Well I must say the commentary on iplayer was like listening to a cricket match it was sooooooo slow and boring I’ve struggled to stay awake (no joke) bring back Tim

Excellent result. Top of our group on goal diff.

Good Evening

Well I enjoyed listening to it on I-follow.
To go the whole 90 mins solo can’t be easy. And remember he isn’t a professional broadcaster either.

I thought he was better tonight than his half and half usual home game stint. Not so many oohs and aaahs in the background!

Just the once I thought we’d scored when we hadn’t!

Tim only does the away games and obviously sets the standard dangerously high!

Thanks Charlie!

Phil in Npton

So . We beat a Premier League U21's side that don't get beaten that often .
Ok ... they're U21's , but they are a class above ... future World talent .
3-0 ..... quite comfortably .

And this forum starts moaning about Tim Thraves' commentary ???? FFS ! I've heard it all

And we wonder why we don't get bigger crowds for Christ sakes ???

It has to be a Newport thing ? Pessimistic or what !

Caerleon Exile wrote:If Ampadu plays I MIGHT be tempted for a 5er. See how I feel later

My 8 year old nephew called me saying he was given a ticket free through his after school football club and would I take him along as his friends were going, how could I say no? Have to say I was glad I did. Yes it felt a bit like a slightly more competitive friendly game but the standard was good and for a a 5er it was excellent value for money.

I thought Robbie played well tonight as well as Matt, Harris and Sheehan. Foulston looked comfortable at the back and I like the look of Pring on the wing. The whole team played well though to be fair.

It was also good to see so many people that were possibly experiencing their first County matches tonight. Also good to see plenty of different ethnicities that you dont normally see. Possibly down to the opposition or the fact it was well priced. There was a group of African lads in front of us that were really enjoying themselves and were kicking every ball! Hopefully they and any other newbies will get the bug and come back. For that reason alone I've changed my opinion of this competition slightly tonight. Do I agree with it? No probably not but the club is rightfully using it as a marketing tool to get new supporters in through the door with cheap tickets and freebies that may not have bothered previously.

Have to agree with all that, great performance from both sides in an entertaining game even though actual goal chances were scarce.

Robbie - 2 great crosses/corners for the first 2 goals, won't have done his chancez of a first team place any harm. Just wish he didn't prolong an argument with the lino when he called him for a clear offside. Nearly picked up a needless booking.

O'Brian immense at the back, thought he was a real leader coaching Jay and the Train throughout the game. Maybe due to the low crowd but I heard MOB constantly calling and coaching, did wonder who he meant when he called 'Toiler' in his Irish accent!

Matt 2 good headers - first one their keeper fumbled it into the net but I reckon the power saw to that. The second a clumsy-looking diving/stooped header from Robbie's corner. JM worked hard up front often alone, made easier by decent distribution from Townsend who I thought had a tidy game.

Semenyo came on as a late sub and again showed more class but he had 3 reasonably clear headers in quick succession which should've increased the score. Great third goal though, driven in from an angle.

Of the rest no one had anything less than a good game I thought - Pring very pacy intelligent runs down tge left. Cooper did the unsung hero bit in the middle and the way he tracked the young Scottish international Billy ? (Chelsea #60) and kept him out of the game was superb.

Chelsea were quick and clever but with no real penetration - they desperately need a big ugly centre forward to complete a decent team.

All in all a good night out, made nicer by winning the half time draw.

Cheers

Dee

PS I'm probably in a minority here but I think the format for this competition is a good one and I persobally agree with allowing U21 sides but for just 1 reason - how on earth are our (and I mean English, Scottish, Welsh and occasionally Irish) young talent going to progress through to the international scene if the top Prem teams constantly overlook their youth in favour of some expensive foreign signing?

I know that's not a problem that should concern lower league clubs but we all want the international teams to excel don't we?

I'd also favour allowing say County U18s to enter the FA Vase for the same reason - progression of our talented youth.

I know most won't agree but I've had 2 good days out at Wembley watching the Checkatrade finals recently and make no mistake, if we got there we'd end up taking 15000+ fans, most of whom supposedly disagree with thus competition.

Dee

Corpaboy wrote:So . We beat a Premier League U21's side that don't get beaten that often .
Ok ... they're U21's , but they are a class above ... future World talent .
3-0 ..... quite comfortably .

And this forum starts moaning about Tim Thraves' commentary ???? FFS ! I've heard it all

And we wonder why we don't get bigger crowds for Christ sakes ???

It has to be a Newport thing ? Pessimistic or what !

I don't think they were moaning about Tim's commentary. One said 'bring back Tim'.

I think you maybe were looking for negatives when there were none there. It has to be a Newpôrt thing I think we were all delighted with the win.

phil_in_npton wrote:Good Evening

Well I enjoyed listening to it on I-follow.
To go the whole 90 mins solo can’t be easy. And remember he isn’t a professional broadcaster either.

I thought he was better tonight than his half and half usual home game stint. Not so many oohs and aaahs in the background!

Just the once I thought we’d scored when we hadn’t!

Tim only does the away games and obviously sets the standard dangerously high!

Thanks Charlie!

Phil in Npton

The problem Charlie had was,if you had a team sheet,he was on the subs bench for Chelsea.It must be hard to do a commentary and warm up with the other subs,that's probably why there were gaps.

Newportonian wrote:Well I must say the commentary on iplayer was like listening to a cricket match it was sooooooo slow and boring I’ve struggled to stay awake (no joke) bring back Tim

Now there's nothing better than listening to TMS it's not boring in fact it's brilliant learning how boycotts Nana could bat better than modern day batsmen with a stick of rhubarb

pembsexile wrote:

Corpaboy wrote:So . We beat a Premier League U21's side that don't get beaten that often .
Ok ... they're U21's , but they are a class above ... future World talent .
3-0 ..... quite comfortably .

And this forum starts moaning about Tim Thraves' commentary ???? FFS ! I've heard it all

And we wonder why we don't get bigger crowds for Christ sakes ???

It has to be a Newport thing ? Pessimistic or what !

I don't think they were moaning about Tim's commentary. One said 'bring back Tim'.

I think you maybe were looking for negatives when there were none there. It has to be a Newpôrt thing I think we were all delighted with the win.

I see the funny side in the irony of someone moaning about someone moaning, this also seems to be a Newport thing

I wonder if "slightly more competitive friendlies" as described above might be what the competition is evolving into, as they seem to have eased the rules on EFL clubs fielding weaker sides.

And did the competition always have a stand-alone disciplinary system? That also seems like a decent idea. Let's face it, the old version of the competition wasn't exactly a crowd puller.

George Street-Bridge wrote:I wonder if "slightly more competitive friendlies" as described above might be what the competition is evolving into, as they seem to have eased the rules on EFL clubs fielding weaker sides.

And did the competition always have a stand-alone disciplinary system? That also seems like a decent idea. Let's face it, the old version of the competition wasn't exactly a crowd puller.

Something I've seen suggested on here previously, which I think fans would actually buy into, is to have these games at the start of the season before the league campaign starts. Playing Chelsea U21s before the season gets going could draw a decent crowd with the sun shining and beer flowing.

rncfc wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:I wonder if "slightly more competitive friendlies" as described above might be what the competition is evolving into, as they seem to have eased the rules on EFL clubs fielding weaker sides.

And did the competition always have a stand-alone disciplinary system? That also seems like a decent idea. Let's face it, the old version of the competition wasn't exactly a crowd puller.

Something I've seen suggested on here previously, which I think fans would actually buy into, is to have these games at the start of the season before the league campaign starts. Playing Chelsea U21s before the season gets going could draw a decent crowd with the sun shining and beer flowing.

Yes that was me I think the last week before league season starts have one or 2 of these games allow 5 subs it would be better than Friendlies which I hate and I think you would get increased gates