DangerousSausage

Don't get too giddy @liampie, just keep my place in the top four warm for me

Time for a midweek round and our first in December, a month in which it begins to become acceptable to put Christmas trees up (although not yet). All of these games are from Leagues One and Two (no, we will not be including the National League Cup) and kick off at 7.45pm. And don't forget your joker! Bolton Wanderers v Mansfield Town Leyton Orient v Bristol Rovers Stevenage v Northampton Town Wrexham v Barnsley Bradford City v Barrow Colchester United v Swindon Town Salford City v Harrogate Town Tranmere Rovers v Morecambe

I want to see our strongest team out there today. Year after year we field half-strength teams in the cups and then wonder why we don't get far. Let's throw the kitchen sink at it this time. Winning today could open the door to a big draw in the third round and memories that last a lifetime. Isn't that what it's about? We're under no pressure, so let's be positive and show what we can do!

The scores are in! Luton Town 1-0 Hull City West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Norwich City Huddersfield Town 2-1 Charlton Athletic Peterborough United 1-2 Reading AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Walsall Chesterfield 1-0 Barrow Boston United 3-1 Braintree Town Tamworth 2-1 Dagenham & Redbridge --- Two of you absolutely knocked it out of the park this week - congratulations to @liampie and @Robbie, who scooped 17 points each! --- This means we now have joint leaders! @Robbie jumps from fifth to top of the leaderboard ahead of @super_ram on alphabetical order, while @liampie is catapulted from mid-table obscurity right into the title race. With just six points between the top four, it's all to play for! --- As I wrote above, there's no prediction league this weekend as it's FA Cup weekend. However, there will be a round on Tuesday night, so the fixtures will be posted here tomorrow. See you all then

I got back from my UK visit on Wednesday. Normally I'd try to get to Meadow Lane when a home game is on, but this time there was a lot of family stuff to take care of (and not the good kind). On the plus side, I returned with a suitcase rammed full of Tunnock's tea cakes, Yorkshire tea, Stilton... The Christmas markets have opened here now and I'm hoping to visit my first this weekend. Darmstadt doesn't have the most thrilling market, but it gets the job done. I'll post a pic when I can

Losing five games on the trot and then following it up by blowing a 3-0 lead at home is pretty extraordinary, especially when you consider that City have wiped the floor with the Premier League for the last five years or so. Against Spurs they were lacklustre and second best in every department. I don't mind it at all as it's about time we saw another name on the trophy, but you do wonder if there's been a bust-up behind the scenes. A note of caution though: they remind me a lot of Bayern in Germany. Every season, they tend to have a poor run which is seized on by the press and everybody talks about the Bayern "crisis". They then bounce back and win the league regardless because nobody can touch them. I wouldn't bet against City doing the same.

You've had two now In all seriousness though, you need to be where the people are and as a non-political site I think it's sensible to maintain a presence on X for the time being, alongside Bluesky which seems to be growing fast. Time will tell whether that one turns out to be the new Twitter or a flash in the pan like Threads is threatening to be. Personally I stayed away from Twitter and I won't be using the new platforms either.

It might not seem like it to a 21st century fan, but we've spent less time in the fourth tier than in each of the other divisions. Maybe that's why we've racked up so many losses? Either way, it's character building

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't added up your points yet, I was in the UK for a few days. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow night. There will be no prediction league fixtures this weekend as it's the second round of the FA Cup, but there will be some on Tuesday night. I'll keep you posted!

How about Liverpool's Champions League win against Milan in 2005? 3-0 down and seemingly dead and buried at half time, only to come back and win it on penalties. That was an incredible comeback, especially considering it took place on arguably the biggest stage in world club football.

Talk about a downgrade. He'll be gone before the season is over. Coventry have an ambitious new owner who might have wanted his own man to take them the next step, but this could really backfire on them.

Luton Town 0-1 Hull City West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Norwich City Huddersfield Town 2-1 Charlton Athletic Peterborough United 1-1 Reading AFC Wimbledon 2-1 Walsall (joker) Chesterfield 1-1 Barrow Boston United 0-1 Braintree Town Tamworth 1-2 Dagenham & Redbridge

Time to dust off your crystal balls - these matches all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and you get a joker each. Good luck! Luton Town v Hull City West Bromwich Albion v Norwich City Huddersfield Town v Charlton Athletic Peterborough United v Reading AFC Wimbledon v Walsall Chesterfield v Barrow Boston United v Braintree Town Tamworth v Dagenham & Redbridge

Ladies and gentlemen, the results: Blackpool 0-0 Northampton Town Stockport County 1-0 Wrexham Accrington Stanley 2-2 Swindon Town Barrow 1-3 AFC Wimbledon Bromley 1-1 Carlisle United Braintree Town 1-0 AFC Fylde Hartlepool United 0-0 Eastleigh Yeovil Town 0-1 Halifax Town --- Here are this round's scores. Congratulations to @Megan_Elizax for winning the round and @CliftonMagpie on being the only player to land their joker on the Stockport - Wrexham match! --- In our leaderboard, @ARLukomski and @thommo chip away at @super_ram's lead, while @Megan_Elizax jumps three places... --- The next round is on Saturday, so the fixtures for that should be online on Wednesday as usual. Thanks for playing and let the banter begin!

If the Daily Express warns of the incoming apocalypse, this usually means it'll be a bit cold for a few days so don't wear your shorts. It's staying below 3 degrees for a few days though, so we could well see some snow.

If any of you have any tips, I'm all ears! I usually buy them at Morrison's for convenience. I usually bring a pack home with me, but last year I made my own for the first time. My work colleague provided the filling, but I made the pastry myself and it was incredible, absolutely perfect. A complete fluke as I had no idea what I was doing. As if to tempt fate, I'll try again this year. So any tips as to good ready-made mince pie filling would be appreciated too! Can I have yours?

A disappointing day. I don't think we played badly, but we rarely looked like scoring. The injury list really hurt us today. It's annoying to concede from our own corner. The penalty wasn't one - Bogle couldn't decide whether he was going to have a shot or try to dink it around Platt and ended up tripping himself up. Platt just stood his ground. It was quite clear it wasn't a foul even watching it first time, and the referee was in the perfect position. It gave us a real uphill struggle in a phase in which we were struggling to create chances anyway. Crewe certainly weren't anything special, but they were hard working and well organised off the ball and took their chances when they came. Sometimes that's all you need.

He should have let him past rather than playing 87 minutes on a yellow. Feels like an accident waiting to happen.

Keep doing this @Fan of Big Tone. I've just noticed that the post now has more than 500 views, so don't think that nobody cares! My gran died recently and I have other family members with severe health issues, so I've lacked the mental and emotional capacity for football and PON this week. But I'm feeling OK today and looking forward to watching the match later on, PiesPlayer permitting! I'm also visiting the UK from next Thursday but won't be at the Newport match as I'd originally hoped. Apart from that stuff, I've been spending more time on Stardew Valley as it's so soothing. Does anyone else here keep a farm? Get well soon @super_ram. A friend of mine was off work for a long time with the brain fog, but it does get better eventually. Just don't rush yourself. @Robbie and @Chris, I've noticed how much UK stamps cost now. Bonkers. I think it might be because Royal Mail's (declining) letter business was split off from their (highly profitable and booming) parcel business and is struggling to pay for itself. A stamp costs 85 cents here depending on the size of the letter, so that's half the price. It might even arrive if you're lucky! Parcels here cost the same as in the UK, but in the UK you can frank them online and save money. But anyway, I'm going to buy a heap of charity cards next week and hand them out in person, as I'm too tight to pay for stamps!

This is going to be a tough test. We've drawn three of our last five and so have Crewe, so I could imagine the honours being shared again today.

Got another one. - Smoke bombs and pyrotechnics in football grounds. Chucking smoke bombs on the pitch is chavvy behaviour and it's about time that trend died a death. - Related to that, pyro. In Germany, pyrotechnics aren't allowed in football grounds. This has led to a kind of arms race among ultra groups, which try to outdo each other with ever bigger fireworks displays, costing their clubs hundreds of thousands of euros in fines. As well as being dangerous and expensive, lighting up bengalos is lame and low-effort compared to the tifos and displays ultras became known for. - Related to that, ultras (or at least most of them). The good ones that make an effort to get the rest of the crowd going can stay. The ones that spend all game droning through an obscure song to the tune of Big Big Girl while the rest of the crowd looks on in bored silence can go. You're not the greatest fans just because you're waving flags.

If people called me by my user name, I'd be tempted to rename myself DangerousSausagecanIbuyyouadrink

Good decision, he needs game time at this stage of his career and we've got a lot of competition in midfield this season. He sounds very promising by all accounts. Hope he manages to kick on and put himself in contention for a first 11 spot with us.

Blackpool 1-1 Northampton Town Stockport County 1-2 Wrexham Accrington Stanley 2-0 Swindon Town (joker) Barrow 1-3 AFC Wimbledon Bromley 1-1 Carlisle United Braintree Town 0-1 AFC Fylde Hartlepool United 1-0 Eastleigh Yeovil Town 2-1 Halifax Town

This is what I mean by dishonest cherry-picking. Day-ahead prices vary widely even within a single day. This makes it very easy to find a chart that fits your agenda. On 29 September this year, day-ahead electricity prices in the UK ranged from €55 to €139 per MWh (source), nowhere near the €200+ shown on that chart. The prices were at the level shown only briefly on 29 September 2023 and for nearly all of 29 September 2022, so that chart is at least a year old, more likely two given the heading. If wholesale prices are falling year-on-year, this also doesn't support the claim that prices are spiking. There's nothing wrong with the graph itself. However, the spike in prices happened in 2022, which we all know had nothing to do with renewables. It is also missing the crucial context that it shows a brief snapshot within a single day probably two years ago. I'm not going to address the claims by known climate change denier Andrew Neil, but it's telling that the voices telling us that climate change is a conspiracy and we should just belch loads of CO2 into the atmosphere like there's no tomorrow are idealogues and/or are mysteriously funded, Tufton Street-based organisations with their strings pulled by the fossil fuel industry. I'm bowing out of this now before someone quotes Donald Trump or somebody. But here's one last thought: there is loads and loads of information on this topic, from impartial sources that tell you where their data is from. Why rely on the Daily Mail to tell you what to think?