by barnetjohn » 08 Jan 2019, 20:45
Hmm- things could start to get congested.
So currently we now have five games which have been / will be cancelled:
Sutton (A)
Halifax (A)
Chesterfield (H)
Aldershot (H)
Harrogate (H)
If we beat Dorchester on Saturday, then you can also add Eastleigh (A) to the mix.
Chesterfield has been scheduled for 12th Feb.
I assume we cannot / will not want to re-arrange a game for a midweek allocated for possible replays for FA Cup / FA trophy.
So the rest of the midweeks look like this:
w/c 14th Jan: too soon / FA trophy replay week
w/c 21st Jan: won't want to play midweek before Brentford game
w/c 28th Jan: <FREE week 1>
w/c 4th Feb: Could be free, but would be FA trophy replay week if we beat Dorchester // Or FA cup replay week if we draw with Brentford
w/c 11th Feb: Chesterfield game
w/c 18th Feb: [would be three days after the fifth round if we reach it]
w/c 25th Feb: [fifth round replay] or FA Trophy Fourth round replay]
w/c 2nd March: <FREE week 2>
w/c 9th March: <Free week 3>
w/c 16th March: <Free week 4> , but comes in between trophy semis
w/c 23rd March: <Free week 5>
w/c 30th March: <Free week 6>
w/c 7th April: <Free week 7>
w/c 14th April: <Free week 8>, but game on Good Friday then again on Monday.
w/c 21st April: Easter Monday game
w/c 28th April: Season has finished by then!
By my calculations this gives us 8 free weeks. Or 6 if you chalk off the w/c 16th March in the grounds that no trophy semi finalist is going want to play then and w/c 14th which leads into Good Friday (opponents may not want to play games then even if we do). Obviously I could have got this wrong- and await Jerroll's guidance on the above dates!
If we beat Dorchester, that really doesn't give us much scope to re-arrange games. Even though we'd be looking at rearranging 5 more games, potential in 8 slots, other teams might already have dates in the diary. And TK may be reluctant to put anything in the diary w/c 28th Jan because it's just after a big cup tie, and he might still harbour hopes of an FA cup replay!
It does start to look like if we have a trophy run, or a weather induced postponement we could be in a spot of bother. If we get to the FA trophy semis we'd be really stuffed later on congestion wise I think.
***
Of course there is a valid question as to whether any of this talk of fixture congestion really matters, since we are a bit off the playoffs. If we haven't really got much of a chance of making them, then having a pileup of games at the end isn't such a dead loss. Some woudl argue the Trophy is our best shot at glory this season. But after the exciting performances under Currie, I guess many of us have raised expectations of maybe making the playoffs. And even if we do get to the playoffs, if we have played a tonne of matches in the final month, it'd be a tough ask to then negotiate two away playoff games versus fresher teams.
I do wonder if given the busy schedule recently, upcoming big cup game with Brentford, not to mention above congestion possibility whether DC is tempted to just field some kids on Saturday or another form of weakened team?
And one final question- what are the exact league rules about re-arranging? If we got in a real pickle because of a trophy run, could we just play the trophy game as is, shunt the clashing league game back 24 hours to the Sunday, and just play two games in a weekend but with two entirley different sides?