Paullow

Just saw the Northern League table and Ashington drew 1-1 at Bishop Auckland on the final days of the season in front of a crowd of 894. 3rd vs 2nd with the promotion playoff on the line. Looks like Ashington will now face either Carlton or Lincoln U away in a one off tie, a bit like what Consett had last year. It would be good to get both Newton Aycliffe and Ashington up, and in time, for that Unibond East league to kind of be a level above mini Northern League. Decent crowd at 'Boro Rangers' as well in the league below, 704, against Horden.

I've mentioned before that I have put little bets totalling just under £15 and stand to return just over £1,500 if they do go up. £2 of that is on a 250/1 bet, so returns £502, and the current cash out is only £12.38

Big goal for them that last second Preston equaliser. As Doog says, back in the playoffs if they win tomorrow. Currently 5/1 to make the playoffs which is the lowest odds for a long time. If they lose tomorrow, it's pretty much over for them as they will be 4 behind Coventry and WBA (who will have a game in hand) with only 2 games left, a win and they will be in the driving seat, still not officially in their hands (with WBA and Bburn having a game in hand, but with tough remaining games), but in a great position, and a draw will kind of be as you were, but another game chalked off. Basically win and they will probably make them, lose and almost certainly out, draw, still with a chance, but less likely. Coventry have Birmingham at home next. A bit of a derby, they have shared a stadium and Bham will want to beat them, but you'd think Cov would probably win (unlike most up there, they do seem to have a bit about them at the moment) and that could put them on 69 points and be very hard to catch if Sunderland didn't win tomorrow. Regardless, it's a really big match for them (and WBA). 3 big matches back to back with them, us, and then the FA Cup semi final.

Fuckin hell

Gerrin. marra! (Blackburn)

From a Newcastle-Sunderland perspective it is, yes.

Yeah, thankfully from a integrity point of view, although I do hope Bburn win from a playoff perspective (keeping a certain team out of them).

In the Northern Premier League East (ex Unibond), Consett survive with a 4-2 win over Lincoln United. As the results panned out, had they lost then Lincoln would have jumped ahead of them and they would have faced a relegation playoff, but survival secured in their first season at this level. I would have gone if they weather was better. Shildon are down though. They won today, but Carlton beat Dunston to secure a relegation playoff spot and send Shildon down. That result also ends Dunston's playoff hopes. I guess you can't say for sure, because other teams may have got win of the score and saw games out etc. but again, looking at the table, had Dunston won 2-0 instead of losing by that score, they would have joined Hebburn in the playoffs at the expense of Stocksbridge. Morpeth and Marske survive in the league above (although they may have been safe already, not sure).

Obviously the same amount of points and they are now within 6 of us, but I was fully expecting Liverpool to win that one 3 or 4 nil, which would have been great for goal difference, aura, and momentum, especially on the back of the 6-1, so a shame Forest couldn't hang on especially with equalising twice, but possibly could have been worse from our perspective.

Arsenal will probably take it from where they were, and it's a point more than Saints would be expecting, but if it stays like this, it doesn't really do either any favours at the respective ends of the table.

Wow

Saw this on another forum

It was featured in their AON documentary so will be at least 2 years.

We possibly would have had more chance of finishing 3rd, but I just can't see MU finishing lower than 4th after that win over Forest, and the difference between finishing 3rd and 4th is very minimal. Their next 3 league games are Spurs, Villa and Brighton and I'd prefer them to win or draw all of those, so it's actually possibly better for us that they are out of Europe and after this weekend, win or lose, they can fully focus on those league matches.

Pontefract 2 Carlton Town 2 That means Shildon have a reprieve, they would have been down had Carlton won, but that draw means that they will now have to beat Grimsby Borough on Saturday and hope that Carlton don't beat playoff chasing Dunston to move into the relegation playoff places (a draw will definitely no longer be enough for them). It also means that Carlton can't catch Consett now.

Just looking at the BBC table and at the business end of the season, from the last 5 games, the below teams have collected the following points: Millwall 5 (5 from 6) Blackburn 3 WBA 8 (and have at least put together back to back wins) Coventry 6 Sunderland 9 Norwich 5 (or 7 from 8) Preston 9 (but were coming from far back, and have now lost their last 2) Watford 4 - and almost certainly out of the race

They couldn't have really asked for a better set of results tonight, especially with that 95th equaliser by the Coventry keeper. Never really convinced by Blackburn whenever I see them. A negative GD is never a great sign either. Coventry do have a couple of very winnable home games coming up, so that point could end up being vital for them, but I'd have much preferred a winner in that match.

Yeah, at least there's currently a team leading in the Blackburn match, but Preston getting battered, Norwich losing to out of sorts QPR, and even Watford going from 1-0 to 1-3 at home to struggling Cardiff. That would almost certainly rule Watford out of the running and they still have to go to Sunderland. Crazy how nobody can seem to string 4 or so results together to put themselves in a great position.

Just saw Coventry have Reading and Birmingham both at home after this so probably hoping they win here tbh. Gyokeres is a good player to watch. Suspect he will be playing PL football next season regardless of what happens to Cov.

I'll still keep an eye on the CL matches in case either Bayern or Benfica get an early goal, but neither tie looks great from a neutral perspective. Think I'll mainly be watching Blackburn vs Coventry on Sky Sports Arena (so should be proper coverage and not the red button shite) as that's a big game in the playoff race. Sunderland will be hoping for a draw so that both drop points, but not sure what the worst result is for them? Blackburn are in the better position and have an extra game in hand, so probably them winning is worst, but then their final 4 games are very tough as well, so they could still probably be caught (by s'land) even if they were to win tonight.

I see SkyBet have finally worked out that 'promotion' and 'to win the playoffs' are the same, and they are now 66/1 in both of those markets. Not quite as high as Betway's 100/1 or PP's 80/1 between their Cardiff and Birmingham matches, but still long enough for an 'emotional hedge' bet. A win over WBA would obviously help, but they are currently 14/1 at SkyBet to make the playoffs (the only place currently offering that market whilst they update), so it's pretty unlikely that they will make the top 6.

Christ knows what's happened to Darlo. Another defeat tonight so that's only 0W 4D 4L in their last 8, or stretching further back, 1W 7D 7L in their last 15 games - 10 points from 15 is abysmal for pretty much a third of the season. They've got top of the table King's Lynn on Saturday who have won 5 in a row, so hard to see them winning that, and they've gone from potential title challenge to very likely missing out on a 6 team playoff in a couple of months. I know very little about the set up / expectations / circumstances etc. but you'd think their manager Alun Armstrong would have to be under pressure if they didn't get top 7?

Yeah, massive win. A nice unbeaten run going as well. Leamington are away to title chasing (and only automatic promotion) Fylde, and Farsley host Gloucester who occupy the final playoff spot, so hopefully they are still out of the relegation zone by the end of that round of games, and then home to Hereford the week after who are lower midtable, but safe.

I was hoping Millwall would have got an equaliser so that they were two games ahead of Sunderland (at the moment if Sunderland win and they lose, S'land would go ahead of them on GD), but they lost at home to Birmingham. That said, it gives teams like Norwich, Blackburn Coventry etc. the chance to pip them (Millwall) which might make for some more interesting playoff matches, as Millwall are pretty underwhelming. Not a good result for Sunderland, but you never know, that point might be the difference at the end of 46 games, and they are unbeaten in 6. Massive match for them against WBA on Sky Sunday, just before our match.