10-match segments: season 22/3

We go again...

1st 10: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18

Home: 3-3-0, 9-3, 12
Away: 2-0-2, 7-6, 6
Total: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18

Leading at HT: 4-1-0, 11-4, 13
Drawing at HT: 1-2-2, 5-5, 5
Trailing at HT:

Leading at any point: 5-1-0
Trailing at any point: 0-1-2
(0-0: 2)

Both led and trailed in same match: Wimbledon (H)
* * *
Overall a good start, granted with some things to be worked on. But the points pace is a guaranteed playoff pace (and often an auto-promotion one), goals for and against and difference are good, and we've done this despite some injury problems and the difficulties of getting a host of new players to work together. If the defence can keep us at under 1 goal against per match, that will stand us in very good stead. One does have to hope though that Cook maintains his scoring pace, and/or that others help out more. So far league goals are split evenly between Cook and everybody else, to this point meaning other forwards and the midfield/wingers. It would help to have some goals coming from the defenders as well.

Today was the first point gained from a losing position, albeit also the first time we threw away a winning position. We do however seem to be spending more time ahead or level than trailing, which makes a good change from the recent past.

Unlike last year's neutral start, this is the type of start that helps one on a promotion campaign. Trick is to keep it up, but this side does show promise. Nice to be more optimistic than otherwise after a segment!

RCB

 

Today's match leads to a 2nd segment that ends up right at the Ronnie Brown comfort level, when it could certainly have been better. As other posters have mentioned, our side is very good at being frustrating, and exasperating...

1st 10: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18
2nd 10: 4-3-3, 10-11, 15

Home: 3-5-2, 12-9, 14
Away: 6-1-3, 14-11, 19
Total: 9-6-5, 26-20, 33

Leading at HT: 8-2-0, 19-7, 26
Drawing at HT: 1-4-2, 6-6, 7
Trailing at HT: 0-0-3, 1-7, 0

Leading at any point: 8-3-0
Trailing at any point: 0-1-5
(0-0: 3)

Both led and trailed in same match: Wimbledon (H)
* * * * *
We were at guaranteed playoff pace, and close to auto-promotion pace coming into this segment; now we've fallen behind both paces, though are still well above the comfort line. Most years that does mean the playoffs, but we can't let our pace drop any further.

We still have a very good away record, almost auto-promotion pace, but the home record is getting into "safe from relegation but start worrying" pace. We are very good with a lead, not so good otherwise, and very poor at rescuing points from losing situations. Goals against remains excellent, goals for remains a problem, in that we rely overmuch on one man.

We've started heading in the wrong direction; this 3rd segment needs to reverse that before we take up what would probably be permanent residence in the upper-mid-table. The side has the potential for much more than that; is it going to take til next season for that potential to be realised? (The 'poor home form' thread covers that aspect of our results not meeting our potential very well.)

RCB

 

Growl.

1st 10: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18
2nd 10: 4-3-3, 10-11, 15
3rd 10: 4-3-3, 11-9, 15

Home: 6-6-4, 20-15, 24
Away: 7-3-4, 17-14, 24
Total: 13-9-8, 37-29, 48

Leading at HT: 11-3-1, 27-12, 36
Drawing at HT: 1-6-2, 6-6, 9
Trailing at HT: 1-0-5, 4-11, 3

Leading at any point: 13-4-1
Trailing at any point: 1-1-8
(0-0: 5)

Both led and trailed in same match: Wimbledon (H); Rochdale (H), Stevenage (A)
* * *
On the one hand we are consistent enough, as the very similar segment results suggest, not to mention the points hauls home and away, but we are not consistent enough at a high-enough level. As it stands, we are consistent at a mid-table level.

Our defence continues to be solid, for all our grumblings about individual players in it. Keeping the goals-against at or below 1 per match is a more than adequate performance,. But Cook aside, what's in front of them is just not doing the job and so the defence cannot afford even one mistake that leads to a goal-against. We remain good when leading, and bad when trailing. So there is determination enough in the side to hold on to leads, but not enough it seems to overturn deficits. (Though I must say that I don't think any team is going to be particularly good at that.)

Our current points-per-match pace overall is 1.6, for 74 on the season -- a total that usually gets one into the playoffs -- and on the running 10-match line, 1.5, for 69 on the season -- a total that sometimes leads to the playoffs. Winning three in a row would get us back on guaranteed-playoff pace, but to get onto guaranteed auto-promotion pace, we'd need to win our next 11 in a row. Granted, that's a pace to reach 91 points; usually, 3rd needs fewer points -- the lowest has been 75. If we keep going as we have been, we'll probably continue to bounce around between say 5th and 10th.

It's turning into another exasperating season. We're improving, but the overall grade is a "C".

RCB

 

A rather nice segment!

1st 10: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18
2nd 10: 4-3-3, 10-11, 15
3rd 10: 4-3-3, 11-9, 15
4th 10: 5-5-0, 14-6, 20

Home: 9-8-4, 30-20, 35
Away: 9-6-4, 21-15, 33
Total: 18-14-8, 51-35, 68

Leading at HT: 13-4-1
Drawing at HT: 3-9-2
Trailing at HT: 2-1-5

Leading at any point: 18-5-1
Trailing at any point: 2-2-8
(0-0: 8)

Both led and trailed in same match: Wimbledon (H); Rochdale (H), Stevenage (A), Grimsby (H)
* * * * *
Can't truly complain about a 10-match unbeaten run, gaining 2 points per match over it -- auto-promotion certainly, and sometimes even championship, form. That said, one does wish that some of those draws had been wins... However, if we don't get auto-promotion, the 1st and 4th segments will not be the reasons why.

Home record looks better now, away record remains very good. Defence remains solid, offence a slight bit better. It is nice to see that of our last 6 goals, 4 have been scored by players not named Cook. If only that had been happening all season long...we'd be in the auto spots now.

With now 9 away wins and a 10-match unbeaten run, this season gets added to the top-10 lists in those categories, with good chances of rising higher in said lists. (We're one draw away from entering the top-10 lists for most home draws, and most draws overall.) The last time we had an unbeaten run like this was over parts of two seasons, 2015/6-16/7, when we had 15; before that, you have to go back to 1987/8, for another 10-match run.

RCB

 

Ta. One may smile knowingly at the joke...but if we win out, and those above us have points deducted... it could, in a way, come true!

It is nice to be at this end of the table, after too many years at t'other. I'd love autos, but I still think we're more likely to end up in the playoffs. Unless we win our game in hand, and otherwise at minimum match the sides above us in results, we don't control our own destiny.

RCB

 

Phew! Much too close for comfort, but at least the minimum objective for the season attained.

1st 10: 5-3-2, 16-9, 18
2nd 10: 4-3-3, 10-11, 15
3rd 10: 4-3-3, 11-9, 15
4th 10: 5-5-0, 14-6, 20
last 6: 2-2-2, 10-8, 8

Home: 9-10-4, 33-23, 37
Away: 11-6-6, 28-20, 39
Total: 20-16-10, 61-43, 76

Leading at HT: 15-4-1
Drawing at HT: 3-10-3
Trailing at HT: 2-2-6

Leading at any point: 20-6-1
Trailing at any point: 2-4-10
(0-0: 8)

Both led and trailed in same match: Wimbledon (H); Rochdale (H), Stevenage (A), Grimsby (H), Gillingham (H)
* * * * *
This could have been much easier had we not turned some wins into draws and draws into losses, but I'll take it. Even with the recent wobbles the defence overall had a very good season -- only the fifth in our history of allowing fewer than 1 goal against per match. Lewis has been a particularly successful signing. The offence has been Cook, despite a few others getting on the scoreboard recently. He's had a season to remember, getting himself into the top levels of our all-time scoring charts: joint 3rd for league goals scored in a season, and joint 5th for total goals in a season (and he's got 3 more matches now to rise higher). Those two players would be my finalists for 'Player of the Season.'

The season has entered many of our top-10 charts:
- most away wins (joint 3rd with 11)
- most successive away wins (joint 2nd with 4)
- most home draws (joint 3rd with 10)
- most draws (joint 5th with 16)
- most successive away draws (joint 2nd with 3)
- most successive draws (joint 3rd with 4)
- fewest away defeats (joint 3rd with 6)
- fewest defeats (joint 4th with 10)
- fewest away goals against (1st with 20)
- fewest goals against (joint 3rd with 43)
- fewest goals against per match (joint 2nd with 0.9348)
- most away points (3 pts for a win) (3rd with 39)
- most points (3 pts for a win) (7th with 76)
- most clean sheets away (joint 1st with 10)
- most clean sheets (joint 4th with 18)
- most successive away clean sheets (joint 3rd with 3)
- most successive clean sheets (joint 2nd with 4)
- most successive away clean sheets against (joint 3rd with 4)
- longest undefeated run (joint 7th with 11)

We also had 2 nice undefeated runs away, 7 matches first, and later on, 9. Both runs should fall into our top-10 in this category. I simply haven't had time yet to go through all our history to make up that chart, but 10 was the record at the time of Frost's book.

For a season that has been somewhat underwhelming -- the combination of tactics and player underperformance cost us in terms of auto-promotion -- that's an awful lot of entries in our top-10 charts, and just about all of them on the positive side.

RCB