My thought is that it will be whoever wins the League plus a surprise via the play-offs. I don't think one of the failed challengers for the top will come through the play-offs. So it'll be a Halifax, a Notts County, a Bromley, an Eastleigh, even a Chesterfield (if I still believed we could reach the play-offs, which occasionally I do). I realise the teams finishing second and third get a big advantage in the play-offs, but they are disappointed to be there, whereas one of the teams like us would be looking at the biggest lifeline we'd ever been thrown.
The winners? Stockport look as though they'll beat Torquay, but I've a feeling Torquay might get nine more points and win it anyway. Hartlepool remind me of those teams everyone says are too good to be relegated - they mostly go down. Most people would say Hartlepool are one of the best two teams in the National ..... so finishing fourth will be all the more disappointing. But then Sutton's bad run might let them go back under the radar again, which might help them recover.
The winners? Stockport look as though they'll beat Torquay, but I've a feeling Torquay might get nine more points and win it anyway. Hartlepool remind me of those teams everyone says are too good to be relegated - they mostly go down. Most people would say Hartlepool are one of the best two teams in the National ..... so finishing fourth will be all the more disappointing. But then Sutton's bad run might let them go back under the radar again, which might help them recover.