The Auto(s) Charge

[SEA Grecian]

Although most results last night went according to position, there were a couple of upsets with the Vegans continuing their winless run. it seems Dale can't buy a win at the moment as Leyton Orient drew level with them last night to hold on for a draw. On current form the Vegans lie 22nd just above Scunthorpe and Satanage. The other surprise was the Mighty Mansfield losing to a revitalised Port Vale 3-1, which means that when all games have been played and if both us and the Stags win them all we will still be above them (for the time being) as well as being within 5 points of the Vegans, who have to play the Stags home and away, but that is all conjecture at the moment and an absolute torrent of water needs to go under the bridge before then. So after the results no change in the top six, with Bristol Rovers sneaking in to the last play off space for the moment, Port Vale and Sutton can overtake them if they win their games in hands, so still tight and the important thing we need to ensure we do is grind out results and win ugly like last night to ensure our momentum keeps going. We won't be the only team that will lose players to injuries over the course of the next couple of months, and it will be the quality of their squads which will tell if they are going to make it.

On to Saturday (Friday for Newport who take on Hartlepool, and Monday night for the Vegans when they are away to Colchester Utd)

Home Team	Position	Current Home Form	Away Team	Position	Current Away Form	Prediction	Home Team Points after Prediction	Away Team Points after Prediction
Newport County	3rd	8th	Hartlepool Utd	12th	4th	Draw	63	47
Bradford City	13th	23rd	Port Vale	9th	13th	Home Win	49	56
Crawley Town	15th	18th	Swindon Town	6th	6th	Away Win	45	64
Mansfield Town	10th	1st	Satanage	22nd	21st	Home Win	59	34
Northampton Town	2nd	5th	Bristol Rovers	7th	5th	Draw	64	61
Sutton Utd	8th	11th	Tranmere Rovers	4th	23rd	Home Win	60	62
Colchester Utd	19th	17th	The Vegans	1st	11th	Draw	40	70

So we have a couple of clashes within the top ten at Northampton and Sutton Utd some challengers versus avoiders at Oldham Mansfield and Colchester, where we could see the desire to avoid the drop prove stronger than that for promotion. One interesting match could be at Valley Parade where Mark Hughes has now got a couple wins under his belt and it would be nice to see Port Vale knocked back a bit before we play them on Tuesday, being one of our games in hand (Mansfield and Sutton also in away action on Tuesday night).

After this round of matches the Grecians will be down to their last ten matches five at home and five away. Of the five away four of them are against other Challengers - Port Vale, Newport County, Tranmere Rovers and the old Nemesis Northampton Town (our fifth away match is against Carlisle who until last night were putting together a bit of form after appointing a new manager), so not the easiest of run-ins, but get some points off our competitors and win our home matches and you could almost start believing Harris

UTC (we're going up as f***ing Champions)

It's all incredibly tight and I have absolutely no idea who I think is going to make the top 3. Most other teams would like to be in our position but I do worry our young squad will struggle to maintain our good form and we may have to settle for the play-offs.

 

[JCWhoosh]

Looks like Nombe will be out for the season. That is a huge blow but still ended up winning last night without him. We need to be content with scrappy wins now and not focus on the total football of beating teams by 3+ goals.

 

[Snoop Fog]

11 games to go with 2 games in hand on most and a superior goal difference. Its ours to lose.

We are certainly weaker upfront without Nombe but our attacking midfielders of Dieng, Brown, and Jay can hopefully continue to provide the goals and keeping these 3 fit is absolutely crucial. They're all as important as each other.

I don't remember the top of the table ever being this tight previously. Keep our key players fit and don't lose to our promotion rivals and I think we'll just nick 3rd place, maybe on goal difference!

If we do end up in the play offs we need to remember that its only us fans who are scarred by recent events, most of the players weren't around to experience the previous hurt.

 

[Sexton Blake]

11 games to go with 2 games in hand on most and a superior goal difference. Its ours to lose.

We are certainly weaker upfront without Nombe but our attacking midfielders of Dieng, Brown, and Jay can hopefully continue to provide the goals and keeping these 3 fit is absolutely crucial. They're all as important as each other.

I don't remember the top of the table ever being this tight previously. Keep our key players fit and don't lose to our promotion rivals and I think we'll just nick 3rd place, maybe on goal difference!

If we do end up in the play offs we need to remember that its only us fans who are scarred by recent events, most of the players weren't around to experience the previous hurt.

Personally I think the results of the next 7 game will definitely define our season.

5 away starting with Oldham still fighting for their lives then Vale one of our games in hand who are currently on good form.

Newport very similar, Carlisle may be safe and we do have a decent record against them then Tranmere.

The two home games are Stevenage and Colchester both still in the battle to stave off relegation from the EFL.

Anyone like to have a go at estimating how many points we are likely to get

 

[geoffwp]

It's all incredibly tight and I have absolutely no idea who I think is going to make the top 3. Most other teams would like to be in our position but I do worry our young squad will struggle to maintain our good form and we may have to settle for the play-offs.

I completely agree. Call me a pessimist but while my heart says autos my head tells me play offs. I think our team IS good enough to go up but I do honestly feel we probably will just fall short of it. I hope not.

 

[Banksy]

Personally I think the results of the next 7 game will definitely define our season.

5 away starting with Oldham still fighting for their lives then Vale one of our games in hand who are currently on good form.

Newport very similar, Carlisle may be safe and we do have a decent record against them then Tranmere.

The two home games are Stevenage and Colchester both still in the battle to stave off relegation from the EFL.

Anyone like to have a go at estimating how many points we are likely to get

Tough seven.I’ll go ten points , can’t see us getting anything out of the Vale and Oldham games , we seem to have negative vibes with those teams.And I’m banking on us winning the two home games and getting a win draw and loss from any permutation of the other three games..Fact is we have to start beating the likes of Port Vale and Oldham if we’re really promotion contenders let alone overhaul FGR.
Needless to say, Sam’s injury is a real body blow but guess other teams are starting to get the same , it’s going to be a hard run in for everyone fighting for those promotion places. The rest of our players have to find those goals from somewhere , although he wasn’t scoring Sam was a handful up front.Maybe Mattie Jay will step up to the plate and get another good run , we certainly will need it.
Somehow don’t fancy the playoffs yet again if it comes down to that even though we have a completely different team from the last **** up .Too much of a lottery.

 

[budegrecian]

If Sam Stubbs stays fit we will not concede many goals. I don't see us conceding more than one very often. We will always create chances; the secret will be to take one or two, which will give us the points we need.

 

[Snoop Fog]

I cant cope with play offs again and a another season in L2. If that happens I might take a step back from it all.

 

[Matt Russell]

I cant cope with play offs again and a another season in L2. If that happens I might take a step back from it all.

The players will need no more motivation.

 

[CraigECFC]

To be taken with a pinch of salt. Predictions based on statistics currently show we have a 55% chance of automatic promotion & an 8% chance at the title. Predicted to finish 2nd with 79 points...

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/league-two/

Obviously we are talking about Exeter City and League 2 so anything could happen but we are sat in a nice place right now.