Are we serious playoff contenders?

[Riddick]

this is not a reaction to the Rovers game, but i think i'm right in saying that we have not won a single game this season where we have gone behind first. We have come back for draws on occasion but not for wins. We have however not lost a game we have scored first in on the other hand. I'm just a little unsure you can rely on scroing first to win games and if that fact remains for the rest of the season i dont think we'll make the playoffs, especially with all these away games coming up.

[Bob's Orange]

Tuesday

Franchise v Swindon
Carlisle v Millwall

Saturday's fixtures.

Brighton v Swindon
Huddersfield v Norwich
Millwall v Charlton
Carlisle v Colchester
Southampton v Leeds.

No easy games here for any of the top teams.  If we can get results at MK and Brighton then we can start to cement that play-off place.

[RobertT]

Good lord, that's one hell of a weekend fixture list.  Huddersfield and Millwall both have the potential to hit a wall here, and Leeds could find themselves in freefall.  Despite them being pretty average against us, I now think Charlton will find form again.

[THE FLASH]

Play off yes...

Automatic ...no

[Phil_S]

Course we're contenders we occupy a play off spot on merit. I actually thought we were automatic contenders but looks unlikely now.
Of course we could blow it but then so could some of the other sides too.

[Colin Todd]

Of course we are serious play off contenders.

There are 7 teams competing for the top 6. We are one of them. This makes us contenders.

[STFC_Gazza]

No, let's all slash our wrists now..... jesus.

[Batch]

Are we contenders? Yes. Will we make it? Who knows. Tough games coming up will show whether we have the bottle and skill. 2nd place is up for grabs and while i think we are just too far off to strike you never know. But lets worry bout 6th place first.

[Phil_S]

I think we are safe from relegation now too!

[STFC_Gazza]

WE ARE STAYIN' UP!!!!

[pauld]

I'm just a little unsure you can rely on scroing first to win games and if that fact remains for the rest of the season i dont think we'll make the playoffs, especially with all these away games coming up.

Played 33, Won 16, Drawn 12, Lost 5, 60 points and 5th place would suggest otherwise

[suttonred]

Ooh we lost, where's a sharp knife?

[Simon Pieman]

Of course we are. We have been up in the playoffs practically all season.

If we're not there or thereabouts come the end of the month i.e. we've dropped loads of points then we may be ruled out then. But at this present time we really are the real deal.

Have a look at my statto comment in the Rovers thread, we've dropped one less point  from the maximum available when we've gone behind first.

Something Wilson said post-match was that the players may have an expectation that they will always grab the first goal, so tried to force it and hence left themselves open at the back.

We have not won once conceding the first goal, although this has only happened 8 times. Those 8 games resulted in 4 draws and 4 losses, so a total of 20 points dropped from maximum. But we've dropped another 19 from maximum when we've scored the first goal/not scored at all.

So I don't think it's much to do with the not being able to come back from conceding first at all. It's worth noting that most of the time (6 out of 8 games) it's been away from home too.

Late goals seems to be the problem, which we all know. These odd freak results are just that.

[blah blah]

I remember in the Hoddle play-off season we were all shitting ourselves because the games were televised & we hadn't won a game on the telly all season if not for a couple of years before that too. That all changed when the play offs came around - I'll settle for not coming from behind again this season, then do it twice in the play offs !

At the end of the day, yes we are serious play off contenders because we are there with games in hand on all around us. And lets face it, despite low expectation at the start of the season from many (including me I will admit!), who won't be disappointed now if we dont get there ?

[jayohaitchenn]

I'll be fucking gutted if we don't make the playoffs. In my view it's all but guaranteed.