How crucial is it to finish 2nd ?

[theoriginalfatcat]

To me it seems really important. If we get 2nd place, we get the semi at home (one match remember) and if we get through that, also the final.

No travel, home advantage, big crowd, build up momentum and all the rest.

The trouble is our away form seems better than home - and the league table states that in total, 9 teams have better away records than home, with 1 team (Burscough) being equal. I'm talking wins only here B.T.W, not total points, as the playoffs are a win/lose situation.

So it would seem in this league home advantage doesn't count for too much.

Still, 2nd place in my opinion is a must.

[Sidarlo]

first i think we just need to mathmatically get a playoff place locked in and go from their. If the playoffs are up here the crowds will be bigger.

Final would be a sellout, semi probs would be 1500 +

Ideally i would like us finishing 2nd but it would not be in the end of the world if we didnt

[swadquaker]

The original headline worries me. A top 5 position is likely but by no means certain. I sense too many chickens being counted.

[theoriginalfatcat]

Point taken SQ, however if we cock up from here with the fixtures we have remaining then something has gone momentously wrong.

[Maurice_Peddelty]

Our strongest run of form has been with Jordan Robinson and Leon Scott in the centre of midfield and we are currently without both. In my view their absence on Wednesday had a big bearing on our performance. Our priority must be to pick-up points as best we can to keep us in the top 5 and to get Jordan and Leon fit and back in the team in time for the play-offs. In my view, without those two, we will find it very difficult to progress in the play-offs regardless of whether we are home or away.

[poppyfield]

To be certain of a playoff place we need 85 points (or 84 plus goal difference) from a total of 89 available, so we have 6 games to get 14 points.

[lo36789]

To be certain of a playoff place we need 85 points (or 84 plus goal difference) from a total of 89 available, so we have 6 games to get 14 points.

Not sure how you worked that out?

Bamber Bridge can get 90 points this season, due to their game in hand. Everyone above them bar Ramsbottom can get more than that

We need 20 points to guarantee a play off position from 8 games, personally reckon as long as we win 5 games (including Farsley at home) we will get there.

Just realised how you worked it out. We play 42 games this season not 40.

[Sidarlo]

i think we will be fine,

we have only dropped a couple of points all season to the bottom half of the table teams, (except northwich), we still have wakefield to play twice and have a relatively easy run in

[poppyfield]

To be certain of a playoff place we need 85 points (or 84 plus goal difference) from a total of 89 available, so we have 6 games to get 14 points.

Not sure how you worked that out?

Bamber Bridge can get 90 points this season, due to their game in hand. Everyone above them bar Ramsbottom can get more than that

We need 20 points to guarantee a play off position from 8 games, personally reckon as long as we win 5 games (including Farsley at home) we will get there.

Just realised how you worked it out. We play 42 games this season not 40.

You are right, i must have wiped the Curzon games from my memory

[shawry]

i think we will be fine,

we have only dropped a couple of points all season to the bottom half of the table teams, (except northwich), we still have wakefield to play twice and have a relatively easy run in

this is what concerns me, our form against other playoff contenders is poor, doesn't matter if we are home or away, we need to improve.

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[theoriginalfatcat]

doesn't matter if we are home or away, we need to improve.

Yes. I've seen a few games this season when I've thought "they're better than us"
and a few more games when things have seemed equal. We do need to improve by adding to the squad and by getting more out of some of our better players.

Regardless of whether we get stuck ( ) in this league or not.

[Maurice_Peddelty]

i think we will be fine,

we have only dropped a couple of points all season to the bottom half of the table teams, (except northwich), we still have wakefield to play twice and have a relatively easy run in

this is what concerns me, our form against other playoff contenders is poor, doesn't matter if we are home or away, we need to improve.

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Look at the line-ups against Farsley, Rammy (H&A), Curzon (H&A), Lancaster (H&A) and you'll see that the Robinson/Scott central midfield partnership didn't feature in any of them.

[lo36789]

Farsley, Rammy (H&A), Curzon (H&A), Lancaster (H&A)

Am I right in thinking that on all occasions that partnership was replaced with a lightweight option.

From memory Rammy, Lancaster & Curzon (Away) involved Curtis Edwards and Curzon (H) was Lewis Wing.

No idea about the other Farsley, Lancaster or Ramsbottom games.

[lo36789]

i think we will be fine,

we have only dropped a couple of points all season to the bottom half of the table teams, (except northwich), we still have wakefield to play twice and have a relatively easy run in

this is what concerns me, our form against other playoff contenders is poor, doesn't matter if we are home or away, we need to improve.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

I assume you mean concerns you if we get in to the play-offs? In terms of getting there as Si mentions we have a run in against teams we have beaten all season.

[shawry]

i think we will be fine,

we have only dropped a couple of points all season to the bottom half of the table teams, (except northwich), we still have wakefield to play twice and have a relatively easy run in

this is what concerns me, our form against other playoff contenders is poor, doesn't matter if we are home or away, we need to improve.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

I assume you mean concerns you if we get in to the play-offs? In terms of getting there as Si mentions we have a run in against teams we have beaten all season.

yeah I fully expect playoffs, but our performances against the teams we will have to beat once there don't inspire confidence. Doesn't matter about what team we fielded, we should have performed better than we have

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[joejaques]

Second place is bloody vital to all us exiles, otherwise we'll be wasting our train tickets to Darlo & paying again for returns to somewhere or other else.

[Twintowers]

Second place is bloody vital to all us exiles, otherwise we'll be wasting our train tickets to Darlo & paying again for returns to somewhere or other else.

Of course you could always wait till the seasons over and book your tickets as required.

[AndyPark]

Booking in advance saves a fortune when travelling from a distance.

[Darl-Zero]

Give me a crunch match away every time. Quite happy with 4th place! E.g. Barnet, Welling, Spenny ... Curzon.

[lo36789]

Booking in advance saves a fortune when travelling from a distance.

By that logic people will have booked transport/accommodation in London before we had beaten Gateshead in the semi-final?

Booking in advance isn't exactly recommended when it comes to play-off/knockout matches!

[super_les_mcjannet]

Home advantage would always be something you would want especially with a midweek Semi final.

Although form suggests away game would be better for us football wise.

I want to finish 2nd as it will mean our form is good going into the play-offs the plus point of being at home in terms of midweek travel.

I hoped to win the league at the start of the season, after about 4 months I would have settled for playoffs. We just need to get back on form starting today against Prescot Cables.

[MikeinBlack2]

Home advantage would always be something you would want especially with a midweek Semi final.

Although form suggests away game would be better for us football wise.

I want to finish 2nd as it will mean our form is good going into the play-offs the plus point of being at home in terms of midweek travel.

I hoped to win the league at the start of the season, after about 4 months I would have settled for playoffs. We just need to get back on form starting today against Prescot Cables.

This sums up our position very nicely.

[super_les_mcjannet]

I missed the summing up bit of that really 2nd place doesn't bother me as a place in the league but form does and we need to be on form so 2nd place has to be the target.

[joejaques]

Booking in advance saves a fortune when travelling from a distance.

Beat me to it Andy. Would cost me 2 or three times as much if I was booking just a couple of days in advance.

[theoriginalfatcat]

Thinking about the play offs, it was heart breaking in 99/00 when we finished 4th and lost our promotion place (4 teams went up) to the team that finished 5th.

This twisted logic would state that if you finish outside of the top 2 you are kind of getting a bonus!

I still want 2nd though.......

[CrazyDarlo]

Were is the final played?

[lo36789]

Were is the final played?

Home of the highest placed team.

[Dany Krap]

Were is the final played?

Don't you read the other threads on here?