Welsh Players Christmas-New Year matches 2010-11 (League One, Part 3)

Southampton
Ryan Doble didn’t add to his collection of appearances from Southampton’s bench.

Anthony Pulis is still on loan at Stockport County.

Swindon Town
Billy Bodin got to sit on the bench once for Swindon.
Bournemouth H 1-2 (bench)
Charlton A 2-4 (unselected)

Tranmere Rovers
Ash Taylor made his first start since recovering from a knee injury but he didn’t last very long. For the next match, he was back on the bench where it’s safer.
Rochdale A 3-2 (starts, off 26)
Carlisle H 2-1 (bench)

Walsall
Sean Geddes wasn’t in any Walsall squads.

Yeovil Town
Rhys Baggridge was on the bench in two consecutive matches for Yeovil.
Plymouth A 0-0 (bench)
MK Dons H 1-0 (bench)

Loanee Shaun MacDonald played his last two games for Yeovil.
Plymouth A 0-0 (played all)
MK Dons H 1-0 (played all)

Nathan Jones was nowhere to be seen (unless you looked in the technical area, I suppose).

League One Results 13th November 2010 (Part 2)

Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Rochdale
Sheffield Wednesday’s victory over Rochdale was their third win in three matches.
Rochdale’s Welsh substitutions mirrored Cardiff’s Welsh substitutions even down to the time of substitution. After 71 minutes, Nicky Adams came off and Matt Done went on but Matt was not replacing Nicky.

Swindon Town 2-1 Colchester United
Swindon moved closer to the top half of the table after beating Colchester, who lost an away match for the first time this season.
No Welshmen in this game. Billy Bodin (Swindon) and Lee Beevers and Lloyd James (both Colchester) were all unusued substitutes.

Tranmere Rovers 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Tranmere moved out of the relegation places with victory over Plymouth, who are ahead of them only on goal difference.
Tranmere are still without ankle injury victim Ash Taylor but he is back in training.
Carl Fletcher (Plymouth) is likely to be able to out with a leg injury for at least another fortnight.

Yeovil Town 1-3 Dagenham & Redbridge
Dag & Red moved ahead of Yeovil on goal difference after beating them 3-1, their first away win of the season.
Nathan Jones started for Yeovil. The assistant manager says he is proud to have more appearances with Yeovil than with any other club in his career.
Owain Tudur Jones played despite a recent thigh strain and got the assist but that probably wasn’t much of a consolation. Shaun MacDonald also started for Yeovil and came close to scoring. Gavin Williams was a late substitute.
Goalkeeper Tony Roberts was absent from Dag & Red’s squad due to an ankle injury. So they did especially well to win. But Dag & Red did have one Welsh player on the bench: Kayelden Brown, who has signed on loan from West Bromwich Albion. He has previously played on loan at Tranmere Rovers this season.

FA Cup Fixtures 6th November 2010 (Part 4)

Hereford United v Hythe Town
Hereford really have lost Tony James this time but parent club Burton Albion probably wouldn’t have allowed him to play anyway. Stuart Fleetwood will hope for the start he should have got two matches ago and maybe Ryan Green and/or Ryan Valentine will be in line for a rest.

Macclesfield Town v Southend United
Sam Wedgbury will hope for another start for Macclesfield.
Southend defender Peter Gilbert has five yellow cards and will be suspended for this match. He was originally suspended for their match against Cheltenham Town but then he got updates from his team-mates telling him the floodlights have gone. He didn’t believe them but it was true and the match was abandoned, meaning Peter’s suspension has been carried over to this fixture.

Mansfield Town v Torquay United
Mansfield have signed Rhys Day on loan from Oxford United. I don’t know if Oxford gave them permission to play him but it doesn’t matter because he’s suspended. Rhys feels his red card for punching an opponent was undeserved as it wasn’t so much a punch as mutual shoving. But at least the fans were nice to him.
Rob Duffy, brother of Exeter City’s Richard, and Matt Sommer are the other Welshmen in Mansfield’s squad.

Notts County v Gateshead
I heard a while ago that Ben Davies was playing through an injury. If he still is, this would be a good chance to give him a rest. And even if he isn’t, Notts County might prefer not to play their first-choice team.

Plymouth Argyle v Swindon Town
Plymouth are still without Carl Fletcher, who has an injured leg.
Swindon might want to give Billy Bodin a chance.

Wales under-19s qualiify

The Wales under-19s have qualified for the Uefa Under-19 Championships after winning one and drawing two matches in their group. Turkey have also qualified, while Kazakhstan and Iceland are both out.

Wales 3-3 Turkey
Turkey opened the scoring early on and when Wales eventually found an equaliser through Aaron Holloway, Turkey went ahead two minutes later which is not what we like to see. In the 88th minute, Turkey were leading 3-1 but Wales didn’t give up and they were rewarded with two goals in two minutes, from Tom Bradshaw and Adam Matthews.
Wales: Jonathan Bond (Watford), Daniel Alfei (Swansea City), Joe Walsh (Swansea City), Adam Matthews (Cardiff City), Tom Bender (Colchester United), Lee Lucas (Swansea City), Aaron Holloway (Bristol City), Billy Bodin (Swindon Town), Reece Jones (AFC Wimbledon), Josh Dawkin (Norwich City), Elliott Chamberlain (Leicester City)
Subs: Daniel Ward (Wrexham), Max Penk (Wrexham), Kieron Freeman (Nottingham Forest), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace), Kayelden Brown (West Bromwich Albion), Ibrahim Farah (Cardiff City), Tom Bradshaw (Shrewsbury Town)

Wales 2-1 Iceland
Adam Matthews missed an early penalty when Billy Bodin was fouled and Iceland went ahead after winning a penalty of their own. But this only meant that when Wales were awarded a second penalty, Wales knew how it was done and Billy Bodin stepped up himself and stuck it in the net in the 56th minute.
Substitute Elliot Chamberlain scored the winner in the 79th minute after a pass from Kieron Freeman and gave Wales a deserved win.
Wales: Jonathan Bond (Watford), Daniel Alfei (Swansea City), Joe Walsh (Swansea City), Adam Matthews (Cardiff City), Kieron Freeman (Nottingham Forest), Lee Lucas (Swansea City), Aaron Holloway (Bristol City), Billy Bodin (Swindon Town), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace), Kayelden Brown (West Bromwich Albion), Tom Bradshaw (Shrewsbury Town).
Subs: Daniel Ward (Wrexham), Max Penk (Wrexham), Tom Bender (Colchester United), Reece Jones (AFC Wimbledon), Josh Dawkin (Norwich City, Ibrahim Farah (Cardiff City), Elliott Chamberlain (Leicester City)

Wales 1 - 1 Kazakhstan
Wales drew in their final match but it was enough to send them through. Elliot Chamberlain was promoted to the starting line-up following his supersub performance against Iceland. It paid off when he found the net again to put Wales ahead after 50 minutes, with an assist by Lee Lucas. Unfortunately Kazakhstan found an equaliser shortly after the hour mark but Wales are through – and also unbeaten.
Wales: Daniel Ward (Wrexham), Daniel Alfei (Swansea City, Max Penk (Wrexham, Adam Matthews (Cardiff City), Kieron Freeman (Nottingham Forest), Lee Lucas (Swansea City), Billy Bodin (Swindon Town), Reece Jones (AFC Wimbledon), Kayelden Brown (West Bromwich Albion), Tom Bradshaw (Shrewsbury Town), Elliott Chamberlain (Leicester City)
Subs: Jonathan Bond (Watford), Joe Walsh (Swansea City), Tom Bender (Colchester United), Aaron Holloway (Bristol City), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace), Joshua Dawkin (Norwich City), Ibrahim Farah (Cardiff City)

I don’t know much about Aaron Holloway, other than the fact he’s a defender, he plays for Bristol City and it was thought he could be in one of Bristol City’s squads during an injury crisis. But anyone who says ‘I love playing for Wales’ is very much in my good books.

League One Results 16th October 2010 (Part 2)

Exeter City 2-1 Carlisle United
Exeter extended their unbeaten run to six games with victory over Carlisle, who are now only ahead of them on goal difference.
Rob Edwards was outstanding in the starting line-up for Exeter but even so, Carlisle could have scored another without the intervention of Richard Duffy. Daniel Nardiello was on the bench but only because Exeter are being careful with him. And it worked, as far as I know, Daniel didn’t pick up the smallest niggle during this game. Not even a splinter from sitting on the bench.

Notts County 2-0 Plymouth Argyle
Notts County played the third of the three promoted sides and for the second time, they came away with three points.
After two whole matches without a goal or an assist, something was bound to happen. And it did: Ben Davies got an assist which helped Notts County to a deserved win over Plymouth.
Carl Fletcher played the full match for Plymouth.

Oldham Athletic 0-0 Colchester United
Oldham are unbeaten at home, Colchester aere unbeaten away. It was a bit predictable really. Colchester looked the stronger side at the start of the match but Oldham took control in the second half and looked the most likely to score. And they would have done if Colchester’s goalkeeper hadn’t been on such good form.
Joe Jacobson was absent from Oldham’s squad again but I don’t think he’s injured as he is featuring in reserve games.
Lloyd James was a half-time substitute for Colchester. This is only the second league match he’s appeared in this season. Not what I expected, I thought he’d be banging them in every three games and make Southampton look stupid for releasing him. But it’s not that easy when you play for a team that’s actually good.

Peterborough United 5-4 Swindon Town
When Peterborough went 3-0 up, it seemed obvious that they would win the game. When Swindon brought it back to 3-3, it became clear anything could happen. Unfortunately for Swindon, my first instincts were correct and Peterborough’s winning goal was scored by a Swindon player. Heartbreaking but both teams showed great spirit, Swindon by fighting back and Peterborough for not collapsing completely when Swindon drew level. Let’s not think about what they showed in other parts of the game.
Arron Davies started for Peterborough.
Billy Bodin wasn’t in Swindon’s squad.

Yeovil Town 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday
The fact that these two teams are in the same division will be little consolation for Yeovil, who looked the stronger team for much of the game.
A stamp on Gavin Williams could have seen Sheffield Wednesday go down to ten men but in the end it wasn’t even a yellow. Gavin’s ankle injury continued to trouble him but he completed the match and was a great attacking threat for Yeovil, who didn’t deserve to lose, especially not by two goals. Shaun MacDonald and Owain Tudur Jones also played the full match.

League One Fixtures 16th October 2010 Part 3

Peterborough United v Swindon Town
Peterborough bring an almost perfect home record to this match against Swindon, who will be anxious to add to their solitary away win.
Arron Davies will probably start for Peterborough but he might be on the bench (just covering all possible angles here).
Billy Bodin could be on the bench for Swindon again.

Tranmere Rovers v Brentford
Brentford haven’t won away this season, partly because they’ve only scored one goal, which would tend to restrict you where winning is concerned. Tranmere will be hoping to double their current tally of home wins.
Ash Taylor isn’t ready to return from his knee injury for Tranmere.
Nicky Adams won’t be playing for Brentford as he has joined Rochdale on loan. No disrespect to Brentford but I think moving to Rochdale counts as moving up in the world these days.

Yeovil Town v Sheffield Wednesday
So how many divisions apart were these two teams fifteen years ago? I make it five. Yeovil had just been relegated from the Conference and would go on to finish fourth at the end of the season, six points away from promotion. Sheffield Wednesday would go on to survive relegation from the Premier League by just two points but even so, they were five whole leagues apart and probably never dreamed that, fifteen years later, the two of them would be in the same division, with Sheffield Wednesday just three points the better off.
Gavin Williams has been playing through an ongoing injury and it looks like he’ll have to carry on doing that. Shaun MacDonald returns to Yeovil days after making his debut for Wales but unlike a lot of Welsh players, he seems to be in good shape. Touch wood. Owain Tudur Jones completes the trio of Welsh loanee midfielders and I’d expect them all to start.

League One Results 2nd October 2010 Part 1

Brentford 2-1 Charlton Athletic
Brentford were 2-0 up after 31 minutes but although Charlton got one back in the second half, Brentford hung on to take the points and move off the bottom of the table.
Nicky Adams was an unused substitute for Brentford.

Carlisle United 0-1 Peterborough United
Peterborough continue their excellent start to the season against Carlisle.
Jason Price made another substitute appearance for Carlisle.
Arron Davies was back in the starting line-up for Peterborough for the first time since recovering from a hamstring injury.

Dagenham & Redbridge 2-1 Swindon Town
Dagenham claimed their second win of the season against last year’s play-off finalists Swindon.
Tony Roberts played well for Dag & Red in goal.
Billy Bodin made what I belive was his Swindon debut after 80 minutes.

Exeter City 1-0 Rochdale
It’s maybe not a complete surprise to see Exeter beating Rochdale this season. I had a feeling that woud happen long before last season came to an end. I just wasn’t at all sure it would happen in this division. Even when Rochdale went clear at the top, Exeter still looked like possibilities for relegation.
Richard Duffy was back in Exeter’s starting line-up and this time he wasn’t substituted embarrassingly early. I bet he didn’t relaz until the 50th minute. Daniel Nardiello has been allowed to take his time over returning from injury and he sat on the bench with Rob Edwards.

Huddersfield Town 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers bounced back from defeat to Tranmere and beat one of the promotion hopefuls (or maybe ‘former promotion hopefuls’ is the word (or rather the words) as they’ve now lost three in a row.
Byron Anthony did well to stop Huddersfield from equalising. Ben Swallow was back on the bench alongside Eliot Richards.

League One Fixtures 2nd October 2010 Part 1

Brentford v Charlton Athletic
Brentford haven’t won an away game and Charlton haven’t lost at home. Brentford must be so relieved this fixture is the other way round. It’s a shame they can’t do it on penalties really, Brentford are quite good at those.
Nicky Adams was dropped to the bench for Brentford’s last match but it didn’t help them win so maybe he’ll start again.

Carlisle United v Peterborough United
Peterborough travel to Charlton, who are trying to hang onto an unbeaten home record.
Jason Price is still yet to start for Carlisle since joining them permanently in the summer.
Arron Davies has spent the last couple of matches on Peterborough’s bench. This could be due to the fact they were still winning without him or perhaps he’s not completely recovered from a hamstring injury which was expected to rule him out for several weeks.

Dagenham & Redbridge v Swindon Town
Dag & Red have got the hang of draws now so wins are the next step. (Well, it worked for Ipswich Town in the Championship last year.)
Tony Roberts will be in goal for Dagenham.
Billy Bodin could be on the bench again for Swindon.

Exeter City v Rochdale
Exeter are unbeaten at home but that does include only one win. And Rochdale are pretty good away from home. It’s all these nice stadiums, it’s probably a real treat to go to somewhere like Exeter.
Richard Duffy was hauled off after just 38 minutes in the last match and it apparently wasn’t due to injury. He probably half-wishes it was. He might be on the bench with Rob Edwards for this match. Daniel Nardiello could return to the squad after recovering from a hamstring injury but Exeter don’t want to rush him.
Matt Done started for Rochdale in their last match and they won 3-0. Perhaps he’s their lucky charm. Rochdale haven’t lost in the league this season with Matt in the team. He has lost in the Carling Cup but only to Birmingham City and they’re pretty good really.

Huddersfield Town v Bristol Rovers
Huddersfield are unbeaten at home and Bristol Rovers always do the thing you don’t expect them to do so they’ll probably best Huddersfield. Except that I’m now expecting them to beat Huddersfield so they’ll probably lose to them just to prove me wrong.
Byron Anthony could play at left back again for Bristol Rovers. Ben Swallow and Eliot Richards are more likely to be on the bench although Ben wasn’t even on the bench last time.

League One Results 28th September 2010 Part 2

Peterborough United 2-3 Notts County
Peterborough’s 100% home record came to an end when Notts County beat them 3-2 – meaning they don’t even have an unbeaten home record now. But at least they’re still in the play-off places. Notts County aren’t there yet but they are looking like they’ll do well this season. This sounds like an exciting game – it was just a shame about the mass brawl.
Arron Davies was an unused substitute for Peterborough.
Ben Davies was on great form for Notts County, scoring two of the three goals.

Rochdale 3-0 Huddersfield Town
Rochdale got back to winning ways with victory over fellow promotion-contenders Huddersfield. And doesn’t that have a nice ring to it. Rochdale took the lead after just 10 minutes but Huddersfield remained in the game – Rochdale didn’t score the second of their three goals until the 88th minute.
Matt Done was in the starting line-up for Rochdale which was a nice surprise. He played 76 minutes.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Oldham Athletic
Both these teams have spent time at the top of the table and Oldham are still only two points from the play-offs but the table-topping high must seem like a long time ago now. This was Sheffield Wednesday’s first point in five games while Oldham’s form hasn’t been that great either.
Joe Jacobson was on the bench for Oldham.

Swindon Town 2-3 Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth extended their unbeaten run to five games with victory over Swindon. Swindon must have hoped they’d turned the corner after they beat Huddersfield in the last game and maybe they still have, sometimes it can take ages to turn a corner.
Billy Bodin was on the bench again for Swindon.
Carl Fletcher played the full match for Plymouth.

Yeovil Town 1-1 Southampton
Southampton haven’t lost any of their last four games but they’re still without a win at home and it’s not like Yeovil are the best side in League One.
Ryan Doble wasn’t on the bench for Southampton this time.
Gavin Williams won the penalty that became Yeovil’s equaliser and played well even though his leg was hanging off. Well that’s what his manager said. Owain Tudur Jones and Shaun MacDonald also played.

League One Fixtures 28th September 2010 Part 3

Sheffield Wednesday v Oldham Athletic
Two former table toppers this season face off in an attempt to get back in the promotion race.
Joe Jacobson will be on the bench for Oldham.

Swindon Town v Plymouth Argyle
Swindon are gradually getting back to where they were at the end of last season. Plymouth’s recent form has also improved, their most recent victory being over League One giants Sheffield Wednesday.
Billy Bodin will hope to be on the bench again for Swindon.
Carl Fletcher will play in midfield for Plymouth.

Yeovil Town v Southampton
Yeovil have managed to haul themselves out of the bottom three but they now face ‘promotion favourites’ Southampton, who are a point ahead of them.
Loanees Shaun MacDonald, Owain Tudur Jones and Gavin Williams will all hope to start for Yeovil.
Ryan Doble could be on the bench again for Southampton.

League One Results 25th September 2010 Part 2

Peterborough United 2-1 Milton Keynes Dons
Peterborough move back into the automatic promotion places with victory over MK Dons. The home side thus retain their 100% record at home. MK Dons found an equaliser just one minute after Peterborough’s opening goal. Luckily for Peterborough, they were unable to repeat the same trick twice.
Arron Davies made his return to Peterborough’s squad following a hamstring injury but he stayed on the bench.
Jermaine Easter came close to scoring his first league goal of the season for MK Dons.

Rochdale 1-1 Plymouth Argyle
The first half of the game was Plymouth’s and the second was Rochdale’s so perhaps it’s only fair that they should share the points too. Both teams had chances to grab all three points but although they worked hard, it didn’t happen.
Matt Done was an unusued Rochdale substitute.
Carl Fletcher played the full match for Plymouth.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Southampton
Sheffield Wednesday sink to 14th place after losing their fourth game in a row. Southampton are probably quite sympathetic as they aren’t doing that well themselves but they didn’t waste any sympathy on them during the game.
Ryan Doble was on the bench again for Southampton.

Swindon Town 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Last season’s play-off runners-up got their second home victory of the season over Huddersfield. Huddersfield have had a great start to the season but only one side deserved to win this game and it wasn’t the side playing away. Huddersfield will be disappointed though – they didn’t concede until the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Billy Bodin made his second consecutive appearance on Swindon’s bench.

Yeovil Town 1-3 Exeter City
The Exeter manager described this game as ‘terrific’ and he did have a point (or rather three points) but he was deservedly on the winning side which always helps when it comes to discussing a game’s merits. The Yeovil manager’s words are not recorded by BBC Sport so I can only assume they’re unprintable.
Yeovil’s Welsh loanees Owain Tudur Jones, Gavin Williams and Shaun MacDonald all started for Yeovil. It can’t have been a particularly good game for any of them but at least Gavin can say he got an sssist.
Richard Duffy played the full match for Exeter. Daniel Nardiello was sharing the bench with Rob Edwards due to a knock but luckily Exeter managed without him.

League One Results 18th September 2010 Part 2

Milton Keynes 1-1 Rochdale
MK Dons’ 100% home record was ended by Rochdale, despite the hosts’ dominating the match. Both teams remain in the play-off places.
Jermaine Easter missed several chances and when he finally did get the ball in the net, it was ruled out for handball. Clearly it wasn’t Easter Day.
Matt Done was on the bench for Rochdale.

Notts County 3-2 Leyton Orient
Orient gave Notts County a good game and fought back from being 2-0 down to drawing 2-2. But when Notts County scored again, Orient had no reply. There were encouraging signs in the game but they need to turn that into points.
Ben Davies got the assist for County’s opening goal from a free kick.

Oldham Athletic 2-1 Bournemouth
Bournemouth dropped out of the top six after being beaten by fellow promotion contenders Oldham but it’s great they’re up there at all.
Rhoys Wiggins seemed to enjoy scoring his debut goal last week – he scored again from a free kick to put Oldham 1-0 up.
Joe Jacobson was missing from Oldham’s side, almost certainly because of Yom Kippur.

Plymouth Argyle 3-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday might have been relegated together but there was no doubt about which of the two was more likely to be back in the Championship next season. However, Plymouth, who spent the whole of the second half with just ten men, thoroughly deserved their win. They’re still 16th in the table but if they keep playing like this, who knows what will happen.
Carl Fletcher returned from a thigh injury to put Plymouth into the lead after 19 minutes. He later got into an argument with the opposition goalkeeper but they hugged at the final whistle. Carl was probably very happy with the three goals he let in.

Southampton 0-0 Colchester United
Southampton have not only been struggling for points, the goals haven’t been coming their way either. They must have used them all up when they beat Bristol Rovers 4-0 away – so far their only victory of the season. Colchester are unbeaten in seven – and on this evidence, their goalkeeper is a big part of the reason why.
Anthony Pulis made his first appearance on Southampton’s substitute bench this season. He and Ryan Doble were both unused substitutes.
Colchester’s Lloyd James played against the side who released him in the summer, coming off the bench after 34 minutes to replace an injured team-mate.

Walsall 1-2 Swindon Town
It’s taken a while but slowly but surely, Swindon are making their way up the table. I think last season they became involved in the play-off picture comparatively late and maybe they’ll do the same thing again – ideally without losing in the play-off final this time. This was Walsall’s seventh consecutive defeat.
Sean Geddes missed out on a place on Walsall’s bench for the first time this season while Swindon’s Billy Bodin was on the bench for the first time.

League One Results 11th September 2010 Part 2

Hartlepool United 2-3 Exeter City
Exeter moved up into the top half of the table after fighting back from 2-1 down to beat Hartlepool. The home side are only out of the relegation places on goal difference but if they play like this every week – and if the opposition doesn’t play like Exeter every week – they should be fine.
Richard Duffy started for Exeter with Rob Edwards replacing him in the 89th minute. Daniel Nardiello also started and played well but only lasted until half-time.

Peterborough United 5-2 Oldham Athletic
Oldham lost for the first time this season against a Peterborough side who are now top of the table and are yet to drop points at home. Oldham were 2-0 up after 38 minutes but Peterborough managed to get one back just before half-time, before a second-half fightback.
Peterborough didn’t seem to miss hamstrung Arron Davies as much as I did.
Joe Jacobson was on the bench again for Oldham.

Rochdale 3-2 Walsall
Rochdale climb into the play-off places following their third successive win. For Walsall, however, this is the third successive defeat, which doesn’t sound nearly as nice.
Both teams left their Welshmen on the bench – Rochdale’s Matt Done and Walsall’s Sean Geddes.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Carlisle United
Carlisle beat Sheffield Wednesday by just the one goal but it could and probably should have been more. Maybe Sheffield Wednesday were in shock from nearly going into administration again – that is actually quite easy to believe considering the way they played. Let’s hope they’re feeling better this weekend.
Jason Price stayed on the bench. He is yet to play a single minute for Carlisle this season. Unless I’ve got that wrong.

Swindon Town 1-0 Southampton
This was a fixture many would have expected to have some say in the title race but at the moment, it’s looking more like a relegation battle. Swindon managed to double their points total with this win but Southampton are down in 22nd with the same number of points as bottom club Dagenham & Redbridge. Their caretaker manager thought they’d have won 3-0 if they’d scored but as they didn’t score, Southampton didn’t get to test this theory out.
Ryan Doble made his first appearance of the season on Southampton’s bench – the only striker among the substitutes - but Swindon didn’t follow suit with Billy Bodin.

Yeovil Town 3-1 Tranmere Rovers
Yeovil put on a great performance to beat Tranmere 3-1. Yeovil were 3-0 up after 27 minutes and although Tranmere did get a consolation, it was only from a penalty.
Yeovil followed my advice again and, with the help of some of their supporters, re-signed Gavin Williams on-loan. It’s getting scary now,
Gavin and Shaun MacDonald both started but Owain Tudur Jones was only given three stoppage-time minutes to show what he could do. Assistant manager Nathan Jones wasn’t in the squad.
Tranmere were without the injured Ash Taylor (knee).

Welsh Player News 18th August 2010 League One

Transfer-listed Joe Jacobson probably had few opportunities to impress new clubs when Oldham Athletic’s reserves were beaten 6-0 by Burnley reserves.

Billy Bodin was part of the Swindon Town reserve side that beat Plymouth Argyle’s reserves 4-0.

League One Fixtures 7th August 2010 Part 3

Sheffield Wednesday v Dagenham & Redbridge
Not long ago, Sheffield Wednesday were in the Premier League while Dag & Red were a non-league side. But now they meet on equal terms.
Tony Roberts will be in goal for Dagenham.

Swindon Town v Brighton & Hove Albion
Swindon were the unlucky team to lose in the play-off final but I’m sure they’ll be in contention for promotion again this season. Brighton looked like relegation fodder but they finished mid-table and I’m sure they’d love to do it again, only without the relegation fodder part.
Billy Bodin is still pretty young but maybe he’ll get into a few more Swindon squads this season. Brighton & Hove Albion have let Andrew Crofts go to Norwich City and Craig Davies go to Chesterfield and they presumably weren’t interested in turning Arron Davies’ non-contract into a contract so their Welshless.

Tranmere Rovers v Oldham Athletic
Both teams came very close to where they didn’t want to be last season so they’ll desperately want to improve.
But they’ll have to do it without their Welsh players. Tranmere’s Ash Taylor is set to be out for four months with a knee injury while Oldham have put Joe Jacobson on the transfer list so they probably won’t play him.

Walsall v Milton Keynes Dons
MK Dons started well last season but then fell away to a disappointing mid-table finish. I think it was kind of the other way around for Walsall.
Walsall have released Rhys Weston (who wanted to go for family reasons) and Mark Bradley but maybe this will give Sean Geddes a chance to get into the team.
Jermaine Easter will be looking to be MK Dons’ top scorer again. And if anyone overtakes him like Jason Puncheon last year, maybe they’ll piss off in the January transfer window to.

Yeovil Town v Leyton Orient
Both teams looked to be in precarious positions last season but they survived. They could be in trouble again this time.
Yeovil were full of Welsh players this season but Shaun MacDonald, Owain Tudur Jones, Arron Davies, Gavin Williams and Craig Davies don’t look likely to sign permanently following their loan spells. Only left back and assistant manager Nathan Jones and young player Rhys Baggridge remain but they probably won’t play very much.

Pre-season Friendlies (Part Four)

Hereford United 1-4 Swindon Town
Probably not the result Hereford fans were hoping for but as Swindon came close to getting into the Championship last season, the result isn’t that bad. Especially as two of Swindon’s goals were penalties. New signing Stuart Fleetwood looked dangerous for Hereford and Ryan Valentine was one player who tried to set him up after a great run. Stuart didn’t score Hereford’s goal but he did get the assist. Ryan Green conceded one of the penalties but not the other one.
The Ryans and Stuart all played the full match for Hereford and Kayne McLaggon was a 74th minute substitute. Kye Edwards stayed on the bench. Craig Jones didn’t play for Hereford because he’s left the club which seems like a good reason to me
Billy Bodin came off the bench as early as the 9th minute for Swindon and played until the 53rd minute.

Manchester City 3-0 Portland
Craig Bellamy started as Manchester City beat Portland 3-0. I would like to say this is a sign he isn’t going anywhere but unfortunately the team was full of players who have been linked with the exit.

Manchester United 3-1 Celtic
Ryan Giggs started for Manchester United and would have scored if Dimitar Berbatov hadn’t been so selfish (although you can’t blame Berbatov for being desperate to score a goal. It was when Ryan was substuted that Man Utd began to struggle. Owen Hargreaves missed out following his latest setback. It doesn’t look good. Michael Owen also didn’t play but he should be okay when the season starts.
Joe Ledley played for new club Celtic and won the penalty that gave them their goal.

League One Play-off Final result 29th May

Millwall 1-0 Swindon Town
For the first time ever, Millwall won a play-off final. For the first time ever, Swindon lost.

Millwall weren’t at their best and reports that they walked all over Swindon seemed somewhat exaggerated from where I was sitting (the upper tier, near the goal Millwall didn’t score in) but there was no doubt about who deserved to go through. Paul Robinson was again the player there to make Millwall fans’ dreams come true. My dad was so happy! Until he started worrying about Millwall getting relegated next season.

Another first was that Steve Morison played at Wembley and didn’t score but Wales’ future star was one of Millwall’s best players and caused Swindon a lot of problems over the 90 minutes, the problem was that most of Millwall’s attacks lacked an end product. Swindon had their moments too and Millwall were quite lucky to keep their clean sheet intact

If Millwall play like that every week in the Championship, I think they’ll struggle. But I don’t think they will play like that. And many say that playing below your best and still winning is a sign of success.

Jason Price wasn’t in Millwall’s squad and has since been released.

Billy Bodin wasn’t in Swindon’s squad but perhaps the young Welsham will get his chance next season. Maybe one day soon he and Steve will be playing on the same side. For Wales.

League One Play-off Final fixture 29th May

Millwall v Swindon Town
Millwall reach their second play-off final in two years – but the fact that both are League One play-off finals should tell you the result of the last one. Millwall will be hoping to do better this year and win their first play-off final in their history. These sides faced one another on the final day of the season. Swindon took an early lead but the three points went to Millwall and they finished just a point behind promoted Leeds United.

Jason Price might not even be in Millwall’s matchday squad but it seems star striker Steve Morison has a Welsh grandmother. This means he can play for Wales and early signs suggest he might be interested. Playing in the Championship next season will only increase his chances of being selected. Steve played the second semi-final with a head wound but the stitches have been removed so he won’t have to wear his bandage. This will be Steve’s third appearance at Wembley. He won the other two and scored in both. What a great signing by former Welsh international Kenny Jackett. Steve was signed from Stevenage Borough, who will be playing League Two football next season.

Swindon have Billy Bodin on the books but he’s very young and he’ll probably only be in the squad if Swindon have serious injury problems. I really hope he’s in the squad.

League One Play-off Semi Final fixtures (second leg) 16th and 17th May

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Swindon Town, agg 3-3, Swindon win 5-4 on penalties
It was all looking so good for Charlton. Swindon’s goalkeeper only lasted five minutes before going off injured. A Swindon defender left for an early bath after an hour. At this point, Charlton were 2-0 up and in the Final.
Except that wasn’t where they ended up. Swindon scored, bringing the aggregate score to 3-3. Then it was Charlton’s turn to go down to ten men (although a red did look harsh). Extra time passed and along came penalties. Charlton missed one, Swindon scored all theirs, game over.
Grant Basey wasn’t in Charlton’s team due to an ankle injury. Stuart Fleetwood was also not in the squad.
Billy Bodin might not have got into Swindon’s squad even if he had been available but he was away with the Wales under-21 side. Nice to see a player putting his country first.

Millwall 2-0 Huddersfield Town, agg 2-0
In a recent poll, Millwall fans said they’d rather lose to Huddersfield in the semis than lose to rivals Charlton Athletic in the Final. Luckily for Millwall, Swindon Town beat Charlton so Millwall fans didn’t have to support Huddersfield.
There was really only one team in this and it wasn’t Huddersfield. But with Millwall leading 1-0 until right near the end, there was plenty for Millwall fans to get jittery about.
Kenny Jackett says he’s proud of his team but they’re only halfway there. Swindon await – and after losing to Millwall on the last day of the season, they’ll be out for revenge as well as glory.
Jason Price wasn’t on the bench for Millwall. Maybe he’s in Carlisle, signing a contract.

League One Play-off Semi Final fixture 17th May

Charlton Athletic v Swindon Town
Swindon lead 2-1 as they travel to Charlton for the second leg of the play-off semi-finals.
Grant Basey is still not sufficiently recovered from an ankle injury to play for Charlton but Stuart Fleetwood, who has returned from his loan to Exeter City, might possibly get a place on the bench. Billy Bodin probably won’t be in Swindon’s squad.