Next Saturday!!

G

GoodoImp

Vital Newbie
Whatever happens next Saturday we can look back on a truly magnificent season! The first season back in the Football League and more Importantly DC and NC first season in league football we have massively over achieved!! I personally think we will win against Yeovil but once again it will be another exciting day at the theatre of Football!!...Danny Cowleys Red and White Army!!! UTI
 
Football is a funny old game- completely agree we have over achieved in many ways BUT, taking where we are now into account, a failure to get into the play-offs will still feel just that...a failure.

Football- just as well we have the disappointment of England at a world cup to keep us going until August!
 
GoodoImp said:
Whatever happens next Saturday we can look back on a truly magnificent season! The first season back in the Football League and more Importantly DC and NC first season in league football we have massively over achieved!! I personally think we will win against Yeovil but once again it will be another exciting day at the theatre of Football!!...Danny Cowleys Red and White Army!!! UTI
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I'm saying nothing about Yeovil, ? but I agree with everything else.
 
Have we 'massively' overachieved?

I mean, we've overachieved with regards to the average finishing position of previously promoted sides and we've done very well to get to on the verge of the PO's, but look at the side and you see proven L2 players like Freck, Bostwick, Green and then throw Rhead, Woodyard, Raggett in who were brilliant at the level below and then chuck Eardley in who, like Bostwick and Freck, has spent his career at a higher level, then we don't exactly look like a newly promoted squad as such.
 
I agree with Luke. In fact, I will feel we have underachieved slightly if we fail to make the play offs, as I think our squad has enough quality in it, not to mention the fact we have been "there or thereabouts" all season.
 
Luke Imp said:
Personally, I think DC/NC will be slightly disappointed they've not nabbed 3rd.
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Perhaps - but I think their target from the start of the season was the Checkatrade trophy (which DC said was a realistically winnable competition) and a PO spot, which would be a real measure of improvement/achievement, so they're bang on course.
 
Luke Imp said:
Have we 'massively' overachieved?

I mean, we've overachieved with regards to the average finishing position of previously promoted sides and we've done very well to get to on the verge of the PO's, but look at the side and you see proven L2 players like Freck, Bostwick, Green and then throw Rhead, Woodyard, Raggett in who were brilliant at the level below and then chuck Eardley in who, like Bostwick and Freck, has spent his career at a higher level, then we don't exactly look like a newly promoted squad as such.
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I think we have to remember that Danny and Nicky have never managed at this level before and have never had to manage with transfer windows. To completely rebuild the squad (effectively) over the course of 2 transfer windows and still maintain a push for the playoff places in a league you have never managed before in is no mean feat..
 
With the quality in our squad I don't think we have over achieved at all. From being in a good position in January and with the quality additions in the window I expected play offs at least and most likely top 3 as I bet Danny did too. The lack of a mobile CF, the loss of form of Anderson and some poor away performances all through the season means it adds up to a slightly under achievement. .
Besides I had a hefty wedge on us being promoted so I am probably blinkered.
 
Danny would never make any predictions of any kind. Whether that is for fear of tempting fate or for any other reason, he is not given to making bold statements. But he must have been quietly confident of being right up there with the players he has.

To be in with a chance of automatic promotion until the penultimate game would bear that out, but that terrible record in the first half of away games is responsible for missing out on a top-three place. Players will come in and out of form as a season progresses - nine months of football is a long time to have to maintain high standards - but that away record has been pretty constant. That has to be a result of tactical decisions, perhaps the only thing of any significance that DC hasn't got quite right.

Still a very memorable season, and it isn't over yet. Remember that no Lincoln manager has ever won two promotions in successive seasons, and that is still very much a possibility: effectively Lincoln have to win two of their next four games to be promoted. A read around League Two fans forums reveals that Lincoln are the team to fear - Exeter don't fancy us at all, and Notts County would prefer to meet us in the final.

Should the next few weeks not go our way, one thing is for sure: with some proper additions to the squad during the close season, next season could be the best one of all.
 
We had a poll on here last summer, before the season began. Buoyed by the fact we'd just gone up as Champions and the amazing FA Cup run. There were a few who thought we'd easily win the division this season, there were a few who said 12th place. The majority of people 'hoped' we would achieve a play-off place and that they would call that a good season.
If we get in the play-offs we will be matching what Keith Alexander's team achieved 5 times on the trot. Makes you appreciate how well he did back then, 6th, 7th, 6th,7th and 5th place positions.
 
Completely agree with Luke and Johnolbe, do not think we have overachieved and, having got this far, will be disappointed if we do not gain promotion.

Personally I don't get this idea of protecting expectation by assuming we are going to lose our next game. Now is the time to grasp the reality of the situation and be positive. I certainly won't be driving 160+ miles to Lincoln on Saturday thinking we're going to get beaten, it would be ridiculous.

We should expect to win the game but my one concern is that while we have a strong, hard tackling side there is a collective lack of pace down the spine of the team.
 
Sincilbanks said:
I think we have to remember that Danny and Nicky have never managed at this level before and have never had to manage with transfer windows. To completely rebuild the squad (effectively) over the course of 2 transfer windows and still maintain a push for the playoff places in a league you have never managed before in is no mean feat..
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True, there's that to take into account as well.

I'm not saying we haven't overachieved, just that we haven't 'massively' overachieved. We're not a Barnet or Cheltenham size, when they got promoted.
 
StrangelyBrown said:
Football is a funny old game- completely agree we have over achieved in many ways BUT, taking where we are now into account, a failure to get into the play-offs will still feel just that...a failure.

Football- just as well we have the disappointment of England at a world cup to keep us going until August!
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Hmm. Sort of disagree but not by much. A failure to get in the POs could feel like a failure, but it won't be. For me this team have overachieved and punched well above their weight. Our game management, not ability, has been fantastic. The squads of 97/98 and all of big KA's (in his second tenure) were vastly superior to ours at present. What we need is a combination of those squads and our game management. Then, I believe, we will be more of a complete Jigsaw.

Verdict. A work in progress
 
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