Well done today, great to get this far.
Onwards and upwards!

Overall a good day for the club which was well organised and a credit to all behind the scenes. Ground looked good on the TV highlights.
First goal was very unfortunate with Richards off the pitch. He and Puddy definitely stood out as our best performers however the whole team should be proud and we matched Northampton for stamina. My concern was, and it extends beyond this game, that we are a very blunt weapon where our attack is concerned. Chambers ran his heart out but when 1 on 1 with the keeper could only produce 2 low power shots. Jarvis went close with one header. The question I have is with David Pratt, watching him warm up before the game he didn't appear to be struggling? Surely this game was one where you would have given him a run out. If not fit enough why have him on the bench?

I personally don't think he is out of favour with anyone! Pratty is a Chippenham Town legend and I love the bloke to pieces and whilst this might be an unpopular opinion, with the way we are set up at the moment, the style and pattern of our play, the formation we play in, David doesn't get in for me. He cannot replace Zebroski as the creator on the deck and the aerial threat, Jarvis is a Target Man this year, holding the ball up and winning flicks and possession for the midfield and wide men to cause dangerous situations, before arriving in the box and Karnell, well Karnell has been a revelation in that wider role and once his eye for goal kicks in again he could well end up being the star in this team. Hopper can come in for Jarv with his style of combative play but Pratty was always pace and work rate. His only place in this team without changing the system is instead of Karnell Chambers and right now, Karnell is firing. I personally hope he doesn't start the game against Slough, I think the game on Sunday provided us with our strongest starting 11 available and if we are going to get anything from Slough, we need them to be playing big roles. 

I think so much of what we base our opinion where Dave Pratt is concerned is on the Dave Pratt we KNEW not the Dave Pratt we KNOW now. If Pratty was still that player that we had 2/3 season back, under the same management, the same club, then my assumption would be that Mark, Gary and Joe would have identified that and been playing him far more frequently. This however, hasn't happened and the reason must be football related as Dave is one of the nicest guys in the game, it's definitely not a vendetta thing. 

Of course, he could just be injured and making up numbers on the bench. We also had Thompson and Horgan as named subs yesterday and unless some miraculous comeback is taking place with Horgs (and he insist's he could still do a job) they were never getting minutes either. The fact is we need a few extra bodies in the squad, we are a little bare and I think maybe now the FA Cup has wound down for us, we can take stock and see what we need to mount a push for the playoff to mid table spots in the league. 

Fingers Crossed, it's gonna be a bumpy ride ;) COYMB 

We had this discussion on Sunday and the Pratty we knew had a strike partner who was on the same wave length and could almost anticipate what each other was going to do, just like Beano and Gilroy. Things have changed we don't play that way now. Also from what I've seen of him this season he doesn't have the pace of old( maybe an injury). Personally I would like to see him play and not turn into another highly paid bench warmer.