Top 9 after tonights games, Tuesday Mar 8th 2016

[Ginge01]

Tonights results (Top 9 in caps)

DARLINGTON 3-1 Ilkeston
BARWELL...... 3-1 Skelmersdale
Ramsbottom. 0-2 ASHTON
SALFORD...... 5-3 WORKINGTON


The Top 9 in the Evo-stick Premier League, Tuesday March 8th 2016
................... Pd ..W D L...W D L...F..A.....GD...Pts
1. Blyth ....... 36. 12 2 3. 13 1 5.. 69 33.. 36.. 78
2. Salford..... 36... 9 5 5. 12 1 4.. 74 42.. 32.. 69
3. Darlington. 32. 11 3 2. 10 2 4.. 68 33.. 35.. 68
4. Workington 35. 11 5 2... 8 4 5.. 59 38.. 21.. 66
5. Barwell...... 36. 12 1 6... 9 2 6.. 70 52.. 18.. 66
6. Stourbridge 33. 11 3 3... 9 2 5.. 69 47.. 22.. 65

7. Ashton...... 33. 11 2 4... 7 5 4.. 69 41.. 28.. 61
8. Rushall...... 34... 8 5 5... 8 4 4.. 61 42.. 19.. 57
9. Nantwich... 32... 9 4 3... 5 6 5.. 71 44.. 27.. 52




Top 9 Head to Head, updated Saturday March 5th 2016
.................... Pd W D L...W D L...Pts
1. Blyth.......... 14 3 2 1... 5 0 3.. 26
2. Darlington... 12 4 2 0... 3 0 3.. 23
3. Salford ....... 13 3 0 4... 3 1 2.. 19
4. Stourbridge. 12 3 2 1... 2 1 3.. 18
5. Workington. 11 3 2 1... 1 2 2.. 16
6. Rushall......... 9 1 1 3... 3 1 0.. 14
7. Barwell....... 12 2 0 5... 1 1 3.. 10
8. Nantwich...... 9 1 1 1... 1 2 3.... 9
9. Ashton......... 8 1 0 3... 0 2 2.... 5


Comments in current full league table order, Top 9 games, played, outstanding etc

Blyth 14 played, remaining fixtures Home to Rushall & Workington.
No game tonight. Darlingtons gap now is down to 10, with 4 games in hand. The Workington home game is clearly a tough game, all other games look winnable.

Salford 13 played, remaining fixtures Home to Nantwich, Away at Ashton & Stourbridge.
5-3 home win over Workington, a second straight big home win over a playoff rival following Saturdays win over Ashton, Salford opens up a 3 point lead over Workington. Top 9 best opponent to play, away at Stourbridge.

Darlington, 12 played, remaining fixtures Home to Nantwich & Rushall, Away at Nantwich & Rushall.
3-1 home win over Ilkeston. Now in 3rd place, the gap with Blyth is down to 10 points with 4 games in hand, all of the games against the Top 6 opponents are completed. The race for the championship continues.

Workington 11 played, remaining fixtures Home to Rushall & Stourbridge, Away at Ashton, Blyth & Nantwich.
3-5 loss at Salford, a huge loss, just 1 point in their last 3 games, Workington have slid to 4th place, Stourbridge have games in hand, in form Barwell are now tied with points. Workington have 3 more Top 9 games this month still to play.

Barwell, 12 played, remaining fixtures Home to Ashton, Away at Ashton, Nantwich & Rushall.
3-1 home win over Skelmersdale, their playoff hopes improved with Workington's loss. Barwell have no Top 6 games left to play, Salford and Workington have tougher remaining schedules, Barwell with 10 straight league wins are red hot.

Stourbridge, 12 played, remaining fixtures Home to Ashton & Salford, Away at Ashton & Workington.
No game tonight, they fall to 6th place with Barwell winning.

Ashton, 8 played, remaining fixtures Home to Barwell, Salford, Stourbridge & Workington, Away at Barwell, Nantwich, Rushall & Stourbridge.
2-0 away win at Ramsbottom, 2 games in hand on Workington with a 5 point deficit. 8 of their 13 remaining games are against Top 9 opponents, the home game against Workington (April 16th) may still be a big end of season game for both teams or just Workington.

Rushall 9 played, remaining fixtures Home to Ashton, Barwell & Darlington, Away at Blyth, Darlington, Nantwich & Workington.
No game tonight. Now 9 points behind 5th place Barwell.

Nantwich, 9 played, remaining fixtures Home to Ashton, Barwell, Darlington, Rushall & Workington, Away at Darlington & Salford.
No game tonight. Now 14 points behind 5th place Barwell with a league fixture backlog and cup games to play.


My top 5 to win the league, make the playoffs, as of today.
1) Blyth / Darlington, Blyth with points in the bank have lost a couple of recent games, Darlington's 4 striker rotation can beat a lot of opponents, so!!!!.
2) Blyth / Darlington, 14 Darlington games in a very space of time, but the race is on.
3) Stourbridge, Ready to take a home playoff behind Darlington or Blyth, Salford are holding 3rd place because of extra games played.
4) Salford, pursued by Barwell for 4th, but the remaining fixtures look to be tougher than Barwell's.
5) Barwell, holding 5th place and likely to pass out of form Workington.


Salford, keeping themselves ahead of Barwell at 6th, but the remaining fixtures look to be tougher than Barwell's.

6) Workington, not winning games and in danger of losing a playoff place.
.. Ashton, need to continue winning games in hand and beat Top 9 opponents.

My current forecast for the playoff games
Blyth/Darlington.. vs Barwell
Stourbridge......... vs Salford


Shown below, the top 6 clubs games played, their score first, the gaps are games not yet played.

........................ Darlington......... Blyth....... Workington...... Salford..... Stourbridge....... Barwell
........Team........... H.... A.......... H..... A......... H.... A.......... H.... A.......... H..... A......... H..... A
.1. Blyth.............. 2-1.. 1-0...... xxx.. xxx...... 2-0.. ........... 0-1.. 1-2....... 3-0.. 3-4....... 0-1.. 0-4
.2. Workington..... 4-0.. 1-2...... ....... 0-2...... xxx.. xxx...... 5-3.. 4-1....... 0-0.. ............ 0-1.. 1-1
.3. Darlington...... xxx.. xxx...... 0-1.. 1-2....... 2-1.. 0-4...... 3-4.. 2-3....... 1-0.. 1-1....... 2-1.. 1-3
.4. Salford........... 3-2.. 4-3...... 2-1.. 1-0....... 1-4.. 3-5...... xxx.. xxx.............. 1-0....... 0-1.. 0-7
.5. Barwell........... 3-1.. 1-2...... 4-0.. 1-0....... 1-1.. 1-0...... 7-0.. 1-0....... 2-3.. 1-3...... xxx.. xxx
.6. Stourbridge..... 1-1.. 0-1...... 4-3.. 0-3....... ....... 0-0...... 0-1.. ........... xxx.. xxx...... 3-1.. 3-2
.7. Nantwich......... ..... ............ 1-1.. 2-1....... 1-1.. ........... ....... 1-1...... 4-3.. 0-1...... 0-4.. x
.8. Ashton............ 1-1.. 2-1...... 1-1.. 2-0....... 5-2.. ........... 3-1.. ............ .................. ...... ...
.9. Rushall........... ...... ............ ....... 1-0....... ...... 1-1....... 1-3.. 3-2...... 2-2.. 2-1...... 2-3.. ...
10. Frickley.......... 3-0.. ........... 2-3.. 3-2....... ...... 1-1....... 2-2.. 1-0...... ................... 1-0.. ...
11. Buxton........... 3-1.. 0-2...... 1-0.. 4-0....... ...... 2-0....... 2-0.. 2-0...... ....... 3-2...... 1-0.. 1-5
12. Ikeston........... 3-1.. 1-1...... 1-0.. ........... 3-2.. ........... 2-0.. 1-2...... 1-2.. 3-4...... 4-0.. 0-1
13. Sutton Coldfield ...... 1-0...... 1-2.. 0-1...... 1-1.. 2-0...... ....... 2-0...... 2-0.. 3-2...... 2-0.. 5-1
14. Matlock........... 3-0.. .......... ...... ............ ................... 2-2.. 2-1....... .................. ...... 3-1
15. Halesowen....... ...... 3-0...... ....... 1-0...... 3-0.. 0-2...... 3-1.. ............ 3-2.. ........... 6-0.. 1-1
16. Skelmersdale... ...... 1-1...... ....... 1-2...... 2-1.. 0-2...... 4-0.. ............ 3-1.. 2-1...... 3-1.. ...
17. Grantham........ ..... ............ 1-0.. 3-2...... 1-1.. 1-0...... ....... 0-2....... 1-1.............. 3-1.. 5-0
18. Hyde............... 2-3.. 3-1...... 3-0.. .......... 2-0.. 4-0...... 0-1.. 2-1....... 5-1.. 2-0....... 2-0.. 0-1
19. Whitby............ 2-2.. ........... 3-2.. 2-0...... 3-1.. 0-1...... ...... 3-2....... ....... 0-4....... 2-1.. x
20. Mickleover....... 2-1.. 5-1...... 4-0.. 2-0...... 2-2.. .......... 1-1.. 2-1....... 2-1.. ............ 2-4.. 3-1
21. Marine............ 0-1.. 1-0...... ....... 2-0...... 1-0.. 2-1...... 0-0.. 2-0....... 2-0.. 3-1....... 1-1.. 2-1
22. Colwyn Bay..... 3-0.. 4-2...... 3-0.. 3-1...... 1-2.. 2-0...... 2-2.. 3-2....... 2-0.. 2-0........ ...... 4-0
23. Stamford......... ..... ............ 4-3.. ........... 2-0.. 2-1...... 1-0.. ........... 2-2.. ............. 2-1.. x
24. Ramsbottom.... 2-1.. 3-0...... 5-0.. 0-0...... 4-0.. 1-1...... 4-0.. ........... 2-3.. 2-1........ 2-1.. 3-1



The Top 9 (team in CAPS) games this week, weather permitting

Saturday 12th
Matlock........... vs DARLINGTON (3.00)
ASHTON.......... vs BARWELL
BLYTH............. vs Halesowen
Ilkeston........... vs WORKINGTON
NANTWICH...... P-P RUSHALL, (Nantwich playing FA Trophy semi final 1st leg home vs FC Halifax Town)
Skelmersdale... vs SALFORD
STOURBRIDGE. vs Frickley

The rest of March

Tuesday Mar 15th
Stamford......... vs DARLINGTON (7.45)
Frickley........... vs ASHTON
Grantham........ vs STOURBRIDGE
Halesowen....... vs SALFORD
Ramsbottom.... vs NANTWICH
RUSHALL......... vs BARWELL

Saturday Mar 19th
DARLINGTON... vs RUSHALL (3.00)
BARWELL........ vs ASHTON
BLYTH............. vs Matlock
Frickley........... P-P NANTWICH, (Nantwich playing FA Trophy semi final 2nd leg away vs FC Halifax Town)
SALFORD......... vs Sutton Coldfield
WORKINGTON.. vs STOURBRIDGE

Monday Mar 21st
STOURBRIDGE. vs ASHTON

Tuesday Mar 22nd
NANTWICH...... vs DARLINGTON (7.45)
Mickleover....... vs WORKINGTON

Saturday Mar 26th
DARLINGTON... vs Halesowen (3.00)
ASHTON.......... vs Ilkeston
NANTWICH...... vs BARWELL
SALFORD......... vs Whitby
Stamford......... vs BLYTH
STOURBRIDGE. vs Buxton
WORKINGTON.. vs RUSHALL

Monday Mar 28th
Whitby............ vs DARLINGTON (3.00)
BARWELL........ vs Stamford
BLYTH............. vs WORKINGTON
Halesowen....... vs STOURBRIDGE
Hyde............... vs ASHTON
Ramsbottom.... vs SALFORD
RUSHALL......... vs Sutton Coldfield
Skelmersdale... vs NANTWICH

A thought

The season is no way near being over, in the last month, Blyth, Workington & Salford have wobbled to differing levels, Darlington, Stourbridge and Barwell have been the better teams. The fixture backlog for Darlington and Stourbridge still remain a concern for them but playoff places appear to have secured, the final places still are up for grabs.

[theoriginalfatcat]

It's getting tense.

Last season, from our final 14 games we took 29 points with - 9 wins/2 draws and 3 losses. Replication of that form might be possible, so with another 29 points a total of 97 would be achieved - which would be a fantastic return as F.C. United won the league last year with 92 points.

But to make things harder for us now, our final 14 games this season will be played in the same time scale as last seasons final 10 games, players are going to get tired.

Blyth of course have 10 games left !!

Blyth are the favourites in my opinion....

[Darlogramps]

Yeah I'd still have Blyth as favourites.

But given their defeats to Frickley and Sutton Coldfield, and that we've come through a number of difficult fixtures, I think the title race is a lot closer than it was a few weeks ago.

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

[darlo reborn]

Still think there are more postponements to come so may have difficulty getting them all played within time frame not just us but other teams also

[mattspartan]

Ginge, not sure why but some of Hyde's home games have switched. We (Blyth) are now playing Mon 4th April, they play Rushall on the 21st March.

We weren't great at Sutton Coldfield but should have had a least a point. Their 3G takes a lot of getting used to.

[Darlo_Pete]

I wonder what the odds are on winning the Evostick Premier League?

[TinShedDarloFan]

I wonder what the odds are on winning the Evostick Premier League?

Blyth 1/3
Darlo 10/3
Workington 50/1
Stourbridge 20/1
Salford 16/1

Bet 365

[lo36789]

Still think there are more postponements to come so may have difficulty getting them all played within time frame not just us but other teams also

What is the correlation between a wet winter and a wet spring?

[darlo reborn]

With Bishops pitch even a wet summer would be fatal

[Ginge01]

Ginge, not sure why but some of Hyde's home games have switched. We (Blyth) are now playing Mon 4th April, they play Rushall on the 21st March.

We weren't great at Sutton Coldfield but should have had a least a point. Their 3G takes a lot of getting used to.

Agreed, if you don't normally play on 3G, in a full speed game it takes some getting used to, a clear home field advantage for Sutton Coldfield.

I reviewed the remainder of the fixtures for March from the Evostik site, you are correct, Hyde have had rearranged games, and your game on March 21st has been moved. I updated the original post, I have also included two league postponements for Nantwich who are playing a two leg FA Trophy semi final against FC Halifax on consecutive Saturdays.
Nantwich still have 14 league games to play, including two against Darlington,
from now it is
Sat Mar 12th FC Halifax (H) (cup)
Tue Mar 15th Ramsbottom (A)
Sat Mar 19th FC Halifax (A) (cup)
Tue Mar 22nd DARLINGTON (H)
Sat Mar 26th Barwell (H)
Mon Mar 28th Skelmersdale (A)
Wed Mar 30th Frickley (A)
Sat Apr 2nd Mickleover (A)
Tue Apr 5th Rushall (H)
Thu Apr 7th DARLINGTON (A)
For the game in Darlington, that team has a real chance to be physically exhausted and possibly playing reserves etc, to keep it going. If I have my numbers right that is 26 days where 10 games will be played. Too many games to make up for a real chance to climb up to a playoff spot for a team that was in 2nd place at Christmas.

[theoriginalfatcat]

OK Ginge

Look, we're all wondering - are you a statistician? How come you live in the States? and support Darlo?

[darlo reborn]

Noticed Bishop still have 7 home games to play same number as us so that is going to test the pitch with 14 games in approx 7 weeks

[Ginge01]

OK Ginge

Look, we're all wondering - are you a statistician? How come you live in the States? and support Darlo?

Mr Cat,
A quick biography, well it started off being one!!!

I was born in Middlesbrough in 1961, I followed the Boro. My Uncle would take me to a few games, he took me to a Darlington game, I think it was Lincoln in 1971, I know it was a 1-1 draw. I gave up on the Boro in the middle 80's, the Charlie Amer as chairman where mismanagement resulted in the sale of quality players (Craig Johnston, David Armstrong, Mark Proctor and David Hodgson) to pay for a never properly used sports centre, plunged them into the old 2nd division, in a death spiral. There were dwindling crowds, a falling apart stadium, fans who just wanted to fight. My best friend and I started watching Darlington home games, more tranquil setting, more enjoyable, when Billy Elliott was manager. Cyril Knowles arrived, the promotion year arrived 1984/85, we went to a lot of away games starting at Halifax in November, finishing up with the Crewe game when we were promoted.
In 1982 Channel 4 appeared, the NFL was shown, my best friend and I visited California in Dec 1984 (San Francisco and Los Angeles). I decided I wanted to live there, the sports as well as having 20 Celsius weather at Christmas. I got a job in 1989 in L.A., I've essentially been here ever since.
Pre Internet, the Quakers became hard to follow, just a score line is all I could find. I did see them win about 10 years ago in the new Feethams East stand, and beat Grimsby at the Arena 1-0 in 2009. Finding Darlington commentaries on the BBC And hearing the Conference games, got me more energised, the Gateshead semis and the final at Wembley over Mansfield. Discovering the Darlington website, this forum added to it, and then seeing Darlofansradio and the wonderful Kevin Luff uploads on YouTube, I get better coverage of Darlington when not going to a game then when I did not go to Boro games in the 80's. At that time there may be a Look North / Tyne Tees 30 second goals only update on a Monday.
So now, I listen to the Saturday 7am commentaries, despite my girlfriend protests!!!, and I write the Top n updates. I like living in the States and don't think I will move back. I did see the Blyth away game at Christmas, met Andrew and Ray Simpson, David Mills, Keven Luff, Tim Hickman and David Mills, all wonderful kind friendly people who make Darlington F.C. A special club.
I like stats, I am a former Computer Programmer, that's how I was able to get a work visa to be able to move to Los Angeles.
I like to see how teams play, how the fixture list are not even until the last games are played, and a true final position is shown. As Bill Parcells (ex New York Jets head coach, my team) said, 'you are what your record says you are', so Darlington for 4 years, consistently have been a very good team. I noticed in the Northern League year, we seemed to play a lot of bottom half teams early, we still had to win them, and then saw how other teams were doing. It looked like we might not catch Spennymoor, or then keep them behind, but Martin Gray improved that team that only failed to win one game after the Spennymoor away win despite a lot of away games against Top 10 opponents. I began looking at what gets called 'strength of schedule' in the U.S. And tried to predict how we would do.
The next season I saw how Curzon Ashton were doing so well, and would win the league, Farsley was near the top, in amongst seven teams, but had not played any of them away. To feel more involved in following the Quakers remotely, I started writing. I predicted they would fade and did. Last season I felt Harrogate and Droylsden would and did. Bamber Bridge struggled to beat Top teams but made it to the playoffs and gave us a run in the first half until Nathan Cartman and Graeme Armstrong along with a good defensive team performance won the day.
This season I waited until February and we got a few make up games played, back into the playoff hunt before starting my Top9 piece, the team now essentially picks itself apart from rotating the strikers, after a lot of early season chopping and changing of the team to find that balance and winning formula. The latest mini change is adding Tom Portas, and moving Adam Mitchell to the subs bench.
I picked Salford to fade as they wobbled, but they have got it back together, now Workington are wobbling, Stourbridge and Barwell are hot, and one team, Salford, Stourbridge, Workington or Barwell will be out, and if Ashton could win Top 9 games, they could push another one out. Blyth appeared champs but two losses in three games have made it very interesting for us. I have no one to talk to here, so I talk to people through my blog / opinion piece each week.
I try to add something each week apart from a simple update to entertain, it also seems to be received favorably by Blyth and Salford fans amongst others. I try to be fair, and I don't insult other opinions, get in slanging matches etc. Some of my predictions become wrong when a team like Salford starts to win. The club has talked to me about my following and it is possible I may be seen in an upcoming programme.

That's my 'brief' LoL biography

[m62exile]

Fascinating!

I love how we have these individual stories of supporters of all generations and locations. It's what we worked damn hard to save and part of what makes us unique, certainly at this level.

Thanks ginge.

Ps do you "do" Twitter?

[super_les_mcjannet]

Got to say Ginge I do enjoy the updates, not so much if we have lost though.

Enjoyed the story of how you became a Darlo supporter and how you keep in touch with the club now with fansradio, forum, youtube etc.

[Darlo_Pete]

I wonder what the odds are on winning the Evostick Premier League?

Blyth 1/3
Darlo 10/3
Workington 50/1
Stourbridge 20/1
Salford 16/1

Bet 365

Cheers TSDF, pretty generous odds for us I'd say.

[Ginge01]

Fascinating!

I love how we have these individual stories of supporters of all generations and locations. It's what we worked damn hard to save and part of what makes us unique, certainly at this level.

Thanks ginge.

Ps do you "do" Twitter?

Thanks for your kind words M62, PM sent

[Ginge01]

Got to say Ginge I do enjoy the updates, not so much if we have lost though.

Enjoyed the story of how you became a Darlo supporter and how you keep in touch with the club now with fansradio, forum, youtube etc.

Thanks Super_Les, yes, social media for the no longer locals is wonderful, when Kevin Luff has a 15 minute video with Andrew Simpson's commentary, it's better quality than the second game on Match of the Day in the early 80's when Barry Davies or John Motson was talking their way through a Coventry vs Arsenal 0-0 game, we have high quality presentations of our team.

The updates are a little shorter and less upbeat after a loss, see Stourbridge, and very happy when we beat Salford and yesterday, a full one for a Tuesday night win. Glad you like it, I hope it adds general interest, I think a lot more people will be noticing Stourbridge and especially Barwell on a run, and Nantwich having a Spennymoor like cup run season but their league position has slumped with fixture cancellations and bad weather. At the start of the season, the teams were all who!!! to me apart from Salford, now I feel I'm getting a feel for the contenders, the pretenders, the also runs and the never will be's.

[theoriginalfatcat]

Mr Cat,
A quick biography,

OK, thanks for that Ginge, it's a good read

I too was born in 61, I've also been to America, but only on a day trip!!

[loobyloo]

Enjoyed reading that insight into your life & how you follow the mighty Quakers from the U.S.A.

[don'tbuythesun]

Interesting read but now I really need to know about the day trip to America!! Driving to the trophy final and back was enough for me.

[bertbanger]

OK Ginge

Look, we're all wondering - are you a statistician? How come you live in the States? and support Darlo?

Mr Cat,
A quick biography, well it started off being one!!!

I was born in Middlesbrough in 1961, I followed the Boro. My Uncle would take me to a few games, he took me to a Darlington game, I think it was Lincoln in 1971, I know it was a 1-1 draw. I gave up on the Boro in the middle 80's, the Charlie Amer as chairman where mismanagement resulted in the sale of quality players (Craig Johnston, David Armstrong, Mark Proctor and David Hodgson) to pay for a never properly used sports centre, plunged them into the old 2nd division, in a death spiral. There were dwindling crowds, a falling apart stadium, fans who just wanted to fight. My best friend and I started watching Darlington home games, more tranquil setting, more enjoyable, when Billy Elliott was manager. Cyril Knowles arrived, the promotion year arrived 1984/85, we went to a lot of away games starting at Halifax in November, finishing up with the Crewe game when we were promoted.
In 1982 Channel 4 appeared, the NFL was shown, my best friend and I visited California in Dec 1984 (San Francisco and Los Angeles). I decided I wanted to live there, the sports as well as having 20 Celsius weather at Christmas. I got a job in 1989 in L.A., I've essentially been here ever since.
Pre Internet, the Quakers became hard to follow, just a score line is all I could find. I did see them win about 10 years ago in the new Feethams East stand, and beat Grimsby at the Arena 1-0 in 2009. Finding Darlington commentaries on the BBC And hearing the Conference games, got me more energised, the Gateshead semis and the final at Wembley over Mansfield. Discovering the Darlington website, this forum added to it, and then seeing Darlofansradio and the wonderful Kevin Luff uploads on YouTube, I get better coverage of Darlington when not going to a game then when I did not go to Boro games in the 80's. At that time there may be a Look North / Tyne Tees 30 second goals only update on a Monday.
So now, I listen to the Saturday 7am commentaries, despite my girlfriend protests!!!, and I write the Top n updates. I like living in the States and don't think I will move back. I did see the Blyth away game at Christmas, met Andrew and Ray Simpson, David Mills, Keven Luff, Tim Hickman and David Mills, all wonderful kind friendly people who make Darlington F.C. A special club.
I like stats, I am a former Computer Programmer, that's how I was able to get a work visa to be able to move to Los Angeles.
I like to see how teams play, how the fixture list are not even until the last games are played, and a true final position is shown. As Bill Parcells (ex New York Jets head coach, my team) said, 'you are what your record says you are', so Darlington for 4 years, consistently have been a very good team. I noticed in the Northern League year, we seemed to play a lot of bottom half teams early, we still had to win them, and then saw how other teams were doing. It looked like we might not catch Spennymoor, or then keep them behind, but Martin Gray improved that team that only failed to win one game after the Spennymoor away win despite a lot of away games against Top 10 opponents. I began looking at what gets called 'strength of schedule' in the U.S. And tried to predict how we would do.
The next season I saw how Curzon Ashton were doing so well, and would win the league, Farsley was near the top, in amongst seven teams, but had not played any of them away. To feel more involved in following the Quakers remotely, I started writing. I predicted they would fade and did. Last season I felt Harrogate and Droylsden would and did. Bamber Bridge struggled to beat Top teams but made it to the playoffs and gave us a run in the first half until Nathan Cartman and Graeme Armstrong along with a good defensive team performance won the day.
This season I waited until February and we got a few make up games played, back into the playoff hunt before starting my Top9 piece, the team now essentially picks itself apart from rotating the strikers, after a lot of early season chopping and changing of the team to find that balance and winning formula. The latest mini change is adding Tom Portas, and moving Adam Mitchell to the subs bench.
I picked Salford to fade as they wobbled, but they have got it back together, now Workington are wobbling, Stourbridge and Barwell are hot, and one team, Salford, Stourbridge, Workington or Barwell will be out, and if Ashton could win Top 9 games, they could push another one out. Blyth appeared champs but two losses in three games have made it very interesting for us. I have no one to talk to here, so I talk to people through my blog / opinion piece each week.
I try to add something each week apart from a simple update to entertain, it also seems to be received favorably by Blyth and Salford fans amongst others. I try to be fair, and I don't insult other opinions, get in slanging matches etc. Some of my predictions become wrong when a team like Salford starts to win. The club has talked to me about my following and it is possible I may be seen in an upcoming programme.

That's my 'brief' LoL biography

that explains that then lol

[banktopp]

Love your statistical analysis Ginge.
Can you take over the statistics on Uncovered which haven't been updated since the third game of the season ?

[footifan]

Mr Cat,
A quick biography,

OK, thanks for that Ginge, it's a good read

I too was born in 61, I've also been to America, but only on a day trip!!

A day trip from Canada I suspect

[footifan]

Got to agree the quality of the presentations via the radio & you tube are brilliant for the exiles here in the US & elswhere

[Mr_Tibbs]

...social media for the no longer locals is wonderful, when Kevin Luff has a 15 minute video with Andrew Simpson's commentary, it's better quality than the second game on Match of the Day in the early 80's when Barry Davies or John Motson was talking their way through a Coventry vs Arsenal 0-0 game, we have high quality presentations of our team.

I fully agree with that - matchdays are something special for distant fans these days and the output from "the club" as a whole (including various fan groups and individual fans via twitter/facebook/uncovered etc.) is tremendous for a club at our level.

[theoriginalfatcat]

Interesting read but now I really need to know about the day trip to America!! Driving to the trophy final and back was enough for me.

footifan is right, unfortunately my first impressions of America weren't as good as Ginge's.

I was spending time in Vancouver and hired a car with the intention of spending about a week driving around Washington State. However we reached Seattle, got into a 'nearly got mugged' situation, then turned round and drove straight back into the safety of Canada. It was a long day.

[DarloOnTheUp]

Interesting read but now I really need to know about the day trip to America!! Driving to the trophy final and back was enough for me.

footifan is right, unfortunately my first impressions of America weren't as good as Ginge's.

I was spending time in Vancouver and hired a car with the intention of spending about a week driving around Washington State. However we reached Seattle, got into a 'nearly got mugged' situation, then turned round and drove straight back into the safety of Canada. It was a long day.

Did the mugger have ginger hair?

[Ginge01]

Interesting read but now I really need to know about the day trip to America!! Driving to the trophy final and back was enough for me.

footifan is right, unfortunately my first impressions of America weren't as good as Ginge's.

I was spending time in Vancouver and hired a car with the intention of spending about a week driving around Washington State. However we reached Seattle, got into a 'nearly got mugged' situation, then turned round and drove straight back into the safety of Canada. It was a long day.

Mr OFC,
Sorry to read about your day trip to the States. I know there are a lot of 'ugly Americans' with ugly attitudes, as well as bad types, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I can believe and I assume, it was not nice. I am glad you were able to get back to a safer place. I have been to Seattle, it is beautiful up there, there are also a lot of 'frontier type', angry anti government types, so it can be an adventure driving around. Nowing that area, I assume you met some good people but one bad apple ruins everything. There are certain parts of the country I've never visited, I've seen over 15 states, California is bigger than Britain so requires a long drive to reach Arizona cities. There are certain states I don't really want to visit, I hope to see all 50 but there are some I will visit for a day just to say 'I did it'. If you follow the rise of Donald Trump and his followers, he's tapping into a lot of angry lower educated, lower salaried types who feel they are owed a living and resent everyone who is not like them. I have had comments myself over 25 years as I am not one of them, who does not understand, I'm too liberal, too European, too British, too foreign, etc. the uninformed like to throw labels on people who weren't born in their town or went to their schools.