Well, where do we begin with that then? An evening that was fuelled by emotion served up a bizarre game on the pitch and ended sourly at full-time.
There were omens for the madness that was about to come even on my journey to the game. I suppose in some sort of trial run for the emotional rollercoaster I was about to get on, I had to navigate the Magic Roundabout right outside the ground. Seriously, that is the craziest piece of road I’ve ever seen. Read this report and then Google it. Honestly, it is mental.
Anyway, enough about the highway infrastructure of Swindon town centre – onto the football.
The game needed no introduction. It was Swindon. Regardless of what competition it’s in, playing one of this lot or the ones who play in yellow always amps things up that extra notch.
While the hosts opted for a strong, almost first-choice XI, Noel opted for a mixture of youth and experience:
Reading (4-3-3): Stevens; Abrefa, Stickland, Dorsett, Ryan; Sackey, Fraser, Doyle; Okine-Peters, Marriott, Barough
Subs: Rowley, Duah, Beacroft, Borgnis, Spencer, Ritchie, Evans
First half
We actually made a pretty bright start. Although the team was littered with quite a lot of raw, inexperienced players, we had some attacking quality on the pitch and showed glimpses of that early on.
Jack Marriott forced a save from former Reading academy keeper – and former TTE writer – Lewis Ward, and we created a few other half chances and openings that on another day are capitalised on.
But then, in a tale as old as time, we concede a goal out of nowhere for 1-0 (of course scored by former Royal Princewill Ehibhatiomhan, brother of Kelvin) and disintegrated like an over-dunked Rich Tea biscuit.
The sharpness shown in the opening 15 minutes disappeared and it became the game Swindon wanted it to be. Even though three sides of the ground were completely empty, the players looked like the kitchen was too hot for them.
Misplaced passes, aimless punts forward and defensive errors all started seeping into our performance in a manner that is all too familiar so far this season.
Swindon capitalised on this and added a second: Ollie Palmer bullying John Ryan from a corner and eventually forcing the ball over the line. 2-0. We were under the cosh, temperatures in the away end were rising and we needed to find a way back into the game, stat.
And as quickly as we fell apart earlier on in the game, we bounced right back with two quick-fire goals. The first was a wonderful strike from Liam Fraser that cannoned first off the post and then the back of Ward to get us back in the game. 2-1. The second: a fox-in-the-box finish from Marriott for 2-2 after a nice threaded ball from Tyler Sackey.
Where did that come from? The boos from the half-time whistle if it’d stayed 2-0 would still be ringing in my ears now I think, but somehow we’d managed to claw our way back and all of a sudden looked like the team to go on and win it.
Second half
But of course we didn’t.
After finishing the half on a high, and the players getting cheers of encouragement down the tunnel instead of the loudest boos you’ve ever heard that they seemed destined for, to go out and perform like that in the second half was just really deflating.
It wasn’t as calamitous or Looney Tunes-esque as the first half an hour or so, but it felt like Groundhog Day: a performance severely lacking in rhythm, intensity or assertion in the final third.
The winning goal, Swindon making it 3-2 shortly after the break, was what it was. Yes, it was odd that Jack Stevens didn’t set a wall, but it probably would’ve gone in the top corner anyway and shouldn’t be the main takeaway from that second half so I’m going to brush past it.
The most disappointing aspect is that we showed tonight that progress is being made. At times we looked sharp and caused Swindon real problems. But in others we looked like a team that never played together before.
When we score, and our tails are up, we look good. But when we concede, those tails quickly go between our legs and we look shell-shocked. This is a group of players that currently get rocked far too badly from setbacks.
Despite a bit of a push late on, including a Swindon defender rattling his own crossbar, that was that. Another hugely frustrating game, performance and result.
Full time: 3-2
Noel Hunt needs results, of course he does, but he needs performances too. The pressure is rising on him and the fans have to see evidence that not only can he get results, but also that he can build a team capable of getting them on a regular basis going forward.
We haven’t been served much, if any, evidence of that being the case so far. And now the window is shut and all eyes will be on what happens on Saturday afternoons, there is nowhere for him to hide.
