I know its what we do on the pitch that really counts but its that time of year where we cant help but look at what others are doing. Some important games at weekends coming up & most midweeks too as teams continue to play catchup. Thought id start a thread to discuss what we want from other games starting with tonight's games Sheff Utd v Posh - Posh Win and halt the run the blades are on Colchester v Rotherham - Never before have i wanted Evans and his team to win but tonight we do Crawley v Stevenage - A tough one, Stevenage have found a bit of form and Crawley are still playing catch up. I guess a Crawley win would be best, not to give them confidence for Sat but to keep Boro rooted in the bottom 4 which after all is where we want them to stay along with 3 others COYG
Really the best we could hope for is a Posh win, Rotherham win and Crawley win, however I am not too bothered by Sheffield United now as I feel they have picked up now and the only way is up for them now. What we don't want is Stevenage to continue their win run and the others below us to start winning otherwise we are in real danger of going down. Not long ago some people were talking of play offs (Don't know why they were thinking of it) and things looked much better and although other teams had games in hand we looked like we were in a decent position but with us losing 3 in a row it has dragged us back down there again and we now need to ensure that we get some wins quickly otherwise we will be back in League two next season. I just hope we get some wins sooner rather than later otherwise we will end up on a run which will be so hard to come back from that we end up relying on others to stay up and I really don't want that to happen and also I don't want a repeat of the Wycombe situation where we thought that we were safe as we needed a few results to go against us as well as us losing to go down as it happened as this is football where anything can happen so I just prey that we can get a win Saturday and move on from that and try and get another win Tuesday as well as that will drag us away a bit and then we will only need another 2/3 wins after that to stay up. Really we should be winning at least 5 more games this season as we have 12 games left. Now I wish we were still on that inconsistent win lose win lose run because at least we won some games, we have now become consistent which is what some people wanted but not the type of consistency that people would have hoped for as lose lose lose is not what we want. I personally don't care if we are inconsistent all the way to the end of the season as long as we can win some games and stay up I will be pretty happy come May. I just wish we were playing more of the bigger teams in the league as we seem to get better results against them and then screw up the games against the struggling sides but then that has been the way that we have been for a number of years. I just had to have a look back at my prediction I done a while ago and at the moment we are 8 points off what I predicted however I did predict that when we were doing well so my view would have been different. At the time I predicted a finish with 59 points so if you take off the 8 that would leave us with 51 points on the rest of the prediction which is a bit worrying because if I have over predicted the rest of the season then we will be lucky to get 50 points which we need to stay up. Gillingham v Crawley Win 41 Gillingham v Coventry Draw 42 Bradford v Gillingham Draw 43 Gillingham v Crewe Win 46 MK Dons v Gillingham Lose 46 Gillingham v Rotherham Draw 47 Peterborough v Gillingham Lose 47 Leyton Orient v Gillingham Lose 47 Gillingham v Tranmere Win 50 Walsall v Gillingham Lose 50 Preston v Gillingham Lose 50 Gillingham v Shrewsbury Draw 51 This was my prediction that I made back in January for the games that we have left and I have changed the points total to show what we would have at the end of the season with that run. I may not be much off with this prediction but I would be worried I was correct about winning 1 of the final 8 however I doubt I am correct about the first 4 results on here as I can't see us going on a 4 games unbeaten run but it would be brilliant if we did as that would mean that we are not far off safety. I still believe that we are good enough to stay up as I believe that there are still 4 teams that are worse than us, just it is tough to choose them 4 teams as many teams below us have beat us and that makes us look worse but you only have to look at some of our good results to see that we aren't that bad. We are not conceding as many as we was but now we are not scoring many so we need to start scoring again and then need to ensure that we tighten up at the back and hopefully we will stay up and bring in players to make us a much better team next season.
Clearly now my preseason 63 points total is not going to be achievable, I was too generous with my tally towards Martin Allen. I don't think anyone could have foreseen the early season total collapse. I was a critic of MA but never did i think it would fall apart in the style it did. Looking at harryheadbutts games for tonight I see the situation like this. I'm being realistic and concentrating solely on anything from Oldham down. Crawley are on a good run and also have SIX games in hand on us. So at this stage I have to count them out of the struggle to beat the drop. Therefore it would be better for us to ensure Stevenage stay in the bottom two, because with their two games in hand this could potentially take them to 37 points and we really don't need that to happen. Next up Colchester v Rotherham, we need Evans side to take all three points, because I feel as it is at this moment if Colchester win tonight, our job becomes more difficult if teams below us start making those games in hand count. Sheffield United v Posh, dosen't really affect us as such, I think Sheffield are safe'ish' 3 points ahead and two games in hand, reduced to one tonight if Posh win. I believe as the top six stand at the moment, it is more or less how it will finish, albeit some teams in the top six swapping position. I still think Leyton Orient are going to blow it, unless the Brentford jinx hits again. If anything I really would love to see Wolves absolutely screw it up, that would make my day but sadly and realistically it ain't going to happen. If there is anyone I'm disappointed to see in the bottom four it has to be Notts County, I really favoured them to avoid the drop this season, especially having watched both of our games against them this season, I liked their style, I liked there supporters, I liked there ground and general attitude all round but that's life. So tonight for me wins please for Posh, Rotherham and Crawley. That's not a prediction, just what i would like to happen.
Surely a draw for the Crawley-Stevenage game would be the best result for us. Stevenage only make one point up and lose their game in hand and Crawley would only move a point away still enabling them to be dragged down in the scrap with us and the more teams down there, the better really.
People are just not reading the form. Crawley and Sheff Utd are on terrific runs and Gills two home fixtures are amongst their toughest yet people expected them to win these games. Fat chance. Sheff Utd have won seven on the trot in all competitions. Crawley have lost once since November and have not lost at all in away games in that time. So, this is a tough run and people need to be realistic about what might be achievable. These two teams are promotion prospects concealed by bad starts and postponements but fixture congestion may frustrate them. Crawley to spank Stevenage and Gills then.
Some tough games to call this weekend. 3 pts for us at home is a must or we could easily find ourselves in 20th come 5pm Brentford v Bradford Colchester v Coventry Notts County v Leyton Orient Oldham v Preston Peterborough v Crewe Port Vale v Carlisle Shrewsbury v Bristol City Stevenage v Tranmere
Good result by Notts County yesterday that with recent results sees them move from what looked a doomed position at the bottom of the table to just outside the relegation places. I liked Notts County this season and always said they wouldn't go down, just hope they can keep up their run of form. Whereas I'm sure my mate alwaysright will not be disappointed to see Carlise, Crewe and Tranmere go down...long journeys. But not shouting too soon as anyone of a number of teams could drop including us.
That set of results at the weekend was pretty good for us. All the teams below us (bar Crawley) have caught us up in games played, but still behind points-wise A few weeks back, lots could overtake us.
Yeovil & Barnsley aren't exactly on the door step - let's hope the likely loss of Brentford ( and Stevenage at the bottom ) will be balanced by the Wall & Charlton coming for a visit
Crawley v Tranmere tomorrow evening. Perhaps not a bad thing for us, few tired legs on Sat i hope. Crawley win please. Keep Tranmere below us and dent their confidence after a win on Sat, we need all the help we can get
harry - I'm hoping those Tranmere legs will be even more tired on Friday - if you go to Priestfield on Saturday you'll be on your own !
