I don't know about you but I can't get me head around what 'games in hand' really mean, especially on a maudlin Friday night before another away defeat / chance to earn valuable points.

So to help my understanding as the drinks flow I thought I'd pretend all League Two teams had played 31 games, the same as us. Let's see how deep in the mire we really are!

Here it is then, a table based on current points per game (PPG) multiplied by 31. Apologies for the crap formatting but I hope you get the gist. In this fairy-tale scenario we are about three points adrift, with 15 games left.

Not sure whether this has improved my mood tonight


Team / PPG / Weighted Points (31 Games)

Leyton Orient 2.09 65
Stevenage 1.97 61
Northampton Town 1.73 54
Carlisle United 1.68 52
Bradford City 1.66 51
Mansfield Town 1.63 51
Stockport County 1.60 50
Salford City 1.58 49
Doncaster Rovers 1.53 48
Walsall 1.43 44
Sutton United 1.42 44
Swindon Town 1.40 43
AFC Wimbledon 1.37 42
Tranmere Rovers 1.32 41
Barrow 1.32 41
Grimsby Town 1.22 38
Crewe Alexandra 1.21 37
Newport County 1.14 35
Colchester United 1.09 34
Harrogate Town 0.97 30
Gillingham 0.93 29
Crawley Town 0.93 29
Hartlepool United 0.84 26
Rochdale 0.68 21

Pools & Rochdale must be strong as we are holding every other team up!

I wonder what your mood will be like at 5 o'clock tomorrow?

I've always thought that if a team near the top of a division has games in hand, then there's a good chance that those games will convert into points.
If it's a team near the bottom , then that just means your goal difference is going to get worse.

Or you could check the WLD stats for the last five or six games and that would give you a more realistic idea of what the future holds for whichever team is of interest. Of course I admit that there is no such thing as 100% certainty in sport what with injuries, manager sackings, transfers in and out etc but looking at a teams form for the last five games is generally (not always) a useful guide as to how they get on in their next five. Out of Pools last five they have won 1, drawn 1 lost 3. Out of 15 points on offer they got 4. Not good enough to keep us in the League. Only Rochdale have a worse record.

Yep on current form second bottom seems about right

Let’s just hope it’s wrong…this is like falling and trying to get the parachute to open.

Or the parachute has opened but is tangled with Rochdale’s

probebly even bought that on the cheap or got it loaned to them.

Or we were promised a top quality parachute and settled for a reconditioned charity shop one….dated Arnhem 1944.

On that subject do we get a parachute payment if relegated into the National League?

If we do it won,t be spent on the Playing staff, Ground or the pitch.

I believe relegated teams get a parachute payment for the first year and then they are on National League financial arrangements.