Backs to the Millwall, Sat 9/3 3pm

[Jim_McDonuts]

Where's the 'gurn' emoji?

[TANGODANCER]

And now they try like manaics and get one on top of the net. Come on lads, hold out.....
Mac wins a free kick and,,,Sammi and.....holds it up. We get a throw and......and...i min plus... Dyer and....Archer gets it and clears. 4 mins ?????....Taylor clears..We have a goal kick afte Wallace busts a gut trying for the equaliser. A Matt wallop and....Sammi and.....we get a free kick for foul on O'Neal.....and........and.....O'Neeil, Sammi and....they have a throw. Beevers heads it back..Okowski now and......and....Marshall and thompson hits one that Matt saves comfortably. And....and.......a throw them and Romeo and...Beevers, Romeo again and....wide and over and........and....Matt upsets the ref and......Matt wallops and.....another throw them and one for uys and.....2-1 ua....

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

GET IN!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well well well.

[Jim_McDonuts]

Wowsa

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Reading score in 97th minute to beat Wigan! Bad in one way but it drags the Pies right back in it.
So at the table at the end of play is:

Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 17.01.33.png (22.79 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

TUE
Blackburn-Wigan
Bolton-Wednesday
Reading-Leeds
WED
Birmingham-Millwall
QPR-Rotherham
SAT
Rotherham-Norwich
Stoke-Reading
Wigan-Bolton
(Millwall are in FA Cup)

[Enoch]

This has the potential to be the shortest match thread ever.

Looks like it's going to be the longest one for a good while!

[Harry Genshaw]

Delighted with the result. Usual hard work allied to some good football in the 2nd half. The midfield trio of O'Neill, Williams and Connelly were superb. Can't see us escaping but typical Wanderers - making us believe it's possible!

[DJBlu]

Great result.

Gary O'neil showing Messi how it's done!

Well done lads.

[truewhite15]

Tremendous 2nd half. Could have scored 4 or 5. O'Neil was superb, wouldn't have believed he was one of, if not THE oldest, on the park

[DJBlu]

Tremendous 2nd half. Could have scored 4 or 5. O'Neil was superb, wouldn't have believed he was one of, if not THE oldest, on the park

Marc Iles indicating we hung on at the end?

Had to leave it at 2-0 as I'm at work.

Was this the case?

[Jugs]

Reading score in 97th minute to beat Wigan! Bad in one way but it drags the Pies right back in it.
So at the table at the end of play is:
Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 17.01.33.png
TUE
Blackburn-Wigan
Bolton-Wednesday
Reading-Leeds
WED
Birmingham-Millwall
QPR-Rotherham
SAT
Rotherham-Norwich
Stoke-Reading
Wigan-Bolton
(Millwall are in FA Cup)

Wigan away next weekend?? I hadn't even realised

Anyway, yeah, the late Reading winner was a sickener. A draw would have been enough to drag the Pies back into it

[Jugs]

Wigan go 2-1 up at Reading - our former target Joe Garner scores again. Undoubtedly Parky is a naturally conservative manager, but results would have been easier had he been able to hire better forwards.

Anyway, as it stands that puts Wigan back to 10pts in front of us - but it's a kick in the balls for Reading, who've already played the new-boss card and are still losing at home to a team in the bottom six. (They've had 62% possession and two shots on target.)
Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 16.36.59.png
On on Tuesday, Reading host Leeds. Send in the ifs: if they lose that and we beat Wednesday (and today's scores stay as-is) we'd be one points behind both them and Rotherham (who play on Wednesday... against Norwich).

Don't wanna be negative but he wouldn't have played 'better forwards' lol

Anyway, happy with the win and we're still in this. Tuesday is another MUST win. Nothing else will do.

[nicholaldo]

A perfect example of the benefit of scoring first. Early in the second half, they went very close with a chance which fortuitously hit Williams at the back post to prevent a certain goal. If that went in, we'd no doubt have gone on to follow the usual script and got beat, with us probably conceding again late on. As it happened, Olkowski did well on the right to put us one up just minutes later and then Williams made the most of a lucky rebound to put O'Neill through, who twisted and turned to get a second. All of a sudden we were two up and they were forced to open up to try and get something, only to end up leaving us with a lot of space to play in behind. We had a very decent fifteen minute period as a result and could, in fact, should have scored perhaps another couple. Inevitably, we didn't and then let them back in it with not long left which led to a very tense ending, but we just got home. Fine margins still, but for once we were on the right side of them.

Williams was my man of the match, Matthews put in a very assured display and both Connolly and O'Neill put in good shifts. My only real negative comment is regarding Buckley. He's certainly not found wanting for effort but in a footballing sense, he's really not offering very much at all going forward; there were a couple of moments where we were in good positions and he was the one to break the move down. I get the impression that he's better than he showing but he appears to be snatching at things. Maybe it's just a lack of confidence?

Anyway, we're not quite back in it but a win is certainly a good way to start an, on paper, easier run of fixtures. Come the f*ck on!

[truewhite15]

Tremendous 2nd half. Could have scored 4 or 5. O'Neil was superb, wouldn't have believed he was one of, if not THE oldest, on the park

Marc Iles indicating we hung on at the end?

Had to leave it at 2-0 as I'm at work.

Was this the case?

They had a couple of half chances at the end, nothing more - a flick header that landed on the roof of the net, and a couple of long-rangers. Given recent history, I can certainly understand the worry.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Wigan go 2-1 up at Reading - our former target Joe Garner scores again. Undoubtedly Parky is a naturally conservative manager, but results would have been easier had he been able to hire better forwards.

Don't wanna be negative but he wouldn't have played 'better forwards' lol

I see what you're saying, but what I'm saying is that he's been left to plait fog with Josh Magennis, who's willing but limited, and Clayton, who's willing but very limited. Let's not get too simplistic with Parkinson: yes, he struggled to accommodate ALF but he's also the bloke who turned Gary Madine from a vilified washing machine into a £6m striker who scored 10 in 28 Championship games. He'll never be gung-ho but all I'm saying is that if he'd been able to hire even a reasonable forward – say, David McGoldrick, who's scored 11 in 35 for Blades despite being subbed off in more than half of them - we might have got a lot more of those tight wins that come from scoring first, as Nicholaldo points out.

Anyway, I'm not here to squabble, just to say... hooray. As you say, it'd be good to get a win against Wednesday on Tuesday, it could really tighten things up, especially if Wigan struggle again at Blackburn and Reading don't get a surprise win against Leeds; the next night Rotherham are at QPR while Millwall, three days before an FA Cup quarter-final, have a tricky trip to Birmingham.

So if we could get a Surfing On Takeover Excitement win and the others lose - yes, a big ask, but bear with me - it'd be:

Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 18.42.16.png (14.25 KiB) Viewed 2698 times

...ahead of the six-pointer with wobbling Wigan... ah, let me dream, it's Saturday night...

[Enoch]

Bloody marvellous.

11 games to go, 33 points available, I don't see a problem.

[Jugs]

Wigan go 2-1 up at Reading - our former target Joe Garner scores again. Undoubtedly Parky is a naturally conservative manager, but results would have been easier had he been able to hire better forwards.

Don't wanna be negative but he wouldn't have played 'better forwards' lol

I see what you're saying, but what I'm saying is that he's been left to plait fog with Josh Magennis, who's willing but limited, and Clayton, who's willing but very limited. Let's not get too simplistic with Parkinson: yes, he struggled to accommodate ALF but he's also the bloke who turned Gary Madine from a vilified washing machine into a £6m striker who scored 10 in 28 Championship games. He'll never be gung-ho but all I'm saying is that if he'd been able to hire even a reasonable forward – say, David McGoldrick, who's scored 11 in 35 for Blades despite being subbed off in more than half of them - we might have got a lot more of those tight wins that come from scoring first, as Nicholaldo points out.

Anyway, I'm not here to squabble, just to say... hooray. As you say, it'd be good to get a win against Wednesday on Tuesday, it could really tighten things up, especially if Wigan struggle again at Blackburn and Reading don't get a surprise win against Leeds; the next night Rotherham are at QPR while Millwall, three days before an FA Cup quarter-final, have a tricky trip to Birmingham.

So if we could get a Surfing On Takeover Excitement win and the others lose - yes, a big ask, but bear with me - it'd be:
Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 18.42.16.png
...ahead of the six-pointer with wobbling Wigan... ah, let me dream, it's Saturday night...

He did good things with a washing machine but does anyone trust him with smaller, more dynamic strikers? ALF and Armstrong are two cases in point. Not sure he would have known what to do with Garner or even Nugent.

On the other hand, McGoldrick might have worked out. Alas.

And yep, it's all about Tuesday night now. Massive - and difficult - game. Three points are the dream and from there - who really knows?

[jmjhb]

Good win, now we need at least 4 from the next 2 games.

[DJBlu]

Wigan go 2-1 up at Reading - our former target Joe Garner scores again. Undoubtedly Parky is a naturally conservative manager, but results would have been easier had he been able to hire better forwards.

Don't wanna be negative but he wouldn't have played 'better forwards' lol

I see what you're saying, but what I'm saying is that he's been left to plait fog with Josh Magennis, who's willing but limited, and Clayton, who's willing but very limited. Let's not get too simplistic with Parkinson: yes, he struggled to accommodate ALF but he's also the bloke who turned Gary Madine from a vilified washing machine into a £6m striker who scored 10 in 28 Championship games. He'll never be gung-ho but all I'm saying is that if he'd been able to hire even a reasonable forward – say, David McGoldrick, who's scored 11 in 35 for Blades despite being subbed off in more than half of them - we might have got a lot more of those tight wins that come from scoring first, as Nicholaldo points out.

Anyway, I'm not here to squabble, just to say... hooray. As you say, it'd be good to get a win against Wednesday on Tuesday, it could really tighten things up, especially if Wigan struggle again at Blackburn and Reading don't get a surprise win against Leeds; the next night Rotherham are at QPR while Millwall, three days before an FA Cup quarter-final, have a tricky trip to Birmingham.

So if we could get a Surfing On Takeover Excitement win and the others lose - yes, a big ask, but bear with me - it'd be:
Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 18.42.16.png
...ahead of the six-pointer with wobbling Wigan... ah, let me dream, it's Saturday night...

Welcome to the optimism pub, what will it be?