[Archived] THE BATTLE FOR PROMOTION....WON.

[47er]

4 hours ago, philipl said:

Shrewsbury are not easing up and Wigan have enough games in hand to have another blip and still go above us.

We have just got to keep on grounding out those wins. Yesterday counts for nothing if we don't collect maximum points at Gillingham and Doncaster.

By the way, Rochdale outplayed Rotherham for most of the 90 minutes yesterday and their 1-0 away win was well deserved. Both Shrewsbury and Wigan have to go to Spotland yet. They could be the wild card near the bottom who upend the top of the table while battling relegation.

Fleetwood also unlucky not getting a win but they brought Plymouth's seven wins on the trot to an end.

Interestingly, Wigan have not been taking the points recently at the rate they were. Their last 5 games reads DDWWL----8 points from 5 .If repeated through to the end of the season, would give them 21 more points to reach a total of  89 points. We would need another 14 points from 9 games to beat that, which is a lower rate than we are achieving even on a whole of season basis.

Shrewsbury's last 5 games reads LWLDW--7 points.11 games to play for them, at that same rate they'd get 15-16 points to give them a total of 86/87. Wouldn't be enough.

Given that our last 5 results are WWWDW, we are the form team of the 3 by any measure. Keep that up and we would finish with 99.4 points!!

Hope that is encouraging for everybody! (and that my maths is right!)

[JacknOry]

Just now, 47er said:

Interestingly, Wigan have not been taking the points recently at the rate they were. Their last 5 games reads DDWWL----8 points from 5 .If repeated through to the end of the season, would give them 21 more points to reach a total of  89 points. We would need another 14 points from 9 games to beat that, which is a lower rate than we are achieving even on a whole of season basis.

Shrewsbury's last 5 games reads LWLDW--7 points.11 games to play for them, at that same rate they'd get 15-16 points to give them a total of 86/87. Wouldn't be enough.

Given that our last 5 results are WWWDW, we are the form team of the 3 by any measure. Keep that up and we would finish with 99.4 points!!

Hope that is encouraging for everybody! (and that my maths is right!)

That .4 might just be the clincher!

[Cherry Blue]

Number of games played throughout the league is messy with Rochdale 5 games behind us.  Good for Rochdale pausing the Rotherham  charge, didn't see that result coming. 

What would happen if Wigan's fixtures got so congested they asked to play a league game after 5th May 2018? Surely that wouldn't be allowed but their FA progress  () could  be their downfall. 

[Paul]

2 hours ago, Cherry Blue said:

What would happen if Wigan's fixtures got so congested they asked to play a league game after 5th May 2018? Surely that wouldn't be allowed but their FA progress  () could  be their downfall. 

I can recall this happening decades ago when football was a very, very different animal. A very hazy memory tells me a team was allowed to complete the league season after the cup final.

I can’t imagine other clubs would allow this to happen without protest. Secondly it would be impossible to arrange the play off semifinals if the league position of one team was unknown.

The only possible way for an extension to be practical would be if Wigan dropped out of contention for the play offs and the result of any game after May 5th had no impact on league position. A set of circumstances almost impossible to imagine.

 

[Waggy76]

7 minutes ago, Paul said:

I can recall this happening decades ago when football was a very, very different animal. A very hazy memory tells me a team was allowed to complete the league season after the cup final.

I can’t imagine other clubs would allow this to happen without protest. Secondly it would be impossible to arrange the play off semifinals if the league position of one team was unknown.

The only possible way for an extension to be practical would be if Wigan dropped out of contention for the play offs and the result of any game after May 5th had no impact on league position. A set of circumstances almost impossible to imagine.

 

Didnt Oldham play some games in the old 1st Division , they stayed up as well...

 

[had.e.nuff]

Wigan might have to do what we had to finish the 1966 season 5 games in 10 days

[OJRovers]

I'm just worried that the later these catch up games get played, the more chance the midtable opposition will be in beach-mode.

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 minutes ago, OJRovers said:

I'm just worried that the later these catch up games get played, the more chance the midtable opposition will be in beach-mode.

True, but they have to play a few teams who you would think will have something to pay for. Even less likely to be flexible with rearrangements too.

[RevidgeBlue]

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us finish 2nd behind Shrewsbury as things stand. As Philip points out both Wigan and Shrewsbury can still finish above us so all we can do is keep plugging away and try to record as many wins as poss.

The best thing about yesterday imo was Rotherham's defeat which more or less takes them out of automatic promotion contention. Wigan also slipping up made it a good set of results overall. If only we'd hung on for the win last week the Latics would have been right up against it by now.

[rigger]

11 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us finish 2nd behind Shrewsbury as things stand. As Philip points out both Wigan and Shrewsbury can still finish above us so all we can do is keep plugging away and try to record as many wins as poss.

The best thing about yesterday imo was Rotherham's defeat which more or less takes them out of automatic promotion contention. Wigan also slipping up made it a good set of results overall. If only we'd hung on for the win last week the Latics would have been right up against it by now.

But we didn't hang on, so lets focus on getting a win next game.

[RevidgeBlue]

23 minutes ago, rigger said:

But we didn't hang on, so lets focus on getting a win next game.

........and eight more after that !

[Rover_Shaun]

Let's hope Wigan aren't the new Yeovil. ?

[1864roverite]

It’s a big week. Wigan away at bratford then the fa cup game, Shrewsbury away at Scunthorpe and Rovers away at gillingham - a rovers win with hopeful defeats for the nearest challengers might shut up some of the doubters⚽️???

[Rover_Shaun]

Doubters of what?

[47er]

10 hours ago, JacknOry said:

That .4 might just be the clincher!

If we could just get that extra 0.6 to go with it......

[47er]

9 hours ago, Cherry Blue said:

Number of games played throughout the league is messy with Rochdale 5 games behind us.  Good for Rochdale pausing the Rotherham  charge, didn't see that result coming. 

What would happen if Wigan's fixtures got so congested they asked to play a league game after 5th May 2018? Surely that wouldn't be allowed but their FA progress  () could  be their downfall. 

Wigan only beat Rochdale 1-0 at home by the way. last ditch fight to avoid relegation. Have to be wary of those teams.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

13 hours ago, Rover_Shaun said:

Doubters of what?

Stop sniffing around for Mowbray fans. 

[JHRover]

Every week could be pivotal between now and May but this one has an added feel to it.

Wigan have a tricky one at Bradford on Wednesday, a shocking pitch, potentially in doubt if there's a lot of rainfall. Simon Grayson's first home game, Bradford reaching last chance saloon for the play-offs, haven't played for a while, haven't won for ages.

If the game gets postponed its going to cause chaos with Wigan's calendar. If it goes ahead it will surely be one of Wigan's biggest remaining challenges after a few recent setbacks. They may have one eye on the weekend cup game.

Then on Saturday both ourselves and Shrewsbury have tough away games, whilst Wigan don't play. On paper ours is easier than theirs - their game at Scunthorpe arguably their toughest remaining game and Scunthorpe are hard to beat, although haven't won many of late. Shrewsbury have won their last 5 in a row away - we need that to stop and Scunthorpe on paper is the best chance of that happening.

Then we've ourselves to think about. Gillingham safely in mid-table but have been impressive and hard to beat since their new manager was appointed.

Certainly will be interesting. Clearly we need to go and get the 3 points at Gillingham then hope Bradford and Scunthorpe do us a favour.

 

[philipl]

If we lose on Saturday we will still be top and still need six more wins.

If we win on Saturday, the lead at the top could be beginning to look a little bit permanent irrespective of games in hand and Wigan's and Shrewsbury's results. Dishearteningly permanent if they both lose.

[OJRovers]

https://experimental361.com/2018/03/11/e-ratings-update-league-1-11-mar-2018/

Stats guru has Rovers and Wigan as >80% chance of auto promotion. Shrews 27% chance of top 2.

This isn’t just based on past results, but numerous stats like chances created and defensive stats.

[Lancaster Rover]

I fancy Scunthorpe to beat Shrewsbury at the weekend, after seeing the two sides I was much more impressed by Scunthorpe. Glandford Park is never a good place to go to either, I think Scunthorpe will fancy it after their result this weekend.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

1 hour ago, OJRovers said:

https://experimental361.com/2018/03/11/e-ratings-update-league-1-11-mar-2018/

Stats guru has Rovers and Wigan as >80% chance of auto promotion. Shrews 27% chance of top 2.

This isn’t just based on past results, but numerous stats like chances created and defensive stats.

Well that's made me feel better, marvellous stuff. 

[Tom]

An added point of interest is that Mr Nixon is reporting that the Wigan takeover is on hold until summer and may not go through if they don’t go up, they could get twitchy.

All season I’ve thought that Wigan would be one of the top two and we need to get the other, it could end up being Wigan that slip up yet!

[Bigdoggsteel]

11 hours ago, Tom said:

An added point of interest is that Mr Nixon is reporting that the Wigan takeover is on hold until summer and may not go through if they don’t go up, they could get twitchy.

All season I’ve thought that Wigan would be one of the top two and we need to get the other, it could end up being Wigan that slip up yet!

Wouldn't that be fantastic 

[JHRover]

Wigan missing out would be the ideal scenario. Us 1st, Shrews 2nd, Wigan in the play-offs and get beat by Rotherham or Scunthorpe in the final. We can live in hope.

I've no real gripe with Shrewsbury. They're annoying but it would be a great story if they got into the Championship.

It would be immensely satisfying if Wigan, Cook and his friends missed out.

2+ points a game over the next 9 and we'll get there, I'm certain of that.