In just six weeks time, the regular season will be over and most players will be off sunning themselves on the beaches of classy destinations like Malia or Ibiza. Between now and then, there’s all to play for at both ends of the table with automatic promotion, relegation and playoff positions still to be decided.
Using the BBC Predictor, we’ve tried to see how things might pan out. The first thing you’ll notice is that we have Rochdale and Notts County cruising through their remaining games to secure the title and 2nd place respectively. Despite Rochdale having to visit Meadow Lane (where we think they’ll lose), there doesn’t appear to be much standing in their way and they should have it sewn up before their final-day trip to Underhell to play the Barnet Hill Game.
The final automatic place looks to be a straight duel between Bournemouth and Rotherham, and we’ve sided with the Millers. They’ve got tough-looking trips to Aldershot and Morecambe, but after this they should be looking at big points through to the end of the season. This one could well go down to the final day with Bournemouth travelling to Chesterfield who, we believe, will also have all to play for.
Bury can’t buy a goal at the moment and will surely lose at Notts County next weekend, but after this they can bounce back with a streaky win at home to Burton. Some very favourable fixtures then follow and we reckon this will see them cement their place in the playoff positions. Despite Aldershot only hitting the top 7 this weekend, they also have some very winnable games other than the Rotherham fixture we’ve already mentioned. Their form is good and they shouldn’t have much trouble keeping themselves in the picture.
At the bottom of the table, Darlington are certainly down but have a part to play in the fate of others, with games against promotion hopefuls Accrington, Rochdale, Bournemouth, Notts County and ourselves, as well as relegation-threatened Cheltenham and Grimsby. In fact, we think they could help consign Cheltenham to the Conference with a narrow win. It is hard to see where another Robins win is coming from, whilst the Mariners were showing signs of recovery until their hammering at Rochdale. We think there’s a good chance of it going down to the last day with Grimsby visiting Burton who should have nothing to play for, and Cheltenham hosting Accrington who may be on the verge of the playoffs.
Saving the final playoff place til last, we had to back the Daggers didn’t we? We reckon we could find ourselves even further adrift after the next two matches, but our best bet is to pip fading Chesterfield. If we can nick a narrow win at Saltergate, it will send us into a more favourable run of fixtures in good form and set up some more last-day drama at Darlington. Whilst the Spireites could very well turn Bournemouth over in a last-ditch bid for 7th, Accrington should have an epic battle on their hands at Cheltenham by our calculations, paving the way for us to climb back into the playoffs for the first time since January.
7th spot would be oh! so nice but with injuries taking their toll it is now becoming a big ask. Let’s see what team JS can put out against Chesterfield and what sort of performance we can put in. Maybe this game isn’t all “do or die” , the key in to win our remaining home games and get what we can from the away ones and with a bit of Lady Luck we can be going into the Darlo game with a chance. Fingers and everything else crossed for the run in. Up the Daggers !