StarkMallard

I don't think some of the more extreme doom and gloom is justified after 13 points in 6 games, but it is frustrating to work ourselves into an extremely promising position, only to slip back again. It's now very obvious that our lack of goals or attacking threat in general is a serious problem. Our only goal in the last 270 minutes of football was a long-range punt (albeit a very nice one). It's not just a lack of goals though - we just don't put the opposition under any pressure (when did we last win a penalty?) and instead rely on individual quality instead of creating chances from team moves. It's tempting to think that the return of Cal Roberts will help, but I fear our problems go a bit deeper than the personnel.

Well that was rather pleasant, wasn't it?! Leaving two up front and staying positive was definitely the right decision, but to be fair it was also the only decision - parking the bus for 70 plus minutes with an outfield player in goal would have just been an invitation for the visitors to pepper the area with crosses and shots. Great stuff from the whole team. Meadow Lane would have been bouncing. I hope we can take some momentum from this, and fingers crossed for Luke Pilling in goal over the next few games (those FA Trophy appearances should come in handy now). Unless Schmeichel Doyle wants another go? Looking at the table, we're now 11 points behind Torquay with 4 games in hand. In terms of points per game, we're potentially a win away from catching them. And PPG could matter this season.

And so the pitch was waterlogged and we move on to Havant & Waterlooville revisited instead. On the one hand, this will at least give us the chance to test out Barnett at left-back and Miller in a more advanced position when there are no league points at stake. On the other, I would really like to get on with our league programme...

You can't really complain about another win and another clean sheet - it's ultimately better than playing pretty football and then dropping points due to defensive frailties. Teams that win promotion tend to be the ones that pick up "lucky" wins by the odd goal on a regular basis. If you do it enough, it's not really luck... The plodding midfield bothers me, as does the fact that, for all our possession, we don't really do anything with it and rely on moments of individual quality (or, yesterday, a lucky cross-shot) to unlock the opposition instead. On the other hand, if you keep clean sheets - and our defensive record has been superb of late - a single chance could well be enough. Whether that's enough to compete for top spot remains to be seen.

Not a bad result, but not the result we needed. Torquay have got a clean sheet and a point away from home, and they've prevented a potential rival from closing the gap. They'll be pleased. Overall it was a very hard-working display against a good team. The first half had 0-0 written all over it - we didn't have any clear chances, partly because of our reluctance to commit men up front, and the same applied for Torquay. We occasionally had a sniff due to a couple of dodgy back passes, but that was it. Both teams grew braver as the second half wore on, both had some good chances and could have won it, so a draw was fair in the end. It's just a bit of a shame we're unwilling to pull the trigger at times.

Is these one of these "football matches" that we used to have back in the olden days? I remember them from when I was young, some of them were quite good. The team in black and white were usually rubbish, but they were my favourites anyway. Torquay are already 15 points ahead of us, albeit having played three games more. Theoretically we could whittle that down to 3 by beating them and winning our games in hand, but we won't. That would be almost insurmountable in the unlikely (ha!) event that the season isn't finished. We need a win to have any hope of top spot at the end of the season.

Can only agree with the above. After a positive start we increasingly struggled to cope with Hartlepool's high pressing in the first half, leaving Wootton isolated and the attacking midfielders too far apart. We looked a lot better in the second half, aided by Hartlepool sitting back and allowing us to control the game. Then we played some very nice football and battered them, but the finishing touch was missing. I didn't feel we'd strengthened up front in the summer and it seems I was right - while we've tightened at the back in recent weeks (yesterday's calamities notwithstanding), the goals have also dried up. Sam looks like a decent option, but is not a goalscorer and never has been. And some of our players lack that bit of hard-nosed thuggery you need to score a goal - a case in point being Enzio in the second half, when he had a sight of goal in a wide position. If he'd taken a good hard shot, he could've forced the keeper to parry it or won a corner. Instead he cut inside and suddenly had three or four yellow shirts in front of him. Knowles was never, ever offside, I didn't need the replay to see that. The lino was daydreaming and it's cost us a point (and handed two to a rival). Knowles seems to have the knack of being in the right place at the right time, but relying on him and Wootton to get the goals we need isn't enough. We need reinforcements, and we definitely need to look again at the loanees - the jury is still out on Walker, but having one impact sub and two bench warmers out of Knowles, Wolfe and Graham really isn't enough for us or for them.

PPG looks highly likely when you put it like that. If that happens, all the unnecessary points we've dropped so far will hurt us even more. The probability of a second wave doesn't seem to have been factored in at all when scheduling the leagues. I suppose it does at least give us a brief rest ahead of Hartlepool. Every cloud and all that.

Aaaand both matches against King's Lynn have been called off due to an outbreak of The Sickness in their camp. We'll end up finishing the season using points per game at this rate.

The only thing I know about King's Lynn is that it's a phoenix club - King's Lynn FC withdrew from the Northern Premier League ten years ago and the new club, with added "Town", has obviously gone from strength to strength. They have one of the older grounds in football - King's Lynn FC/Town have played at the same ground since 1881. KL are near the bottom of the table and are one of those clubs whose main aim is to stay in this league. As our away form has been lacklustre so far (8 points in 6 games), I'd like us to take a more aggressive approach to this game and take control from an early stage. These matches often pose a problem as the condition and size of the pitch often means we can't play our normal game, but if we're to challenge for promotion we have to adapt to this. If that means we have to be a bit more direct on occasion, so be it.

If we're going to challenge, we need to make winning a habit even when we're not on it. We did that and got a third clean sheet in a row. On a personal note, I only listened on the radio yesterday and would prefer the team to put in their most exciting performances when I'm watching I'm encouraged that Enzio has hit form and that JOB has shown an improvement. As for Chicksen, I haven't been impressed so far but I wouldn't write him off yet, he might just need more time to get used to the team and division. It's good to be in the top three, even if it's close below us. Torquay have only dropped five points all season, which is incredible, but there's no way they can keep that up. We just have to keep on winning. All the same, there are seasons in this league when one team has an amazing season and you can end up getting 90+ points and still missing out. Let's hope this isn't one of them.

I'm delighted that we got out of jail and grabbed the points after what sounded like a very poor display. It could just prove a false dawn, with us carrying on in the same vein next week and getting beaten. But sometimes, a really jammy win like that can provide a welcome injection of confidence and prove a catalyst for the kind of run that would transform our season. I really hope it's the latter. In his interview, NA was also critical of the team despite us winning. Now he needs to take the lessons from yesterday, change a couple of things around (not least our ponderous midfield) and try to take some momentum into the next match.

Dropping two points at the death is galling, but it sounds like we had been inviting the equaliser for a long time before that. We've got multiple players who are out of form, yet there's no-one who can step into the breach. Now we need a reaction. In mitigation, it's been impossible to build up any kind of momentum this season and, if we'd seen this one out and held on to our lead against Maidenhead, we'd be looking at 5 wins out of 7 despite some underwhelming performances.

I listened on the radio. They often spoke about the players slipping over - Mark Stallard mentioned that the players would have been out on the pitch before kick-off and would have had the chance to get a feel for it. So why were they slipping about as if they were on an ice rink? Lack of preparation (born of complacency) perhaps? Not very professional at all. Being The Best Team In The Division won't help if you let your standards drop. @Chris despite all the adversity, last season we finished third and came within 90 minutes of going straight back up. Despite our much better circumstances, our summer transfer business seems to have actually weakened the squad. It's still early days and 9 points from 6 games isn't a disaster, but if we end up going backwards I can fully understand the frustration. We don't have a divine right to success, but we have good (and rich) owners, an established management team and a dressing room that fully buys into its ideas, and financially we can blow everyone in this division out of the water with the sole, possible, exception of Stockport. Everything is in place for success. The bar was always going to be set high, and justifiably so.

That was just my reaction too @TheSkipper. Excellent result - let's carry it on on Saturday! It's not necessarily the teams that play the opposition to death that end up right at the top of the league. It's the ones that develop a winning habit and regularly grab jammy last-minute goals.

Happy with the win. Barnet didn't show up for the first half an hour nd we put them to the sword. Ultimately, that's why we won. Annoyed that we then relaxed let them back into the game, and we had an almighty wobble after their second, but we eventually started to dominate possession again and finished it off at the death. That puts us fifth. Time to put Sutton in their place.

Good piece of persistance from their centre forward to score for Barnet just before half time, but it's frustrating for us. For most of the match we've been so comfortable it's embarrasing - our front three have been able to do whatever they like, they couldn't live with us, and we've been able to turn it on with our passing game with very little pressure at all. But for the last ten minutes of the second half we relaxed and started coasting. Now they've got a little bit of hope. We need to focus again and finish the job.

Excellent, three points on the board and sounds like a job well done. Looking forward to seeing the highlights.

Yes, but they're a classic Conference team - they won the division in its first two seasons (1980 and 1981), but automatic promotion to the League was only introduced a few years later so they missed out. Part-timers. They'll probably be happy to stay up. I wouldn't mind seeing Rodders to give us a creative spark, but a midfield with him and two wingers is very attacking. Alternatively we could try a 3-5-2, a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-2-3-1 (I know you lose a striker with the latter two, but what's the point in having two strikers if they never get the ball? And with 4-2-3-1 we have the possibility of having Enzio, Rodders and Roberts playing just behind Wootton, who would be quite a handful).

Well that was galling. I'd convinced myself that this was a free shot at promotion - I never expected the play-offs to take place, and I didn't really think we'd reach them after last summer. In a way we've been underdogs all season, with extremely low expectations for a club our size. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. In the first half we froze like a rabbit in the headlights just like in 1996 and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. Only NA knows what he was thinking changing our regular defensive pairing, but it's not as if Turner was the only one to struggle.

By now we all know that Neal Ardley doesn't automatically pick an unchanged team just because we won the last game. That could work to our advantage this time - we'll keep Harrogate guessing until an hour before kick-off. I think he'll pick JOB ahead of Enzio, I've always had a feeling that he'd be our man at Wembley. Enzio has been given the nod a lot this season as our unpredictable creative firecracker, but now Roberts offers that too. It's a great problem to have though. You're so right Mr Fox, it's weird. I wasn't there for the Warnock promotions, but I was there for Bradford in 1996 - and I remember it vividly (and it's curious that Mark Stallard will be our co-commentator this time after scoring Bradford's second that year - hopefully he'll be on the winning side again). I've been desperate to return to Wembley since then and put it right. At this stage we'd be talking about tickets, where we were all sitting, travel arrangements, and we'd all have a sleepless night knowing we'd be getting up early to head down the M1. Then there'd be Wembley Way, old men selling giant rosettes (at least they did in the 90s) and outrageous drinks prices to moan about. But it is what it is, and frankly I never thought we'd even get the chance. So tomorrow my in-laws are coming over to celebrate Eid (which mostly seems to entail eating lots) and I'll have my earphones in, listening to it all unfolding on the radio. It just feels a bit unreal.

Well that was nerve-wracking. It sounded like we put in a professional and assured performance, which is superb after such a long break. Now the attention will switch to Harrogate, who will probably be a different calibre altogether. It's sod's law that when we finally return to Wembley after 24 years, none of us can actually go. But winning promotion is the most important thing. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Mansfield fans who were supporting Barnet yesterday.

As I mentioned in the other thread (before I found this "official" one), we need to get a foothold in the game quickly. The first few minutes will be our first competitive game time in months, and Barnet will be looking to take advantage of that and take an early lead. If we get through that, I think we'll win. I'm going on holiday tomorrow to a place called Cochem in Germany, and will be tuning in through the PiesPlayer app and my earphones. Could be awkward. The nerves are rising already...

Right you lot. Inspired by 11 Freunde magazine, I've thought up a few ways to improve football. Agree? Disagree? Let me know! And feel free to add some more suggestions in the comments. Spoiler: lots of things are going to be banned Ban VAR. For better or worse, let referees decide on things instead of spending half of our matchdays staring at a monitor. We spend enough of our lives looking at screens as it is. Let's have some common sense in offside decisions. No, a player isn't gaining an unfair advantage if their elbow is a centimetre past the last defender. He's not allowed to touch the ball with his elbow for heaven's sake. Merge the Premier League and Football League. For the name of the new organisation, take the “Football” from Football League and “League” from Premier League. The new organisation shall not use a logo that looks like a washing machine brand. The four divisions of the new “Football League” shall be named division 1, 2, 3 and 4. There shall be neither “championships”, nor any “super” or “premier” leagues. All TV money shall be distributed equally between every League club, whether Manchester United or Stevenage Borough. Stevenage Borough shall actually be called Stevenage Borough, not Stevenage FC. Luton Town shall decide what colours to play in. I don't care whether you play in white and black, white and blue, orange and white or orange and blue. You've existed for 135 years, so make your minds up! Alan Hardy shall be installed as the chairman of Nottingham Forest with immediate effect. Football matches shall never start earlier than 3.00 pm. All new football stadia shall have proper, towering floodlights built on acres of scaffolding. Ban music after goals. If we can't make noise after scoring a goal, we might as well just stay at home. Each stadium shall have a designated sniper, who will shoot the stadium announcer with a tranquilliser dart if the latter becomes too excitable or attempts to “animate” the crowd. If, during World Cup matches, a fan shown on the big screen immediately starts smiling and waving, this fan will also be shot with a tranquilliser dart. If the behaviour in 13 persists, big screens shall be removed from football stadia. In fact, remove the big screens anyway. Notts County shall never play in white shorts at home, and the black and white stripes shall also be visible on the back of the shirt. Only flamboyant Latin American stars and tricky wingers with their socks rolled down are allowed to wear coloured boots. Everyone else wears black. Referees must all be over 40, balding and with pot bellies that wobble as they run. They must all be schoolteachers. MK Dons shall be stripped of the “Dons” name and relegated to the lowest rung of non-league, so they can earn their League place like everyone else. Beer can be consumed in the stands, instead of having to neck it in the concourse. Football managers are allowed to be fat again. Chairmen should be local barons of industry with a comb-over. All interviews that begin “Well, at the end of the day...” shall be cut off immediately. Players whipping off their shirts and jumping into the crowd after scoring shall no longer be given a yellow card, but actively encouraged (but only in the last ten minutes of play). Players who gloat to opposition fans after going 2-0 up shall be tolerated, but only on the condition that they are still on the pitch when their side loses 3-2. No more postponements, ever. If players slip around on the ice, or are completely submerged in the mud, or are struck by lightning, that just adds to the spectacle. Any mention of the acronyms “EPL” or “EFL” shall be an offence punishable with a season ticket at Mansfield Town. The Champions League shall be for champions only. Teams that finish fourth need not apply. Rochdale play in the fourth division. Sorry Dale, but it's called the Rochdale division for a reason. “Premier League records” are not a thing. The many records from our rich football history shall not be disregarded because they happened before a bunch of greedy first division chairmen decided to keep all the TV money for themselves. All journalists who use the phrase “what Pele called the beautiful game...” shall be sent to a rough Mansfield pub in a Chesterfield shirt to learn the error of their ways. A minimum of three teams shall be promoted from the National League to the Football League every season. The lack of promotion places from the National League is a relic of the strict separation of the League and non-league up to the 1980s and needs to be corrected. The National League shall be given a new name. Don't care what. National League sounds a bit too much like an underground neo-nazi cell for my liking. Betting companies, online casinos and all the rest of them have no place cluttering up our beautiful football shirts. Bring back standing. And cheaper prices for standing. Please let us have no more soulless new stadiums next to a motorway junction and Tesco's surrounded by zillions of parking spaces and Pizza Huts but with no pubs or anything approaching character. No stadium sponsors. Or, if they HAVE to be sponsored, they should at least be accompanied by the name of the actual stadium. Too many grounds are identified solely by a changing sponsor's name. Imprisonment for the “band” that plays at England games. Preferably in a dank medieval dungeon. Last, but most definitely not least: racism shall never, ever be tolerated and shall be punished with a life ban.

Oh, the Currywurst chopping machine is a must! I had a look at the pictures (the links didn't quite work for me, but they were easy to find). I've been to Cologne a couple of times, really like the feel of the place. Got to see Podolski play there the first time too. They serve a special lager in Cologne - Kölsch - that they serve in small, thin glasses. Maybe they do that at the football too, but I can't remember seeing it. I've never been to Bochum - looks like a bit of a strange ground - but maybe I'll get the chance to go there in the league next season. Oh, and I'm impressed that you've got a dedicated folder on the Cologne cheerleaders!