Walsall
They've been up there all season and have a knack of winning 1-0 when playing badly. They've had a few dodgy games recently but keep coming back. As on Saturday, apparently it their worst game in Eons but they still managed to get something out of it.
Prediction 1st / 2nd

Swindon
Not sure on this one. Again they keep coming back from bad results and have been consistant all season. Certainly top 4 but which position is anyone's guess. I'll go for third place.

Hartlepool
After a horrendous start to the season have now got the sort of consistancy Ferguson and Morinho can only dream about. trying very hard not to biased, it's hard to see pools anywhere else than top two. The Poolie in me is waiting for the collapse but we would have to have a gargantuan loss of form to finish outside the promotion places. prediction 1st/2nd

Milton Keynes
Similar to Swindon in that they keep losing games that they should win. Consistant enough to stay in the top four or five but need to lose the habit of chucking games away against inferior opposition. 0-5 Rochdale for example. I reckon 4th.

Lincoln
Serial bottlers. They have been in with a shout of promotion for the past few years but always fall away at the end. 7th behind Wycombe.

So then, my final top 7 will be:

Walsall / Hartlepool
Hartlepool / Walsall
Swindon
Milton Keynes
Wycombe
Stockport
Lincoln

Sorry but I can't seperate the top two until after Saturday.

Those paragraph headings want sorting out.

Happy now ?

I will be when you decide whether you're using numbers or words, and sort your capitals out.

Personally I'm working on the basis of us pretty much having a Playoff Place in the bag, and looking at the rest being a bonus. I'm hoping that that way, I won't be disappointed if we do miss out (and let's face it, things are getting pretty tight in the top 5), and I'll be more than happy with 3rd.

Higher would be good of course, but my mind keeps going back to the anticlimax of the last season - promoted after a 4-0 defeat, drawing with Rochdale to potentially put the title out of our hands, and then having to go to Rushden and win after being so far clear, we'd been expecting the title and it was a huge let-down when we didn't get it. We've got a chance, no question, but I wouldn't say we're favourites, even if we beat Walsall we'll still be behind them.....

Recent form guide makes interesting reading;

we're 2nd behind Stockport with Swindon 3rd. Walsall are 7th with MK and and Lincoln well down in 16th and 18th respectively.

http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co ... 26,00.html

For no other reason that it's good to look at, if you extrapolate that form to the end of the season (daft I know) it looks like this:



Hartlepool 93
Swindon 93
Walsall 92
Stockport 88
Bristol City 77
MK 76
Wycombe 73
Lincoln 71
Chester 70
notts Co 70
Mansfield 67
shrewsbury 65
Darlington 63
Rochdale 61
Barnet 60
Hereford 54
Accrington 49
Boston 49
Macclesfield 48
Bury 47
Peterborough 42
Grimsby 40
Torquay 38
Wrexham 35

Sorry MR I, I didn't see this thread when I posted this earlier!!
RECENT FORM LAST TEN GAMES, IT SHOULD SAY HERE!!!

Walsall 17 pts
Swindon 20 pts
Pools 26 pts
MK Mongs 19 pts
Lincoln 18 pts
Stockport 21 pts
Wycombe 12 pts

These are the only clubs in with a sniff of automatic promotion now.

Wycombe have to seriously find their feet again if they are to avoid slipping out of the top seven, although they still have a good advantage over Notts Co. - but I think we can rule them out of the top three reckoning now.
Stockport have some real testing home games before the end of the season, they have to face Swindon, Walsall and then Pools in their next three home games. They also have MK to play at home. They can only beat what's been put in front of them as they have done recently, but they won't win all of those. They also travel to Lincoln. If they get more than six points from that fifteen available I'd be surprised. So they will probably miss out on the top three also.
Lincoln are stuttering, I think they are the ones who will slip back from being up there all season, to being play-off contenders. Forrester is now suspended for three games and they haven't got the replacements in their squad for a major player being missing, in the same way Pools seem to have.

Therefore I think it's three from the four relegated sides from last season.
I'm now convinced we'll be one of them. I also believe MK will be another. If we beat Walsall on Saturday, their place in the top three comes under threat for the first time all season. They have NEVER been put under this pressure yet all season. This is the first time they will go into a game seriously worried about their foothold in the top three, never minf first place. They couldn't have picked a worse fixture to face this weekend, and they might start to play their remaining fixtures feeling the pressure if we pull off a victory on Saturday. If this happens, I think we have a great chance to win the League, and it will also help Swindon no end in the psychological battle to unsettle Walsall from their previously, seemingly invincible position.
COME ON POOLS, LET'S GO FOR THE THROAT AGAIN LIKE WE DID AGAINST SWINDON, AND REALLY BLOW THIS TITLE RACE WIDE OPEN!!!!!!

Hmm, Interesting to see Stockport in 4th, I think there doing what Bury did earlier on in the season, Look at Bury now....

I personally think / hope were top 3 come the end of the season

and with us I think it'll be Walsall & Swindon

Pretty much as it is now, Just to fight out who gets 1st, 2nd and 3rd

MK Dons will be in the Playoffs along with Wycombe, Lincoln & Brizzle Rovers

I shouldn't worry too much about anticlimaxes: in order to emulate 2002/2003 we have just two games left in which to build up a 14 point lead at the top!

like his FA cup post..................


DELETE DELETE DELETE

Swindon have got Walsall on the last game of the season. Could be very interesting.....

Now there's useful.

After Walsall there are a nice group of supposedly easier matches, including Torquay and Boston away ...... and these are the matches I dread

I've just been talking about that - top of the table this week, followed by a desperate basement club the next. If we win these two, then I think the title is ours for the taking.

So you have ruled us out of a play off spot then stupid

That's a bit like saying 'shall we keep that paedophile out of Mothercare....'

Some things just don't have to be said.

This thread is majorly wishful thinking!

I'm delighted myself that we're getting the results against the very top clubs in a promotion slug-out. And a win against Walsall will make it three out of four with only Lincoln to go among the "escape" group.
But there are still 15 games to go and every win still has to be earned. If you think it's going to be easy travelling 400 miles to Torquay and coming back with the points you're taking a bit too much for granted.
Apart from which I reckon some of you are writing the other promotion hopefuls off just a tiny a bit too easily!

Yes we're in a very good position and yes it's fair to start contemplating automatic promotion. But we're still way behind where we were four seasons ago when *not* getting promotion was unthinkable.

Let's enjoy it while it lasts and hope it continues for as long as possible.
Oh and remember, if we eventually lose, it's to our advantage of we do so against Torquay rather than the likes of Stockport or Wycombe!

While I agree that we shouldn't get carried away it's pretty hard not to given the run we are on, 12 wins out of 14 is pretty good at the best of times but to only let 2 goals in in about 1300 minutes of football is fucking unreal.

I'd be very disappointed if we didn't go up now, given the management and squad of players that we have we should be looking at winning every game.

I stand up and I take a bow!!!