Last year the bottom play-off place went to a team on 69 points. If we win 15 and lose 12 of our remaining 27 matches we would be on 70. I think that looks possible with our current squad but luck with injuries would be essential, particularly up front.

Bringing in some loans with the Howard savings would surely be good business if it helped to ensure an exciting end to the season. Season ticket holders would turn up, spend once there and be more likely to renew for next season. The club could also do an offer for the last six matches to get a few more people through the turnstiles.

I've often defended IOR's cautious approach to finances but I'm hoping that they're seriously considering a little gamble in January.

Cant see it happening. Lets face it we got beat and rarely troubled the keeper at Bury who hadnt won at home since August and didnt even look like scoring against a piss poor Portsmouth side.

We need some creativity desperatly.

But you could have beaten anyone a couple of weeks ago, or so said the bunker..

True, looking back we only either score absolute crackers or from a surging Duckworth run. Be nice to start knocking some scrappy goals in tbh.

I think we need to be realistic with our expectations here. After the first 6 games of the season I'd gladly of taken 3rd bottom, yet within a month or two we have people talking of automatic promotion, then play-offs, mid-table?.
So we got beat off an ordinary Bury side....shit happens. It was widely touted last week that just before the deadline Cooper had approached clubs on 3 possible loan signings, therefore it's obvious the club doesn't intend to sit on it's hands. Let's be patient we're in a ideal position to mount a second half of the season assault, hopefully enjoy a run in the Cup, and the possibility of a big 3rd round tie.
P.S.....Walker should be starting games imo.

Walker playing would mean dropping Dolan and Dolan was outstanding on sat so I wouldn't be rushing into anything.

Out wide we struggled at bury and on sat, however the alternative is franks and that's we're the problem lies for me. When Compton and monky play well, we create chances and look a very good team, when they ain't involved, we create fuck all and look very average. That's the way I see it anyway.

I'd drop Walton if Walker were to come back in. Mr Birthmark is spot on about the wings, they are the key to how we play.

Whats all this about wings?

For me, The so called wide players are part of the problem.

They nee to be making runs across the defence, and creating angles for the midfield to feed the ball through the gaps.

If the wide players stay wide, they are easy to mark, and I am sure thats not how Cooper wants them to play.

They shouldnt be wingers, unless you all want another Howard style player getting on the end of crosses.

Monkhouse looks great when he makes runs across the defence, he looks awful staying out wide.

The wide players need to get involved, and be mobile, not stuck out there like a 1970's winger.

Oh, and from what I could see, Walton had very few options to play progressively on saturday.

Compton, Poole, Monkhouse and James have to be very mobile. Otherwise we fail.

It's not just down the wingers is more importantly key how teams play against us.

We always struggle to break down teams who sit in deep and put men behind the ball like Portsmouth did on Saturday especially in the second half. James Poole has been a key player lately and when he has space to play in he's influencial. When he doesn't get that space between the back four and midfield we don't seem to look as much of a threat and become one paced and bit predictable. All the build up so too slow and measured on Saturday we are a counter attacking side. I bet on Saturday we create far more against a better team because Coventey will come out and try to beat us.

It no coincidence that when we get ahead in games we normally go on and win them because that situation is exactly what our game is set up for. People like Poole, James, Monkhouse and Compton suddenly get the space to hurt teams.

I reckon they're a better side than form suggests and in Jack Whatmough I reckon they have a young central defender who has as much potential as any of our own young players, he's the first player I've seen capable of keeping an in form Luke James quiet without kicking the shit out of him and was easily as good as both Baldwin & Burgess are.

Saturday was the first home game, that I've seen anyway, in which our opponents have appeared content to settle for 0-0 from the start.

I still have doubts that we are good enough, as things stand, to make it into the playoffs. Defensively we still look suspect, both our last two home opponents have hit the post with the score still at 0-0. Northampton were beaten easily in the end by all accounts but it's tempting to wonder what would have happened had they gone 1-0 up.

But as others have said we're still in the first half of the season and given our home form has been pretty good there's no reason for despondency just yet. It will be interesting to see how we cope if another team comes and does what Portsmouth did in the near future.

A new low.

A Bunkerite agreeing with a plastic Loid.

Fuck off Tree, and when you get there, fuck off again. You're not a Poolie.

Another excellent run and we could be looking at the automatic promotion places, not just a play-off place.

I'm not particularly confident that Oxford will finish quite so high.

Christmas is traditionally the point where people seriously start to look a league table during the season.

Let's see what happens - might be 3 tough games on paper with Chesterfield, Burton and Morecambe.

See what 'Pools play like during December.

Easy tiger, should you be talking to Dibble like that?

Yeah,whats up with spender ...i was only saying you were world beaters a few weeks back ffs..

Did anyone have any genuine expectation of us making the play offs this season? I know I didn't really so the fact we are even talking about them is surely a sign that things are on the up? I'd be quite happy with a top half finish safe in the knowledge that things are improving we are playing the game the right way and with a few tweaks in the summer we can really be strong next season.

It's just nice to be able to enjoy going to the match again, we've already equalled the home wins total from the two previous seasons. I think we have an outside chance of the top seven with a couple of decent additions but wouldn't get too disheartened if we didn't quite make it this year, let 's remember only a couple of months ago people were talking about us struggling to stay in the League.

Just because you win Manager of the Month once, it doesn't really suggest you will be a good team on the whole.

Ask John Hughes.

If we can win MoM another couple of times, it would suggest that the team would finish very well, Mr Sussex.

totaslly agree. It's good to go to the Vic with a decent chance we will win most home games these days, and we are all disappointed with a nil nil draw against a team who have players better than their league position mihght suggest

We beat Plymouth and Dagenham in very tight games, where maybe a draw was the right result in both... so it's swings and roundabouts

some bad speeling there

my fingers are like Jan Budtz on the keyboard

Haha.

never mind the play offs we want an automatic spot

Same with the steamroller unfortunately your loosing your "star" player

Be careful what you wish for..

Difference is we wont loose ours for a set of goal nets and a Mars bar.

As if they have a star player, oh sorry I forgot Martin Gray said they had a player who is like Carlos Tevez. It's not him is it

Nowt wrong with Spender. Summat seriously wrong with Tree.

Close that bar now,spender ..you've had enough..

Do you think Pj poolie is favourite for the bunkers rose tinted glasses award of 2013 ?

And why is that?

Please stop quoting Spender, don't have to read his drivel usually.

Surely a rose tinted view would be that we will make the play offs? You thick, horse and trap riding, extortionate Tarmac laying, caravan dwelling vagrant.

Well you've certainly given a rose tinted view of Sussex there PJ. No mention of the horse shagging or dog noncing that most people would include in a description. He might have a point.

http://www.kickoff.co.uk/teams/?team_id=77&area=results

I think this shows why we're not quite playoff material.

it's all know how at the minute, the team is still brand new and doing better than I expected to be fair. I honestly thought we would be struggling to get above bottom 6 going into the season, and thought things might get even worse when we only had 2 points from 6 games and sitting bottom/2nd bottom

But Cooper has done enough with the squad to get us the results in the games we might look on as games we have to get something from, and he's done a brilliant job of doing that
It also does mean that clearly the team/squad have a lot of developing/ learning and growing together yet to do

Which fills me with optimism for the future

fair comment. I just think we lacked a bit of know how against teams like Oxford, I thought maybe the same against Wycombe. Hopefully the team have gained a lot from those defeats

It will be interesting when we play them 2nd half of the season to see how we get on against them by then. Might be a different outcome!!