Fulham vs. Swindon Town - FA Cup 3rd Round

For starters, looks like there won't be any TV coverage, at least not in the USA. FSC has Boro-Man City, MK Dons-Burnley, Man United-Leeds (a good draw for TV ratings, anyway), and Tranmere-Wolves. Setanta has Bristol City-Cardiff City, Sunderland-Barrow, Reading-Liverpool, and West Ham-Arsenal. ESPN does not appear to have any FA Cup rights, or at the very least not for this round.

Swindon Town spent one season in the Premier League, in 1993-94, when they conceded 100 goals, a record that still stands. (When Derby County set the record for fewest points in 2007-08, they still only conceded 89.) They were most recently promoted from League Two to League One after 2006-07. They've finished mid-table in League one each of the last two seasons and currently sit in fifth place with 39 points from 23 matches.

Swindon haven't advanced past the Third Round of the FA Cup since 1995-96, but in that season fortuitous draws had them playing Woking in the Third Round and Oldham Athletic in the Fourth Round before being eliminated by Southampton in the Fifth Round. Last season they lost to non-league Histon in the First Round; the prior year, to Barnet (on penalties) in the Third Round. They did, however, win the League Cup in 1968-69 (while playing in the Third Division, the equivalent of present League One), and won the Anglo-Italian Cup against Roma and Anglo-Italian League Cup against Napoli the following season, having been ineligible to participate in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (the predecessor of the UEFA Cup and the Europa League) due to the fact that they played outside the First Division.

According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, Swindon also has a fairly significant history of hooliganism dating back to the 1970s, so hopefully there's no trouble at the Cottage this weekend.

 

Let's play Name That Lineup!

Stockdale
Kallio--Smalling--Baird--PK
Riise--Greening--TheEvidence--Dempsey
Elm--Johnson

Roy may put out the same lineup as always, but Fulham do have that trip to Stoke City next Tuesday...

 

I just want to see EJ get on the field.

 

BACK TO THE THREAD!

We'll probably now see AJ get some time with EJ gone.

pf modnote: moved all the EJ hash to the transfer thread

 

I have a big prediction about our lads and the FA Cup, but I'm not going to say it - to avoid the jinx.

 

I don't care for jinxes. I'm going to guarantee a Fulham win tomorrow*. Surely, the Whites should beat a League One team.

*Unlike Brandon Stokley, I'm more confident in this guarantee.

 

Fulham's squad for today:

Schwarzer
Kelly
Hughes
Smalling
Konchesky
Riise
Greening
Dikgacoi
Dempsey
Johnson
Zamora

Substitutes

Kallio
Nevland
Stockdale
Baird
Elm
Gera
Stoor

 

It's a W.

 

A win is a win...thank you and lets see who we draw on Sunday. COYWs

 

Glad for the win. Not surprised to see AJ lifted for Gera. And what the heck was AJ doing taking a penalty (and missing it)? He's been out forever. Dempsey (who is 1 for 1 for us this year) or an in-form Zamora should have done it.

Looking forward to seeing who we get next.

 

Best thing about the amtch was listening to GJ.

Andy, we'll only say this once -- Do not take any more penalties until further notice.

Sounded like our man Smalling has his second good game in a row.

 

Brilliant tag line, Steve.

Agree that GJ was a high point - only caught the last 40 min, but he was in great form and it sounded like AJ is gonna need a lil' time to settle back in. I'm fairly certain AJ was a penalty machine at one time, but I concur with Ag that he shouldn't have been anywhere near the spot today. Upwards and onward for Fulham, can't complain with that.

I hope Roy doesn't drop Gera for AJ in the next league fixture. Our Hungarian acrobat has really grown on me.

And any idea when Davies will be back, bc I'd like to see him fill in for Mr. Pantsil.

COYW

 

Highlights:

http://videos.sapo.pt/tssdvL1zFEogTSNZmZco

 

Yeah, that was a pretty sad penalty.

 

That looked like it was taken by someone with zero confidence to take a PK.