10-match segments: season 21/2

It's that time again...

1st 10: 4-3-3 14-11 15

Home: 3-2-0, 10-4, 11
Away: 1-1-3, 4-7, 4
Total: 4-3-3, 14-11, 15

Leading at HT: 3-0-0, 8-2, 9
Drawing at HT: 1-2-2, 4-6, 5
Trailing at HT: 0-1-1, 2-3, 1

Leading at any point: 4-1-0
Trailing at any point: 1-1-3
(0-0: ) 1

Both led and trailed in same match: Mansfield (A)

* * *

Could have been worse, should have been better...a very MEH first segment -- and we needed that win today to reach MEH status... Still, it's now the kind of start that doesn't hurt you. We're right on the Ronnie Brown comfort line, 1.5 points per match, which sometimes gets you into the playoffs, but always keeps you comfortably safe from relegation.

Three points and goals for better than last season's first segment, same amount of goals conceded. Defence, for all our grumblings, decent enough; still, only 2 clean-sheets-for is a bit worrying, given the offence. Offence, as we could foresee, in need of work. And, especially, competent live bodies.

RCB

 

I wouldn't count on that... We've had 40 seasons now of 3 points for a win, and only 9 times has 69 got you at least 7th. One time it was us.

It's a very close-run thing though. Just pick up three more points, for 72, and in 31 seasons you would have been 7th or better. So let's demand not 1.5, but 1.565 points per match

RCB

 

¿qué? You've lost me there!

But otherwise, though some of the newspapers do follow US style, English spellings predominate. I do find it impossible, however, to get the locals to write organiSe etc. rather than organiZe.... Thou whoreson zed! Thou unnecessary letter!

RCB, aka Confused in Canada, eh?

 

Now is the winter of our discontent. Again.

1st 10: 4-3-3, 14-11, 15
2nd 10: 1-7-2, 11-12, 10

Home: 3-6-1, 15-11, 15
Away: 2-4-4, 10-12, 10
Total: 5-10-5, 25-23, 25

Leading at HT: 4-2-1, 15-8, 14
Drawing at HT: 1-6-2, 6-8, 9
Trailing at HT: 0-2-2, 4-7, 2

Leading at any point: 5-3-1, 19-11, 18
Trailing at any point: 1-4-5, 10-16, 7
(0-0: ) 3

Both led and trailed in same match: Mansfield (A), Tranmere (A),

* * * * *
From a segment of "comfort-line" pace to a segment of relegation pace... Overall we are still above relegation form, but it is worrying that we are staking a claim to bottom-half-of-the-table status. Defence continues decent enough not to put us into trouble on its own, but when you must have clean sheets just to get a draw, then decent enough is no longer good enough. It's also good that we have been picking up some points from trailing positions. The less said about the offence the better.

RCB

 

Some fairly pointless trivia about the season so far:

- first time we've drawn 10 of our first 20 league matches (had drawn 9 in each of 1913/4 and 2013/4)
- only the second time (first was 2004/5) we've drawn as many as 7 matches in a 10-match segment (with the way I divide up seasons)

(fewest draws in our frst 20 league matches was 1 (1933/4))

RCB

 

The return of the first segment...

1st 10: 4-3-3, 14-11, 15
2nd 10: 1-7-2, 11-12, 10
3rd 10: 4-3-3, 11-12, 15

Home: 4-8-2, 21-17, 20
Away: 5-5-6, 15-18, 20
Total: 9-13-8, 36-35, 40

Leading at HT: 6-2-2, 20-12, 20
Drawing at HT: 2-9-3, 10-13, 15
Trailing at HT: 1-2-3, 6-11, 5

Leading at any point: 9-3-2
Trailing at any point: 2-6-8
(0-0: 4)

Both led and trailed in same match: Mansfield (A), Tranmere (A), Salford (H), Crawley (H)
* * * * *
Mid-tableness continues. The first segment was the type to neither help nor hurt a side, the second was clear relegation form, the third has got us back to how we started.

The numbers are fairly consistent: goals-against remains decent enough, goals-for remains inadequate. Too many home draws hurt, a lot; the away form is actually reasonable. Too many HT draws finishing as draws also hurt, though I suppose more of them finishing as losses would hurt rather more!

We are on a 61-point pace at the moment. The lowest total for 7th has been 66, we've done it with 69, but the low 70s are really where one needs to be to be fairly sure of the playoffs (79 pts has so far guaranteed a playoff slot). The lowest total for 3rd has been 75, but I just cannot see us troubling the auto-promotion slots, at whatever total. We would need the sort of run of which we have, so far, not proven ourselves capable, just to be sure of the playoffs.

RCB

 

The pattern continues: mediocre segment, relegation segment, mediocre segment, relegation segment. So we should look forward to ending the season with the giddy heights of mediocrity. Woohoo!

1st 10: 4-3-3 14-11 15
2nd 10: 1-7-2 11-12 10
3rd 10: 4-3-3 11-12 15
4th 10: 2-1-7 8-14 7

Home: 4-9-7, 24-27, 21
Away: 7-5-8, 20-22, 26
Total: 11-14-15, 44-49, 46

Leading at HT: 6-2-2, 20-12, 20
Drawing at HT: 4-10-7, 18-22, 22
Trailing at HT: 1-2-6, 6-15, 5

Leading at any point: 11-3-5
Trailing at any point: 2-6-15
(0-0: ) 5

Both led and trailed in same match: Mansfield (A), Tranmere (A), Salford (H), Crawley (H), Harrogate (H), Swindon (H), Bristol Rovers (A)

Adams: 9-13-9, 36-36, 40
Trueman: 0-0-2, 1-5, 0
Hughes: 2-1-4, 7-8, 7
* * * * *
Thank heavens for those last two wins; Scunthorpe can't catch us any more, and either Oldham or especially Stevenage would need almost unbelievable form to pass us.

As before, we generally manage to get to halftime in a decent position, but then fail to turn that into a win. Scoring remains something that generally happens to other people in other places; defence isn't too bad, but it is mid-table level whereas the other is relegation-threatened level.

What a wasted season.

RCB

 

A wasted season, but at least it ends promisingly.

1st 10: 4-3-3, 14-11, 15
2nd 10: 1-7-2, 11-12, 10
3rd 10: 4-3-3, 11-12, 15
4th 10: 2-1-7, 8-14, 7
last 6: 3-2-1, 9-6, 11

Home: 6-10-7, 29-29, 28
Away: 8-6-9, 24-26, 30
Total: 14-16-16, 53-55, 58

Leading at HT: 9-3-2, 29-15, 30
Drawing at HT: 4-11-7, 18-22, 23
Trailing at HT: 1-2-7, 6-18, 5

Leading at any point: 14-4-5
Trailing at any point: 2-6-16
(0-0: ) 6

Both led and trailed in same match: Mansfield (A), Tranmere (A), Salford (H), Crawley (H), Harrogate (H), Swindon (H), Bristol Rovers (A)

Adams: 9-13-9, 36-36, 40
Trueman: 0-0-2, 1-5, 0
Hughes: 5-3-5, 16-14, 18

Rather than ending in mediocrity, we ended on auto-promotion pace: 11 points from 6 matches or 1.83 ppm. Pity about the previous 40 matches... The away record was good enough, the home record was poor. Goals-for was poor, goals-against was good enough. For all our optimism at the start of the season, this looked a mid-table side, and so it ultimately proved.

I like what Hughes & Hodges have done with this group of players, and look forward to seeing what they can do once they've been able to put their stamp on the squad.

RCB