E10rifle
Well-Known Member
With some sides hitting the 36-game mark, I think it’s about time that the discussion about the division’s most important piece of silverware begins. Due to the league being utterly fucking awful this year, there are fewer runners and riders than usual as the playoff bar is, IMHO, going to be set extremely low. On the flip side, with five or six sides incapable of scoring a goal - let alone winning a game - the survival portion of the MTC should be attained very shortly for some.
As it stands, I make Stevenage favourites for the title. 13 points from both the drop zone and the playoffs, Alex Revell has done exceptionally well to turn last year’s relegation fodder into the epitome of mediocrity. With a strong emphasis on defensive organisation, posing little attacking threat and having very few games left, Hertfordshire’s little club that couldn’t might be about to obtain the first meaningful silverware of their hitherto pointless existence.
With a squad seemingly running on empty, Bradford Chickens are my second favourites. Though the playoffs are still being mentioned, I fear that their zenith has been reached for this season. They should bobble along at around 1.3 ppg to the end of the season which will be enough to see them safe in no time and well out of the playoff picture if anyone above them goes on a decent run.
The other two teams with the strongest shouts are Harrogate and (no calls of bias in the back, thanks) everyone’s favourite London-based Cinderella club. The Mid-Table Cup Ball is one Orient could well find themselves attending if they can scrape a result over the next few weeks; if not, getting mathematically safe from the drop any time soon might prove tricky. Harrogate have surely shot their bolt in terms of a playoff push, but they have a soft-looking set of fixtures to come. Mid-table mediocrity will be a breeze.
Of the outsiders, Mansfield and Scunny both look surefire bets to stay up comfortably, but their current relative proximity to the drop zone and patchy form leaves them hard to predict. A left-field choice may be illegitimate National League “champions”, Barrow, who have plenty of games in hand to pull away from the relegation slots whilst simultaneously having less chance of making the playoffs than Devon Lad has of making it a week without knocking one out over Anne Widdicombe.
As it stands, I make Stevenage favourites for the title. 13 points from both the drop zone and the playoffs, Alex Revell has done exceptionally well to turn last year’s relegation fodder into the epitome of mediocrity. With a strong emphasis on defensive organisation, posing little attacking threat and having very few games left, Hertfordshire’s little club that couldn’t might be about to obtain the first meaningful silverware of their hitherto pointless existence.
With a squad seemingly running on empty, Bradford Chickens are my second favourites. Though the playoffs are still being mentioned, I fear that their zenith has been reached for this season. They should bobble along at around 1.3 ppg to the end of the season which will be enough to see them safe in no time and well out of the playoff picture if anyone above them goes on a decent run.
The other two teams with the strongest shouts are Harrogate and (no calls of bias in the back, thanks) everyone’s favourite London-based Cinderella club. The Mid-Table Cup Ball is one Orient could well find themselves attending if they can scrape a result over the next few weeks; if not, getting mathematically safe from the drop any time soon might prove tricky. Harrogate have surely shot their bolt in terms of a playoff push, but they have a soft-looking set of fixtures to come. Mid-table mediocrity will be a breeze.
Of the outsiders, Mansfield and Scunny both look surefire bets to stay up comfortably, but their current relative proximity to the drop zone and patchy form leaves them hard to predict. A left-field choice may be illegitimate National League “champions”, Barrow, who have plenty of games in hand to pull away from the relegation slots whilst simultaneously having less chance of making the playoffs than Devon Lad has of making it a week without knocking one out over Anne Widdicombe.
