Play-offs (2 Viewers)

[rupert_bear]

There will be a lot of points won and lost between the contenders so 69/70 points could well be enough. As said earlier win our home games and we won't be far away.

 

---

[Otis]

There will be a lot of points won and lost between the contenders so 69/70 points could well be enough. As said earlier win our home games and we won't be far away.

We have:

Swindon

Colchester

Millwall

Bradford

Sheff Utd.


Some tough games there, but if we have any aspirations we need to be looking to beat the likes of Bradford and Millwall anyway.

 

[st john]

Maybe being just behind the top 6 pack will play to our advantage. There is no doubt that the pressure got to some of our players, and the more we were throwing it all away, the more the pressure built.
Now we can put some pressure on Millwall, Bradford, and possibly Gillingham & Walsall, and just maybe we can be the strongest finishers. I would be interesting to see how many times the team finishing 6th, having just crept into the top 6, win the playoffs.

 

[RegTheDonk]

After 36 games Bournemouth were 7th on 58 points.

That means they got 25 points from their last 10 games. That's 8 wins and a draw.

Ta for that. Hats off to Bournemouth - but absolutely no chance of us emulating that run. It does give hope however, that while they had a fantastic end of season, other teams had to slip up. We've got some pretty tough games coming up but the pressure will ALSO be on those teams to beat us. I think we have every chance to get in the play offs...what happens when we get there I'm not too confident about.

Not sure what those figures prove - it isn't clear really.

I for one do find it useful to look at the analysis of "last season 6th place required 69 points, but on average you need 73" to finish third., we need xx wins from yy games to get into the playoffs..etc...but these things are only a guide to what's happened before. The only thing that matters is this season - as long as we finish above 18 other teams, it doesn't matter how many points were needed in previous seasons to get into the play-offs.

I think one thing the figures do show is this seasons play off places are almost as tight as the Bournemouth year in question. Then it was 2 points separating 3rd and 6th place. Now its 4 - and if you consider there's only 8 points between 3rd and 10th place, you have 8 teams battling and only half of them will qualify.

Wallsall have acted quickly to their slump, and have the bonus of a good win yesterday plus a game in hand. I think they'll make it. Gill's have had a few shocks ups but been fairly consistent all season, I can't see them falling apart.

To me, that leaves us needing to do better than Millwall and Bradford. We have home "six pointers" against them. Assuming our lot have got their act together and are still in the mix, these 4 days in mid April will (imho) either make us and give us the confidence to finish top 6 (and me the confidence that we'll actually win them) - or break us, confidence shot, "typical city", rebuild for next season....