2023/24 League Two Promotion Thread

[Richard Cranium]

You could play Bootlegger in midfield and you’ll paste them.

 

[AdamStag]

Taking nothing for granted, they went to Crewe and destroyed them in the first half. Admittedly those are the only goals they've scored in their last 6 games but even so.

Our experience from last season in playing pressure games serves us well I think, it did last night. We should be confident though.

To be blunt, FG were crap last night, we just didn’t put our chances away.

Run at that defence with pace and you’ll have a field day

 

[JJ1990]

Automatic permutations this weekend:

Stockport will be promoted if:

They win or draw
They lose and Mansfield don't win

Wrexham will be promoted if:

They win and MK Dons draw/lose

Play Off Permutations:

Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield have already secured a top 7 spot at minimum

MK Dons will secure a top 7 spot if:

They draw

Crewe Alex will secure a top 7 spot if:

They win and Doncaster and Walsall both fail to win



I think the maths checks out on that.

 

[Stocky]

Automatic permutations this weekend:

Stockport will be promoted if:

They win or draw
They lose and Mansfield don't win

Wrexham will be promoted if:

They win and MK Dons draw/lose

Play Off Permutations:

Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield have already secured a top 7 spot at minimum

MK Dons will secure a top 7 spot if:

They draw

Crewe Alex will secure a top 7 spot if:

They win and Doncaster and Walsall both fail to win



I think the maths checks out on that.

No our permutation is that we can lose and go up as long as MK don't win not if Mansfield don't win. All pretty academic stuff really though.

 

[BarraMatt]

Automatic permutations this weekend:

Stockport will be promoted if:

They win or draw
They lose and Mansfield don't win

Wrexham will be promoted if:

They win and MK Dons draw/lose

Play Off Permutations:

Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield have already secured a top 7 spot at minimum

MK Dons will secure a top 7 spot if:

They draw

Crewe Alex will secure a top 7 spot if:

They win and Doncaster and Walsall both fail to win



I think the maths checks out on that.

Wrexham can't be promoted if we win, all it does is delay the inevitable.

 

[Stocky]

To be blunt, FG were crap last night, we just didn’t put our chances away.

Run at that defence with pace and you’ll have a field day

Forest Green and Sutton have been the two worst teams I've seen both home and away. It's rare that it actually works out that the two you've seen who have been the worst both go down but in this case it would be true. We did the double over Colchester but they were OK at EP and definitley caused us problems last night. Go as far as saying their RCB Mingi and the RWB Fevrier who came on are players teams may want to look at. Their midfield has some solid players too, I don't know how they've managed to find themselves down there with FGR and Sutton.

 

[JJ1990]

No our permutation is that we can lose and go up as long as MK don't win not if Mansfield don't win. All pretty academic stuff really though.

Think I meant to type MK but said Mansfield for some reason. My bad.

 

[dedwardp]

Forest Green and Sutton have been the two worst teams I've seen both home and away. It's rare that it actually works out that the two you've seen who have been the worst both go down but in this case it would be true. We did the double over Colchester but they were OK at EP and definitley caused us problems last night. Go as far as saying their RCB Mingi and the RWB Fevrier who came on are players teams may want to look at. Their midfield has some solid players too, I don't know how they've managed to find themselves down there with FGR and Sutton.

If Luton hadn't recalled Taylor in January then we'd be well clear by now - as competitive as we've been since January, we've had next to no goal threat at all. We would definitely have won a few more of the 1-1 draws we've become so fond of. In the first half of the season we had the worst defensive record by a mile so his goals were mostly in vain, whereas now the Cowleys have made us much more solid but he's not there to put any chances away.

So, as it is, we can't score more than one goal a game and seem to have at least one individual disaster each game as well, so we're not winning regardless of how competitive we can be with any side in the division.

 

[Stocky]

Yeah, obviously your goalkeeper's cost you big time with the first one yesterday and he did a shocking punch start of the second half which he could have caught with his eyes closed which Sarcevic wasted which would have put us back in front. Stuff like that first goal just seems to happen when you're down there and kicks you in the bollocks

You say no goal threat, I thought you were a threat all night, I stand by that a draw would have been fair. Akinde caused us problems (although he was definitley on good terms with the ref which pissed me off- he gave him everything).

Having seen Sutton on Saturday, Forest Green last Good Friday, I would be stunned if you went down but with it now being so late in the season, you've not taken advantage and could have possibly left it in the lap of the gods.

By the sounds of things you've played the top two the last two games come out 1-2 and should have got something from both.

 

[dedwardp]

You say no goal threat, I thought you were a threat all night, I stand by that a draw would have been fair. Akinde caused us problems (although he was definitley on good terms with the ref which pissed me off- he gave him everything).

We press forward enough and cause problems, but by lack of goal threat I just mean we have John Akinde and Tom Hopper up front. Hopper has scored twice in 53 games for us and as good as Akinde is at what he does, he isn't a goalscorer. The only other options are Samson Tovide who is more interested in wrestling and falling to the floor, and Bradley Ihionvien who isn't really ready yet. Now if Taylor was alongside Akinde, for example, I think we'd be well away.

It's a fair summary though and I agree, fixtures are running out. If we had more time I think we'd be fine, but last night is probably the first time I've felt like we're properly done for to be honest, it just feels like it's written with things like the first goal and then the missed penalty. If Sutton extend the gap at the weekend then I would worry for us psychologically to be honest. Next Tuesday at home to Grimsby is a ridiculously big game.

 

[Master D]

Wrexham can't be promoted if we win, all it does is delay the inevitable.

Correct, tbh I doubt any of our fans are considering Barrow as a threat to our chances really as it needs a miracle to happen, I can't see you winning any of your away matches nevermind all 3. It's all eyes on the MK Dons match for us.

It'll be a weird one if you do win, we win, MK Dons fail to win. We'd realistically be up due to GD but couldn't celebrate. The final revenge of Pete Wild.

 

[OneDecentLester]

Good to see Stockport going up after spending a good number of years down in the pits with them. Naturally got a soft spot for all those proper clubs we rubbed shoulders with down there, so I’m also glad to see Wrexham are about to join them in L1 next year also (even if they have spent billions doing so).

Noticed both of those sides still have a decent number of players from their NL championship winning seasons in their squad, so hoping that’s a good omen for us.

Back to L2 promotion talk though and I feel filthy supporting the franchise boys going into the last few games of the season but needs must at this point now their up against them lot over the M1 in a shoot out for 3rd. You’d think it’s got to be impossible for the stags to bottle auto’s again though after being so comfortable for so long, surely…!?

 

[AdamStag]

Despite it being realistically evens of us getting promoted as it stands sky seem to reckon it’s 1/16

 

[Scum.]

Despite it being realistically evens of us getting promoted as it stands sky seem to reckon it’s 1/16

Gambling addiction is a real problem. Get bet ter.

 

[AdamStag]

Gambling addiction is a real problem. Get bet ter.

I wouldn’t know….

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

I'm a degenerate gambler and love an almost daily gamble. The key is never lose an amount that will upset you. I learnt that at a Casino in Sydney NSW in 2000.

The seasons long bets this time around look like being very successful assuming no Stags choke, although not as spectacular as last season .... 25/1

 

[BarraMatt]

Correct, tbh I doubt any of our fans are considering Barrow as a threat to our chances really as it needs a miracle to happen, I can't see you winning any of your away matches nevermind all 3. It's all eyes on the MK Dons match for us.

It'll be a weird one if you do win, we win, MK Dons fail to win. We'd realistically be up due to GD but couldn't celebrate. The final revenge of Pete Wild.

Any outside chance of getting the autos finished after being beaten on Easter Monday, all about a playoff place for us.

I'd be delighted if we could get 4 points from our next three games. It would pretty much see us there.

 

[AdamStag]

Any outside chance of getting the autos finished after being beaten on Easter Monday, all about a playoff place for us.

I'd be delighted if we could get 4 points from our next three games. It would pretty much see us there.

If you’d made the playoffs and wanted to rest your players final game…

 

[WhiteRussian]

If you’d made the playoffs and wanted to rest your players final game…

What's the rule about resting players? Hasn't you team got to have a certain number of past 1st team players playing or have I made that up from somewhere?

 

[DippyDon]

What's the rule about resting players? Hasn't you team got to have a certain number of past 1st team players playing or have I made that up from somewhere?

There's a small fine if you don't use x amount of players either side of a tinpot trophy match, but if you wanted to you could make 11 changes from league to league game.

Swindon played effectively their under 18's against Preston in 14/15 and didn't get punished for it

 

[AdamStag]

Or scunthorpe who got rolled over by Bristol rovers meaning they did northampton on GD, who were ironically away at Barrow.

On a side note - with stockport effectively out of the equation something’s gone badly wrong somewhere if we get diddled on GD, even a 5-0 win (for example to MK) our GD would still be 12 better.

 

[ForzaCounty]

Despite it being realistically evens of us getting promoted as it stands sky seem to reckon it’s 1/16

I recently found some generous odds on our promotion...

 

[Bottega Don]

Or scunthorpe who got rolled over by Bristol rovers meaning they did northampton on GD, who were ironically away at Barrow.

On a side note - with stockport effectively out of the equation something’s gone badly wrong somewhere if we get diddled on GD, even a 5-0 win (for example to MK) our GD would still be 12 better.

We had been playing our kids for weeks before that so didn’t apply to us, we drew 1-1 with Hartlepool the week prior with basically the same team

 

[Luke Imp]

We press forward enough and cause problems, but by lack of goal threat I just mean we have John Akinde and Tom Hopper up front. Hopper has scored twice in 53 games for us and as good as Akinde is at what he does, he isn't a goalscorer. The only other options are Samson Tovide who is more interested in wrestling and falling to the floor, and Bradley Ihionvien who isn't really ready yet. Now if Taylor was alongside Akinde, for example, I think we'd be well away.

It's a fair summary though and I agree, fixtures are running out. If we had more time I think we'd be fine, but last night is probably the first time I've felt like we're properly done for to be honest, it just feels like it's written with things like the first goal and then the missed penalty. If Sutton extend the gap at the weekend then I would worry for us psychologically to be honest. Next Tuesday at home to Grimsby is a ridiculously big game.

I can't vouch for Akinde's goal threat anymore, but Hopper rarely even looks like scoring full stop, it's just not what he's about. Not a wonder you're hardly scoring though with those options.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I recently found some generous odds on our promotion...

Honestly if I put £100 on that it’d lose

 

[AdamStag]

You’re welcome you welsh c***

 

[BarraMatt]

Crawley v Barrow on Tuesday. Whoever loses gets pipped by Doncaster for the final playoff place.

 

[AdamStag]

So that’s wrexham up

Mansfield now 50/50 to go up given our previous

 

[DearneValleyRover]

Crawley v Barrow on Tuesday. Whoever loses gets pipped by Doncaster for the final playoff place.

Draw please

 

[spireite]

Looks like that's the top 3 settled. Congratulations to all on here. Even Mansfield, took you long enough. Shame we won't have the derby next season.