1st fixtures: 30th July

[FGR Stroud]

 

[FGR Stroud]

Always difficult to post predicted final scores in the first few weeks of the season.
But here goes:
Charlton win
BRovers win
Cambridge draw
Cheltenham draw
Derby win
Ipswich win
Lincoln draw
Morecambe draw
Plymouth win
P Vale loss
Sheff Wed win
Wycombe draw.

 

[valefan16]

First game back in league one and oddly our last was against Fleetwood!

Could do with a good start especially against a side that’s expected to be similar in expectations for the season as us at home.

James Wilson looks to be out so as it stands today we only have one striker (Jamie Proctor) and one youth in Tommy McDermott but I would be surprised if we don’t make a few signings this week.

On a positive our best player got 20 minutes (Conlon) yesterday after 7-8 months out.

I imagine 3-5-2

Stone

Worrall

Cass
Smith
Hall

Benning

Walker
Ojo
Garrity

Proctor
New ST

Hopefully a decent home crowd of 6-7k for this and a narrow victory to get the ball rolling.

 

[SVH]

MK Dons have become a bit of a bogey side for us over the last few years but we should have beat them at our place last season.

I’m going for a 2-1 win.

 

[WhiteRussian]

MK Dons have become a bit of a bogey side for us over the last few years but we should have beat them at our place last season.

I’m going for a 2-1 win.

The first match of the season it's probably going to be a bit of a lottery for some clubs, especially ones like us with a big turnover so I doubt Manning knows his best lineup yet. I'll take a draw and a decent performance.

 

[kieran_vale]

I’m hopeful we can name a first eleven that can be competitive at the very least. Obviously our squad beyond that is thin at present though there’s just over four weeks of the window to go so will see what that brings.

Know nothing about Fleetwood other than they clearly were very close to dropping last season. On paper it’s not a bad game to be starting with but football has never worked that way.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

It's not really gonna feel like a league one fixture against FGR having played them a lot in the lower divisions of late. Im sure they will say the same about us!!

 

[SVH]

The first match of the season it's probably going to be a bit of a lottery for some clubs, especially ones like us with a big turnover so I doubt Manning knows his best lineup yet. I'll take a draw and a decent performance.

It’s very difficult to predict, especially with such a big turnover of players which is why I fancy us to get a result. I’d take a draw now though too.

 

[Davidimp]

I think the opening month until the window closes is going to be a very strange indeed.
The extra early start has meant squads are still incomplete, think most teams are at least 3 or 4 short of where they want to be recruitment wise and we're certainly no different.
We definitely need add in midfield and up front.
A draw won't be a disaster and a win a real bonus.
A small number of our fans have already started complaining about the new manager , three years on and they still hanker after the Cowleys.

 

[FGR Stroud]

It's not really gonna feel like a league one fixture against FGR having played them a lot in the lower divisions of late. Im sure they will say the same about us!!

Until I checked the H2H I had not realised that FGR have such good league results against our near neighbour.
But of course they secured promotion after home & away play-off wins agin FGR.
Last season Bristol R secured auto promotion in the most spectacular manner with a 7-0 win in final game of season so doubtless they they will be confident of continued successes.

BTW do many agree that their theme song 'Goodnight Irene' is probably the most famous fans goal scoring song in Football League, or certainly in the lower leagues.
So infuriating that it becomes a bloody earworm to the rest of us.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

It's not really gonna feel like a league one fixture against FGR having played them a lot in the lower divisions of late. Im sure they will say the same about us!!

It's the glamour tie you fought so hard to be promoted and play.

 

[Fedora Dale]

Tempted to have a treble on away wins for Oxford, Bolton and Pompey, all of whom are capable teams...

 

[nelsonpfc]

Tempted to have a treble on away wins for Oxford, Bolton and Pompey, all of whom are capable teams...

Don't bet on us (Pompey) 0 pace in the side. No Right wing and nothing on the bench..

 

[denzel ecfc]

As it stands, we will lose to Lincoln.

But we might sign some players before Saturday so

 

[masi51]

Big opener away at Ipswich in front of 25k plus
We have been hit and miss in pre-season as Evatt tried a few experimental options.
We have as strong a squad as anyone in this league so our bench will be decent going for a 2-2 draw

3/5/2

Trafford
Bradley
John


Jones
Santos
Jonstone/Iredale

MJ Williams
Lee/Dempsey
Morley

Dapo/Bodvarsson
Charles


subs
Dixon G/K
Lee/Dempsey
Dapo/Bodvarsson
Iredale/Johnston
Toal/Aimson
/Sheehan/Thomason
Sadlier/Katchunga
Bakayoko

 

[BarrieOwl]

A couple of reality checks from the last two games but given Pompeys struggles in the market I'd expect we have far too much for them

 

[Si Robin]

Cheltenham legend Grant McCann will be welcomed back to Whaddon Road with open arms. Hopefully he and his Peterborough team will leave with bloodied noses though.

Hard to predict what we're going to do. We've lost a couple of big players, but nothing that can't be replaced. Said replacements seem promising and have done ok in pre-season. The big worry, losing Alfie May, still hasn't come to anything yet, and we appear to have definitely upgraded in other positions, such as in goal.

Anyway, likely line-up:

GK - Luke Southwood

RWB - Ryan Jackson

CB - Sean Long (c)
CB - Caleb Taylor
CB - Charlie Raglan

LWB - Ben Williams

CM - Elliott Bonds
CM - Liam Sercombe
CM - Taylor Perry

CF - Alfie May
CF - Dan Nlundulu

 

[Gassy]

View attachment 17453
Until I checked the H2H I had not realised that FGR have such good league results against our near neighbour.
But of course they secured promotion after home & away play-off wins agin FGR.
Last season Bristol R secured auto promotion in the most spectacular manner with a 7-0 win in final game of season so doubtless they they will be confident of continued successes.

BTW do many agree that their theme song 'Goodnight Irene' is probably the most famous fans goal scoring song in Football League, or certainly in the lower leagues.
So infuriating that it becomes a bloody earworm to the rest of us.

Personally I don’t count Play offs as a cup game, I think officially they’re not either?

If a player scores in the play offs it counts towards their season total I think?

 

[YEO YEO YEO]

I'll happy settle for a point to start the season. Whilst Exeter have yet to make a signing and will feel this game is too soon, its pretty much how we see it from a Lincoln point of view too. Going to be interesting to see how we fare.

 

[Luke Imp]

I'd take a point to get off the mark as well, I think for both sides it feels like the first game of the season has come around a little too early.

For us, we're going into it not really being too sure what to expect. New manager, new assistant manager, new first team coach, new GK coach, new head of performance, new head of sport science, new sports science, new physios - it's been a complete change behind the scenes after a disappointing season last year. There's not been *that* much player movement, so it's a settled squad but the players we've lost have been through the spine of the team.

Doesn't look like we'll be quite as risky as last season but still want to pop it around. We're clearly short up front and in midfield so I can't see us asking too many questions in the attacking third. Guessing we'll be 4-3-3, pretty much how we started yesterday.

Maguire is leaving so he'll not be in the squad, House missed yesterday having gone off against Hartlepool, Walsh hasn't appeared in pre-season because of injury (again) and whether he's actually sticking around full stop I'm not sure and they'll be no Mandroiu either who signed with an ankle injury but is back in a couple of weeks (LOI are in the middle of their season so I don't think he'll take much getting back up to speed).

 

[Davidimp]

Looking forward to seeing Mandroiu, he's the big unknown, 36 goals in 90 games in Ireland

 

[Bar Carousel]

Don't bet on us (Pompey) 0 pace in the side. No Right wing and nothing on the bench..

I don't think we'll be at full strength until the transfer window closes. Can see Curtis moving on and another three or four players coming in, some of whom probably aren't available at present. Cowley seems to like to squeeze the value out of every window, and is happy to wait until the last minute.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Without Wilson I think we might struggle. He's our platinum player and the difference in some games. We also don't have Conlon or Walker as starters, so we look a bit light in midfield.

We might make a couple of signings this week but I doubt they'll be ready. Fleetwood are pretty established and will be no mugs, I'm expecting a slow start from us unfortunately. We won't hit our stride until September/October at least.

 

[valefan16]

Without Wilson I think we might struggle. He's our platinum player and the difference in some games. We also don't have Conlon or Walker as starters, so we look a bit light in midfield.

We might make a couple of signings this week but I doubt they'll be ready. Fleetwood are pretty established and will be no mugs, I'm expecting a slow start from us unfortunately. We won't hit our stride until September/October at least.

It all depends on who we sign? If attached to a club they maybe have had a pre season for instance.

Rumours that Massey from Wigan was at the club the other day which would be a decent option and we were in talks with a Prem club Friday so see what the week brings. Essentially we are still an unknown quantity in that we haven’t done any business bar Ojo and Cass yet and 6 or 7 will be joining.

4 points from the first two would be a decent start ahead of some games against sides expected to do well.

 

[K-Win]

I agree somewhat with my fellow Pompey fans above about Saturday. However, it's weird that I feel pessimistic about Saturday yet optimistic about the season in general.

We had a ridiculously easy start last season so can't complain too much about this opening fixture. It's just a case of hoping that we somehow scrape a point and then we kick on from there.

 

[Floreat Salopia]

Away to Morecambe to start for us.

I haven’t been impressed with any of Morecambe’s signings and I’m confident in saying that they’ll be in the bottom 4 come the end of the season. With us wanting to “have a go” this season and push for the play offs upwards, we need to be looking at picking up all 3 points here.

We’ll no doubt line up in Cotterill’s favourite 5-3-2 formation.

GK) Marosi

RWB) Dacosta
CB) Pennighton
CB) Dunkley
CB) Flanagan
LWB) Nurse

CM) Bayliss/Taylor Moore
CM) Leahy
CM) Shipley

ST) Bowman
ST) Udoh

There’s a rumour on our forum that we could be smashing our transfer record for a striker from another League 1 club (hopefully that doesn’t mean Udoh is off) so it could be a different strike force come Saturday.

For now though, I’ll go Morecambe 0-2 Salop (Leahy, Udoh)

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

We're far too open to play against and our defence is an absolute mess. If we don't get any loans in, we're in trouble this season so on paper, Salop should be winning this quite comfortably.

It's like we're playing with zero confidence already and no direction in our style which is quite worrying.

A club like us should always be optimistic about a season in League 1 but Robbo's poor signings last summer has left us in a state with some real turd on 2 year deals, so we can't bring anyone in.

The season hasn't even started and i'm already waiting for Derek's meltdown. On a positive note though, the pies have improved.

 

[UppaTowen_ITFC]

Barnsley look the best price to me. 12/5 away to an ok Plymouth side looks more than fair to me

 

[BarrieOwl]

Barnsley look the best price to me. 12/5 away to an ok Plymouth side looks more than fair to me

An OK side who finished miles ahead of you?

Barnsley lost both main strikers and have been scratching around for replacements

 

[SVH]

Bristol Rovers, Wycombe and Shrewsbury is my treble for the weekend.