Wanderlust

Pen not given.

We need it. They're getting a point out of this shitshow as it stands.

Yes!

They're playing towards the shallow end second half so it might improve...

Fox in the box.....

Massive deflection. Just goes to show that when there's water on the pitch shoot on sight and it's got a great chance.

Fuck right off!

Great equaliser this pitch in this weather. Hope it doesn't work against Pompey.

Fuck yeah! Nice goal in these conditions. Another 5 please....

Bollocks.

Play up Pompey! Can't get Pompey iFollow so having to watch with Derby comms - whining bastards. Hope they get plenty to whine about

So that was an amnesty which wiped out his previous score? I thought it might carry on to another threshhold - I'd assume there would be one as otherwise it gives players carte blanche to kick the shit out of anyone afterwards.

He did get his foot in but he kinda spoiled it diving in for the stupid booking and he's picked up quite a few - does anyone know how many he's on and whether or not he's close to a suspension? Be a shame if we had to go into a crucial end of season game without him.

Toal was immense yesterday and he gets forward loads to support the attack, so yes he does pass it back to Santos or whoever is in deep space to start the move - as does Sheehan and the rest of the midfield. I rate Toal as a top signing - quality international player, only just turned 25 with his best years ahead, deceptively pacy, set piece goal threat and all at a bargain basement price. FFS get off his back.

Third Lanark in Scotland went out of business in the 60s but still appeared on pub football cards until the 90s so my mate in Embra would always put his quid on them. Never won.

Chester City were in the League for nearly 70 years and had some cracking players including the young Ian Rush but were relegated out of the fourth tier in 2000 (on goal difference FFS) then made a comeback under various well known managers including Mark Wright and Rush but were finally liquidated 10 years later. The phoenix club formed by the fans Chester FC still plays at the Deva stadium (since renamed)

Whilst I think Pompey are the better team, I think Derby will be more up for it. Regardless of what they say about getting the job done, somewhere at the back of the Pompey players' mind has to be the thought that with so many points on the board and with so many games left they can afford to lose and still go up/win the title. Derby will be all over it though, especially after our win yesterday. It's their playoff final. Expecting a draw but hoping that Pompey do them and clinch the title with a game to spare so they're on the beach and hungover when they play us.

One thing that stood out yesterday was having home fans behind both goals. Brilliant. Why can't we do that all the time? Why give the away side any sort of advantage? I know ST holders are a bit precious about their seats and may resist a reshuffle - and it would be a bit shit if we didn't get an end at away games, but to me it makes every sense to stick the away fans out of sight and ideally out of mind. Do we really get that much trouble at home games these days `that policing could be an issue? I just think we should do it every game.

TBF Daz, Evans wasn't the first manager to do that against us. Beginning of the season they all tried to play football against us and we murdered them when we were at it, but by the beginning of February, loads of teams were setting up against us like that with a view to hitting us on the break and we got mugged a lot. Don't think there is a solution other than doing what we did yesterday - only doing it better i.e. playing high risk football to try to pass through them quickly and hopefully not getting caught out - which requires everyone to be on their game with their control, passing and movement. Or have a team like City or Arsenal which we can't afford. Evatt tried to change a few things with the players available but it didn't work out - but now that it's shit or bust time, I'm glad he's reverted to what we were doing originally as win or lose it's damned entertaining.

Which is why Santos ended up hoofing it way too often against Stevenage i.e. there were no safe short passes on. The best way out of it is to have loads of running and movement ahead with midfielders finding space, but as Stevenage packed the midfield Rico had to go long and it didn't come off. Good stuff from Evans forcing us to depend on long balls that their big defenders could challenge for rather than have our midfielders passing through the lines and running at them.

I suspect it's because Steve Evans sets up his defence in banks so Santos has to draw them out and puts his foot on it in exactly the same way Van Dijk does at Liverpool - whereas Reading try to play on the front foot, press and have pace up front to try to get behind (and caught us a few times today) so the tactic is to play through them quickly. We did the approach play well today but only sorted the final ball out in the second half (we scored from outside the box and a pen in the first half) - and at HT i reckon Evatt told them (especially Cogley) to stop swinging in high crosses and pass low and hard across the deck, which worked a treat.

Well it's the win we needed and it's 3 goals on the GD, but that game showed our fragility in it's full glory. A lot of work to do yet.

He should - and we needed it

Again George overcomplicates it instead of putting it in, but at least JDB showed him what to do.

Fucking disastrous defending again.