Promotion is genuinely there for the taking

Shiggy

Shiggy

Well-known member
I’ve been reluctant to get ahead of myself this season when it comes to promotion, and I still believe that a top half finish will be a success and something to build on, but as the season has progressed it’s become clear that there isn’t a single side In this division that’s a cut above the rest.


You have your clubs like Charlton, Portsmouth, Hull and Sunderland, and then obviously Peterborough and Lincoln who have been up there all season, but I look at these sides and their results and think that none are anything special. We’ve matched Hull twice when we’ve played them and I’d say out of that list they’re the most likely to be promoted. We have absolutely no one to fear and it’s terrific. The next 5 games are massive for us, especially the games we have in hand.
 
Shiggy said:
I’ve been reluctant to get ahead of myself this season when it comes to promotion, and I still believe that a top half finish will be a success and something to build on, but as the season has progressed it’s become clear that there isn’t a single side In this division that’s a cut above the rest.


You have your clubs like Charlton, Portsmouth, Hull and Sunderland, and then obviously Peterborough and Lincoln who have been up there all season, but I look at these sides and their results and think that none are anything special. We’ve matched Hull twice when we’ve played them and I’d say out of that list they’re the most likely to be promoted. We have absolutely no one to fear and it’s terrific. The next 5 games are massive for us, especially the games we have in hand.
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Unfortunately shiggy there are another 9 or 10 teams that are thinking exactly the same thing🤷‍♂️
 
We didn’t look like promotion candidates against a poor team last night for large parts of the game but still ran out two nil winners. They did get a number of dangerous balls into our area. If we keep winning we might just get promotion momentum, but I think we still have too much to do. We need the new lads to be instant impacts. Will be interesting if we can bag another two wins In The next two games for sure.
 
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Looking back at old League tables for League One and its overwhelmingly 73/74 points needed for that 6th spot. It's almost always one of those two numbers over the last 10 years.

If we're at the halfway point now with 34, we're going to have to pick up 40 points from now till the end of the season to have a safe bet of sneaking in the play-offs. It's such a crazy league this year though that the stats might may not hold the truth!
 
We need to carry on upping our game against the better sides like we have been so far, then who knows? It is a very poor, inconsistent league
 
Oxford, Doncaster, Accy.... add them to the list.

I do think top 6 is achievable. Wide open league. No real home advantage this season either, as evidenced by last nights EFL results. Think it’s more about consistency, picking up hard fought wins (like last night) and a regular return of points. Last night made me think about the start of the season when we were playing lovely stuff but not getting the goals/points our play deserved.
 
Wizzerboy said:
Unfortunately shiggy there are another 9 or 10 teams that are thinking exactly the same thing🤷‍♂️
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You’re not wrong, but I see that as cause for optimism. The league is wide open, and we’ve got as good a chance as anyone as creeping into playoffs.
 
February is massive for us. Due to the number of matches and how much catching up we have, we will know by the end of the month where we stand.
 
Football is about consistency and on that basis our chances of promotion don't look great. Sides like Donny and Lincoln are out doing us on that score. You get the feeling Oxford have now turned a corner and are on a mission. Promotion is a bit of a long shot for us really. But we showed prior to Xmas that we can be consistent over a run of games and beat top sides like Hull, so the play offs are definitely possible. Need Gretarsson and CJ back I think. Both sound a way off yet. Need the full Dougall too. And a full Kaikai would be extremely useful.
 
Agree that 75 points might well come up short this year for the play-offs. That being the case champions' form over the last half of the season (2 points per game on average) might be needed, which would give us 80 points..
 
Whilst we weren’t brilliant the other night, we won that game fairly comfortably without Hamilton, Ballard, Grettarson, Madine, Garbutt, Lubala, Robson, Keshi. If the majority of the other sides had so many missing I’m sure they’d feel the impact far more than we do.

I’m quietly optimistic for the second half of the season. We are far more settled, whilst Critch doesn’t know his best side yet, he’s a far better idea than earlier in the season. We are creating chances much more freely. Yates is scoring goals, Madine is scoring goals, Simms will score goals. And I have a weird feeling, based on absolutely nothing, that CJ may feature Saturday.
 
You can only beat what’s put in front of you and I feel that rang very true on Tuesday night. We’re still a depleted squad, with plenty of injuries and players still regaining match fitness after covid / periods out injured. I think to win 5-0 and 2-0 with essentially half your first team available or fully fit is impressive and bodes well for the rest of the season. We also tend to up our game against teams that like to play football and traditionally we struggle against the poorer teams - but that struggle looks to have been dealt with the last couple of games.
 
No doubt we've a big squad and that's good news when injuries and other things come along and to that extent were not massively impacted by the team being substantially weaker. But looking at it from a different point of view if we pick our strongest team are we stronger than the top teams in the division? Not necessarily.
 
Home form will be crucial, 13 home games left with 10 away.
Our pitch looked like it didnt cut up too much the other night ? Some other pitches look challenging - We have got Accy’s & Hull’s out of the way at least.
 
Since the awful start, we have taken 25 points from last 16 games.
I make that form around 37 points from remaining 23 games.
That is 71 points and just short of Play offs.
We are now considerably stronger with 3 extra home games and it wil not take much extra effort to gain them extra points.

Plenty of time left although we are walking a tightrope during the next few games.
One big slip at home against the likes of Burton or Rochdale and we are looking at mid table.
We must win our games in hand.
 
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Massive game at the weekend - a win would put us above Ipswich but more than that it would bring 3/4 more teams closer to us and that game in hand on Tuesday against Burton could then see us back to within a win of the Play Offs. It is hard work playing catch up because you take massive steps back with a defeat and just tiny steps forward with a win - we are still a couple of wins short of where I'd like us to be but this is a defining month - by the time we finish we'll be on Game 30 and if we are there or thereabouts by then, who knows. Playing Peterborough, Portsmouth, Doncaster and Charlton means we can take points off them and move even closer - MASSIVE month and just a shame there are SO many games!
 
voyeur said:
Football is about consistency and on that basis our chances of promotion don't look great. Sides like Donny and Lincoln are out doing us on that score. You get the feeling Oxford have now turned a corner and are on a mission. Promotion is a bit of a long shot for us really. But we showed prior to Xmas that we can be consistent over a run of games and beat top sides like Hull, so the play offs are definitely possible. Need Gretarsson and CJ back I think. Both sound a way off yet. Need the full Dougall too. And a full Kaikai would be extremely useful.
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From a glass half empty man, I' m going to disagree. I think we're going to be on fire in the second half of the season.
PS. If we get hammered tomorrow I'll still be Mr doom & gloom
 
thecatintheroof said:
Massive game at the weekend - a win would put us above Ipswich but more than that it would bring 3/4 more teams closer to us and that game in hand on Tuesday against Burton could then see us back to within a win of the Play Offs. It is hard work playing catch up because you take massive steps back with a defeat and just tiny steps forward with a win - we are still a couple of wins short of where I'd like us to be but this is a defining month - by the time we finish we'll be on Game 30 and if we are there or thereabouts by then, who knows. Playing Peterborough, Portsmouth, Doncaster and Charlton means we can take points off them and move even closer - MASSIVE month and just a shame there are SO many games!
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There is pretty much a full fixture list on tuesday with 10 games scheduled. The only two teams above us not playing are Charlton and Crewe. Most teams catching up on games.
 
Thelaneends1 said:
This season might be a bridge too far but next season the pool will smash their way out of league one.
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Think I'd sooner be in a position to fight to stay in the Championship than try and get out of this league again - there are at least 10 teams who will feel they should be in the Championship which makes it so tough. Am still hoping Lincoln have a shocker of a second half of the season as well.
 
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