Promotion and Relegation

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Yeovil need one more point from four remaining games to be out of reach of Chelmsford and Braintree.

Crucial away win at Havant & Waterlooville gives Dartford a chance of survival. In theory, Torquay could still go down.

A win for Hornchurch at home to Chatham gives them the Isthmian Premier championship.

In the same league, our old friends from Margate look doomed. Is that woman still shouting?

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2024 7:33:42 GMT Benny said:

Yeovil need one more point from four remaining games to be out of reach of Chelmsford and Braintree.

Crucial away win at Havant & Waterlooville gives Dartford a chance of survival. In theory, Torquay could still go down.

A win for Hornchurch at home to Chatham gives them the Isthmian Premier championship.

In the same league, our old friends from Margate look doomed. Is that woman still shouting?

And us

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Think that one will have to wait. Save the best for last.

[Deleted]

Weymouth, Truro and Hampton left for us then. Our last ten games have yielded 23 points, in our last six, we have let in just two goals. Can we keep it up? If not, our away form is still better than home, but it would be so much nicer to do it all at the G.

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It's the choice between two strategies:

Now we have a playoff place secured, we rest players, avoid cards, and prepare for the playoffs games

Or we carry on pressing to get the best finish possible - avoid the first round and get as many homes as possible

In George we trust, of course, but I think we have the depth in the squad to do both. And the next two games are winnable. H&R is the only real challenge, but, if by then it's not academic, I think we are well up to winning that one.

The playoffs themselves are not going to be easy though. Every one of the teams we will face will be capable of beating us on the day. Going to be a very interesting end to the season!

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While Yeovil (allegedly) have the structures in place to go up and (maybe) survive, can't help wondering about all of the teams in the playoffs, us included.
Know little about the financial health of the others, or indeed whether their grounds pass muster for the NL, but overall, if it ain't Maidstone getting promoted, can't see the others surviving either without a big cash injection from somewhere. It is that sort of league.

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I don’t think the NL standard is that high this year. More poor teams than usual. The top half is as strong as ever but lots of winnable games in the rest of the league. I don’t think we need fear it. It’s almost got to a stage where people think it’s impossible to stay up. It isn’t.

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Apr 7, 2024 12:00:15 GMT @johndaubneyslegs said:

It's the choice between two strategies:

Now we have a playoff place secured, we rest players, avoid cards, and prepare for the playoffs games

Or we carry on pressing to get the best finish possible - avoid the first round and get as many homes as possible

In George we trust, of course, but I think we have the depth in the squad to do both. And the next two games are winnable. H&R is the only real challenge, but, if by then it's not academic, I think we are well up to winning that one.

The playoffs themselves are not going to be easy though. Every one of the teams we will face will be capable of beating us on the day. Going to be a very interesting end to the season!

Try and win every game from here. Momentum is a big thing.

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2024 8:50:58 GMT pwoodstone said:

Apr 7, 2024 12:00:15 GMT @johndaubneyslegs said:

It's the choice between two strategies:

Now we have a playoff place secured, we rest players, avoid cards, and prepare for the playoffs games

Or we carry on pressing to get the best finish possible - avoid the first round and get as many homes as possible

In George we trust, of course, but I think we have the depth in the squad to do both. And the next two games are winnable. H&R is the only real challenge, but, if by then it's not academic, I think we are well up to winning that one.

The playoffs themselves are not going to be easy though. Every one of the teams we will face will be capable of beating us on the day. Going to be a very interesting end to the season!

Try and win every game from here. Momentum is a big thing.

100%. It’s unlikely every team in the playoffs will win all their remaining games, so anyone who does will be in a strong position. Third, and even second, is still up for grabs if results go our way so we should be aiming for three wins.

[stones1]

Apr 8, 2024 8:50:10 GMT pwoodstone said:

I don’t think the NL standard is that high this year. More poor teams than usual. The top half is as strong as ever but lots of winnable games in the rest of the league. I don’t think we need fear it. It’s almost got to a stage where people think it’s impossible to stay up. It isn’t.

Absolutely this. And it Sutton and FGR come down from League 2, that’s two more traditional non league sides in the division, if Barnet/Oldham/Rochdale go up we could be seeing a more traditional looking NL next year.

If promoted Maidstone could absolutely stay up, and I trust George not to have loyalties to players who won’t be make the grade. We’ve seen him ruthless already in this last year and a half or so. The clubs seemed to have change its recruitment processes so hopefully an avoidance of what happened in Jays last summer and with Hak - both putting together squads way below the required standard.

Starting to come around to the belief that we should be in that league and that we actually might be better equipped for it this time round.

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2024 9:47:13 GMT stones1 said:

Apr 8, 2024 8:50:10 GMT pwoodstone said:

I don’t think the NL standard is that high this year. More poor teams than usual. The top half is as strong as ever but lots of winnable games in the rest of the league. I don’t think we need fear it. It’s almost got to a stage where people think it’s impossible to stay up. It isn’t.

Absolutely this. And it Sutton and FGR come down from League 2, that’s two more traditional non league sides in the division, if Barnet/Oldham/Rochdale go up we could be seeing a more traditional looking NL next year.

If promoted Maidstone could absolutely stay up, and I trust George not to have loyalties to players who won’t be make the grade. We’ve seen him ruthless already in this last year and a half or so. The clubs seemed to have change its recruitment processes so hopefully an avoidance of what happened in Jays last summer and with Hak - both putting together squads way below the required standard.

Starting to come around to the belief that we should be in that league and that we actually might be better equipped for it this time round.

In fairness to Jay, in his last summer he had the distraction of the offer from Macclesfield. His first two seasons in the NL we were reasonably comfortable, firstly avoiding relegation with three games to spare, and then finishing comfortably mid table.

[stones1]

Apr 8, 2024 9:51:01 GMT daveu said:

Apr 8, 2024 9:47:13 GMT stones1 said:

Absolutely this. And it Sutton and FGR come down from League 2, that’s two more traditional non league sides in the division, if Barnet/Oldham/Rochdale go up we could be seeing a more traditional looking NL next year.

If promoted Maidstone could absolutely stay up, and I trust George not to have loyalties to players who won’t be make the grade. We’ve seen him ruthless already in this last year and a half or so. The clubs seemed to have change its recruitment processes so hopefully an avoidance of what happened in Jays last summer and with Hak - both putting together squads way below the required standard.

Starting to come around to the belief that we should be in that league and that we actually might be better equipped for it this time round.

In fairness to Jay, in his last summer he had the distraction of the offer from Macclesfield. His first two seasons in the NL we were reasonably comfortable, firstly avoiding relegation with three games to spare, and then finishing comfortably mid table.

Second season very much saved by the early form. That winless run spanning from November to March was really, really bleak and we still only stumbled over the line with that win against Chester on the second to last day and finished really close to the relegation spots, albeit not having been in them all season.
First season in NL was a great time to be a stones fan. But ultimately his recruitment in that last summer WAS really poor - for whatever reason - too loyal to players who had underperformed for large parts the year before.

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Seem to remember Jay had little in the way of additional coaching staff when we first went into the NL - something club appear to have learned from. Essential even in the NS now.

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Dartford are screwed

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Dartford look determined to grab that relegation spot, after being a goal up.

Mathematically, we could still overtake Yeovil. Just need 12 goals in two games.

Colchester and Forest Green both lose, giving Sutton a slim chance of survival.