Promotion Thread

[Conker]

Fair play to Rovers for being up the top at this stage of the season, first season down here too.

Be a mythbuster if they manage to come straight back up!!

 

[Son of Cod]

Fair play to Rovers for being up the top at this stage of the season, first season down here too.

Be a mythbuster if they manage to come straight back up!!

...and utterly disrespectful of the ex-league club queue system.

 

[springerbfc]

If we make it back up after just two seasons down, that will also be pretty impressive. Fingers crossed....!

 

[TheGas]

I may be being a bit of a knob here but we really should be beating macclesfield. Yes they're clearly a decent team for being 4th but from what I've seen we smashed them 4-0 eastleigh smashed them 4-0. They've scored 4 goals in 7 games losing at home to Nuneaton and not having a shot on target. I'd be very disappointed if we didn't win this

 

[TheGas]

If we make it back up after just two seasons down, that will also be pretty impressive. Fingers crossed....!

If you go up expect Akinde pen to flop. His record in the football league is just woeful

 

[BeesKnees]

If you go up expect Akinde pen to flop. His record in the football league is just woeful

I think big John has developed as a player and also needs a run of games to get into his stride. His first few games for us he was awful and I described him as being unable to hit a barn door, certainly proved me wrong.

He certainly won't be as effective but I still think he would be 15-20 goal striker.

 

[TheGas]

I think big John has developed as a player and also needs a run of games to get into his stride. His first few games for us he was awful and I described him as being unable to hit a barn door, certainly proved me wrong.

He certainly won't be as effective but I still think he would be 15-20 goal striker.

No seriously. He scored zero in like 16 games for us. He's always scored well in the conference but that's all

 

[Cardsfan]

12 goals in 123 games in the Football League. That's in the past though, I still think he'd do well in League 2 if Barnet go up.

 

[BeesKnees]

No seriously. He scored zero in like 16 games for us. He's always scored well in the conference but that's all

To compare a 20year old Akinde to now is daft. I know his record for you in league one and I've spoken to a few about it. The consensus was he was given too much money, to soon and didn't feel the need to put in the effort. He showed he can do it for Wycombe and the step down has made him hungry.

 

[springerbfc]

Conference defences simply cannot handle big John. He would certainly find the going significantly more difficult in L2.

When we get there, we will keep you updated with his scoring record

 

[TheGas]

Before alfreton and After wycombe he scored 3 goals in 73 games.

 

[BeesKnees]

Before alfreton and After wycombe he scored 3 goals in 73 games.

Yes he did, mostly at league one and often getting few minutes as a sub. A confident hungry Akinde is not the same player although I think league 2 is probably as high as he can go and still score a decent number.

 

[TheGas]

What sort of crowd are macclesfield expecting saturday? We'll only bring 700-800 with it being early KO and on telly

 

[Conker]

...and utterly disrespectful of the ex-league club queue system.

Very true that, the snakey bastards.

Even Barnet getting promoted is ruining it, why couldn't Grimsby get it together with super Ollie Palmer?

 

[GTFC1979]

...and utterly disrespectful of the ex-league club queue system.

Yes agreed, we have a nice little 5 year system down here at the minute. Mansfield, then Luton, and now its our turn.
Should Bristol Rovers or Barnet manage to gatecrash this with their pathetic 1 and 2 years spent here respectively, it will be downright rude of them, and whichever one does it should be demoted back here for their audacity!
Obviously this 5 year system must end after this season though, as that would mean next year Lincoln winning it........

 

[Clarkey_GTFC]

Very true that, the snakey bastards.

Even Barnet getting promoted is ruining it, why couldn't Grimsby get it together with super Ollie Palmer?

Quickly glanced at our results and I think we've won every game Palmer's played apart from two, both of which we've conceded after he was subbed off. 5 in 7 for him, evidently making a huge difference for us. He'll take us up don't worry.

 

[Laika]

What sort of crowd are macclesfield expecting saturday? We'll only bring 700-800 with it being early KO and on telly

It won't be huge, particularly given the recent performances. I'd be very surprised if there's as many as 2000 home fans.

 

[miagsygas]

On to the Akinde debate, I've had chats with someone who played with him quite often and seen him in training every day.

He's just the type to destroy non-league defences and he will cope in League 2 nowadays I believe, as did the person who'd trained with him week in week out. He won't be as prolific as he's been though and he'd struggle against the better, more experienced defenders from the higher up teams.

My guess would be 15 or so goals, which is plenty good enough.

He is and will always be ineffectual at any lever higher than L2. But that's hardly a problem if he can do okay for Barnet at L2.

Onto the title race, I really think it's Barnet's. I can't see them throwing it away because there next few games should be comfortable and I can see us dropping points against Macc. Heard a lot about who's got the hardest run in.

Barnet have got 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 8th, 13th & 9th. AVG Position - 15.83
We've got 4th, 11th, 13th, 19th, 10th, 20th AVG Position- 12.83.

I was thinking our biggest chance is if Halifax or Gateshead can get closer to the playoffs and need a result. Pretty thin chance though. We have to virtually win out really.

 

[Gladders]

How many pens has Akinde scored? I know he has won most of them but would he win so many in league 2 and then might not even take them, without his pens he has less than 20 in the conference so to suggest he could score 20 in lge 2 as well is a bit far, but he should be perfectly capable of getting double figures in lge 2 surely.

 

[BeesKnees]

Not sure using the league table will tell us how hard each teams run in is,I think the current form has to be factored in.
Bottom 6 in the form table are Dartford, Lincoln, Altrincham, Welling, Telford and Kiddy so in theory these are the easier games.
Top 6 are Woking, Grimsby, Bristol, Nuneaton, FGR, Alfreton.
There are other factors like Dover being second in the home form table as well

 

[Conker]

Quickly glanced at our results and I think we've won every game Palmer's played apart from two, both of which we've conceded after he was subbed off. 5 in 7 for him, evidently making a huge difference for us. He'll take us up don't worry.

I'm glad for the lad, found his level evidently and hopefully he carries it on.

 

[rudebwoyben]

It's pretty possible that our match at Dartford will be where their fate is sealed.

 

[springerbfc]

I'd say the state of the Dartford pitch is far more of an issue than whether Dartford will be relegated that day or not.

 

[BeesKnees]

So who does have the hardest run in?
As far as I can tell every one of the top three thinks theirs is toughest, so I've had a play.
First I've taken the Statto rating of how good each of the top three is and worked out the difference
Bristol 683, Grimsby 677, Barnet 666
Then I took the averages of the teams they are playing
Bristol 625, Grimsby 620, Barnet 616
The difference gives the relative difficulty for each club
Bristol 58, Grimsby 57, Barnet 50.
So according to the bookies, Barnet face the easier teams, but Bristol have more chance of beating the teams they face.

Right so scrap that and look at last 4 home and away form but the same methodology
Home: Bristol 2nd, Grimsby 3rd, Barnet 9th
Away: Bristol 3rd, Grimsby 4th, Barnet 5th
Avg. Bristol 2.5, Grimsby 3.5, Barnet 7th
Average form position of teams being played
Home Bristol 9th, Grimsby 14th, Barnet 12th
Away Bristol 11th, Grimsby 12th, Barnet 19th
Avg. Bristol 10th, Grimsby 13th, Barnet 15.5th
Difference in avg, the higher the number the better
Bristol 7.5, Grimsby 9.5, Barnet 8.5.
So according to form suggests Barnet have the easier run in but Grimsby are more likely to beat the teams they face. Worry for Barnet is there is little difference between them and the teams they play at home, advantage for Barnet is that in theory they have much easier away games.

So Barnet have the easiest run in. Means nothing though if we can't take advantage.

 

[ComeOnIrene]

So who does have the hardest run in?
As far as I can tell every one of the top three thinks theirs is toughest, so I've had a play.
First I've taken the Statto rating of how good each of the top three is and worked out the difference
Bristol 683, Grimsby 677, Barnet 666
Then I took the averages of the teams they are playing
Bristol 625, Grimsby 620, Barnet 616
The difference gives the relative difficulty for each club
Bristol 58, Grimsby 57, Barnet 50.
So according to the bookies, Barnet face the easier teams, but Bristol have more chance of beating the teams they face.

Right so scrap that and look at last 4 home and away form but the same methodology
Home: Bristol 2nd, Grimsby 3rd, Barnet 9th
Away: Bristol 3rd, Grimsby 4th, Barnet 5th
Avg. Bristol 2.5, Grimsby 3.5, Barnet 7th
Average form position of teams being played
Home Bristol 9th, Grimsby 14th, Barnet 12th
Away Bristol 11th, Grimsby 12th, Barnet 19th
Avg. Bristol 10th, Grimsby 13th, Barnet 15.5th
Difference in avg, the higher the number the better
Bristol 7.5, Grimsby 9.5, Barnet 8.5.
So according to form suggests Barnet have the easier run in but Grimsby are more likely to beat the teams they face. Worry for Barnet is there is little difference between them and the teams they play at home, advantage for Barnet is that in theory they have much easier away games.

So Barnet have the easiest run in. Means nothing though if we can't take advantage.

Very interesting, thanks BeesKnees.

As you say, everyone has been saying they have the toughest run-in but at least now it's fair to say that we do... statistically! In all seriousness it all comes down to how each team copes with the pressure of being in contention at this late stage of the season. Barnet have stumbled previously this year and they could easily do it again, but I do think they have enough about them to brush aside all the teams they play between now and the end of April. We've had a mini stumble recently but have hopefully got ourselves back on track to capitalise on any potential Bees slip up, whilst I am sure Grimsby are thinking exactly the same thing.

Sorry Mariners, but I'd be delighted if you lose your game in hand this week!

 

[The_Boss]

I may be being a bit of a knob here but we really should be beating macclesfield. Yes they're clearly a decent team for being 4th but from what I've seen we smashed them 4-0 eastleigh smashed them 4-0. They've scored 4 goals in 7 games losing at home to Nuneaton and not having a shot on target. I'd be very disappointed if we didn't win this

Not being a knob at all. We're not a decent team anymore, we've stopped doing everything that got us to the top echelons of the table, and you'll hammer us in front of the cameras again this weekend.

 

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

So who does have the hardest run in?
.

At this stage of the season, I tend to break the fixtures into six buckets and I see them, from easiest to toughest:

Teams at the bottom at home
Teams with little to play for at home
Teams at the bottom away
Teams with little to play for away
Teams at the top at home
Teams at the top away.

So we have one team in the 1st bucket, potentially 2 in the second, 2 in third and 1 in the fourth. So as last 6 fixtures go, we can't ask for fairer than that.

 

[miagsygas]

I'd fancy our chances either way (Auto or Playoffs) if we got this lad back.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Fulham...istol-Rovers/story-26221245-detail/story.html

 

[Bristols_finest]

We dont hammer teams lol

 

[TheGas]

We dont hammer teams lol

I'd take another 4-0 ;-)