A little bit of fixture overhang...

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Norfolk & Chance
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265652Post Norfolk & Chance »

Nobody remembers good cup runs?
I couldn't disagree more.
Imo it's the complete opposite.
League football seasons just merge one after the other, it's the cup runs that stay fresh in the memory.
And it doesn't even have to be about memories, how about the actual live experience of going to a trophy cup final for example.
Actually being there!
League football is dull by comparison.
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rudebwoyben
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265653Post rudebwoyben »

I definitely remember our great cup nights, whether they occurred in the FA Cup, the League Cup or even that run to the semi-finals of the Football League Trophy in 11/12. The trouble with the FA Trophy though is that there’s very little anticipation around it unless you get to the final with the only diversion being if you get drawn away at some Step 3/4 club that we would never normally get to play. This was similar to the FLT but with the FLT matches being played in midweek, it meant that unlike the FA Trophy a run in the FLT didn’t cause a league fixture pileup for us.
In terms of the league we do have a lot of ground to regain to get into the playoff picture but things can change very quickly. Wrexham, Harrogate and Gateshead are all out of form with Graham Barrow making an awful start as Wrexham’s new manager and Gateshead losing Steve Watson to York City. I’d think that DC will be instilling in our players the attitude that they can win every match they play too.
eastbarnetsupporter
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265654Post eastbarnetsupporter »

becbee wrote:I don't set my bar very high. Too many seasons of the aim being to avoid relegation have seen to that!
The league has always been my priority - nobody remembers good cup runs the next season but they do know which league you're in.

I didn't even bother going to the Bath match. Nor did half our supporters.
However, things have changed since Darren Currie. I will be at the Dorchester match, as I suspect very many other Bath stay-aways will be. I want us to win. Not because I care about the FAT - I don't. But because I want the momentum to continue. I want DC to continue his unbeaten run. I want more of DC's feelgood factor. I want him to make it impossible for TK to look elsewhere for his next manager. I want to kill stone dead the suggestion of MA coming back with all that entails.

What happens as regards the rest of the season, well, we shall have to see how that pans out. As hoofer2 says, better to have the 4 league matches in hand than having already lost them. Shame some of JS's nightmare bores were played when they were.
'nobody remembers good cup runs' - What have you been smoking and can I have some?
hoofer2
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265656Post hoofer2 »

becbee wrote:I don't set my bar very high. Too many seasons of the aim being to avoid relegation have seen to that!
The league has always been my priority - nobody remembers good cup runs the next season but they do know which league you're in.

I didn't even bother going to the Bath match. Nor did half our supporters.
However, things have changed since Darren Currie. I will be at the Dorchester match, as I suspect very many other Bath stay-aways will be. I want us to win. Not because I care about the FAT - I don't. But because I want the momentum to continue. I want DC to continue his unbeaten run. I want more of DC's feelgood factor. I want him to make it impossible for TK to look elsewhere for his next manager. I want to kill stone dead the suggestion of MA coming back with all that entails.

What happens as regards the rest of the season, well, we shall have to see how that pans out. As hoofer2 says, better to have the 4 league matches in hand than having already lost them. Shame some of JS's nightmare bores were played when they were.
I hope your sentiment is down to not having any decent cup runs for years and forgetting how it feels....

Those matches against Colchester with the Yak Attack and Plymouth with Scott Sinclair's wonder goal, the away fixture at Ashton Gate with a rampant Andy Clarke, the 4-4 home draw vs Woking, are etched in my pysche more than a 0-0 bore draw against Boston United. A cup run is for the fans, the tables are for the statisticians and no-one remembers who finished 10th or 11th , just the champions/promoted clubs and who was relegated - not even the other play-off contenders.
foxy
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265658Post foxy »

I think the cups need to be priority this year bearing in mind our position in the league table. I know we have quite a few games in hand but are we really likely to compete with 2 of Salford, Orient and Wrexham in the play-offs? Although if we do scrape 7th the away legs could play to our advantage.

Lets put everything into the cups and enjoy it!
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ninestein
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265677Post ninestein »

Live for the moment and enjoy the ride.
When we do get a league fixture pop into the calendar like next week at Braintree, let's just make sure we keep plugging away and stay in touch. The games in hand will start to be fulfilled gradually, and if we've done enough, suddenly we will be back in contention and make things very interesting going into March. We could be one of those teams that just clicks into form and storms the latter part of the season. If it doesn't pan out like that, we still have the memories of Bristol Rovers and Sheffield Utd to take away from this season.
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MCB
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265681Post MCB »

What about scheduling a game for Tuesday 21st January then?

Do we really need 9 days between games? This would give us 6 days before the FA Cup tie now it's on a Monday, surely that would be perfect to balance out recovery and keeping sharp?
amberforever
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265692Post amberforever »

Agreed that these great cup runs come at a price for league ambition this season. Better focus on promotion for next season.
barnetjohn
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265695Post barnetjohn »

hoofer2 wrote:
On the evidence of the season so far, the form has not suggested a playoff challenge will happen and that we will win 5+ games in a row, which is what will be required to grasp 7th place.

The Cup runs have been a welcome distraction from the middling league form and the players are enjoying them too. The confidence of the players must be high after dispatching Sheffield United, and will hopefully influence a decent run in the league as a result. I am pleased we have the backlog, if we had already played the games I am not sure we would have earned that many extra points on the season so far. DC* must be pleased to have extra games in the bag (*subject to TK)

The Barry Fry teams relished playing Sat > Tues and just wanted to be on the pitch. A bouyant squad will be the same. I'm disappointed I cannot make the Dorchester game, as an ovation is well deserved.
You raise a good point here that four of the cup induced postponements have effectively moved games from the Still era to the Currie era. And so that effect - aside from the separate congestion one - is probably going to boost the points total we get from them.

Interestingly, the announcement that we are playing on the Monday night means that we can't use that midweek for a rearranged game. That now removes one of the "free midweeks" I'd factored in in my earlier post. That makes our scheduling task even tighter.
becbee
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265722Post becbee »

The pitfalls of a too hastily written message earlier ! Thank you for pointing out to me my error.

What I really meant was, after all the excitement and euphoria of an exciting cup tie / cup run is over, we go back down to earth.
That nobody was thinking about previous exciting cup ties when we were being bored by JS's team in NL fixtures.
That nobody thinks about other clubs past successes, but they do know which league they are currently playing in.

I have just tested myself as to which matches ( pre this season) that I remember - the first 7 I thought of were all cup matches. The next were final day of the season matches, then some more cup ties. So yes, my previous statement was wrong, it is the cup matches that I remember, that we remember.

But even if we'd won at Blackburn last season, would I have traded FA Cup success for staying in L2? Every time.
barnetjohn
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265883Post barnetjohn »

So today's win means we now have five games still to be re-arranged:

Sutton (A)
Halifax (A)
Aldershot (H)
Harrogate (H)
Eastleigh (A)

So we now have 5 games to re-arrange. By my calculations we effectively have 8 free midweek slots. So we can just about squeeze these games in without having to play twice in a midweek. But it's tight.

You could add in two more slots: i) w/c 4th Feb, if the club are willing to cancel if we draw with Brentford ii) w/c 25th Feb if the club are willing to cancel at three days notice if we have a trophy replay.

If not we've got to pick 5 out of the 8. But two of those slots aren't great- one is between FA trophy semis, and the other is on a week when we have a game on good Friday.

If we win the next round of the FA trophy, we'd then have to re-arrange 6 games. If we win the quarter finals, we'd have to re-arrange 8 games because the semi finals are two legged. Most of the available dates are in March onwards- so basically we'd be playing midweek just about every week of season in the closing two months. We might avoid playing two games in a midweek.

And this before any weather postponements kick-in. I think the club need to try to get another game re-arranged for February just in case we go further in the trophy or there's a spell of bad weather.



w/c 21st Jan: Too soon/won't want to play midweek before Brentford game
w/c 28th Jan: Brentford game on Monday
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: <Free week 1> (but just after FA cup fifth round>
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!
Norfolk & Chance
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265891Post Norfolk & Chance »

I'm sure it's all in hand.
We can just enjoy the ride.
shankbee01
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265898Post shankbee01 »

To be honest, unless we all of a sudden go radio rental in the league then why does it matter? Even with our games in hand, making m up 12 points is going to be very difficult. Let’s just enjoy the ride.


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OB1
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265902Post OB1 »

We wait all those years for a cup run and then two come along together.
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jerroll
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Re: A little bit of fixture overhang...

Post: # 265904Post jerroll »

shankbee01 wrote:To be honest, unless we all of a sudden go radio rental in the league then why does it matter? Even with our games in hand, making m up 12 points is going to be very difficult. Let’s just enjoy the ride.


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Great point. having said that if we find a few more goals from somewhere there is no reason we can't make 6th or 7th.
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