Chippnum part 1

Really enjoyed that second 45 mins and great to hear some new chants taking off.

Strange decision by their stewards to close access to City fans trying to walk down the left hand side to the other end of the ground at half time. It meant we had to snake down the right hand side and came into close contact with some of the Chipp fans coming the other way, right in the bottleneck bit by the outside bar. Luckily it was all pretty friendly so didn't matter that much.

Yes, second half was a big improvement as a spectacle and we fully deserved the three points despite their late goal making it a tight finish. I couldn’t see from where I was watching why the even later effort was disallowed - offside?
If we’re in the same league next season, James, perhaps you could request on behalf of supporters of both clubs that tickets can be bought in advance. For the second year running the queue into the ground was unacceptably slow especially for those paying by card.

The decision to stop anyone walking down the covered side at half time was madness.

A tight tight game today that neither team deserved to lose. Think we got the rub of the green on decisions as for me our penalty was soft and lord knows what was wrong with their equalising goal. Our skipper just got beaten in the air fair and square. Also a little fortune not to concede a penalty ourselves.

Well done to everyone digging in and a good crowd. New Year’s Day will be an interesting battle.

A crowd of 1600 and the whole organisation was poor. God knows what it's like when at capacity.
As for the game it seemed strange the amount of passes it required for a Chippenham goal kick to make another 30 yards of progress. I can understand if an away team was playing for a point but as the home team in one of their big games it seemed quite odd and needed being 2 goals down before there was any real attempt to put us under any real sustained pressure.
Anyway a workmanlike performance to come away with 3 points and hoping for similar next Monday.

Quite agree about Chippenham’s faffing about at the back. I hate this tactic and from the comments all season on their forum it seems that many of their fans feel the same.

The whole point of this tactic is to entice the opposition players into attacking the ball and then you then exploit the space that they have left behind and use it to your benefit but as we clearly just sat well back whilst they did thus I'm surprised that they then waited until they were 2 down and the 84th minute to change tactic and they had us on the ropes when they did.

A_discreet_Roman wrote:A tight tight game today that neither team deserved to lose. Think we got the rub of the green on decisions as for me our penalty was soft and lord knows what was wrong with their equalising goal. Our skipper just got beaten in the air fair and square.  Also a little fortune not to concede a penalty ourselves.

Well done to everyone digging in and a good crowd. New Year’s Day will be an interesting battle.

Not a tight game for me, Tom, we were in control for most of it, I didn't feel particularly nervous that they'd score at all til near the end.
All three of those decisions were called correctly for me too. Holloway bundled Cooke over as he's about to shoot one-on-one with Henry, penalty all day. Holloway then pushes Parselle over, Pars is led on his chest when Holloway jumps, that's why he beat him in the air. Owen-Evans knocked the ball too far ahead of himself at the end and decided to dive across Dyer's path desperately looking for something, lucky to escape a yellow for me. A good, professional away performance today, looking forward to Monday for more of the same.

Wow. Stunned Chippenham clearly set out for a draw at home. What ambition. Their fans must be furious. A very boring team are Chippenham. We have the best team spirit and quality team for many a moon. A perfect combination with no egos. Love this current squad. Scott Wilson seams a man with incredible human kindness. Love all the squad but Russe the most. His passion and pure quality are class. Dan Hayfield is our Declan Rice. Tom zsmith is the ginger Messi. Lovevthe back 4 and keeper. Love the wingers. Wow what exciting wingers we have. All 4 of them. Of course our forwards are incredible. Our bench is class too. Great times for us. UTC boys.

A_discreet_Roman wrote:

Well done to everyone digging in and a good crowd. New Year’s Day will be an interesting battle.

A good crowd boosted by 800 City fans. I look forward to welcoming the 100 or so Chippenham fans on New year's day. Tin pot ground, tin pot club. UTC Boys.

I'm going to email Chipp and raise some of the points mentioned on here (and Facebook) about the ticketing and movement round the ground.

PHILB1973# wrote:The whole point of this tactic is to entice the opposition players into attacking the ball and then you then exploit the space that they have left behind and use it to your benefit

Exactly. But as good a job as Coupey and Horgan seem to be doing doing, they're not Pep and your defenders have to be very good to make it work. According to their forum Chippenham have conceded several times this season when it has failed. I thought our tactics were spot on but it would have been amusing to see us push up just a couple of times to see if they could get away with it.

Paul1978 wrote:

A_discreet_Roman wrote:

Well done to everyone digging in and a good crowd. New Year’s Day will be an interesting battle.

A good crowd boosted by 800 City fans. I look forward to welcoming the 100 or so Chippenham fans on New year's day. Tin pot ground, tin pot club. UTC Boys.

While the ground is not adequate for a crowd of that size and the admission facilities for non season ticket holders are poor I think to to call them a tin pot club is disrespectful. Chippenham have established themselves at this level which is where we have been for the past decade. And three of our best players were signed from that club. Their fans are certainly more welcoming than some and however many come to Twerton on Monday they will hopefully add to the atmosphere.

Pretty much agree with Dave's post. We were in control pretty much throughout.

Agree with regard to having respect for what Chippenham have achieved and how they continue to perform in a very competitive league where there are no easy games. I assume their low level of gates means there is little funding available for off-field elements. However that should not have impacted on the bizarre decision to make all those changing ends to do so on the same side of the ground where the bar and toilets were sited. -Unless it meant the number of stewards could be reduced. Fortunately it was us involved and everything was OK. Fans of some other clubs might, in a similar situation, might be less willing to shrug it off  with just a grumble.
Have had a look at Chip's forum and found details of our supposed  budget and how much our players earn!- I think the only thing I really learnt was not to use their poster " Funny Old Game" as a financial advisor!!

Totally agree with Dave above.

Their disallowed goal completely correct decision. Why would Parselle throw himself to the ground as the cross came in?

Freddie Grant guilty of winding up City players at the Cody penalty which adds spice for Monday.

What else can you say about harduphusih.

Peter Newman wrote:Agree with regard to having respect for what Chippenham have achieved and how they continue to perform in a very competitive league where there are no easy games. I assume their low level of gates means there is little funding available for off-field elements. However that should not have impacted on the bizarre decision to make all those changing ends to do so on the same side of the ground where the bar and toilets were sited. -Unless it meant the number of stewards could be reduced. Fortunately it was us involved and everything was OK. Fans of some other clubs might, in a similar situation, might be less willing to shrug it off  with just a grumble.
Have had a look at Chip's forum and found details of our supposed  budget and how much our players earn!- I think the only thing I really learnt was not to use their poster " Funny Old Game" as a financial advisor!!

There's more chat on there about us than them ! Obsessed bless em.

Tin pot = A wall falling over, terrible toilets especially for lady's, dangerous ground. Are they our local rivals? Is this rugby? Shall we praise them?

Maybe the two clubs should merge, build a massive out of town stadium in Box, call ourselves the Roman Blues and take over the world

I think the best part of the thread on the Chippenham forum is the person who claims to know how much our players earn can't even spell the first names of two of them correctly. It's almost as if he doesn't actually know what he's talking about.

Every club, including ours, seems to have fans obsessed with the ins and outs of rivals. After a defeat I can guarantee that a certain supporter will claim that we can’t compete with that club because they’re full time. He probably thinks we’re the only part time club in NLS.

I don't know why people are obsessed with how much the players earn. It is often the first question people ask when I say I support a non league club.
I have no idea how much players get and why should I?

BenE wrote:I don't know why people are obsessed with how much the players earn. It is often the first question people ask when I say I support a non league club.
I have no idea how much players get and why should I?

If the Chipandham supporters find out how much Baldud gets per home match that'll open a whole new can of (tape) worms!

I've still not heard back from Chippenham about the online ticketing or stewarding