19th December games

[EricSabin]

So after the latest government announcement, Northamptonshire clings on to Tier 2 status and I will be heading to Sixfields tomorrow for the first time since March. Not entirely sure I’m looking forward to it after recent form but I suppose it’ll be nice to have the match day anticipation for a change.

We’ve got Lincoln, on paper a very tricky fixture. I do have a feeling we’ll win though, as when backs are against the wall and he’s getting stick Curle seems to pull it out of the bag and get a result

 

[TimeyWimey]

Sorry to hear Northampton fans have to witness their team in the flesh. Thoughts with you at this difficult time.

We're at Wimbledon. A game we should be able to win, they're not in great form, seem prone to concede a few and we seem to be back finding our rhythm again. That said, it's entirely possible we won't put away one or two of our 20 chances. We are also at a tipping point with our confidence, we tend to come unstuck when we get too confident.

 

[EricSabin]

Sorry to hear Northampton fans have to witness their team in the flesh. Thoughts with you at this difficult time.

We're at Wimbledon. A game we should be able to win, they're not in great form, seem prone to concede a few and we seem to be back finding our rhythm again. That said, it's entirely possible we won't put away one or two of our 20 chances. We are also at a tipping point with our confidence, we tend to come unstuck when we get too confident.

Haha, it’ll be much harder to sit back like we have with 2,000 fans booing after 10 minutes

 

[Luke Imp]

We don't have much of a midfield at the minute, which means we're not as effective in terms of physicality, passing or ability to break up play.

I'm not sure what the other option is but Grant in front of the back four is ok for a short period of time against more footballing sides but not when we're likely to have to be scrapping for second balls. We'll probably bring Melbourne in at LB for more height I imagine.

We've got Northampton and Burton before Hull, Posh and Wimbledon so we need to be picking points up before Xmas to stay in the mix.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Don't know what to expect from Wimbledon. Glyn Hodges has a good young setup down there and they're doing pretty well considering. It's also our first meeting with them in almost 9 years. I think we'll have enough to win but we'll need our finishing to be much improved. Same goes for our away form.

Big run of winnable fixtures for us over Christmas. Fleetwood will be tough but we should be looking for maximum points from Wimbledon, Rochdale and Shrewsbury on paper. Not that we'll get maximum points of course, because this is us. We're always prone to dropping a bollock and losing a winnable game 1-0 despite having 20 shots.

 

[Crewelad87]

We’re no where near as strong away from home as we are at Gresty Rd. I saw a stat that we have won more points than anyone else at home since 17/18 season in the EFL. Away from home we can be abit hit or miss. We were great at Doncaster, Ipswich and Oxford and abit meh at Accrington, Burton and Sunderland.

In truth I know very little about Wimbledon, I know Piggott is a big goal threat but that’s about it.

4 games unbeaten for us with 3 wins, also Dale scored in all of the last 4 games. I’m expecting at least a point here but also very hopeful we carry on our good run and get another win.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

We’ve got Burton away, never beaten them in the league and looking at the table it’s probably the best chance we will ever have of breaking that duck. We are however struggling with injuries, Sims out, Gomes out, Tulloch out, John-Joules just back but leg strapped up and not played a full 90, Taylor just back and not played 45 mins yet, Richards recently back again not had a full game, Wright might be back but unknown so we are running on fumes.

 

[TractorBoys]

Posh Ipswich is off after positive C19 test connected to Peterborough staff.

Purely from an Ipswich match day perspective, this might be a lucky break allowing a few key players to be fit for the rescheduled fixture.

 

[Agombar stool]

Charlton at home. Meh

 

[gary]

Sorry to hear Northampton fans have to witness their team in the flesh. Thoughts with you at this difficult time.

We're at Wimbledon. A game we should be able to win, they're not in great form, seem prone to concede a few and we seem to be back finding our rhythm again. That said, it's entirely possible we won't put away one or two of our 20 chances. We are also at a tipping point with our confidence, we tend to come unstuck when we get too confident.

It's probably a game where any result is possible.We had a couple of poor results recently but played better at Sunderland on Tuesday.We're more than capable of winning this game but we are inconsistent.

 

[GFC4EVA]

Rochdale away with barely any players

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Milton Keynes tomorrow. First time I have seen them in the flesh. We are playing awful. The weather is horrendous. Over half the season ticket holders are up in arms that they cannot get seats. Looking forward to it.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Beat top-of-the-league Hull 2-0 without any shots on target to replace them at the top. Shithouse FC are back!

 

[K-Win]

Got a bit lucky with the goals but played well and looked pretty solid overall. That is 10 points from 5 really tough games so it's great to hit the top for Christmas. Top of tier 3 as we head into tier 3.

 

[Camborne Gills]

Yet another defeat before most teams kick off!

 

[Fedora Dale]

Yet another defeat before most teams kick off!

Hope so, but you never know. We're a bit light in midfield with Olly Rathbone and Jimmy Ryan probably injured and Matt Lund certainly suspended.

We're better at going forward than defending, anyway, so hopefully BBM will pick a 4-2-3-1 and go for it. The problem is the 2 part of the formation.

Possible team:
GK Jay Lynch
RB Jimmy Keohane
RCB Eoghan O'Connell
LCB Jim McNulty
LB Hayden Roberts (or Tolaji Bola if Roberts needed in midfield)
CM Aaron Morley
CM Jimmy Ryan if fully fit (unlikely). If not then either 17yo Ethan Brierley making his first start or 18yo Defender Roberts pushed forward.
RW Stephen Dooley
CAM Alex Newby
LW Kwadwo Baah
CF Steve Humphrys

Subs: Chalton (Youth Keeper), McShane, Done, Tavares, Hopper, whichever of Bola/Brierley doesn't start, ANO (Peter Thomas or Kacper Mialkowski from the youth team?)

Edit - Brierley starts, Bola sub, ANO sub is Lewis Bradley, back from loan at Colne/Guiseley/Ashton/wherever.

 

[PuB]

What’s going on? We’re 3-0 up at half time against Rochdale away

 

[PuB]

Make that 4-0, penalty in the first minute of 2nd half. Akinde doubling his goal tally in a single match

 

[Claret Forever]

BBC sport reckon we've had a shot on target this half, but I don't remember it.

 

[TimeyWimey]

We threw it away in the 90th minute then clawed it back in the 92nd. Best way to do it.

 

[Claret Forever]

Back to back 4-0 losses, with two shots on target between them. If he's not sacked this week then I presume that we dont have the money to keep the club solvent and pay the redundancy.

 

[Indian Dan]

Comedy gold at the CG this afternoon. Another n the long line of defensive howlers. Yet overshadowed by Bogle’s miss for Charlton.

Fall behind to a clearly offside goal then degenerate into a Sunday League quality game lit up by the Pork Pie Pele nodding in from a corner in the last minute.

We are truly dreadful and Charlton looked nothing like a promotion chasing team.

 

[Crewelad87]

Cruising for 80 minutes. Should have been more than 1 up. They made a few changes and pressed us higher up the pitch and with that pressure got a 90th minute winner thanks to some woeful clearances. Only for us to go down the other end and win it. Overall it was a good performance with us dominating for 80 minutes. But after conceding so late we can count ourselves abit lucky to be coming away with 3 points.

 

[Bobbin']

Our second goal was clearly onside, wasn’t even close.

Bowyer’s negative tactics cost us points once again for about the 15th time in the last 12 months.

 

[Guernica]

Northampton 0 - 4 Imps

A good win against a side which reminded me of the Imps of old. Unfortunate to say but the home side are light years behind what this league is about.

Monstma won't be modelling for a while following a blatant and deliberate elbow to the face which wasn't seen by the ref despite it just yards away from him. The ref was a bit like the home side, not cut out for this division.

Joint top of the league at Xmas is beyond all of our wildest dreams, will we stay there - probably not but MA has laid the foundations.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

A comfortable 3-1 win at Burton, first time we’ve beaten them in the league, Shrewsbury on Tuesday, a win and we are top of the league at Christmas

 

[Boletus Edulis]

1-0 against MK. We needed that. We were totally dominant in the first half and should have scored a couple. In the second half MK were a bit more of a challenge. Hardie scored. You could see how much it meant to to players. At the end the stewards were trying to get us to leave. No one person moved a muscle until Lowe did his roar to the fans. The stewards were not happy. Tough, we were.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Cruising for 80 minutes. Should have been more than 1 up. They made a few changes and pressed us higher up the pitch and with that pressure got a 90th minute winner thanks to some woeful clearances. Only for us to go down the other end and win it. Overall it was a good performance with us dominating for 80 minutes. But after conceding so late we can count ourselves abit lucky to be coming away with 3 points.

Sign of a promotion winning team tbh.

 

[Indian Dan]

Our second goal was clearly onside, wasn’t even close.

Bowyer’s negative tactics cost us points once again for about the 15th time in the last 12 months.

Nowhere near onside

 

[K-Win]

Joint top of the league at Xmas is beyond all of our wildest dreams

"Joint top" - hang on a minute. Have they abolished goal difference now we've gone into tier 4?