Originally Posted by
nw6pie
The home form has been key every time we've performed a great escape. Under Nolan we only lost once at home after he joined in 2017 (and that was against champions-elect Portsmouth); under Derry in 2013-2014 we won our final five home games of the season (and this was a team that had been thumped 5-1 at home by Walsall in January); and in the original great escape season of 2001-2002, we again won our last five home games in a row.
What's noticeable in that last fantastic run is that we also started keeping more clean sheets (6 in the last 10 games) and also had some great performances away from home (4-0 at Bury; 1-0 at Peterborough; 2-2 against promotion-bound Brighton, from 2-0 down, thanks to Marcel Cas' great volley).
In 2007-2008, when we finished 21st, we won our last two home games 1-0 (including that Richard Butcher goal against Wycombe), but again got better at keeping clean sheets (again, 6 in the last 10 games).
The luckiest escape was most definitely in 2005-2006, when we won only 1 of our last 16 games (that stat sounds familiar) and scraped a 2-2 draw with Bury on the final day of the season.
What's interesting (to me at least) is how many of the League 2 sides in that 2006 season are either no longer in the league or have been relegated and bounced back - two-thirds (16 out of the 24). Carlisle, Bury, Northampton and Notts are the only ones still in L2, albeit having spent some time in L1.
On the plus side, 7 teams who subsequently went down and returned: Lincoln City, Bristol Rovers, Mansfield, Grimsby Town, Macclesfield Town, Cheltenham Town, Oxford United. If we get relegated, I think we will share a unique "honour" with Oxford and Luton: the only winners of a major trophy to be relegated from the Football League (us the FA Cup, the other two the League Cup).
On the down side, these teams were subsequently relegated and have yet to resurface: Torquay (currently top of National League South); Wrexham (National League); Stockport County (National League North); Darlington FC (National League North); Chester City (National League North); Rushden & Diamonds (dissolved); Boston United (National League North); Leyton Orient (currently top of National League) and Barnet (National League). (Tranmere also get relegated, in 2015, and came back this season.)