The bells and whistles promotion thread

[Gashead]

Yeah we had 2 key players missing up front with Paris Cowan-Hall out injured and Gary Thompson suspended. We had to loan out Holloway as he was pissed off with not starting so sulked and Ainsworth got him away from the other players as it seems he was bringing the dressing room down,so that left us well short of striking options.

Is Cowan-Hall gonna be fit for Saturday? Guaranteed to score if he is.

 

[mowgli]

Is Cowan-Hall gonna be fit for Saturday? Guaranteed to score if he is.

Not sure mate as Ainsworth never gives anything away regarding players injuries unless it' a long term one. Ah i just remembered he played on loan for you earlier in the season,was he any good for you?

 

[Aber gas]

Not sure mate as Ainsworth never gives anything away regarding players injuries unless it' a long term one. Ah i just remembered he played on loan for you earlier in the season,was he any good for you?

Not really, didn't get much of a crack tbf

 

[Gashead]

Not sure mate as Ainsworth never gives anything away regarding players injuries unless it' a long term one. Ah i just remembered he played on loan for you earlier in the season,was he any good for you?

Bit unfit and seemingly a bit lightweight - I suspect the two were related at the time. Had one or two moments of class though, I remember a great through ball for Taylor to score in one home game, but that was about it. Most of the time he was pretty anonymous.

Can certainly see why he would do well at this level, just don't think he was fit enough to succeed here at the time. Seems to be doing better for you lot.

 

[EricSabin]

Our last home game is sold out already with our pathetic capacity.

Be interesting to see if Oxford and Pompey can get much needed wins tonight. I don't think we will win tonight for some reason so perhaps Plymouth can close the gap away at Yeovil. If Oxford do slip up I expect Stanley to win, could be a very interesting table come 10pm.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Supporting County, Barnet, Exeter and a Wombles/Carlisle draw tonight

 

[Gashead]

Supporting County, Barnet, Exeter and a Wombles/Carlisle draw tonight

I'm going to chuck in Yeovil because you never bloody know.

 

[WAP]

I'm expecting a much better performance tonight than at Yeovil, we should be able to cause Barnet alot of problems tonight. Akinde is always a threat mind.

 

[mtfc26]

We are getting to the point in the season where stats and normal behaviours fly out the window and everyone starts looking at voodoo dolls and lucky socks to explain whats happening. Teams at the bottom will start scrapping ever harder for each point and it all becomes a much more level playing field.

The fact we have had 3 penalties against us in the last 2 home games and not one has been scored has me gaining slightly more hope than I had despite our "false" position.

 

[LordJord]

10 wins in a row. Unbelievible.

 

[StagsForLife]

Seeya Northampton, if you could now layoff the performances especially against us .

Overall decent night for us with only the Dons and Accy winning in the pack for the playoffs.

 

[cufc17]

And we've not put 2 wins together since November!

 

[Gashead]

Top teams with some convincing wins tonight. Accy made it a little hard at the end mind.

Pompey lost, Wombles win. Looking at Wombles next four, if they can get through those unscathed I reckon they'll get top 7. Same with Mansfield when they have a tough run next month.

 

[EricSabin]

10 wins in a row. Unbelievible.

So unbelievable you can't even spell unbelievable! 12 points clear of 2nd, 8 away wins on the bounce, 10 wins on the bounce, 28 games on the bounce that we've scored. Jesus.

Wonder what day we'll be confirmed as Champions

 

[StagsForLife]

Top teams with some convincing wins tonight. Accy made it a little hard at the end mind.

Pompey lost, Wombles win. Looking at Wombles next four, if they can get through those unscathed I reckon they'll get top 7. Same with Mansfield when they have a tough run next month.

Yeah, that will definitely be our make or break run, having Dagenham H, Newport A and Yeovil H at the moment is something we need to be using as a springboard into our tough run by getting atleast 7/9 to gain that momentum.If we get through that tough period then I'll be confident of finishing in the play offs however for us 9th or 10th is still a fantastic achievement from where we were last year.

 

[StagsForLife]

So unbelievable you can't even spell unbelievable! 12 points clear of 2nd, 8 away wins on the bounce, 10 wins on the bounce, 28 games on the bounce that we've scored. Jesus.

Wonder what day we'll be confirmed as Champions

Shaquille O'Neal day anyone?

 

[EricSabin]

Shaquille O'Neal day anyone?

Sign me up! Reckon Mansfield will be the promotion day

 

[Nelza82]

Enjoying this season.

 

[JonnyWomble]

Yeah, we were talking about what would constitute unscathed from the next 4 (Oxford H, Cobblers A, Bristol R A, Accrington H) last night.

Our fixtures beyond that are relatively kind so six points or more would be fine I think. Fewer might also work - even three draws against the playoff teams wouldn't be a disaster as they wouldn't be winning either.

Wow. I hadn't even seen our fixtures. 3 of the top 4, and a playoff rival. Probably the hardest run we have ever had in the football league? Especially as we never ever get results from Oxford or Accy.

Imagine if we win them all...

 

[Gashead]

Yeah, we were talking about what would constitute unscathed from the next 4 (Oxford H, Cobblers A, Bristol R A, Accrington H) last night.

Our fixtures beyond that are relatively kind so six points or more would be fine I think. Fewer might also work - even three draws against the playoff teams wouldn't be a disaster as they wouldn't be winning either.

All depends on context doesn't it. You could lose them all, but if the teams around you are awful against 'easier' opposition then you're unscathed.

Realistically though, when we faced a similar spell (Oxford A, Plymouth H, Accrington A, Pompey A), I wanted 6 or 7 points. Unfortunately only got 4 after a good start but we're still hanging on in there. Remain in the PO spots after our game against Wycombe this weekend and the fixtures ease up a bit. Not much mind, given we have you and Mansfield next month.

 

[Don Tonberry]

We've totally fucked it now.

Unfortunately the sloggers of this division have sussed us and Paul Cook doesn't have a plan B. Granted, it was never a penalty in that dire game yesterday but we barely created anything and at this rate we'll be lucky to make the play-offs.

 

[rudebwoyben]

We've totally fucked it now.

Unfortunately the sloggers of this division have sussed us and Paul Cook doesn't have a plan B. Granted, it was never a penalty in that dire game yesterday but we barely created anything and at this rate we'll be lucky to make the play-offs.

It was a penalty.
But you're right, you had a lot of possession but created very little and with a bit of composure we could have added another. Your lot just seemed too languid in their play, not playing quickly enough and not turning our defence. Although the start of the second half was dodgy for us, we defended better the longer the half went on and we saw out the match fairly comfortably. On that sort of display, I can see you missing out on the play-offs altogether.
Not a great spectacle either.

 

[Don Tonberry]

We'll have to disagree on the penalty decision Ben, Akinde went down easier than a Leigh Park whore on a desperate old man. We could well have had a spot kick ourselves when one of your players fell on the ball and looked to have handled it.

I'm not excusing our performance, though. It was dire and we were clueless by the end.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Yeah, I'm not sure why Vilhete was trying to header a ball at such a low height, they've been given before.

I did warn you that Martin Allen might go for one of his brainwave line-ups. It worked better than other occasions.

 

[BeesKnees]

Looked like a pen to me regardless of how easy or not Akinde fell, the player still stuck out a leg and caught him. Soft but still a pen.

Allens lineup was similar to the one against Oxford. Basically play territory by throwing the ball half the length of the pitch

 

[rudebwoyben]

Looked like a pen to me regardless of how easy or not Akinde fell, the player still stuck out a leg and caught him. Soft but still a pen.

Allens lineup was similar to the one against Oxford. Basically play territory by throwing the ball half the length of the pitch

Except now with Pearson, we can hurl in 50m+ long throws from either flank!

 

[WAP]

We're going to need another Bristol Rovers performance on Saturday against Cambridge to ensure we don't fall even further behind. Think part of the problem is Cook hasn't made his mind up on who to play up top Smith and/or Mcnulty.

 

[E10rifle]

Stonking big day today, really, with three 'all-promotion' ties. The game at Adams Park looks particularly big, with both sides struggling for form at the moment. Whilst Northampton are gunning for a record 73 wins in a row or something, it's tighter than a nun's chuff elsewhere, with 5th placed Wimbledon capable of dropping as low as 9th tonight with a defeat. Should they prevail instead, that would open the door for Accrington to move into the top 3 of League Two for the first time since Sky invented football in 1992. There will be some crying children in Blackbird Leys to laugh at tonight if that happens; Time to grab the Kleenex/sock/cat fellow O's...

Accrington v Barnet
AFC Wombles v Oxford
Hartlepool v Northampton (C)
Orient v Creepy
Morecambe v Carlisle
Newport v Mansfield
Plymouth v Notts County
Portsmouth v Cambridge
Wycombe v Brizzle R

 

[EricSabin]

Wimbledon Oxford looks a good game

 

[nevermindtheboll_Ox]

Think we'll benefit from getting our toughest fixtures out the way early. After Plymouth and Orient the next two Saturdays, we've got a run of 8 games versus teams 12th-24th.