theAnticlough

Good to see Luker with a couple of votes. I didn't hold out any great hopes when he came back from injury, it's a tough and gradual thing to do, generally. But he's exceeded everyone's expectations I think and it's clear the season would have been different had he been fit and he'd be sitting on a double figure goal haul. Remember the breakaway goal he got with Hall early on? What I like is what a good watch he is. A six footer with a low centre of gravity - the turn that got the C'field player booked is from his power and balance. With that low centre of gravity, he's a poor man's Zidane, Barnes, Le Tissier type. He pops up in very awkward places for the opposition. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll do Friday night. He might be the player Chesterfield are worrying about the most.

Exciting to read through all of that, Chris. All the new features added to the existing (which I'm, way too slowly, discovering myself) make for an outstanding website. All we need is a little more posting and engagement and the site would be flying. It's fun to exchange views, give opinions, read what others think. With our large and growing fanbase it's a puzzle why there isn't a bit more. Hopefully, that will come.

Missed that game, but was surprised by the result. So'ton v Boro should be a really close one tonight

And the psychology of being a goal up might help us out too. Maybe this team gets anxious starting home games at 0-0. Starting ahead could be liberating for them. You're attacking to extend your advantage not establish it. Concede, and it's just a normal game with home advantage. There's a world where we get the first two goals and that'd be pretty much it.

A lot of players had very good games. I'll give my vote to McDonald @Robbie. A real Captain's performance at the back and such a calming influence with his steady play. He was very much in charge back there. Iorpenda, Jones, Luker, Tsaroulla, Belshaw Robertson did really well too IMO

Yes , a split personality in that sense for sure. 0-1! We'll take that. A classic away performance and a hard-earned clean sheet. Making McDonald captain was such a canny move - it's made us more stable, a lot steadier.

The penalty miss really changed the complexion of the game for us, but it seemed to settle us down. Since then, it's been our kind of game and we look very dangerous breaking from midfield. I fancy us to get the next goal too and wouldn't be surprised if it was Luker again.

Some surprises - I thought Palmer and Grant would start. Robertson and Luker may be more potent players but I thought the other 2 would get the nod. No Browne on the bench (must be injured). No Dennis on the bench. Injured as well? MP picked 11 good players, so why am I feeling shaky about it?

I enjoyed the Championship play-off first legs despite the complete lack of goals. None of those teams look like they could handle the Prem, but looked decent - except for Hull, who are really forgetable. I really fancy Millwall in that one. And it will be nice to see Maca come on and bid to be a Premiership player (if only for a moment) Now it's Stevenage v Stockport and Kyle Wootton playing centee-back. He looks really good. Really looking forward to Ruben v Balders in Bolton v Bradford later

Nor do we have a young keeper who absolutely fills up the goal. I agree @menzinho we don't seem to have an array of natural penalty takers. But to give ourselves the best chance we should have started practising them already. That's why LW was different class. He didn't shirk from this and had them practising 'their' penalty, until it was ingrained in them. When we look back at Wembley....Maca's, Ruben's and Jodi's penalties had the hallmark of serious practice time. I don't mind them starting this after tomorrow. It may be a distraction from a really tough game. But the next game could be pens and we have to be ready. We can't lose because someone like Hall/Kouhyar/Belshaw miss a sudden death pen because they weren't really ready

You know how it goes, there's quite a high chance we're involved in a play-off penalty shoot-out, either at Meadow Lane or Wembley, or both Who do you think our 5 penalty takers will be? Any predictions? All things being equal, from likely starting XIs Jones, McDonald, Tsaroulla, Jatta, Robertson Bearing in mind they always come after 120mins with all subs on the pitch... McDonald, Tsaroulla, Robertson, Dennis, Luker is one guess Didn't Palmer have the chance before and didn't go anywhere near them? I'd keep Iorpenda away from them, too much pressure for a young player. Bedeau too, the goal would shrink in front of him given all the bad luck he's had trying to score.

We have to start well. For this one, I'll have to swallow what I usually want to see to have a team that can nullify them as much as possible, especially in the first half of the first half so to speak. So for this particular game only, a box midfield of Norburn Palmer Iorpenda Grant We have a lot of height in this team - Jatta, Iorpenda, McDonald, Ness, Bedeau. We should win the set piece game with that. Final score? How would you feel about a 2-1 loss? That's what's supposed to happen in these 2-legged semis. Would I take that if offered it now? You'd think not, but the recent Oldham, Chesterfield and a lot of the Salford game tells me, yes, take it. We'd still be with a great shout with 90mins to go at Meadow Lane. (I still wouldn't take it though, I'll take our chances)

Fair enough, It's such an evenly matched play-off line up. I'll be in a minority here, but I have very modest ambitions for these play-offs. Like 80pts was an improvement on 72pts, and 5th place on 6th, I'll take the below in these play-offs, which we didn't have last year... a goal in 3 hours of play some fight and showing that you care Above that will be a bonus. But on our day, we can get past Chesterfield and beat the other two. So all to play for.

I think we have to root for Salford as twisted as that sounds - they're the worst footballing team of the 4 semi-finalists. I'd fancy us to take them to the cleaners at Wembley. They rely on a congested, broken game. And they rely on following Robinson's cheat code. It's one thing doing all that at Salford or Meadow Lane for ordinary league fixtures... But can you really do that at Wembley, on live tv, with the pick of referees interested in maintaining their reputations with all eyes on them? Constant timewasting and general shithousery won't pass off well on Sky TV, in front of 40,000 at the home of football. Myabe they'll just forfeit and not turn up at all ;)

For release/re-sign decisions, I hope performances in these crucial play off games are weighted x 10 compared to regular league matches If we’re ever to get promoted we need players who can perform when the stakes are at their highest

@McPie yes we have the talent, and they'll be worrying about that but there's a reason why bookies like bet365, Ladbrokes, Corals have Chesterfield slight favourites for promotion. On the 2-leg tie, William Hill has C'field 8/11 and Notts Evens. Form and momentum matters. And of our recent results 3-0 at Oldham and 4-0 at Cambridge will have big fat circles drawn around them. On that basis I agree. County have to rise to the occasion and show something very different to those games. Get through this tie and I agree with the feelings on Magpie Circle - the confidence of winning and the big beautiful Wembley pitch should make us favourites if we can get past the spireites

Can't stop listening to this New Order masterpiece this week - Vanishing Point ch?v=ZonOHDWn1Dc&list=RDZonOHDWn1Dc&start_radio=1 Sad song, but what an ending ''My life ain't no holiday I've been through the point of no return I've seen what the man can do I've seen all the hate of a woman too And they gave him away Like in 'Whistle Down The Wind' By the look on his face He never gave in''

'Looking for a penalty' is a very misleading phrase. Of course the attacking team is looking for penalties - goals or fouls made against them Why not run at players? Unless they tackle you cleanly, you either beat them or win a free kick. Get into the penalty box, and the reward is a penalty. For sure, by the laws of the game one of the incentives of getting the ball in the box is to win a penalty. Maybe one of the main things Tsaroulla had in his mind was to win a penalty. I hope it was. That's the way it should be and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is with officials being more reluctant to call fouls in the penalty area than out of it.

The main angle replayed on Saturday, Stall's reaction, all kind of supported the ref This is pretty conclusive though... I don't care if Nick's left foot, in that last step, moved to the left ever so slightly. Players have got the right to step on whatever piece of open turf they like. The rules of the game don't dictate where a player can and cannot step. If it's open and you're there first, an opponent shouldn't be kicking and tripping you. Another example of Refs favouring defences to give themselves an easy life. Needs sorting out.

Yeah, ideally we make life difficult for them, closing down and giving them little space or time on the ball. Grant, for one, should spend a hour doing exactly that, and then let someone like Luker loose when there's more space and tiredness around. The rest of the first half can be spent in our possession. We have to be positive but careful with the ball at the same time. The game changes though as soon as you go 1 behind. I don't believe you can keep to the same game plan then. Time passes quickly in football and you need every minute to try to level it up. I don't know if the pros see it that way though

Interesting that @liampie and @Sheffield Pie both hone in on midfield as key Sunday is a different kind of game...only half a game really. For once, I'd take the first quarter of the game (45mins) to be uneventful. We need a more solid backline than at Oldham and Cambridge, and a midfield that can assert some control over the game.... Robbo is a good player, but one of many at Notts who can be slow starters in games (Robbo, Bedeau, Jones, Tsaroulla, Jatta). We can't afford to be erratic in the first 15mins. So despite the duplication and the poor record at Oldham/Cambridge I'll probably go for the extra steadiness and control of Palmer and Norburn for the first quarter of this tie at least. I'm certain Robbo will feature in other 75% of the tie. This depends on Palmer being at 100% though, so he'll have 8 days to improve on what we saw v Gas

Word of warning before you read on - I'm at the pessimistic stage MP must have nagging doubts and fears like us. Because this is pretty much the same team that went away to Oldham and lost 3-0. And went away to Cambridge and lost 4-0. And now another high stakes away game at tough L2 opponent. Catch us on a bad day and we're proven to be fragile. In both previous cases our backline was Macari-Ness-Bedeau and the midfield pairing Norburn-Palmer. Can McDonald make a difference to avoid disaster in the first-half on Sunday? More positively than that....maybe it's fated to go to Penos again (hope the lads get enough practice in). We don't have Archie Mair....but doesn't it seem destined for James Belshaw to be facing pens, and either in tears, or going nuts in front of the Kop a week on Friday?

Thanks so much Stark 'dangerous' Mallard, duck for running this league. Eider won if it wasn't for those pesky kids... It's a difficult business predicting the games you choose....going down a slate of eight games and getting 1pt or even 'nul' points! My achilles heel is predicting losses for clubs and teams I dislike Anyway, thanks for the season long fun.

Ask me again after the Chesterfield game... I love Meadow Lane, but football is about getting people through the turnstiles - advertising banners don't enjoy the game so much and don't join in with the singing and cheering.

Pretty damning and depressing looking at that - but we were badly hit by injuries and suspensions, seems we could ill-afford that to happen. Still, all is not lost. All to play for. The 3 promoted teams all deserved it more. Then again, smalls margins. A goal for us instead of Barnet and we're up. That was the game IMO and felt it at the time.