

Sorted my two year subscription to that, changed my location to the Us and have bought ifollow effortlessly. There are free vpns available too 👍🏽

Be careful of the free ones though as broadcasters are getting wise to single server operators and you may find it stops working at the critical moment - also be careful about advertising the fact as it is illegal (I live abroad so not an issue for me)

The big screen is a great gesture. Hopefully the club make a couple of quid from the idea as well… Wether looks good, certainly better than Barrow  ;D So get down there and enjoy a few beers and hopefully a good time with your fellow cobblers.

Not too late for them to make it a 'BYO' device event and give everyone the log in details  ;D
I hope it works out as it was a good gesture and money spinner for the club.

Hopefully they count the seats and likely area covered and can do a trial with a second screen on standby.

I don't know why you all think a beach is so attractive its bloody hard work to keep nice. ::)

Anyway don't forget to send this link to Phil Brown and the team immediately, we can guarantee to keep up that suntan no problem!


https://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaN0BiAEBmAExuAEIyAEP2AEB6AEB-AECiAIBqAIDuALp4NOTBsACAdICJGJmNzFhNzI2LTI3OTgtNDk0OC04NTNiLTMzZjEzMGNhY2IwMtgCBeACAQ&sid=ed41a8aa8732623ec2dde07767e2144d&sb=1&sb_lp=1&src=index&src_elem=sb&error_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Findex.html%3Flabel%3Dgen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaN0BiAEBmAExuAEIyAEP2AEB6AEB-AECiAIBqAIDuALp4NOTBsACAdICJGJmNzFhNzI2LTI3OTgtNDk0OC04NTNiLTMzZjEzMGNhY2IwMtgCBeACAQ%26sid%3Ded41a8aa8732623ec2dde07767e2144d%26sb_price_type%3Dtotal%26%26&ss=Koh+Phangan%2C+Thailand&is_ski_area=0&checkin_year=2022&checkin_month=5&checkin_monthday=9&checkout_year=2022&checkout_month=5&checkout_monthday=16&group_adults=2&group_children=0&no_rooms=1&b_h4u_keep_filters=&from_sf=1&ss_raw=Koh+Phangan&ac_position=0&ac_langcode=en&ac_click_type=b&dest_id=5519&dest_type=region&search_pageview_id=682d45b4e08605a1&search_selected=true&region_type=island

The difference here is there is not likely to be any away support and therefore less likely to be any crowd confrontations.

Makes absolute sense to me.

Which ones yours? All look good and very cheap, apart from getting there! Never been Thailand and have added it to the long list

You would have make a more specific search to find us, we are almost full now for June/July so unfortunately Phil and the team will have to stay elsewhere but I can get some cracking deals on pool villas for him and the team!   ;)

Accommodation here is good value in comparison to many places. Easy to get here and very soon all travel restrictions will be lifted too. There have been no real restrictions at all here on this island throughout covid we have been very lucky.

Phil and the lads must be thinking of the warm water, soft sand and topping up that important suntan!

On the game tomorrow as others have said I think we just need to focus on ourselves and try to get the three points. Knowing that we need a win as opposed to a draw might actually be a blessing in disguise. Too often I’ve seen teams get caught out on whether to stick or twist when only needing a point. I’m not too worried about Bristol Rovers catching up on goal difference. You need a huge amount of things to go right in order to win 6-0. And even then, that’s on the basis we only win by one. Win by two (which isn’t unrealistic at all) and they’ll need to win by 7 which would take some doing. I fully expect them to win though, so I can’t see anything other than three points being enough for us. But as has been suggested, if you had to pick an opponent to beat on the last day for promotion Barrow would be high on your list both at the start of the season and now. That’s not to say it’ll be easy. It’ll be difficult. But they’re in the bottom 4 for a reason so it’s a fantastic chance to get ourselves into League One.

I know a well known Cobblers fan who spent some time in Thailand, business connections, and when he came back he was never quite the same...
Ting Tong  ;D

I don't know why there is all this talk about Brizzle scoring six when it is quite obvious that we will be the ones scoring six. Hattrick for App3r3, one each for Horsfall and Guthrie with the icing on the cake supplied by Super Sam.






I just hope it isn't 6-5, with Brizzle also scoring 6.😂

the entire Hotel End faithful round my house for a bbq if we achieve the Impossible Dream

2-0 wobblers should do it...

Safe journeys for folks travelling- I’m as nervous as hell but still feel there might be a twist or two in the tail  but we are going to be ok…. 

The trouble is we can never relax unless we are 3 goals up. It’s one of those days that is almost impossible to enjoy until the final whistle.
We need to do the business as it wouldn’t leave us in the best mindset to have to tackle the play offs.

Come on boys!

The Cobblers shirt is on already - let's do this! 

Thanks, that is very kind. Will there be a vegan option on the menu?

My nerves are shot to pieces, have a great day everyone who is going.

Likewise Melly, the nerves are jangling, it was bad enough on Thursday night with the mighty Rangers now I’ve got to do it all again with the Wobbs, The first bottle of Buckie has been cracked open already !!!

UTC.

Best of luck cobblers

Give it everything one last time fellas!

We've over achieved this season already imo, so today is a bonus & if we do fall short, Brady & co are certainly guiding us as a club in the right direction.

Saying that, my nerves are already absolutely shredded!  ;D

UTC FTP

Are you here today? Terrace or Seated?

More to the point Evers, Are you there? If yes, what are the weather conditions ? Any news on McGowan?

It’s only football but this wait is killing me!
 Pacing around, irritable, excited.

Not much else can do this to a man!!

Really hope we get over the line to secure promotion so Look East and whatever football news coverage can try and  keep on ignoring us and keep up the MK, Luton wan kfest.

 Nationally as well Barton this, Clough that. F uck off.

 Where’s the Valium?

So much for your persona that yu aren’t here 😇😎
In pub but weather dry cloudy/sunny and no news of McG! Saw Cobblers coach parked outside swish hotel clearly having a few pre match pints😆

Consider me admonished !

13 minutes to team sheets.

Pretty relaxed here. Just can't see us not winning and don't believe BR will overturn the goal difference.

Sit back, enjoy then celebrate later... 0-3

McGowan out. Mills in. Harriman on the bench. Otherwise as per last week.

So, the biggest and hopefully last game of the season awaits.

Cobblers: Roberts, Horsfall, Guthrie, Mills, Hoskins, Koiki, McWilliams, Sowerby, Pinnock, Eppiah, Appere.

Subs: Maxted, Harriman, Dyche, Pollock, Kanu, Zimba, Rose #ntfc

Oh aye. Currently in the Fan Zone, but home terrace in due course.

You think it's bad now?
Just wait until the ref blows for full time with us winning 0-1 but Rovers are 5-0 up and still have 4 mins of injury time left...

Good luck - well done all the same

I'm hoping Brady's trust in Mills is rewarded and he scores and defends well.

I've been bumbling round the house trying to find things to do all morning, not even sure i want to put myself through the pain of watching this.

At least we don't have VAR to add to the tension.

Good Afternoon
Good Luck Cobblers, I don’t know what promotion from League 2 feels like recently but I sure know the strain of the play offs! Do it today and spare all that anxiety!

Phil in Northampton

I’m running out of alcohol already…………come on town

Kabamba dropped to the bench by Woking for their penultimate game of the season. I think we can conclude they've found him wanting at that level.

Got any prescription meds left?  :P

 Come on Town!

Meanwhile, at Sixfields..

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSKPulqXsAArjr5?format=jpg&name=small)

That doesn't work for me.

Get in!!!

Get in!!

Yesssss!!!!!

C'moooon!

Super sammy

Surely a knighthood in the offing.

Wahoo!!  2-0. ;D

Get In!!

Yesssssssssssssss

Happy days , super Fraser

Pinch yourself folks....

Fraser's new name - Sam !

Bristol Rovers 1-0 up.

OG. Scunny giving them a hand. B@stards.

Mansfield 1-0 against FGR (who must be in relegation form).

Whatever….

Kin ell, its 3-0

Get In!!

2-0 now.

No surprise, shows how important Mansfield failing to win last week was, FG were never going to do us any favours, they are just woeful.

Whatever….

EIEIEIO….

Port Vale 1-0 against Exeter - we could easily have claimed the title.

No outstanding teams this season.

3-1  :(

Sack em all

They’ve looked like scoring since we scored our third. I’m not sure what Brady does to give them zero confidence but there’s not many teams that you still worry whilst being 3-0 up.

I can see Barrow scoring quickly after the break and it being a very dicey 2nd half.

Not the best time to give them a consolation goal.
We always like a slight sense of jeopardy.

Plagiarism

I’m still clenching my intestines.

I really hope not the last thing we want is to suddenly give Bristol Rovers encouragement too, they got 4 in the second half week, I don’t think it would take much for these Scünthorpe kids to fold and start haemorrhaging goals.

Come on Town, 2 more goals.

Bristol Rovers 3-0 up.

3-0 to Rovers now

Panic setting in, stopped playing football…..

McWilliams hasn’t looked the same since the injury. He’s non existent here.

Rose on for Eppiah

4-0 now.

Let’s be honest , tactics isn’t Brady’s strong suit.
Bringing Rose onto try to see the game out for 30 minutes?

4-0 to Rovers now

Can you get money back from i Follow as no commentary for the last 10 minutes?

He has a trust in Mills and Rose none of us share.

Rovers have already had 23 shots...

This is painfull

This is not doing my stress levels any good.

We’re sitting too deep, need to play like a side that are going up.

If we do somehow get promoted we really need someone to have a word with Brady about tactics if we are to do anything in that league.

Rovers are going to do this

5-0 at Brizzle.

5-0

My neighbour just told my girlfriend that she thought we were having an afternoon quickie when the third goal went in.

GAS Stats according to 365..
12 shots on target 19 off target 15 corners

If they do it they deserve to go up.

We need to score another goal or two.

6-0

It’s done 6-0 they will do it

Attack attack attack

This. Brady needs to wake up and attack. Stop this wing back bollocks. Rovers will keep scoring.

And now he takes Appere off

How much has Joey Barton paid Sc***horpe?!

If we win and don't go up someone needs to take a serious look at Rovers game....
Either way, Sc***horpe are a disgrace

It was fücking inevitable a bunch of kids would fold, I said it at half time. I don’t understand why some cobbler fans didn’t see it coming

No mystery. Just a rampantly hungry team playing against the worst team in the league who are playing kids for the experience. We probably could have run up a similar score if we'd kept attacking.

As it is we need to attack.

Pete Walton's getting a right battering from the panel on BT sport

7

Brady needs to wake up and have a f***ing go at this.

Another goal for us and we'll be fine. It's a tough call, telling the players they could do with another could induce panic, not telling them means they might sit on a two goal lead thinkinking there now way Sc***horpe can lose by seven....
What am I saying, they'll know what's going on....

This might sound like sour grapes but this smells bent as fukc

Pitch invasion at the gas...they will still be playing after our match ends.

The only thing that looks dodgy to me is Brady’s substitutions

Even more fishy... They're now off the pitch.... We'll finish before them and they'll know what's needed

We've brought on Kanu and Rose for Eppiah and Appere.

Embarrassing.

BR 7-0 now.

You can't blame Brady. Anyone would have taken 3-1

Roberts sent off

Roberts off.
What a capitulation

So he’s out for the play offs!

If there's any criticism to be aimed it's at whoever is in charge at Sc***horpe. If they've fielded a weakened side then that's a disgrace

Look on the bright side….home advantage second leg.
Fair play to Rovers, we did our bit.

Why is anyone criticising our performance? Everyone would have taken a 3-1 win.

It's alright lads, Danny Rose is going up top again.

I hate saying it but I don't think we'll come back and win the playoffs after this.

We've got these play offs in the bag!!!

Scunny have 10 mins to score

Sorry to say it but Brady needs to go. This team should have expected promotion, not the messaging he’s kept peddling that nobody expects us to promote.

Terrible tactics.

Fúck fair play something very fúcking hookey about that result.

The game management still looks suspect though.

are you serious? Get a grip

Agreed. Can't help thinking Calderwood had a big input.

Went 3-0 up and stopped playing….

Since we went 3-0 up there's been an 8 goal swing in 60 minutes....

I'm sorry but something is not right

Yes I am. He threw 5 at the back all of the 2nd half when we knew that it was highly likely Rovers would trounce Sc***horpe.
Even at 3-0 up we looked nervous. Same with almost every game.

Sc***horpe have a goal difference of minus 50. In reality, our fault for not scoring enough.

Gas points dedecution for pitch invasion?

Football still manages to suprise me.

It was always possible we might more goals and yet some awful substitutions that took away any goal threat.

It wouldn’t have surprised me had they needed a couple more they might have got those too with the time left

in 46 games. Doesn't point to a 7 goal beating

It’s the hope that kills you.

Is it a one or three game ban for Roberts?

A big big fine at the very least. The point of starting all the last set of fixtures at the same time is lost in these circumstances.

Would they deduct points going forward (no good for us) or against this season's total (very good for us) ?

The authorities have very little time to decide this - play-offs coming up very soon.

you're posts get more and more ridiculous.
At three nil up and Roovers nil nil they needed 8 in 60 minutes.
Even with conceding they still needed 7
how many 7 goal victories occur in all four divisions across a season?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but be honest, we all expected Rovers to win but by 7?
Add to that they were 1-16 to win today. That's almost unprecedented odds for a football league match. Something is definitely up

At half time it was clear that Rovers were scoring for fun. Brady chooses to try to park the bus.
Not great tactics in my mind, but that’s simply my opinion. Everyone has their own opinions as to how Brady should have approached it of course.

Roberts getting sent off isnt good as I assume that’s him banned for both playoff legs.

It's like the City-Madrid game. Dumb s*** happens in football. And yeah, I don't think you could realistically expect Bristol Rovers to smash Sc***horpe, but it's not impossible with a terrible team of kids against a team that are desperate to get that specific result.

Got to dust ourselves down for the play-offs, but in all honesty I think that's the stuffing knocked out of us.

Mansfield it is then.

Conspiracy theorists will be out in force tonight. Mostly on Facebook.
Mansfield in the PO, and Roberts banned for one game.

You'd think not having Roberts (in particular) but also McGowan would seriously weaken the defence. Maxted hasn't played in the league (blundered badly in the League Cup) and we don't have a Right Back (unless Harriman suddenly comes back into the team after a long time out of favour).

They’ve got ammo though, considering Barton has previously been done for match betting and is very vocal that match fixing is “rife” ;)
7-0 here, and getting 2 goals in injury time last week… :p

Out of all of the teams that were vying for 3rd spot Rovers were probably the best. Us, Port Vale and Mansfield have been very flaky.

Never experienced anything like today before, and never want to again. The impossible was possible.

Same, totally surreal.

Bloody annoying game times as well. Away to Mansfield with a 7:45 kick off.
Has been my sons first season going and we’ve been every home game. Was going to take him to both playoff games but that might be a bit of a stretch for a 6 year old.

Distraught would be the best word to describe it.

I know many predicted Sc***horpe rolling over like that but I honestly didn't. And even at HT when Rovers were 2-0 up, it didn't really look like they were going to score 7. But then when they got 5 so soon after the 4th, you knew what was coming.

An unbelievably harsh afternoon, capped off by the Roberts red.

Well, that didnt take long. Tell me Jonesy, did we land on the moon?

0ne game ban😀

Virtually certain it's live on Sky - save your money and watch it at home.

Bad luck cobblers
But give Bristol rovers maximum credit
They just won 7-0 to get promoted to league one.
That’s one hell of an achievement.

Sc***horpe had a 17 year old rookie in goal...

I honestly think if Rovers had been playing any other team in the league today it
would have been a completely different story. It's a ridiculously unfortunate
turn of events and I'd argue that on balance we've been the third best team
in the league this year.

Having said that I do think Brady's game management was wrong. I think Barrow's goal just before half-time spooked him into shutting up shop and retreating into a wing back system, whereas the smart move would have been to keep the same formation and to retain an attacking threat which could be reignited when Rovers inevitably started chalking up the goals. Our lack of game-changing attacking options off the bench has been a problem all season and once again Rose and Kanu came on and offered nothing.

Ultimately, Brady is a good manager who needs to learn from an occasional tendency towards over-caution which reared its head again today. We have to dust ourselves down and give the play-offs a good go. We've just won three games out of 4 plus a very creditable draw against the second placed team in the league. We are certainly capable of winning the play-offs and Brady needs to find a way to eliminate the disappointment and to focus on the positives of what has been a very positive season overall.

No it wasn’t, 3-1 away is decent result.  Not a lot wrong with tactics or subs. Appéré and Eppiah were shot thru’. Would have subbed both 10 min earlier? Everything else is hindsight!

You need to calm down Jonesy9

 Sc***horpe gave Rovers a very unfair advantage and are a disgrace!

Zimba should have come on for Eppiah. He would have been a handful, a goal threat, challenged their central defenders and stretch their defence. Danny Rose has scored one league goal this season from 36 appearances (14 starts) and been booked 11 times. Apart from aggravate and get booked, what does he offer?

He's very good at winning fouls and killing a game off, so if we were looking to set out a 3 - 1 he's ideal, but he is utterly pointless at the moment if you're trying to score a goal.

I am calm  ::) I’ve expressed an opinion that I thought that Brady’s tactics were a bit off considering he knew that Rovers were storming Sc***horpe, and I’ve been berated for being ‘ridiculous’. I don’t think he’s tactically done well enough and Roberts has saved us a lot this season. I’m not a fan of him downplaying our abilities and regularly stating that “nobody expects us to be this high up the table”. I feel that it impacts the players confidence. But of course I could be wrong.

And then I expressed some frustration that the kick off time is late and it’s a shame I won’t be able to take my son to both legs. Again, I don’t think im not calm  ;)

And no im not a conspiracy theorist. All I said was in agreement to the comment that some people will question how easily Sc***horpe rolled over, due to Barton’s own comments previously about how rife match fixing is. Im not saying that I agree, just making a comment.

I thought that the forum was about expressing opinions with fellow ambitions fans. I simply stated that I felt that Brady’s tactics after going 3 up were showing, as they have done previously this season when we take a commanding lead. We sit back too much, let teams play against us and we often get squeaky bums.
Given Rover’s last few games and the goals they’ve scored I simply felt that we could have done with going for it in the 2nd half and tried to grab another goal or two.

I’m of course very frustrated, but I feel pretty calm considering.
Good news that Roberts is only banned for 1 game. I assumed 2 for a straight red.
Hopefully McGowern can come back. Mills looked shaky at RB, and I don’t think that the back 5 with both Koiki and Mills on the left and Hoskins on the right quite works. We miss Hoskins pressing up top when he’s back deep.

Playoffs are anyones guess, but the team I fear the most are Swindon.

Eppiah is a tricky one. I really enjoy his work rate, and I think that him and Appere up front work quite well together in pressing and closing down. However they get worn out quickly as Pinnock, McWilliams and Sowerby rarely back them up and press as a team.

However he’s had a lot of very good chances over the last few games that he’s fluffed. Could have won us the game against Exeter and could have got one today.

I’d be interested to see if we could get him back for next year, as I think that if he can get a few more goals it might set him off.

Same for Appere. Hopefully he settles in well and finds his shooting form as he gets in really good positions.

Nobody is critizing your opinion least of all me but in my opinion you are going OTT, we all felt hard done but as others have said  we simply have to take it on the chin!

OK mate, I’ll kept schtum  ;D

Just spotted the other thread where it was highlighted how may Sc***horpe academy/youth players made their debut today, including a 17 year old goalkeeper.

A 7-0 loss can’t do their confidence any good, bless them.

Fair play to Brizzle. But we can only hope the Scunny players haven't been mentally scarred. A tough month of GCSEs coming up for them.

With Bristol chalking up goals the most important thing was to retain our two goal lead. Of course it proved not to be enough but the tactics were correct. Hindsight is easy.

We did our bit by winning and with a two goal margin. Rovers then did what became possible once the teamsheets were announced. Scunny playing their kids completely against the integrity of the competition made the 5 goal swing required more likely. Keith Hill should be ashamed. I don't believe it has done their future careers a lot of good either. And an embarrassing way to play their final EFL game. Let's hope they don't come back. I guess if the fixtures were reversed and so the scorelines, we would be saying what Rovers are saying in that you can only beat what's in front of you. Does anybody think if that was the case and we were playing that Sunny team in these circumstances we would have won 7-0? I'm not so sure.

8 of that Sc***hrope team played the previous game, including the keeper, so let's not get too sucked into a conspiracy.

I agree that we did our bit, beating a Barrow team that had given a lot of good teams a hard time recently. The rest is just football. Could be worse, at least we're not the ones in Sc***horpe's position.

Rovers fan in peace, Obviously  am delighted we went up but have to acknowledge the fact we got extremely lucky today. If the boot was on the other foot and Sc***horpe put that team out I would be bloody livid.


Sincerely wish you guys luck in the play offs. If there is any justice you will go up.

UTG/UTC

Is that except the fact Scunny now get an extra payout for Ryan Loft who Rovers signed from them in January. Promotion for Rovers guaranteed them more cash, handy for them in their position.

Good on you for saying that. It is very hard to take to say the least.

Doesn't stop your manager still being a complete w@nker though. I'm sure you already know that.

That's true, until the point it ceased to become the most important issue and it became more likely than not that 1-3 would not be enough.
What we can debate is at when that time arrived.

Well done to you guys. It was a fantastic showing to get that many goals, however it's very hard to take from our point of view due to the circumstances, as you clearly understand. Not Bristol's fault in the slightest though.

fwiw i agree with you, plenty of other Rovers fans do to.

The more I think about it we were on a hiding to nothing today, I feel with the time left Rovers could easily have got an eighth if these have needed it and I wouldn’t put it past them to have maybe got a ninth deep into stoppage time. It was clear with an already terrible team playing a bunch of kids that if Rovers could bully them they would fold and haemorrhage goals.

I was thinking this earlier that they stopped at 7 because that's what they needed, it wouldn't really matter if we hadn't conceded or scored one more, there resistance just wasn't there to stop Rovers getting what they needed. Not, to be clear, becuase Sc***horpe were purposefully throwing it, but because they're a terrible, terrible side.

You cannot blame our team or management today . We won by two goals and did what we had to do .
You cannot account for Keith Hill probably putting money on Rovers going up and rolling over .
i hope he gets the sack and lives off his winnings .
Scunny used to be a good club . They are now non entity with no integrity .

For those that werent there, or couldnt see on the sixfields mini screen.

https://www.skysports.com/football/barrow-vs-northampton-town/448982

We just have to take it on the chin - we had a much harder game but for our defence we most probably might have conceded another goal. What did for us was that Eppiah and Arrere simply ran out of steam and were replaced by less effective players!

Agreed. And until those came into form, we didn't really have any attacking threat at all this season. Goal this summer has to be how to bring in a good enough strike force that we don't have to rely on other results.

I’ve just been reading Keith Hills comments about the first team squad at Sc***horpe. By the sounds of it had he had played them Bristol Rovers would have scored 10.

Thats about right.. take it on the chin..
Get up and focus on the next game

You forget Etete was brought in and left with no notice .
4 forwards came in who hadn’t been playing and it took time for 2 of them to get up to speed .
Rose and Benny ate legacy signings that no one could get rid of .
We are now scoring goals so it isn’t that bad .

It’s a real shame about Robbo missing the next game. I can understand why he did what he did, but hopefully Maxted can come in cold and do a job.

The players looked really dejected after the game so hopefully Brady is able to gee them up for Saturday.
Hopefully that experience will actually motivate them to get their own back.

I don’t know, when a team completely implode like scünthorpe did today it’s more to do with attitude than ability, with so many young players out there there just wasn’t enough experience to deal with the inevitable Bristol Rovers onslaught and a hostile crowd.

Few more positives, yesterday we matched Barrows heaviest home league defeat of the season, which was against Mansfield in January of all teams. Last two home games they beat Sutton 1-0 and FGR 4-0. It was a great result for us and we have nothing to fear from anyone. You can’t legislate for yesterday, Bristol Rovers have only ever won by 7 once in 1964 and have never won by more than that in their entire history. We gave ourselves the best possible chance and that’s all you can do. Great squad of players and I would choose them above any of the other squads in the playoffs by a country mile. A chance to turn over Mansfield and a trip to Wembley, we are living the dream.

Agreed

TBF Tab there's plenty for conspiracy theorists to go at.....

Rovers get their biggest win in 60 years on the one day they need it most. Coincidence? Probably
Skunthorpe put out what just be one of the most inexperienced sides ever fielded in the FL. Necessary? Possibly, they're on their arse.
Brizzle have "just" 11 shots on target and amazingly 7 go in. That must be one of the highest ever goals to shots ratios ever for that particular number of shots. Just a crap keeper? Maybe, poor lad is only 17. Let's not forget too, one of his own team scored the first, he wouldn't have been expecting that surely....
A pitch invasion that means we finish 5 minutes before they go back out, including get this, time spent by the world's best peace envoy, Joey Barton, asking their fans to calm down.... Was it planned? Probably not but it only takes a couple of savvy types to pile on and the sheep  will follow
The biggest pointer for me was the bookies. They had Brizzle 16/1 ON to win and I bet (excuse the pun) winning margin odds were equally and unprecedentedly low for a football league match. Weight of money? Mainly I'd say but also the bookies protecting themselves.

Perhaps we're just the unfortunate victims of a freak day.

However, it's hard to believe that was the best skunthorpe could put out. 7 academy players, average age 19 and an 18 year old skipper. Even in our darkest days we managed better. Did we reject an application from Keith Hill for a job or something because that tw@t stitched us up today. Some skunny fans told me they only made 3 changes.... Wtf were they? Douglas Bader on the wing, Stephen Hawkins patrolling midfield and Stevie Wonder in goal? Listen, I could be wrong but I find it hard to believe they could only field 4 "experienced" paid professionals.

So as for conspiracies, well they're almost more believable than all of the instances I listed above occuring on the same day, let alone that day being the crucial last game of the season.

Good post Melly; good to see some more ‘sensible’ posts coming out now

Yes I've been hearing about this, an extra £50k to Scunny if Brizzle got promoted. Goes a long way in the National League, this whole thing stinks. Hard to prove though so the authorities will do nothing. Media onside too, hardly a mention in the reporting of the Rovers comeback of the Sc***horpe schoolboys team.

Clutching at straws CJ, clutching at at straws s

Its quite amusing reading these posts. There are reasons why we didnt get automatic, and Stephen Hawkins aint one of them. You mention the C word, and people turn up with lists, they always do. As I predicted, Facebook went into meltdown.
For what its worth, I am a very frustrated Cobbler, but also a realist.

The problem is the fact that transfers are allowed to include lump sum payouts if a team gets promoted. It creates a genuine desire in a club to see another club get promoted.

Take that out of the above equation and you struggle to see what benefit scunny have to gain out of throwing the game.
However the fact that Rovers going up guarantees them a sizeable payout adds a dimension that shouldn’t exist in football in my opinion.
At that point Sc***horpe as a club must think, we are going down, we are on the ropes financially. What benefit is there to us in putting up a fight? We know Rovers need to make up some goal difference, and we can explain playing the kids as we are already relegated.
Why wouldn’t they roll over in the hopes of a big payout they otherwise wouldn’t get?

Again I’m not saying this is what’s happened. However I do feel like these sort of clauses in transfer deals adds a murkiness to the idea of competition. If one club benefits from a league rival getting promoted.

Thoughts?

I just gave a list of things people could cling to....

I didn't know the transfer payoff one otherwise I'd have added that too.... ;)

This is just such a freakish result you can kind of understand it.

There's never been such a freakish result since the Argies needed to stick 6 past Peru to progress in the 78 World Cup..... Oh, hang on..... Hehe

Another coincidence for the conspiracies
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news/joey-barton-football-association-gambling-betting-rife-matchfixing-a7795831.html?amp

 ;D
Sometimes conspiracies are actually based on fact. Maybe this could be one. It’d certainly help me to feel better about what happened  ;D

Get em on your side mate, they can all nudge their mates, and say "Ive heard that"...
Thank you for engaging in my wind up. I needed cheering up. All the best.

7 fùcking nil.

Waking up in Cumbria with a more level thought pattern I think we done our job, especially when you look at Phil Browns home record!

The Scunny situation stinks and you know the FA should have but will NOT do anything!!! For the Scunny youth team to get a £50K reward stinks!

The management have a big job getting the players head in a positive mindset.

See you at Mansfield.

Good post and unfortunately the emotion attached to this probably makes us the team most at risk - the other three teams achieved results that confirmed them in a playoff position (with in reality little hope of getting an automatic place) - however I think we owe Mansfield one but it's Swindon in the final I fear most (this is probably a hint to put your money on a Mansfield Port Vale final knowing my powers of prediction!)

Re the conspiracy theories my only point is as yours for a team to have a financial benefit to roll over on the last game of the season with nothing to lose themselves seems totally an utterly wrong.

Learnt something new.
There's no way a clause like that should be allowed between clubs in the same division.

simple logic--bristol rovers get revenge for us panning them 25 years ago--we get revenge against mansfield for their jammy win years ago--swindon get through to wembley where we are undefeated against teams beginning with the letters sw--division 1 it is then

Just found the stomach to watch the highlights on Quest. Much drooling over Bristol Rovers and they do mention the elephant in the room about the delay to the game meaning they knew exactly what they needed to do when they came back on, but they singularly failed to mention the bloody  blue whale sitting next to it regarding Sc***horpe's team selection.

Rovers fans (well the active posters) hate us, they hate Brady, they want to knight Barton. Unsurprisingly full of (patronising) credit for the effort of the Sc***horpe youngsters. For your own mental health and state of mind avoid any Rovers forum. TBF you can imagine if the boot was on the other foot, that’s football. We all know it’ll ultimately end as a car crash for Barton but he has sealed his place with a bit of BR folklore.

Anyway, it’s done and Brady has a week to get them fired up again. The play offs are so tough. For example even if we won 1 v 3 in the first leg you can imagine how we’d set up at home. It’s going to be emotional again either way.

Right… Deep breath.

Firstly. Congratulations to Bristol Rovers. They can only play what’s in front of them. Joey Barton did not pick the sCUŃThorpe side.

Secondly. Well done to the lads on an excellent away win.

Lastly. I hope the now NON league club of  sCUŃThorpe stay where their morals, tactics and lack of spine has left them, for many years to come. Nobody will ever convince me, that it is acceptable to shyte on your fellow professionals on any level like they did.

I hate the play offs. It has never been fair that the any team has to compete for a spot that they have won by right over the length of a season. We now have to embark on a ridiculous money spinning exercise, just to prove that we are worthy of a promotion place, that we have already secured over 46 fcuking games. Costing us all, if we are lucky 🙄🙄 a small fortune.

Anyway.. That me nagged out….

Anyone got any feedback on how the beam back went? View? Atmosphere?

I think most of us would have taken a 3-1 win before kick off (nice to get a forecast right for once) and also pleased to see that we did not start with Sam at right wing as he would not have been in a position to score either of his goals. When he was moved back there we lost some of our attacking force and having scored 3 goals in the first 22 minutes a little disappointing that we could not add another although it probably would still have not been enough.
Having watched the EFL show on Quest so many of the Rovers goals were scored without any type of challenge from a Scunny player. It was said that delaying the game game Rovers an advantage but no mention of Scunny sending a bunch of schoolboys to play them. Playing them at home against an out of form Hartlepool in front of around 3000 fans is no comparison to sending away for a promotion deciding game in front of a packed Rovers crowd. Keith Hill should be ashamed and if this is the best team he could put out he will be looking at another relegation next season. There was a joke from a Scunny fan last week that Joey Barton was referring to them as Mrs Barton because they would be so easy to beat.
A few years ago when Danny Rose played against us for Mansfield I said that I hoped he would never wear a Cobblers shirt and after yesterday I hope he does not again. He has become an embarrassment and yesterday collected his 11th yellow card after the referee tired of him going down in an attempt to win free kicks which he was never going to get. He offers no goal threat and we might as well have brought on Adam the kit man.
Sam also got his 11th yellow card and 22 yellows from 2 attacking players is absolutely stupid particularly when 1 of them only gets on the pitch for a few minutes. You expect yellows from defensive midfielders (and McWilliams gets more than his share) and defenders but these 2 equal the number of yellows our regular back 4 have got all season, Koiki 5, Horsfall 8, Guthrie 4 and McGowan 5.
Apart from the final outcome our group of 5 enjoyed the beam back at Sixfields and judging by the long line to get served the beer sales must have been good.

It was great, to be fair. The screen was fine and you could see well even if you were out wide from it. The atmosphere was amazing in the first half but died a death in the second, which is obviously due to events at the other end of the country rather than anything to do with the staging of the event itself.

The only real problem is the bar they had set up in the tunnel had something wrong with the pumps so it took forever to pour a pint as it was coming out mostly in froth form and there were massive queues as a result (but at least you could still see the screen from the queue!). I think we all had the same idea of buying multiple drinks while we were there,  which compounded the initial problem but meant it was much better second half.

Can you imagine if it was the other way around and our game was stopped and then resumed with 25 minutes to score the extra goal we needed .
Some of the praise for Barton by Hill after the game stinks to me . Something has gone on .

Personally have beer poured over me in the celebrations for the goals spoiled it. Thats why I don't agree with being able to drink in your seat arguement.

Anyone know why we parked the bus in the second half?

Seemed strange at the time and even stranger now.

Probably didn’t expect Bristol to score 7

They had 6 with about quarter of the game to go with 20 odd shots on target.

In hindsight it was probably worth grabbing a phone to check.

Is he any good in goal? I know he's pretty lethal in front of an open net, usually, but could he deputise for Roberts in an emergency?

It was so one sided that Rovers had 34 shots and 19 corners. Talking post match Martin Smith said that when he was playing if a team put out a bunch of teenagers he would be thinking "we could get 20 today".
If I was a Rovers fan I would be delighted that we had won promotion but feel that we had done so by default.

Great, can I have your ticket then. TIA

He also said they'd be out on their legs by 60 minutes and this proved to be the case. It was 3-0 at the 60 minute mark. 

Rumour has it that Rose took over in goal to see if the ref would book him again for diving   :)

I totally get what people are saying about the second half but as Brady pointed out, since Brown took over at Barrow their form has picked up and no-one has scored 3 at their place. I honestly feel that Rovers would have scored however many that they needed if we had got more. Having said that, to have won 3-1 at a difficult place when only 1 of our forward players turned up is no mean feat.

I might being be controversial, but I think in second half of the season Rovers have been best team in the league.

As much as I think their managers a deplorable human being, they have beaten us twice and scored more goals than us. They did what they needed to do, and would have scored 9 if they had to.

Regards our performance, we blasted them off the park in first 20 minutes, but there was alot of players who didn't have their best game and the second half,imo was woeful.

Lastly, think anyone who keeps bashing Hoskins, just needs to give it up now.

There's no "think" about it, they have been the best team! On New Years Day they sat 18th in the table, they were 14 points and 16 places behind us after 22 games played. In the January window they brought in three players.....one of whom Elliot Anderson, has scored 5 in his last six games.

We were in 2nd place, we were seven points ahead of Exeter at that time too......

So seven ahead of Exeter and 14 ahead of Bristol Rovers......yet it's all Scunny's fault we never went up!

The table doesn't lie, we have been better than Bristol by some margin - until yesterday.
They may have scored more but we've let in less. Don't forever the goal difference is identical.
I'm not so sure they would have got any extra, they squeaked in at the death.
The players looked as nervous as we all were. It's weird situation to be 3-1 up and still not comfortable. Fair play to Brady and co. I would't know whether to go for it or preserve the lead and hope Bristol run out of time.
Hoskins has been superb all season. We need him for our next season in League 1

Teams have good and bad spells throughout the season, the fact Bristol Rovers came good at the end of the season is pretty irrelevant, title winners Forrest Green probably aren’t at this moment one of the top ten teams. I don’t think we’ve got anything to beat ourselves up about, with hindsight any team can look at aspects where they could have done better but league 2 teams by nature are inconsistent. The way things fell just left a perfect storm of factors where the only team that could catch us happened to face the worst team at home who decided to play their youth team, with no interest in integrity, it is what is, probably under any other circumstances we would have been up with our win.

Good Post Lee

Best laugh of the day to look back on, the Barrow "Ultras" before the game down in the town. The most laughable attempt at a football firm ever  ;D Loud bang followed by a group of kids, with some adults, all in black running into the street, then realising they need to do their jackets up and pull their hoods on  ;D Police arrive, take one young lad away who looks like he's going to burst into tears as  he's realising his mums going to find out what he's been up too.

I left the 'Duke of Edinburgh' and could not stop laughing at them, although I dare not get too close.....................incase I caught ACNE!!!!!!!

Spot on Lee. In our 95 seasons in the FL, our 80 points total is our 9th highest and in all but one of the other 8 we have been promoted outright. Only in 1952/53 did we not get promoted despite finishing 3rd in Div 3 South (only one team went up I think). Also our 38 goals conceded is our second lowest (only the 37 in 2005/06 and 1997/98 were better). We were only 4 points from the champions. I think we have exceeded expectations. Sadly it wasn't enough due to an extraordinary twist of fate which Keith Hill played a big part in with that embarrassing and unsporting team selection.

A few years back whilst in the Thomas a Becket before a game, in walked the MK firm. They were all kids and some were wearing pale Burberry trousers. We all started laughing and sang the Rupert The Bear theme tune. They didnt stay long. I was still chuckling about an hour later.  ;D

It was the most surreal pre-match football experience I think I've ever had. It was like a low budget film was being recorded. It also beautifully summarised up the whole Barrow experience in 2 short minutes. Im gutted I didn't record it!!

God Im glad to be back in the Ceynty having spent 48 hours in that dump!

  But you had a fantastic view from your hotel window!  ;D

The ultimate 'room with a view' !  ;D ;D

On my way back to the car, I walked through these being herded away from the away end by a line of police. I didn't feel particularly threatened by them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a04__J8E3E0&t=388s

A vlog from a "neutral" yesterday.....

Got into work this morning, first comment, here he is, must have been celebrating over the weekend. I said why? Reaching the playoffs she said. Mate, there was no celebrating this weekend, it felt like a death in the family. After a 5 minute rant she understood. Not a great start to the day!

Found the 'bottled it' comments on social media hilarious. Just shows how many people who post on line know fcuk all about the subject they're commenting on.

I work with a loads of MK fans (in MK) so at least there is some mutual p*SS taking this morning.
Most of them still have the European Cup final still to look forward to.

They don't understand  :P

?

That's people that have heard the phrase "bottled it" and really want to use it themselves without quite knowing just what it means

No complaints from us. All eyes on the weekend.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61396822

Barrow will be a test of how Boris' "Levelling Up" program works  ;D

I think Marioupol will be easier to fix.

;D

Phil Brown won't be Barrow manager next season.

Villa and Wolves currently showing Sc***horpe how to respect the integrity of the competition.

No prem team would dare do what scünthorpe did as the outcry from media and fans would be immense. The indifference shown when it happens in league 2 shows the complete apathy most have for the lower leagues.

Just goes to show that the EFL is just as corrupt as that c*** Barton.

Only for 3/4 of both matches though!

Shame that Norwich didn't... ;D

Norwich can't.  ;D

That's why I put the smiley on the end...that was their strongest side.  ;)