Playoffs

[CTFCfan99]

In league games yeah.

 

[The Terminator]

The third goal that Northampton scored - If there was a crowd there, you can bet that they would be screaming at the defender who left the ball for Evans the keeper, to tell him that there is a man on and to "GET RID OF IT"

Just my theory though. These little things that can affect a game with no crowd - the home team in particular won't have the crowd to warn them of any potential surrounding dangers!

Having said that, Owen Evans the keeper should really see the Northampton player bearing down on them both.

 

[Luke Imp]

Crikey, one extreme to the other from Cheltenham (and Northampton).

On my limited viewing, I think Exeter seem a little more well equipped for a style like Northampton. Cheltenham didn't seem to have too much physicality in the side and they combated that at Sixfields by keeping the ball well.

 

[Trapdoor]

STILL FUCKING BOUNCING!!!!!!

Shows what a difference having a couple of shots on target makes. Cant wait for Northampton. Is this finally our year?

 

[shoddycollins]

If Northampton v Exeter is anything like the games we played against Exeter when Curle was in charge then it'll be a banger of a playoff final.

 

[Si Robin]

We've been able to mix it up when we've had to this season.

I think the players were caught off-guard last night - which is a travesty in itself given it was obvious that's what Northampton had to do to stand a chance.

I think I'm over it now - we've had a great season, we could have gone on to win automatic promotion, we were brilliant defensively, rarely lost and one bad performance is not going to change those facts.

We've also got a strong spine already signed on for next season - Duff will be hurting and determined to go a step further next year. He's no Mark Yates, for example. The outlook is positive, even if it didn't feel like that at 10:00 last night.

 

[Indian Dan]

Problem with that is, one bad performance HAS changed all that.

Not fussed who wins - probably think Exeter deserve it overall.

 

[Trapdoor]

Problem with that is, one bad performance HAS changed all that.

That is the issue with playoffs. It's a genuine lottery, one individual mistake or a bit of an off day and it's all over. The better team doesn't necessarily run out the winner. It just takes one moment of inspired play or a lucky bounce and it can change the entire game.

Always better to go up automatically.

 

[dedwardp]

Another thing Cheltenham's performance shows last night is just how silly it is for everyone to judge all the other teams in the league after seeing them once, maybe twice in a season. We're all capable of wildly fluctuating standards.

 

[Trapdoor]

Another thing Cheltenham's performance shows last night is just how silly it is for everyone to judge all the other teams in the league after seeing them once, maybe twice in a season. We're all capable of wildly fluctuating standards.

.....But its fun to judge people on imbalanced sample sizes.

 

[LordJord]

Unbelievable result and performance from us yesterday, did not see that coming at all! We were direct still, but our pressing was hugely improved, 25 shots is testament to that. Morton must have eaten 100 Weetabix cos he did not stop running the entire night. Thought everyone was absolutely at their best, which was needed in the end.

Feel for Cheltenham, done by us 2 times in recent memory in the playoffs, if they retain Duff then they should be up for another promotion push next season.

Gutted I cant go to Wembley personally but buzzing for the final. We bullied Exeter earlier in the season here, they had a lot of the ball but Bowman was pretty isolated, hoping we can still do the same on the bigger pitch.

 

[Son of Cod]

Harsh on Cheltenham being in third, but they ragged it in 2006 at Cardiff after we were in the autos all season and beat them comfortably twice in the league so karma and all that. Can see them being decent again next season though. Tremendous effort from The Cobblers. Hopefully it's a decent final.

 

[TheDon]

Swindon always feels like more of a derby game than most other local games for me, although there's no malace between fans or anything. Hopefully we'll see you next season for another six points...

Ooops, maybe not!

 

[Son of Cod]

On a serious note. It looks likely the new season will start with crowds limited to 25% of their seated capacity. How on earth will clubs like Exeter, Bristol Rovers manage to afford to play when the majority of their capacity is standing terrace?

SCUNTHORPE AND MANSFIELD SET FOR RECORD ATTENDANCES!!!

 

[Si Robin]

Unbelievable result and performance from us yesterday, did not see that coming at all! We were direct still, but our pressing was hugely improved, 25 shots is testament to that. Morton must have eaten 100 Weetabix cos he did not stop running the entire night. Thought everyone was absolutely at their best, which was needed in the end.

Feel for Cheltenham, done by us 2 times in recent memory in the playoffs, if they retain Duff then they should be up for another promotion push next season.

Gutted I cant go to Wembley personally but buzzing for the final. We bullied Exeter earlier in the season here, they had a lot of the ball but Bowman was pretty isolated, hoping we can still do the same on the bigger pitch.

We seem to be concentrating on how poor we were last night - and by God we were poor - but it has to be said Northampton were fantastic. They wanted every ball and their pressing for the whole 99 mins of the match was immense.

Full credit to them and I hope they do the same to Exeter in the final, if only so my original prediction was right.

 

[shoddycollins]

On a serious note. It looks likely the new season will start with crowds limited to 25% of their seated capacity. How on earth will clubs like Exeter, Bristol Rovers manage to afford to play when the majority of their capacity is standing terrace?

That would limit our capacity to 2250... which should at least see all ST holders in.

 

[Si Robin]

That would give us a maximum capacity of 978. I know we're not well supported but that's not even enough space for S/T holders.

 

[Trapdoor]

Assuming we are not allowed any standing it would reduce our capacity to ~930.

I imagine they will apply the rule to standing >1m apart as well though in line with pubs and shops etc. in which case we will have another 2k or so on that.

 

[Chris FGR]

How can you enforce the 1m rule on a terrace, in concourses, toilets etc?

25% of our seating capacity would be around 500. That's about 20% of our average gate. We had around 1000 season ticket holders last season, so will be interesting to see how they decide who gets in.

 

[Trapdoor]

How can you enforce the 1m rule on a terrace, in concourses, toilets etc?

How can you even enforce the 1m rule in supermarkets? I've not seen anybody capable of following the guidelines apart from when standing in formally marked out queues. The width of some shop aisles is about 1m... Once people get inside the shops its still a complete free for all.

 

[Chris FGR]

True. So is there actually any point clubs spending money on all the signage etc?

 

[Devon_Lad]

Harsh on Cheltenham being in third, but they ragged it in 2006 at Cardiff after we were in the autos all season and beat them comfortably twice in the league so karma and all that. Can see them being decent again next season though. Tremendous effort from The Cobblers. Hopefully it's a decent final.

In third? They didn't finish in third. They were fifth in the league, then because they played a game less jumped to fourth by default on ppg

 

[Son of Cod]

How can you enforce the 1m rule on a terrace, in concourses, toilets etc?

25% of our seating capacity would be around 500. That's about 20% of our average gate. We had around 1000 season ticket holders last season, so will be interesting to see how they decide who gets in.

Sounds like a great opportunity for some bright green Ecotricity tape/branding plastered all over The New Lawn to me.

 

[Son of Cod]

In third? They didn't finish in third. They were fifth in the league, then because they played a game less jumped to fourth by default on ppg

4th yeah, you know what I meant. I thought they were in 4th before PPG though?

 

[Devon_Lad]

4th yeah, you know what I meant. I thought they were in 4th before PPG though?

No, we were fourth, they were fifth. We were ahead by a point, but played a game extra so our ppg was slightly less than theres

 

[valefan16]

September is a long time, rules may change by then, look how things have changed in the past few weeks.

On the flip side we could have the second peak (some have predicted it will come end of August/early September if it comes at all) and then 20/21 is pretty much a write off at this level, as it would be if it blows up in the winter months.

Hopefully not of course!

 

[valefan16]

Our capacity though if 25% is 4763 (maybe more if allowed to use the new area of the Lorne St)

 

[Chris FGR]

September is a long time, rules may change by then, look how things have changed in the past few weeks.

On the flip side we could have the second peak (some have predicted it will come end of August/early September if it comes at all) and then 20/21 is pretty much a write off at this level, as it would be if it blows up in the winter months.

Hopefully not of course!

Second wave in Korea, parts of Germany etc so could easily happen here.

That's why no clubs should be signing players at this point imo, it's too risky. Should wait until a couple of weeks before the season starts when everyone knows it's definitely happening, and whether any fans will be let in.

 

[EricSabin]

Battered Cheltenham last night. From the first whistle they looked so up for it and were constantly picking up the second balls in midfield and pressing high. Cheltenham looked like rabbits in headlights. Credit to Curle and the team because I think most of us had written them off.

 

[CTFCfan99]

With Cheltenham teams in the past, no matter how good we've been I've always had the nagging sense that we'd bottle it on the big occasion (and I've usually been proven right). I can honestly say that not one part of me genuinely believed we'd fuck that up yesterday. Not once this season have we been outplayed like we were last night, the few games we've lost have been tight and could've gone either way and even in our worst spell of the season we were showing some fight and drawing games we'd usually have lost.

Fair play to Northampton - from the first minute they looked so up for it and as soon as that first goal went it you knew it was gonna be their day. I just hope we use this as motivation to kick on next season and get into those automatic places. Fuck the playoffs!!