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+----- Thread: Four more wins please ..... (/showthread.php?tid=8234)
Four more wins please ..... - Devongone - 06-03-2019
Well we've now won four of our last six. As I've said before, you can afford to lose if you also grab some wins. Four more wins would give us 54 points and a reasonable goal difference. Havant would have to win 6 and draw 2 of their last ten to overtake that, which is fairly unlikely. Aldershot would need 7 wins and and a draw from 11. Maidstone would need an implausible 9 wins and 2 draws from their last 11 to overtake us! So four more wins please. (I'd like to think we could start against Eastleigh, but their away record is miles better than our home efforts and they'd be second on current form .......)
What I am noticing is how strong next season's National League could be were we lucky enough to survive. What if Solihull keep going and win it? Play-offs are often a lottery - what if Fylde join them? Coming down it could well be Notts County and Port Vale, two of the country's oldest clubs. Coming up looks like Stockport on current form who got over 6,000 to watch them play Spennymoor on Saturday and Jake Beesley's goals might yet see Bradford Park Avenue join them through the play-offs. In the South Bristol City Development or Torquay United as they are officially known are looking to win through.
So that would mean next season we might face:-
Wrexham
Leyton Orient
Gateshead
Barrow
Hartlepool
Dagenham & Redbridge
FC Halifax
Barnet
Notts County
Port Vale
Stockport
Bradford PA
Torquay
all former established Football League clubs, together with the new money of:-
Salford City
Harrogate
On paper that doesn't look appreciably worse than Division 2 does it?
The other thing coming to my attention and probably that of other saddos is if our league stays as it is, then the four clubs going down will all be southern. That means next season at least two currently southern National League South Teams will have to play in the Northern Section and none of them is any near the north. By my reckoning Gloucester, if they stay up, is probably most northerly and its a very tight battle between Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and Oxford City for the other unwanted spot if they judge by longitude alone.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - Dancingwilldoit - 06-03-2019
Only 4 wins. Looking possible now at least.
If it comes to pass and those are next years team, it will be interesting to say the least and also very tough to get out of. At least 7 of them should bring 1000+ fans so that's something to look forward to rather then the 100 or so we have been getting used to this season.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - spireitematt - 06-03-2019
I think we will stay up now but next season will be extremely tough. If Salford don't go up they'll just throw more ££££ at it.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - Dancingwilldoit - 06-03-2019
Looking at the teams that might make the playoffs, I don't think Salford stand a chance. Throwing money at it this season hasn't done them much good. Who would have expected Solihull Moors to be where they are at the beginning of the season? Small gates, small ground, tightly run club. It just shows what can be done.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - spireitematt - 07-03-2019
(06-03-2019, 20:35)Dancingwilldoit Wrote: Looking at the teams that might make the playoffs, I don't think Salford stand a chance. Throwing money at it this season hasn't done them much good. Who would have expected Solihull Moors to be where they are at the beginning of the season? Small gates, small ground, tightly run club. It just shows what can be done.
There current form has been poor and they won't get promoted if this form continues. It's got them near the top of the table. I think Solihull Moors has been the unexpected one of the season, I expected them to finish about mid-table but Tim Flowers has done a good job.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - Devongone - 08-03-2019
Last season Solihull did brilliantly once Flowers arrived, but I certainly didn't expect it to continue this season. I also thought Wrexham's changes of manager were going to be the finish of them ........ but they seem to be flourishing too. David Beckham's money seems to have been pretty poisonous so far for Salford .......... but things do change quickly at this level. The step up is a huge issue and some clubs see it as one step too far. Do all those in line for promotion want it? Would a season in League 2 be the death of them? For Harrogate and Sutton it would be dig up the pitch time. Fylde have long aimed at league status but they are running ahead of even their own dreams if they go up before 2020.
Matt's right, Salford would probably throw in a few more Rooneys if they fail to go up, but Notts County, if they come down, are a pretty big club and in us have a local example of exactly how NOT TO handle the drop. Only coming top gets you up, the next six places are just a test of stamina and nerve. Buying your way to the EFL is harder than it sounds.
The EFL met in Preston this week and largely fell apart over Sky and the inevitable difference of opinion between the 24 Championship clubs and the rest. I can't help thinking that for once in my life I've got it right about football - bring in 8 National League clubs and from the total 100 clubs form 5 divisions of 20. Below them the National League could regionalise into North and South and part time clubs would no longer need to be faced with the several five or six hundred mile Tuesday night or Saturday round trips that ensure they struggle ever to build up the financial reserves to make an assault on EFL status. And the winners of all the leagues might just be the best players rather than those with the most resilient hamstrings.
RE: Four more wins please ..... - spireitematt - 14-03-2019
Our defence is far too leaky, we need to close down players when they are on the ball otherwise we will end up getting punished when they take a shot from outside the area.