MATCHWATCH : Northampton Town (a)

[Ascotexgunner]

Great start for Sean Patton away at Hartlepool.

[windermereROYAL]

6pts off the playoffs witH 2 games in hand......doable?

48 minus 40 was 8 last time I looked.

[Hound]

Great start for Sean Patton away at Hartlepool.

Yes, good news that

[Sutekh]

Thank god for that, currently up to 9th but 8 points off 6th

Mansfield, Luton, Peterborough and Exeter can all push Reading back down the table with wins. Latest:

Mansfield 0-0 Wycombe
Peterborough 0-2 Huddersfield
Exeter 0-1 Rotherham
Luton 0-0 Blackpool

Currently a 6 point gap between 6th and 7th

[Sutekh]

Great start for Sean Patton away at Hartlepool.

Yes, good news that

He scored in the 58th minute - of the first half

[South Coast Royal]

Our two best players stood up today (in case anybody didn't know it is Pereira and Wing of course) and produced key moments in the game.
I had the Northampton commentary and stream and they felt , with some justification IMHO, that this week we could have no complaints about refereeing decisions -they even had ex-Prem. League ref Peter Walton as co-commentator.

At least today stops us worrying about relegation helped by the bad miss from List in the first half.
If our strikers had been playing for them we would probably have seen a different result.

As with the other day Marriott looked borderline offside but he may well be one of the few players to judge his runs to perfection.
He really has done well for us and, although at a lower level, he can now be mentioned in the same breath as Curo and Alf for his finishing.

[Sutekh]

Absolutely detest that stupid cr@ppy drivel national radio programme that slam dunks itself across all the BBC local radio stations and wrecks the local post/pre match coverage as it doesn’t take into account different kick off time that clubs might have.

[Snowflake Royal]

Today was a bit odd. We started very brightly, created a few half chances, then there was a moment where it looked very much like we were going into a recovery period at around 10-12 minutes of just playing between the deepest four of Wing/Savage, Nyambe, O'Connor and Dorsett to slow the game down and recharge. Only to just never really leave it for the rest of the half, bar the odd random charge forward or long ball.

We also had some really weird defensive moments of just letting their keeper play in a winger down our left flank from a high freekick. That moment where Dorsett just watched List run in behind on a long straight ball and go 1v1 with Pereira, without making any effort to win the ball, close him down or get goal side.

In attack we probe a fair amount, with plenty not coming off and then create a few high quality chances that end in goals. Wing's cross for Keane was incredible... I couldn't see him look at the box once from when he received the ball to when he crossed. He put it in a great area and someone was actually there for once.

I thought Doyle just doesn't suit the wing. He kept drifting inside and giving Roberts no options. He spent lots of the game being his normal soft not really doing anything style, then occasionally showed some good skill. I also thought, goal aside, Keane didn't do a lot and just doesnt look like he really has a position. Meanwhile, on the right, we kept either putting the ball straight to the defender or too far to reach when trying to go over the top to Lane, or playing it into feet with his back to goal coming back towards defence and giving no option but the backward pass. Still, he did put at least one wicked cross in (similar to Wing's actually), though no one was there with Keane some yards too deep, perhaps that helped him be there for Wing's.

Marriott obviously finished his chance as you'd expect. The guy is such a good finisher. Fraser came on and looked sharp.

[Sutekh]

Like most, really don’t understand what Doyle is for, seems to be promising but there isn’t much by way of end product.

Perhaps we should send him back and let WiFi back in…

[AthleticoSpizz]

Absolutely detest that stupid cr@ppy drivel national radio programme that slam dunks itself across all the BBC local radio stations and wrecks the local post/pre match coverage as it doesn’t take into account different kick off time that clubs might have.

yup, it’s sh1t, meanwhile talking BBC and football

BBC Berks aligns with rest of the BBC footballing fraternity by having a woman commentator giving her ‘expert opinion’ on the mens game, but why can’t Charlie Estcourt pronounce the letter ‘t’ in any of her words?

[Hound]

Just seen the highlights - those two Wing balls absolutely phenomenal. Inch perfect and neither and easy pass

He got a fair bit of criticism last games but his stats are superb and he does a large amount of defensive work as well. He is quality

Main difference looked like 2 good finishes from our guys vs some inept ones from Northampton (and some good keeping)

[Snowflake Royal]

Just thinking about it, think Ritchie had one of his better performances. Works well cutting in onto his right foot to whip an inswinger to the far post, while Roberts can boom outside and whip an outswinger.

But he’s definitely a sub, not a starter.

[Hound]

Like most, really don’t understand what Doyle is for, seems to be promising but there isn’t much by way of end product.

Perhaps we should send him back and let WiFi back in…

He needs to be regularly scoring or assisting to be worth his place imo. He’s not doing enough of either atm

[Snowflake Royal]

Just seen the highlights - those two Wing balls absolutely phenomenal. Inch perfect and neither and easy pass

He got a fair bit of criticism last games but his stats are superb and he does a large amount of defensive work as well. He is quality

Main difference looked like 2 good finishes from our guys vs some inept ones from Northampton (and some good keeping)

RoyalsTV were saying something about him being the best value player in some sort of FL fantasy league. Goals, assists, interceptions ...

[AthleticoSpizz]

Just thinking about it, think Ritchie had one of his better performances. Works well cutting in onto his right foot to whip an inswinger to the far post, while Roberts can boom outside and whip an outswinger.

But he’s definitely a sub, not a starter.

praise indeed

[morganb]

Just seen the highlights - those two Wing balls absolutely phenomenal. Inch perfect and neither and easy pass

He got a fair bit of criticism last games but his stats are superb and he does a large amount of defensive work as well. He is quality

Main difference looked like 2 good finishes from our guys vs some inept ones from Northampton (and some good keeping)

RoyalsTV were saying something about him being the best value player in some sort of FL fantasy league. Goals, assists, interceptions ...

This is the EFL Fantasy Football site -

https://fantasy.efl.com/team

Wing top and ex-Royal Norwood 3rd

[Jackson Corner]

Just seen the highlights - those two Wing balls absolutely phenomenal. Inch perfect and neither and easy pass

He got a fair bit of criticism last games but his stats are superb and he does a large amount of defensive work as well. He is quality

Main difference looked like 2 good finishes from our guys vs some inept ones from Northampton (and some good keeping)

RoyalsTV were saying something about him being the best value player in some sort of FL fantasy league. Goals, assists, interceptions ...

That’s right he is the top points scorer in the EFL including chamionship.

[Clyde1998]

Thought it was a fairly even game overall, with us simply taking our chances whilst Northampton didn't.

Pereira made a number of important saves once again; Wing's balls for the goals were impressive once again.

We still seem a bit lost as to what to do when our opponents sit in and keep bodies behind the ball, although some of the long balls actually produced something today.

Good to get the win, but the performance wasn't amazing and a better side probably would've at least got a draw today. We gave them too many good chances for my liking.

[PieEater]

BFTG. I thought the first half was pretty dire and we were lucky not to concede except for a great save from Pereira. Second half we were a bit better then 2 goals in a few minutes in front of the away fans. After that we seemed to stop playing rather than dominate, there's something not right with our midfield.

Good games from Wing, Pereira, and Marriot and good to see Keane get a goal.

Pre game we ignored the NTFC tweets and went to the Sixfields which despite the plastic glasses was actually ok. I left a few mins early, the hike up the hill to the gravel car park lets you see the scoreboard - and the lack of action as it was at our end. Overall a top day out.

One learning from me was their chant - "Shoe Army",

[Carlos]

BFTG - It's not often away fans at nil nil boo their team off but we did and that tells you how we played in the first half. We created very little and they had the best 2 chances of the first half - ball looked close to being over the line from a corner and the one on one. We were lucky that it was nil nil at half time.

Obviously 2 pieces of quality in the game - Marriott's touch and finish (although watching the replay at home it looks like the goalie could have done better but live it looked like he had no chance) and Wing's cross for the second goal.

Apart from those, we didn't look great and were thankful for Joel in the second half making some good saves.

Tough to see what the game plan is and how we break the press - it seems like we could go long more often and look for Marriott over the top or play the pass in to Doyle's feet more often. I'm not sure that Keane offers much but obviously 2 goals in 2 games is hard to argue with!

Finally great to see Dave Kitson in the away end!