Promotion Thread

[The_Boss]

That story seems a bit weird to me. You are down to 16 players so you played a reserve game?
If you had only 16 players fit then how can you manage a reserve game only 48 hours after playing at Gateshead?
Suggests to me that you have more than 16 to choose from.

Youth teamers?

 

[springerbfc]

The slip up is coming for Bristol Rovers - they're getting the excuses in already!
Their next two fixtures are tough and if they were to lose one, it could be the start of a wobble after going unbeaten for so long.

Have said before that Grimsby and Macc are not out of the title race.

 

[BeesKnees]

Youth teamers?

Exactly, we have had youth players on the bench several times this season, including last Saturday. It's no big deal.

 

[miagsygas]

The slip up is coming for Bristol Rovers - they're getting the excuses in already!
Their next two fixtures are tough and if they were to lose one, it could be the start of a wobble after going unbeaten for so long.

Have said before that Grimsby and Macc are not out of the title race.

We had our best player out at Grimsby away, we won that game. I'm not making an excuse, we can win against top teams without our key player, unlike some.

Exactly, we have had youth players on the bench several times this season, including last Saturday. It's no big deal.

The article says sixteen senior players in the first paragraph. There's no quotes of anyone making excuses, moaning about it or saying anything about youth players being on the bunch.

 

[BeesKnees]

The article says sixteen senior players in the first paragraph. There's no quotes of anyone making excuses, moaning about it or saying anything about youth players being on the bunch.

Fair enough, just seems weird for an article to say we are short of players so we played an extra game.

 

[BeesKnees]

We had our best player out at Grimsby away, we won that game. I'm not making an excuse, we can win against top teams without our key player, unlike some..

We shall see if you can keep it up on Saturday. Missing key players, short of numbers and against a side with proven goal scorers at a higher level. Pressures on

 

[miagsygas]

A couple of those players really need minutes, though, an injury or two and we'd be relying on the likes of Trotman or Balanta who, although more than capable, have had very little minutes lately.

As I said before, Eastleigh are a good side capable of coming here and getting a win, few teams have but they've got a shot. Definitely confident in this side though, and I think we play better when people have a go at us because we struggle to score goals when teams put 10 men behind the ball

 

[Gashead]

Wait, why is this being raised now? It's a non story!

It's exactly the same team as we've had since Lincoln at home for all but 25 minutes of the Gateshead game.

 

[springerbfc]

No it's not, it's the first signs of panic setting in now that you've hit top spot. The pressure is clearly getting to you, your players are dropping like flies and your promotion hopes are now hanging by a thread.

It's ok though, the play offs aren't all that bad.

 

[Gas Go Marching In]

I'll stick my neck on the line in and say that I think there is more chance of Barnet coming unstuck this weekend than us. Forest Green are top of the form league over the past 10 games and are chasing the playoffs. I think they have more of a result there than Eastleigh do at our place.

 

[Gladders]

you're both going to lose and there will be 5 points between top and 4th with a game in hand come Saturday night!

*may or may not happen

 

[Vanni]

Could be neither Bristol nor Barnet get top spot! I still haven't ruled out The Mariners, which would be great as they've been down here for 5 years I think and so have served their time. Bristol can afford to wait their turn. I'm sorry but it's an unwritten rule.

 

[Gashead]

Could be neither Bristol nor Barnet get top spot! I still haven't ruled out The Mariners, which would be great as they've been down here for 5 years I think and so have served their time. Bristol can afford to wait their turn. I'm sorry but it's an unwritten rule.

All of the top four are in with a chance at the moment if you ask me! Everything will become much clearer in the next month I think.

 

[Clarkey_GTFC]

I look at it in one light and see that it only takes Rovers and Barnet to lose a game each, considering we win that day(s) then we're more than back in it. But then I think, 90 points for the title seems reasonable which means us winning 9 out of our last 10 games, which might still not even be enough.

I mean it will take a huge swing which is more than possible, but I'm not sure we'll win the amount of games required to finish first. I am however a lot more confident about the play-offs than I was in the previous two season (subject to Bristol finishing first, can't see us beating them).

 

[Southern Shayman]

I look at it in one light and see that it only takes Rovers and Barnet to lose a game each, considering we win that day(s) then we're more than back in it. But then I think, 90 points for the title seems reasonable which means us winning 9 out of our last 10 games, which might still not even be enough.

I mean it will take a huge swing which is more than possible, but I'm not sure we'll win the amount of games required to finish first. I am however a lot more confident about the play-offs than I was in the previous two season (subject to Bristol finishing first, can't see us beating them).

Can't see anyone beating Rovers over two legs personally.

I wouldn't be confident about beating any of the others either - but there'd at least be hope!

 

[Vanni]

Why shouldn't you beat Rovers over two legs? I think it's doable, especially as you've got invaluable past play off experience, plus the fact they have much to lose. Also don't forget that the po's are a different matter entirely than the league - form doesn't matter that much as recent po games have shown us.

If you lot make the po's, and it would take a disastrous run in order not to, I'd say you'd start as favourites. If you drop out of the title race, then I can see Barnet and Rovers going head to head up til the final day, and I wouldn't have great hopes for whoever loses out. We've all seen this before. The only side that could potentially trouble Grimsby would be Macc as they've got nothing to lose.

 

[Gladders]

Nah Rovers would be favourite over us they are too strong defensively and we need lots of chances to score one goal.

I'm confident we can beat anyone over two legs in the play off this year except Bristol.

 

[GTFC1979]

Why shouldn't you beat Rovers over two legs? I think it's doable, especially as you've got invaluable past play off experience, plus the fact they have much to lose. Also don't forget that the po's are a different matter entirely than the league - form doesn't matter that much as recent po games have shown us.

If you lot make the po's, and it would take a disastrous run in order not to, I'd say you'd start as favourites. If you drop out of the title race, then I can see Barnet and Rovers going head to head up til the final day, and I wouldn't have great hopes for whoever loses out. We've all seen this before. The only side that could potentially trouble Grimsby would be Macc as they've got nothing to lose.

Macc would be a strange one as we always get a good result at their gaff, then they always come and do us at BP.
I wouldn't like to call that one if it happened!!

 

[The_Boss]

Could be neither Bristol nor Barnet get top spot! I still haven't ruled out The Mariners, which would be great as they've been down here for 5 years I think and so have served their time. Bristol can afford to wait their turn. I'm sorry but it's an unwritten rule.

Err you do know that all neutral fans are automatically enrolled as following the #MaccMachine2015 - don't be thinking you can support any of the other teams down here.

 

[rudebwoyben]

I'd be more confident of facing Bristol Rovers over two legs than Grimsby.

 

[miagsygas]

In a playoff scenario, anyone will have a team they'd rather not come up against even if they're confident they can beat anyone. Thing is you can throw everything out of the window in the Conference. If i were a Grimsby fan, I wouldnt want to go up against Barnet, but i'd want to go up against us (Rovers). Grimsby handled Barnet well in both games but you just know Barnet would be even more up for it and desperate to prove a point. Grimsby would be wanting to give us a beating after we took four points off them.

I think our team could be set up well for playoff football but if when i'm betting on playoff scenarios I usually pick the team that's just scraped into the playoffs over the team who just missed out on promotion. I'm most certainly hoping we don't need it.

 

[GTFC1979]

In a playoff scenario, anyone will have a team they'd rather not come up against even if they're confident they can beat anyone. Thing is you can throw everything out of the window in the Conference. If i were a Grimsby fan, I wouldnt want to go up against Barnet, but i'd want to go up against us (Rovers). Grimsby handled Barnet well in both games but you just know Barnet would be even more up for it and desperate to prove a point. Grimsby would be wanting to give us a beating after we took four points off them.

I think our team could be set up well for playoff football but if when i'm betting on playoff scenarios I usually pick the team that's just scraped into the playoffs over the team who just missed out on promotion. I'm most certainly hoping we don't need it.

That is a very good point, in our 2 play-off failures down here we took 4 points off Newport, then they did us in the play-offs, then 4 points off Gateshead season after and the same happened.
And when losing the League 2 play-off final against Cheltenham we were absolutely abysmal, despite beating them home and away in the league.

 

[les.gtfc]

Don't really want to state the obvious but all we can do is keep winning our games and hope the teams above us slip up. Big, big game for us tomorrow at Woking and if we lose that then I think that's the end to any faint hopes we still have of the title.

One thing is for sure, we're going to have to play far better than our last 2 games when we beat both Braintree and Telford 1-0 at home. We didn't play at all well in either game but managed to get the all-important 3 points.

It's quite incredible the difference between a Grimsby Town away team and a Grimsby Town home team this season. Away from home we've had some decent performances and results recently, the 1-0 win at Eastleigh recently springs to mind where we dominated almost the entire 90 minutes and the game at Barnet, although in the last few minutes it could have gone either way was another decent showing. At home we just seem to struggle with the expectations of the home crowd and seem really nervous whereas away from home the players relax and usually put in a decent shift.

I will take 10 more boring scrappy 1-0's till the end of the season though if it means we get out of this Division but Rovers are definitely favourites now and it's theirs to lose.

 

[AdamStag]

All the sides in the top 5 look like they'd have a reasonable chance of being alright in league 2. Though it would be interesting to see how Forest Green managed....

Luton (4th) and Cambridge (16th) have settled in well from last season, and us (17th) and Newport (7th) have found life alright, even though we haven't really pulled up any trees.

From a selfish perspective, it would be nice to see Macc or Grimsby back up through the playoffs with Bristol up automatically

 

[GTFC1979]

Don't really want to state the obvious but all we can do is keep winning our games and hope the teams above us slip up. Big, big game for us tomorrow at Woking and if we lose that then I think that's the end to any faint hopes we still have of the title.

One thing is for sure, we're going to have to play far better than our last 2 games when we beat both Braintree and Telford 1-0 at home. We didn't play at all well in either game but managed to get the all-important 3 points.

It's quite incredible the difference between a Grimsby Town away team and a Grimsby Town home team this season. Away from home we've had some decent performances and results recently, the 1-0 win at Eastleigh recently springs to mind where we dominated almost the entire 90 minutes and the game at Barnet, although in the last few minutes it could have gone either way was another decent showing. At home we just seem to struggle with the expectations of the home crowd and seem really nervous whereas away from home the players relax and usually put in a decent shift.

I will take 10 more boring scrappy 1-0's till the end of the season though if it means we get out of this Division but Rovers are definitely favourites now and it's theirs to lose.

I disagree on one part of that post Les, our performance against Telford i thought was excellent, albeit against a woeful side who looked terribly short on confidence, just our finishing that day let us down but i thought our overall play was very good.

 

[springerbfc]

All the sides in the top 5 look like they'd have a reasonable chance of being alright in league 2. Though it would be interesting to see how Forest Green managed....

Although it's hard to judge this, I'd say Bristol Rovers and Grimsby would adapt well but ourselves, Macclesfield and FGR would all need fairly major squad improvement if we were to avoid struggling at the wrong end of the table.

 

[springerbfc]

I'll stick my neck on the line in and say that I think there is more chance of Barnet coming unstuck this weekend than us. Forest Green are top of the form league over the past 10 games and are chasing the playoffs. I think they have more of a result there than Eastleigh do at our place.

I agree with this.

However, Eastleigh do score goals so if they do breach your backline, they will have a decent chance of picking up something.

Ourselves against FGR should be a bit of a goal fest and really could go either way.

It's certainly an interesting round of fixtures with six of the top seven facing off against each other.

This presents an excellent opportunity for whoever picks up a win from those fixtures whilst #MightyMaccMachine will presumably be hoping for draws all round.

 

[Railway Blue]

It's beginning to look like Bristol Rovers to win it and the Macclesfield fairy tale to win play-offs, although I'd be glad to see the back of Barnet.

 

[The_Boss]

I agree with this.

However, Eastleigh do score goals so if they do breach your backline, they will have a decent chance of picking up something.

Ourselves against FGR should be a bit of a goal fest and really could go either way.

It's certainly an interesting round of fixtures with six of the top seven facing off against each other.

This presents an excellent opportunity for whoever picks up a win from those fixtures whilst #MightyMaccMachine will presumably be hoping for draws all round.

Nah wins for FGR, Eastleigh and Woking preferably. No point worrying about people catching us, that wont happen as long as we win, and we need to concentrate on catching those above.

 

[les.gtfc]

I disagree on one part of that post Les, our performance against Telford i thought was excellent, albeit against a woeful side who looked terribly short on confidence, just our finishing that day let us down but i thought our overall play was very good.

Yeah, fair enough we didn't play that badly against Telford, although I wouldn't for as far as " excellent" and if there is such thing as a comfortable 1-0 win then that was it, but we missed plenty of chances, which against a better team we probably wouldn't have got away with and we certainly need to be finishing better when we get the chances that came our way against Telford.