all our rivals

[bixieupnorth]

a little thread to keep an eye on our rivals trials and tribulations between now and may 5th....

swindon have one of their games in hand at barnet tonight and i notice they are 0-2 up as expected at ht, murray and risser, so theres pretty much no chance of us catching them, not that anyone really expected us to??!! i wonder how much they'll charge us to watch them next season if it was £25 in the 4th division!!??

[Gullscorer]

I see we attracted a bigger gate at Barnet Friday than Swindon did today! The Gulls are obviously the team to watch.

Swindon won't be worth watching next season..

[Gullscorer]

I reckon Swindon will need another three wins to be promoted.

[ferrarilover]

I reckon Swindon will need another three wins to be promoted.

I presume you mean as Champions?

Matt.

[Gullscorer]

I presume you mean as Champions?

Matt.

No Matt, I simply mean promoted. Champions might need a point or two more, if we are not to pip them at the post on goal difference.. =D

[ferrarilover]

Bloody hell Scorer, you're optimistic. Although, that said, they're only top because they keep winning, so that will have to continue for them to remain where they are, so in a sense, you're right. Can't see them having any trouble getting it though. We are where we are on merit, because we are the second best side in the division (as opposed to the second luckiest, as some might suggest), and we were taught a lesson when we played at their place. They will go up as deserved Champions, even if it is a simple case of buying the trophy rather than earning it.

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Looking at the remaining fixtures of ourselves, crawley and shrewsbury it looks a straight battle between us and Shrewsbury for the last spot. Crawley have walked it wit the fixtures they have, Wombles, Northampton and Hereford at home is 9 points guaranteed no matter what people say about each game being tough. Accy away is their trickiest and Daggers away COULD be tricky but i'd fancy them to bag the three points. That would be 12 points for them meaning we would have to win every game we've got left and it still won't be enough.

Shrews have got tricky home games against a resurgent Rotherham chasing a play off spot under colossus Evans and a tricky game against Vale. They also have Daggers at home which could be tricky but i'd expect the 3 points. Away games at Accy and Wimbledon may be tough but 3 points minimum from those two you would think. Shrews could end up with something like 9 points or maybe 12 still requiring us to win every game.

Although i would have been happy with a point today before kick off i still don't see us winning every game and i think we will miss out by a couple of points in the end. Defeat on saturday and it will be the play offs, a draw may keep us hanging on in there though for another week at least.

It has been an unbelievable season but realism has now set in and IMHO we just don't have the depth of squad , nor the easiest of fixtures than the others do to lift us over the line.

[ChertseyGull]

Agree with that. We have to really make the home games count now as they are obviously the two harder fixtures! I reckon Crawley and Shrews will be expecting us to drop points at home v Southend with their impressive away record, so if we can turn them over the pressure will really be on for them to make sure they take max points from their games in hand next mid week. Isnt football a funny old game now need fatty to do us a favour as Rotherham boss and take some points off of Shrews on sat! P.s kinda of irrelevant now but I reckon a resurgent Plymouth could nick a point at the County Ground!

[Gullscorer]

I think Crawley will drop points against Northampton and Dagenham, and possibly Accrington. But the Gulls also have tricky games against Southend and Crewe. Though of course we know there are no easy games for any club at this stage of the season.

But I'm not as pessimistic or as fearful as some people. If Torquay win all their remaining games they will win automatic promotion. Even if they drop a couple of points they could still stay in the top three. In my view the Gulls should not fear anybody.

Because I would suggest the pressure is on the other clubs far more than it's on Torquay.

[HeavenAndHele]

If Torquay win all their remaining games they will win automatic promotion.

Unfortunately not. With 4 games left, the highest points tally we can end up with is 91. Shrewsbury (currently on 78) and Crawley (76) both have 5 games left, so if they win all their games they will have 93 and 91 respectively. Shrews would be second, we would have the same points total as Creepy, but would be in 4th due to goal difference (unless we win one of our games 8-0!).

Personally, I think they can win all their remaining games, although it's a tough run-in and that Crawley will drop points at 1 or 2 out of Accrington, Dagenham or Northampton so I'm optimistic that we'll get automatic promotion. Think it will go down to the last day though.

[Gullscorer]

Mathematically speaking you are correct, but I believe our rivals, and certainly Crawley, I agree, will drop sufficient points to ensure that if the Gulls win all their remaining games they will be automatically promoted. I did think the Wimbledon game would see us promoted, but you could be right. Could go down to the last day..

[AustrianAndyGull]

I don't think we'll win 4 out of four though Mick, i know the Southend game is imminent and their away record is as good as ours but the Crewe game could be the one. They are on fire at the moment and they have surprised me as we ripped them apart at Gresty Road and they looked atrocious. The new manager has certainly worked wonders and they are the team to avoid in the play offs should we end up there.

[jocktheknife]

I'm sorry.......but their's so much boloni in this thread - it's very unlikely we will win our last 4 games.........and even more unlikely imho that we would even NEED to, to clinch autos.

Looking at facts now...........Shrewsbury's form has been solid all the way through, they out of the 3 of us competing for the 2 spots probably look the best bet, they don't concede many and have been pushing at the top end of L2 for a few seasons now.

Crawley's form on the other hand, has dipped in the second half of the season, they had a terrible run of not winning in 7 not so long ago and in recent games they could only draw against hapless (at the time) Burton, got out of jail with a late pen at home to draw with Crewe and were by all accounts extremely fortunate to beat lowly Barnet.

Crawley have to go to Accy (never easy there) as well as Dagenham, whose form has improved dramatically of late - at home they have to play much improved Northampton, Hereford who will be desperate and probably their only banker...Wimbledon.

They have lost their management team and still have suspensions to key players to cope with......

It's too simplistic to say that teams who can't go up or down are easy wins at this stage......those teams could be dangerously relaxed and many players in these uncertain financial times, will be playing for contracts.

The key thing for us is to try and stay ahead of them in the next round or two of games......the pressure of trying to catch up is always harder than that of trying to stay in front.

Beating Southend would be a great start for us.....

[ferrarilover]

I'm sorry.......but their's so much boloni in this thread - it's very unlikely we will win our last 4 games.........and even more unlikely imho that we would even NEED to, to clinch autos.

Looking at facts now...........Shrewsbury's form has been solid all the way through, they out of the 3 of us competing for the 2 spots probably look the best bet, they don't concede many and have been pushing at the top end of L2 for a few seasons now.

Crawley's form on the other hand, has dipped in the second half of the season, they had a terrible run of not winning in 7 not so long ago and in recent games they could only draw against hapless (at the time) Burton, got out of jail with a late pen at home to draw with Crewe and were by all accounts extremely fortunate to beat lowly Barnet.

Crawley have to go to Accy (never easy there) as well as Dagenham, whose form has improved dramatically of late - at home they have to play much improved Northampton, Hereford who will be desperate and probably their only banker...Wimbledon.

They have lost their management team and still have suspensions to key players to cope with......

It's too simplistic to say that teams who can't go up or down are easy wins at this stage......those teams could be dangerously relaxed and many players in these uncertain financial times, will be playing for contracts.

The key thing for us is to try and stay ahead of them in the next round or two of games......the pressure of trying to catch up is always harder than that of trying to stay in front.

Beating Southend would be a great start for us.....

I love this, heavy handed, "you're all retards for having opinions, here comes Superman to save the day with his facts." Yeah, facts, each and every one of them, but then, it's a fact that you can see the Great Wall of China from the moon, and that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but they are completely irrelevant, much as your talk of form, and previous years.
At this stage of the season, form goes out of the window. It's all about nerves, bottle, injuries, luck and a little magic.
We could yet miss out by 10 points, equally, we can still win the league by a comfortable margin.
It is not boloni to suggest that we may need to win our last 4 games, nor is it beyond the realms possibility that we will do so. Pressure does different things to different people, we'll find out how the people of Torquay United, and others, react to it over the coming month or so.

Matt.

[gullintwoplaces]

It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I still reckon that there is more to come problem-wise at Crawley. There are plenty of rumours circulating about imminent point deduction punishments from the FA for breaching the salary cap, but they are just that, rumours. What makes me think there is more to come, hopefully this month (?), is that Evans and Cheat leaving Creepy had all the feel of rats leaving a fast sinking ship. How many managers jump ship JUST BEFORE the end of the season from an apparently wealthy club that looks bang-on to go up. I wouldn't have been surprised if such a move happened after the season end (or the day after, as in the case of Mr Buckle), but the timing here is odd to put it mildly. I just hope that the rumours are true and that Crawley go bang in a big way before the end of the season.