Saturday 16th December Fixtures

[SVH]

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Tough run of fixtures for the rest of year.... Bolton (A), Blackpool (A), Portsmouth (H) and Charlton (H)
I would have been more confident at Bolton after last night if half our defence hadn't gone off injured, not good when you are playing the joint 2nd L1 top scorers...especially when their replacements are poor.
Charles loves scoring against us. Will be a defeat but hopefully not an embarrassing one

 

[LordJord]

Away at moneybags Carlisle. Will be one I will be watching on iFollow on this occasion I think. We are in great form winning 4 out of 5, Carlisle are the opposite losing 4 out of 5. I imagine both teams were pencilled in as being favourites for the drop so these are the sorts of games that our seasons would normally hang on.

That being said our recent form has seen us propel up to mid table and a win could put us 13 point above the drop zone which is huge. I think whilst we only have one game a week we will see our form remain decent. Our first XI is effective and with Marc Leonard now playing with more freedom slightly further forward in midfield we have started creating more chances.

I know Carlisle fans are expecting some higher quality signings with the recent takeover but I imagine games against the likes of ourselves need to be pencilled in as must win's to avoid having too large a gap from the rest of the sides above.

Im going to go for a 2-1 victory for Cobblers, Hoskins and Leonard with the goals.

 

[EricSabin]

Away at moneybags Carlisle. Will be one I will be watching on iFollow on this occasion I think. We are in great form winning 4 out of 5, Carlisle are the opposite losing 4 out of 5. I imagine both teams were pencilled in as being favourites for the drop so these are the sorts of games that our seasons would normally hang on.

That being said our recent form has seen us propel up to mid table and a win could put us 13 point above the drop zone which is huge. I think whilst we only have one game a week we will see our form remain decent. Our first XI is effective and with Marc Leonard now playing with more freedom slightly further forward in midfield we have started creating more chances.

I know Carlisle fans are expecting some higher quality signings with the recent takeover but I imagine games against the likes of ourselves need to be pencilled in as must win's to avoid having too large a gap from the rest of the sides above.

Im going to go for a 2-1 victory for Cobblers, Hoskins and Leonard with the goals.

I also think we can sneak a win, hope we go there and attack them. Our recent run has been superb, got our best eleven out and it’s really showing on the pitch. Can’t see many travelling here, more sold already for Stevenage Boxing Day and Lincoln on the 29th

 

[Bartonyellow]

We never get anything from Oxford. Always get tonked. I see the same Saturday, but Oxford should be wary that we are now an unknown quantity, as the manager has gone and the interim might play a formation that works - and if we click we might be half decent.
Prediction- 3-1 loss.

 

[codaplenty]

Posh at home and hard to believe with our current form that we achieved a double over them last season
Straight forward away win for the visitors, we might keep it down to 3 but a comprehensive defeat for the Cods

 

[E10rifle]

We won’t score, we’re unlikely to keep a clean sheet and if the past few weeks are anything to go by we won’t even care. 4-0 Cheltenham.

 

[Si Robin]

We've not scored 4 in a game since April 2022 (a 4-4 draw with Accrington), but I do think this is a game we need to be looking to win if we're serious about trying to stay up.

Annoyingly, all on our podcast have predicted Cheltenham wins so it's a nailed on Orient win now.

 

[thewwfc]

I consider the Derby game as a free hit really, if we get anything at all I'd be chuffed but am expecting a defeat.

The game I'm really looking to is Port Vale on the 23rd, if we lose that then I can only imagine how toxic the atmosphere might get around the ground.

 

[valefan16]

Tricky game, Wigan haven't been losing and we've had extra time in midweek plus a morale deflating penalty defeat in a game we should of cruised to victory before Crosby went suicidal with the subs and tactical changes.

Positives are the performance up until taking our creative midfielders off was much better and against a side flying so hopefully can take those bits into this, 5 league defeats on the spin at home I think now though and this would equal a record if we lost again.

Need to build on Exeter win, even if just a draw but lets ditch this ridiculous pre planned subs based on sports science and use our eyes! Forget the Quarter Final until after 5pm Saturday as three points would be massive.

I always feel you want to have 25 points by end of Game 23 so 4 games to find 3 points, do it here then we are on track and have 3 games to try and get a few to make the second half of the season easier.

 

[valefan16]

I consider the Derby game as a free hit really, if we get anything at all I'd be chuffed but am expecting a defeat.

The game I'm really looking to is Port Vale on the 23rd, if we lose that then I can only imagine how toxic the atmosphere might get around the ground.

We are not too bad on the road in fairness! but we will park the bus anyway so you'll probably be fine. Its one I am targeting as a biggy though as our fixtures either side look fairly tough.

 

[thewwfc]

We are not too bad on the road in fairness! but we will park the bus anyway so you'll probably be fine.

ah we're screwed then, unless we scramble a goal from a set piece, we can't score from open play for shit.

We're really slow to get the ball up the pitch, which gives people plenty of time to get all their defenders back.

 

[Dan Phillips]

I consider the Derby game as a free hit really, if we get anything at all I'd be chuffed but am expecting a defeat.

The game I'm really looking to is Port Vale on the 23rd, if we lose that then I can only imagine how toxic the atmosphere might get around the ground.

Hell will freeze over before we win at Wycombe.

I've been 5 times. 4 draws and a defeat.

 

[valefan16]

Hell will freeze over before we win at Wycombe.

I've been 5 times. 4 draws and a defeat.

Think we’ve won once on our first visit, McPhee! Other than that it’s not a great hunting ground although of course we did win promotion there.

 

[denzel ecfc]

You've spelt Exeter City Nil wrong.

Probably 3-0 to Stevenage, sadly. Caldwell rewarded with a 5 year contract

 

[The Terminator]

We've not scored 4 in a game since April 2022 (a 4-4 draw with Accrington), but I do think this is a game we need to be looking to win if we're serious about trying to stay up.

Annoyingly, all on our podcast have predicted Cheltenham wins so it's a nailed on Orient win now.

Our record at your place is poor, only won there twice in 2004 and 2009, both of which I was there for.

Basically if we manage to score first, we'll likely get something from the game. Scoring has been our all round problem, we don't take our chances and the squad is now feeling the pressure of the step up - so its now up to Wellens, the staff and the players to now learn quickly otherwise we'll be in the bottom four at some point.

We've not won for 8 games, so you'll have a good chance of a win here. With both sides having problems scoring IMO it will either be 0-0 or 1-0 either way.

Brandon Cooper banned, so Omar Beckles will likely come back after he returned from injury last week.

Dan Agyei is slowly finding his way back to fitness, but I can't see him starting for another few weeks yet.

 

[Si Robin]

We don't have problems scoring now - we've scored in every game since getting our first goal against Derby

 

[nelsonpfc]

Lets hope we haven't expelled all of our energy and focus Monday v Bolton. If we start like we did v Northampton last sat we should get a good result, although Shrews will probably be abit more defensive minded which we normally struggle breaking down

 

[folletto]

Fully expect our poor away form to continue at Barnsley. Will go for a relatively comfortable 3-1 win for them

 

[EricSabin]

Seen some playoff chat on Twitter from our fans so now convinced it stinks of 2-0 Carlisle

 

[Bar Carousel]

Seems that Bishop has been declared fit for Saturday. Be interesting to see what Mousinho does coming off the back of Yengi's very impressive performance on Monday.

Kamara shaken off the injury he picked up on Monday and Tom Lowery fully fit again now, so we should have a strong squad to travel up barring Poole, Sculley and Ogilvie.

 

[leedsvaliant]

ah we're screwed then, unless we scramble a goal from a set piece, we can't score from open play for shit.

We're really slow to get the ball up the pitch, which gives people plenty of time to get all their defenders back.

That's basically us, except it's more death by passing. We'll get into a crossing position, won't cross it, and end up passing it back to the keeper.

We'll undoubtedly concede a really sloppy goal against you.

Sounds like it's going to be a hell of a game!

 

[leedsvaliant]

In terms of Saturday, God knows what will happen. We'll huff and puff but concede a poor goal against a Wigan team who are in reality on the edge of the playoffs and seem to have settled to this level.

We need to get 3 points out of 1 of our 3 home games over Christmas but would prefer 6 out of 12 as that would mean 20-22 points for the second half of the season.

 

[HutchECFC]

Stevenage 5-0 Exeter
Jamie Reid hat-trick

 

[LordJord]

Seen some playoff chat on Twitter from our fans so now convinced it stinks of 2-0 Carlisle

Anyone suggesting we are in with a shot of the playoffs is living is mad to be honest. I think the realistically the very best we can hope for is to sneak into the top half and that would be a fantastic first season back. Still hugely reliant on Hoskins and we are always a few injuries away from struggling again IMO.

 

[EricSabin]

Anyone suggesting we are in with a shot of the playoffs is living is mad to be honest. I think the realistically the very best we can hope for is to sneak into the top half and that would be a fantastic first season back. Still hugely reliant on Hoskins and we are always a few injuries away from struggling again IMO.

We’re going up Jord

 

[Luke Imp]

Home to Reading, who are obviously in a false position due to their points deduction. I'm only going off their Eastleigh FA Cup game on TV but they seemed a fairly tidy and dangerous side, plenty of energy and try to score goals.

Sounds like our injuries have cleared up ahead of the Xmas schedule, with only the long termers out albeit those who've returned from injuries don't really have many minutes under their belts but it fills the bench if nothing else.

We could do with three points here because our Xmas period is Derby (a), Bolton (h), Northampton (h) and Blackpool (a), so that's a very tricky spell.

 

[valefan16]

Home to Reading, who are obviously in a false position due to their points deduction. I'm only going off their Eastleigh FA Cup game on TV but they seemed a fairly tidy and dangerous side, plenty of energy and try to score goals.

Sounds like our injuries have cleared up ahead of the Xmas schedule, with only the long termers out albeit those who've returned from injuries don't really have many minutes under their belts but it fills the bench if nothing else.

We could do with three points here because our Xmas period is Derby (a), Bolton (h), Northampton (h) and Blackpool (a), so that's a very tricky spell.

I wouldn't say they are overly, they've looked really poor and pretty toothless mostly, fairly young and inexperienced side.

Their away form is absolutely dire as well, only won once.

 

[EricSabin]

Home to Reading, who are obviously in a false position due to their points deduction. I'm only going off their Eastleigh FA Cup game on TV but they seemed a fairly tidy and dangerous side, plenty of energy and try to score goals.

Sounds like our injuries have cleared up ahead of the Xmas schedule, with only the long termers out albeit those who've returned from injuries don't really have many minutes under their belts but it fills the bench if nothing else.

We could do with three points here because our Xmas period is Derby (a), Bolton (h), Northampton (h) and Blackpool (a), so that's a very tricky spell.

Not too sure about a false position unless I’ve missed some sarcasm, they’d be 20th and out of the drop zone on goal difference with 4 points added

 

[Carver]

I can see nothing but a Northampton win.

Carlisle 0-6 Northampton
Hoskins hattrick