Is another Championship moment coming sooner than we thought?

I have a feeling we'll just miss out on the playoffs, maybe finishing 7th or 8th but I'd be ok with that. Anything above that would just be a massive bonus so it's a good position to be in.

I had us down for 12th at the start of the season so we're exceeding my expectation at the moment.

Had that bad spell when the squad wore a bit thin, players possibly worrying about loanees coming in and taking their places and perhaps the togetherness of the squad being disrupted (Prosser erupting, Piggott etc) but now its all sorted, players know whats going on and in fact Phil has added to the squad again. We dont play too much pretty football but it is tight until Phil decides to go for a win. We have that in our locker for sure. Against Col Ewe yesterday Worrall came on and split their defence in two and opened the game right up. We are solid, we nick the odd goal and we will progress with a zest i feel. Play offs? I certainly think we can do it. Very impressed with Tyrone, he'll get even better with every game, watch this space. Championship is unthinkable. But dont bet against Southend sneaking it.

We've got a good chance of reaching the play offs but I can't see us winning them. But even reaching them would be a massive achievement.

Pak Power said:

I think we might have a look at what we do without Ryan Leonard for however long he is out. His absence might affect us more than we think.


I know some (most?) on here say he is un-droppable, and can't see why his name is on the teamsheet nailed on for each game, well they obviously don't see the work he puts in and the ground he covers every game.


Whilst the loanees look good on the ball, and from my view technically good, sometimes it's when you don't have the ball that matters most. Look at some games stats, and we haven't had it more than we have. This is where leonard comes into his own. I hope we cope without him.

Another note I thought Will Atkinson had a great game before being subbed. Those two in the midfield are the envy of many in this division.

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Yes we ve always recognised that Atkinson covers a lot more ground than most,but now I have to concede that he s been playing really well recently-probably down to increased confidence-I just hope it lasts.But we are going to miss Leonard terribly-those that haven't always appreciated his presence,pace and power in front of our defence may start to realise what he brings.That said,I have to add that Kamara,a completely different type of player,looks like an outstanding talent.As the match wore on he dominated the midfield more and more and was always looking to feed front runners with precision passes.

Think we'll have a clearer picture of our chances at the end of this month.

Three tough away games to come and one home match, against the league leaders.

If we are sitting in a similar spot by then, March could be very interesting!

My view is that this is a pretty even division (Col U apart :smile:). There is no 'big' club like you've had in previous years with the likes of Wolves,Sheff Weds and even going further back Leeds, Leicester, Norwich. We have taken points off the teams above us and no one we have played has looked like they are nailed on for promotion. We have goals through the team, probably the best goalie and defence in the division and some exciting attacking options. Just looking at the players on the bench is normally a good sign of how good a team is. On saturday you had Worrall, Wordsworth, White, Coker, Hunt, Mooney and Mclaughlin not on the pitch. The good thing is we dont have to hurry back those players from injury. Whether promotion would be a good thing is another matter in terms of being a yo-yo team but you tend to think we might not got a better chance than this season.

Clinton Baptiste said:

My view is that this is a pretty even division (Col U apart :smile:). There is no 'big' club like you've had in previous years with the likes of Wolves,Sheff Weds and even going further back Leeds, Leicester, Norwich. We have taken points off the teams above us and no one we have played has looked like they are nailed on for promotion. We have goals through the team, probably the best goalie and defence in the division and some exciting attacking options. Just looking at the players on the bench is normally a good sign of how good a team is. On saturday you had Worrall, Wordsworth, White, Coker, Hunt, Mooney and Mclaughlin not on the pitch. The good thing is we dont have to hurry back those players from injury. Whether promotion would be a good thing is another matter in terms of being a yo-yo team but you tend to think we might not got a better chance than this season.

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Amazing to think only 7 years ago they were in the third tier, now they're favourites to win the Premier League.

I don't believe in jinxing or anything, but I do believe in playing one game at a time and keeping things in perspective as I think that gives the greatest chance of success. There's no doubt we could mount a challenge, which in itself will be great fun for us fans if nothing else :smile:

If Leonard is out for any length of time and the powers that be want a good stab at promotion then Brown surely would need to sign a replacement. I for one think Lenny would be sorely missed. Sometimes a players worth is not apparent until he is missing.

Would say we could go close to the playoffs but the next 4 games are far from easy. The only home game is of course Burton. We still have to go to Walsall and Gillingham have still to come to the Hall. Just think our closest rivals for the play offs look a little stronger

I'm Leonard's biggest fan and it's a massive blow to be without him for any length of time, but I was very impressed with Kamara for the last 35 minutes yesterday (looked a bit shaky for his first 10) and I'd like to see more of him in that position before looking to sign a Lenny replacement.

We're doing remarkably well but let's not get carried away. There are some big clubs up there with us and it would be a very pleasant and unexpected surprise if we were to make it back-to-back promotions. What should be noted is that we are technically only around 3pts from probable safety now (50pts is often seen as the target for survival in this league) and to be so close to that in early February is a huge achievement by Brown and the players. Consolidation is the number one objective for any promoted club and barring some kind of unwelcome miracle we've achieved that so they deserve huge credit. A serious promotion push would be great if it materialises, if it doesn't then we've still had a fantastic season and should be looking to target the top 6 in 2016/17.

Bottom line is well done Phil and the boys! :thumbsup:

Whatever happens, we will need to score a lot more goals. I have a feeling that 5th, 6th and 7th place in the league may be settled by the odd point or even goal difference, and ours is worse than our immediate rivals, Coventry, Millwall and Peterborough.

maninasuitcase said:

Whatever happens, we will need to score a lot more goals. I have a feeling that 5th, 6th and 7th place in the league may be settled by the odd point or even goal difference, and ours is worse than our immediate rivals, Coventry, Millwall and Peterborough.

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Goals scored recently was one of the factors that generated my original post. Eight goals in three games is a far better ratio than we achieved last season and although we need some more consistency, if we keep that goals return going who knows where we will end up.

I think we all get carried away by the last result. After that disasterous run of matches when we were well and truly hammered we were just grateful we had a stash of points in the bank to keep us safe. Now we've put together a run of decent results and we're going up!. We ground out a point at Peterborough, deservedly walloped Coventry but beat lowly Shrewsbury only after being under the cosh for a lot of the game. Yesterday we were far from convincing against the rock bottom team (yes!!!) playing with 10 men .... until we at last sacrificed a redundant defender. Our new batch of loanees all look potentially good but do they have the "nous" and strength to cope with the demands of a League 1 play off push? The next few games will be a good check. "Undroppable Leonard" .... well I think in the coming matches we may well see why PB considered him undroppable. Kamara looks handy but can he cope with 95 minutes of getting forward when necessary, getting back at speed to cover and winning most of the aerial challenges a la Leonard? I'm not writing off our chances. McQueen looks as though he could be a match winner. Barnett will get us goals, Loza will give us pace. But we've not just to get ahead of Millwall and Coventry currently above us but stay ahead of Peterborough, Port Vale and Barnsley who are looking good. It's a great place to be in though. So is there another Championship moment coming up? Too early to say but not ruled out.

Im a "the glass is half" type of person, as a apose to "the glass is half empty", do I think we will make the play off's?.. hopefully and probably (as it currently stands), do I think we will get promoted, most likely not.
But I truly hoped im proved wrong, with another 17 games & 51 points still to play for, theres alot to go wrong as much as there is to go right.

Either which way, im taking nothing for granted & if the season finished tomorrow, I would be happy with a finish of 7th, 8th or 9th in our first season back in league one after a long absent spell away.

UTB
:happy:

Tough month coming up and getting a result against burton on the Monday is a big must! But if we come out of this month with some good results id be very hopeful that we would make the play offs!

The fact that we are even entertaining this notion depicts how good our season has been! Don't forget zoners that the bookies had us down as favourites to go down at the start of the season and they rarely get it wrong. You can't underestimate the achievement of our current standing.

Like I say, the fact we are even discussing it, is a success in itself.

UTB!

I could put a 'like' on almost any of these post, guys. Good to have a positive atmosphere around the Zone.

Like others have said the fact we're entertaining a possible playoff/promotion is testament to the work everyone at the club is doing.

Will we make the play-offs, I think so. The last 17 games including the awful run, netted us 29 points. If we match that over the next 17 games then that is a total of 76 points which most seasons would get you 5th or 6th place.

Will we win the play-offs? I don't think so, but it would still be a huge success even if we didn't.

BJB said:

Tough month coming up and getting a result against burton on the Monday is a big must! But if we come out of this month with some good results id be very hopeful that we would make the play offs!

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I think that March is going to be our toughest month. 4 homes games from the 6 to be played, 3 games against play off rivals. Barnsley, Gillingham & Sheff Utd.

If we can pick up 5 points in our next 3 games I'd be happy. However March is the month as to whether we can really cement a play off position or have an outside chance going into April having both Wigan & Walsall to play away.