Swindon Supermarine v Shortwood United

[boltonsno1]

By a bizarre coincidence, Shortwood are in my neck of the woods tomorrow night. Gonna pop along i think to see what they're about.

 

I wonder if Vale will have anyone in attendance?

[Tone]

You can bet they'll be scouting this game.

[TheSage]

That's a bit annoying for them I imagine, quite close to the cup game, and I bet they don't have a lot of reserves to play to give their lads a rest.

Adams saw the Aldershot replay and chief scout, George Foster saw them at Evesham at the weekend so they might think that two spying missions are enough.

 

At the end of the day if the Vale team has the right attitude and application it should be comfortable as man for man we must be easily much better. But cup games are not played on paper!

 

Enjoy the game. Tell us what you find if you go.

[Bails]

That's a bit annoying for them I imagine, quite close to the cup game, and I bet they don't have a lot of reserves to play to give their lads a rest.

Adams saw the Aldershot replay and chief scout, George Foster saw them at Evesham at the weekend so they might think that two spying missions are enough.

 

At the end of the day if the Vale team has the right attitude and application it should be comfortable as man for man we must be easily much better. But cup games are not played on paper!

 

Enjoy the game. Tell us what you find if you go.

 

Non-League teams (particularly at their level) have to put up with this sort of 'fixture pile-up' quite a lot; IF they are successful and get this far, anyway. They won't be complaining, I'm sure. They'll just be buzzing with excitement for next Monday. 6 days should be ample time to recover for them. It's not as if they have to play Friday night/Saturday lunchtime. Hednesford have a game tonight, and play Crawley on Saturday. Slightly higher up the leagues, but still, they will have less time to recover.

[ollyandpatch]

They have a decent reserve team who play in a lower league... super 4 Shorties 1.

[boltonsno1]

Postponed - waterlogged pitch. No surprise considering the weather today.

[bar1]

Postponed - waterlogged pitch. No surprise considering the weather today.

 

convenient as well ;)

[Burt]

I work in Aldershot and by all accounts Shortwood shouldn't be underestimated. I'm not too sure about this one.

[mbycars]

I work in Aldershot and by all accounts Shortwood shouldn't be underestimated. I'm not too sure about this one.

 

It was only a few months ago that we were lucky to scrape a home draw against Aldershot. Think they have lost a few players since then but we shouldn't underestimate Shortwood or it could be the shock of the round.

[Coskickabo]

I work in Aldershot and by all accounts Shortwood shouldn't be underestimated. I'm not too sure about this one.

 

Not sure?? I tell you what!! If the Vale players allow themselves to be turned over by a bunch of part timers they should pack up,go home and not return. I can't abide this 'they're not to be underestimated' and 'they should be treated with respect' talk.They're on a par with the teams in Ireland we beat comfortably during pre season when we weren't at peak fitness and not putting out our best team. Quite frankly, they're there for the taking and I'll be disappointed if we score less than five goals.

[Arthur]

Not sure?? I tell you what!! If the Vale players allow themselves to be turned over by a bunch of part timers they should pack up,go home and not return. I can't abide this 'they're not to be underestimated' and 'they should be treated with respect' talk.They're on a par with the teams in Ireland we beat comfortably during pre season when we weren't at peak fitness and not putting out our best team. Quite frankly, they're there for the taking and I'll be disappointed if we score less than five goals.

 

Completely different to the situation in Ireland though! These 'part-timers' are going to be bang up for it and we need to be very professional and show them the respect they deserve. They are in the first round for a reason. But, we should have more than enough to see them off.

[davidatpreston]

Not sure?? I tell you what!! If the Vale players allow themselves to be turned over by a bunch of part timers they should pack up,go home and not return. I can't abide this 'they're not to be underestimated' and 'they should be treated with respect' talk.They're on a par with the teams in Ireland we beat comfortably during pre season when we weren't at peak fitness and not putting out our best team. Quite frankly, they're there for the taking and I'll be disappointed if we score less than five goals.

 

Id like very much to agree with you and in my heart long for a big Vale win along the libnes of the 6-0 I saw v Hartlepool mid 90s in the cup. But examine what you have written - will Shortwood go into the game with the same motivation as the Irish teams? What did it mean to the Irish teams - NOTHING. What does it mean tio Shortwood - well, perhaps the same as the Spurs match in 1988 meant to us but magnified 100 times - their biggest match EVER, in 110+ years, and likely to be the biggest they get for another 20 years unless they win it.

The question is not whther Shortwood will perform - they will be in our faces from the first seconds - but can Vale both keep a cool head and using far superior fitness and skills with raising their enthusiasm to somewhere near the home club.

You don't need me to tell you that even world cups are littered with 10/1 bookie bets winning (USA 1 England 0 going back to before I was born) to Argentina 0 Cameroon 1 in an opening match, and we have the ghosts of Canvey, Chasetown, Enfield, Scarborough and others haunting us.

What we need is the spirit that saw Vale undefeated in about 20 Cup ties against non-league teams from about 1950s to the Enfield disaster in 1979 - even poor Vale teams in the late 60s and late 70s managed to get through, sometimes with a bit of luck.

If Vale scory early, and push on - fine, we will get our big score. If it is still 0-0 after 40 minutes, beware.