Paullow

Aye, I've always liked reminding my mackem pals / colleagues that they've only played 4 matches in Europe in their history and not since 1973, and that they've never finished in the top 6 of the top flight since 1955. I was thoroughly expecting both to continue for many years to come, so for even one of those to end this season as a newly promoted club, never mind two, would be pretty grim. We're shite, absolutely no chance we'll win 5 matches, so for the sake of finishing anywhere from 12th-16th, I think I would actually prefer wins for Forest and Wolves if I was magically given the option, as crazy and small time as that might sound.

Sunderland, Tottenham and Arsenal wins to cap a fully miserable Premier League weekend? The worst part is, if one of those wasn't to happen, I genuinely don't know which one I'd prefer not to, given the state of our season.

Aye, a shame for Jarrow, and ground hoppers that the NL playoff semi finals are all on the Saturday. You'd think plsying st the same time would affect them a lot more than Hebburn. Looking forward to the match!

1-1 Leeds

Not that bothered about Leeds potentially passing us as 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th is shite anyway, wherever is it we finish, but would prefer Bournemouth to win mainly to keep Sunderland more at bay, as shit as that sounds heading into May. They've not been in Europe since 1973 and I'd prefer that to continue.

Baring any Elliot Anderson and Bristol Rovers heroics from 2022. I remember Northampton having a +5 goal difference advantage over Bristol Rovers on the final day in the 3rd and final automatic spot. The won their match 3-1 to increase their goal difference by +2, but still didn't go up automatically, and then lost out in the playoffs. You'd like to think a win for Hebburn, by any score, should be enough.

This is quite an interesting podcast, just started listening to it this past week. There's a Morpeth Town fan, a Hyde one and someone else, some have been involved with the clubs in the past like club secretary etc. The had a director from Workington on this past week, and was quite interesting. The club train at Penrith which I wasn't aware of, and they were discussing their attendances and how things like Carlisle being away can add 60-70 on the gate, which is a big boost at that level. Also some past players have been invited for this weekends match with it being the final match at the ground. The Workington man comes on the pod pretty early on.

FCUM 1 Stockport 1. That means FCUM can't win the league, Hebburn and Hednesford guaranteed 1st or 2nd, and a straight shootout between them for the title. Advantage Hebburn with a +5, or effectively +6 GD advantage. The point takes Stockton a point clear of 6th and 7th and if they win at 4th place Warrington Rylands, who can't finish any higher of lower, they will get the final playoff spot, hopefully vs Hednesford (and not Hebburn). They would have already secured 5th place if they hadn't fielded an ineligible player earlier in the season, ironically against Rylands, Not sure if anyone had been following the drama heading into this FCUM fixture tonight, but it was pretty eventful, including an NPL chief losing his position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj94yzxn8y9o

Keeper so hesitant again there. Let off.

Basically be an own goal hereif they score from this corner. Poor keeping.

Kind of flipped in Palace's favour after making those subs, a bit like vs us the other week.

I've seen far worse 0-0's than this.

Good spell for West Ham. Hopefully they can score whilst on top before half time.

Despite the god awful website, I do love the NPL. The fact that there are teams a bit further afield does make it feel a bit less niche, plus it is something for the more ambitious Northern League teams to aspire to get to, and beyond, like we may be seeing with Hebburn (and possibly Stockton). Hopefully Morpeth can settle in the East league going forward should the inevitable happen on Saturday. They've only really had Hebburn, and to an extent Stockton as local matches this year. Whitby at a push, but that is well into North Yorkshire, although obviously much better than heading down to Rushall near Walsall. There are currently 9 NE sides in the East league, but it could look a bit different next year. Redcar are up, Dunston could join them. Newton Aycliffe are down and at least 1, possibly 2 of Bishops and Blyth Town will join them. Heaton, Consett, Ashington and Blyth Spartans will be there, plus almost certainly Morpeth. Guisborough are promoted from the league below, but that's a bit like Whitby, plus good news in that Kendal didn't make the playoffs so another NE side will join them (hopefully not Boro Rangers...). So there will be 7, 8, or 9 again in that league next year (depending on promotion and relegation), but it will be a lot better for Morpeth in terms of travel with more local sides around.

I mentioned at Newcastle Blue Star to that Football Explorer Youtuber guy on Friday night that I was off to Consett the next day as it's one of the quickest / easiest places to get to being from near Hexham and one of the first things he said was 'I can never understand why Hexham has never had a decent non league side' without me prompting or leading him etc. Not even one or two years struggling in Northern League Division 2 or anything. It really is a shame. The current team are in a league lower than Haltwhistle Jubilee.

Yeah, it would be great if you had a hometown non league team you could be proud of, especially when they're going through a good moment. I've always wished Hexham had a team competing well in the Northern League, or even higher - it's no smaller than Morpeth, with a bigger catchment area, but while they've had a few years in step 3 (albeit almost certainly to come to an end this season), Hexham have never had a team above Northern Alliance level in my lifetime. I've always liked to see the vast majority of local non league sides do well, so it is good in that sense that you can go to a lot of grounds in the region, especially at this stage of the season when there is a lot of big matches, and not many bigger than Hebburn this Saturday, and take in these great occasions, but it would be nicer if you had more of a connection to the place / team. I echo Wallsend and others though, I do find myself enjoying non league more and more now.

I guess if you (generally) hadn't booked your ticket you'd be less tempted now with it no longer being in their hands, but aye, hopefully they take a good crowd down and would be great if it worked out well for them.

They have to win, and ideally hope Fylde lose. If Fylde draw then South Shields would need to win by 3 clear goals. It does feel pretty much done, but then again, there have been so many twists and turns in the run in, so one final twist wouldn't be impossible. Fylde have lost their last 3 away games and their opponents kind of do need to win to try and get into the playoffs, whereas Shields match, while tougher on paper, is away to the 3rd placed side who can't finish higher or lower and will have a home playoff final on their mind, so may be resting players for that, but it does feel like 80/20 in Fylde's favour.

Normally, I'd be raging with us playing Arsenal next and Gabriel not being off, but kind of feels irrelevant anyway.

Yeah, most bookies don't have odds other than those above. The 3rd bookies, Boylesports won't have updated their odds after Forest's win, but Spurs 4/6 (Bet365) is glorious to see at this late stage.

True, but we've been shite for most of the season, so it doesn't really feel like a missed opportunity, but yeah, to be only 6 points off 6th losing 3 more matches than we've won a a negative goal difference is pretty strange.

Aye, just read about that Villa 4th / 5th thing. You think it wouldn't make any difference with top 5 in the CL anyway, but it seemingly does. I kind of hope Villa finish 4th - we're obviously not finishing 6th, so probably better if another team doesn't get the revenue from it.

Mad that Sunderland aren't even in the top half at the moment (11th), but they play on Friday night, and if they win they will be 6th. Crazy how you could go from bottom half to a potential Champions League spot with one win at this late stage of the season.

I was more fussed about Forest and Villa winning than this Liverpool match. Looks like the top 5 is pretty much set now.

An enjoyable day of football so far. Mackems losing, Spurs in more trouble, Isak Isaking. Almost perfect so far.