January 2025 - Crunch time?

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Oldham 1 down at Eastleigh @ HT

 

[leeblue]

January always feels big.
Half a season to go, possibly a softer schedule to help amass some points or the compete opposite and a tough run to squash any progress.
New signings
Cold.
Soggy.
Moist.
LFG you blues

 

[PIERS]

Interestingly, they have scored less than us. They are normally very low scorers, Aldershot game aside, so could be a very cagey game.

Oh good. Maximum entertainment

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Oldham drew 2-2 @ Eastleigh in the end.

They play the reverse fixture on Saturday.

 

[* ORM *]

Nope, the next 2 games are both winnable. Win them and we will be just outside the play offs and sets up the coming big games against Barnet and daggers

Aha gotcha!

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Someone mentioned this on another thread, but Gateshead are not out of it in regards to being caught.

They have just lost 3 key starters in their team to other clubs. 2 have gone to League 2 and one to the Scottish Premiership. They were stuffing teams before their departure but since their departure, they have lost 2 on the bounce.

A lot of comments from their fans were stating that playoffs could be over, they need the money etc. Do not rule them out to be caught. Any team, especially at this level, can go on a bad run.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Someone mentioned this on another thread, but Gateshead are not out of it in regards to being caught.

They have just lost 3 key starters in their team to other clubs. 2 have gone to League 2 and one to the Scottish Premiership. They were stuffing teams before their departure but since their departure, they have lost 2 on the bounce.

A lot of comments from their fans were stating that playoffs could be over, they need the money etc. Do not rule them out to be caught. Any team, especially at this level, can go on a bad run.

Yes - I noticed the loss of Gateshead players. Surely that has to have an effect on performances but I take my hat off to Gateshead - they have kept producing the goods over the last few seasons.

Interesting that a player has gone to the Scottish top league ............ where the leading goal scorer is Dalby of course.

 

[Cricko]

Nope, the next 2 games are both winnable. Win them and we will be just outside the play offs and sets up the coming big games against Barnet and daggers

Hmmm, are you so sure now?

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Bright spot of the day, after drawing 1-1 at FGR, Daggers didn't go above us.

 

[cerbera45]

we're currently in a bit of do do

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

As predicted, Gateshead struggling again.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Gateshead could indeed start falling away, perhaps.

Tonight's results:

Aldershot Town 2-2 Braintree Town
Altrincham 4-0 Maidenhead United
Ebbsfleet United 1-1 Yeovil Town
Forest Green Rovers 0-0 Barnet
Gateshead 1-3 FC Halifax Town
Solihull Moors 0-1 Eastleigh

So Braintree pick up a useful point at Aldershot, Maidenhead take a bit of a pounding at Alty, Ebbsfleet gain another point, FGR and Barnet cancel each other out. Gateshead ship 3 at home to low scoring Halifax and Solihull, perhaps surprisingly, lose at home to Eastleigh.

So if we can win tomorrow, we would reduce to 5 points, the gap between us and Solihull. We would move to within 3 points of the play offs, but don't forget the games in hand Halifax and Rochdale have, but at the end of the day it's all about points on the board.

Big game tomorrow and could the result influence whether we enter the transfer market?

It'll all come out in the wash as they say.........................

 

[* ORM *]

Ha ha we win tonight and this board will be in potential play off meltdown (apart from obvious exceptions!)

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Gateshead could indeed start falling away, perhaps.

Tonight's results:

Aldershot Town 2-2 Braintree Town
Altrincham 4-0 Maidenhead United
Ebbsfleet United 1-1 Yeovil Town
Forest Green Rovers 0-0 Barnet
Gateshead 1-3 FC Halifax Town
Solihull Moors 0-1 Eastleigh

So Braintree pick up a useful point at Aldershot, Maidenhead take a bit of a pounding at Alty, Ebbsfleet gain another point, FGR and Barnet cancel each other out. Gateshead ship 3 at home to low scoring Halifax and Solihull, perhaps surprisingly, lose at home to Eastleigh.

So if we can win tomorrow, we would reduce to 5 points, the gap between us and Solihull. We would move to within 3 points of the play offs, but don't forget the games in hand Halifax and Rochdale have, but at the end of the day it's all about points on the board.

Big game tomorrow and could the result influence whether we enter the transfer market?

It'll all come out in the wash as they say.........................

Solihull and Gateshead are the teams I'm looking at. I've said this so many times, teams can go on bad runs just like teams can go on good runs. Gateshead are definitely starting to create a bad run. Solihull we've already stuffed and still have them to play at home.

A win tonight is all that matters.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

The game against Fylde was not on the calendar when this thread was started but now adds another game to the month's activity - meaning that we would have had 5 league games & 1 cup game for the month if it were not for the cancellations/postponements of Halifax & Boston.

With Fylde being 3rd from bottom this game effectively replaces the Boston game who are 2nd from bottom (but rather surprisingly beat York at the weekend).

League wins against Braintree & Dagenham can be balanced against the 3-0 loss to table topping Barnet.

Flyde is the last game for the month leaving me not too sure what we have learnt in January except as seems to be usual, we struggle for consistency.

In theory, a win against Flyde = 9 points from 4 games which is "promotion form" .......... but it doesn't feel that way for some reason(s). [thinking face; puzzled face]

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Yes bit of an up and down month, both for the team and on here lol.

Our first target to catch in my eyes, Solihull have now dropped out of the top seven. A win tomorrow and we would be 2 points behind them having played the same amount of games. Great effort in less than a month. Solihull, who have just undergone a manager change, are on a run of three straight defeats, so a little fragile maybe?

My second target to catch is Altrincham, who currently occupy that magical 7th place, are also catchable. They are on 42 points with a game in hand after we play tomorrow. so 3 points, but a possible 6 away from us, if we win that is. Slightly better current form with only one defeat in the last 6, but same as us so far 3 wins.

Gateshead are my stretch target to catch. having lost a number of players, they are on an intermittent run and are stuttering a bit, having just won two of their last 6. A win tomorrow, which is key, would put us 10 points behind, on the same games. A big ask, but it's 4 wins to make up on them, not impossible.

After tomorrow we can see a clearer picture of where we stand after January's league games have been done.

Strengthen the squad as is being rumoured and make the Hall harder to win at and we may just make a few clubs look nervously over their shoulders.