The Table…

[Jampie]

After 8 games last season, the top 2 in League Two were Orient and Stevenage and that's where they finished. Stevenage 1st place in L1 as it stands.

I know we've got a long way to go. But I can't help enjoying our current position immensely.

[Notts78]

After 8 games last season, the top 2 in League Two were Orient and Stevenage and that's where they finished. Stevenage 1st place in L1 as it stands.

League 2 is stronger this season. There are teams that haven’t got going yet that could easily get in a roll. A long way to go, but at least (for now) we are looking up and not down!

[nw6pie]

The contenders are now apparent - Gillingham, Swindon, Wrexham, Mansfield, with Stockport finally starting to find their feet.

Surprises? Crawley have started well; Bradford and Salford are struggling.

It’s a ridiculously tight league - three points separate Crewe in 7th from Bradford in 17th - and there are very few, if any, gimmes. It is a curio, though, that as the table currently stands, we’ll have played six of the bottom seven teams by the end of September.

[BJPIE]

The contenders are now apparent - Gillingham, Swindon, Wrexham, Mansfield, with Stockport finally starting to find their feet.

Surprises? Crawley have started well; Bradford and Salford are struggling.

It’s a ridiculously tight league - three points separate Crewe in 7th from Bradford in 17th - and there are very few, if any, gimmes. It is a curio, though, that as the table currently stands, we’ll have played six of the bottom seven teams by the end of September.

It was a tight league at the top last season. Mansfield failed by a goal to make the play off finishing 8th on 75 pts (55% of points available). But there was a 13 point gap to Barrow in 9th.
Champions Leyton O amassed 91 pts (66%)Northampton in 3rd promoted automatically on 83 pts (60%)
I'd like to think that we will be in the mix for play offs at least given our fantastic start, but including our next 2 opponents FGR & Colchester. Eight of our first 10 games are against sides in the current bottom 10 and none against teams in the current top 7.
Colchester have shown against Mansfield and Gilingham they are capable.
As is always the case, it's how we perform against the top teams that will matter most.
October brings fixtures against Swindon, Gillingham, Mansfield and Wrexham amongst others.
We're scheduled to have played 16 matches by end of October, if our points ratio is around 65% then (31pts), that I think would be the time to assess our true automatic promotion credentials.

[Hoppie]

It was a tight league at the top last season. Mansfield failed by a goal to make the play off finishing 8th on 75 pts (55% of points available). But there was a 13 point gap to Barrow in 9th.
Champions Leyton O amassed 91 pts (66%)Northampton in 3rd promoted automatically on 83 pts (60%)
I'd like to think that we will be in the mix for play offs at least given our fantastic start, but including our next 2 opponents FGR & Colchester. Eight of our first 10 games are against sides in the current bottom 10 and none against teams in the current top 7.
Colchester have shown against Mansfield and Gilingham they are capable.
As is always the case, it's how we perform against the top teams that will matter most.
October brings fixtures against Swindon, Gillingham, Mansfield and Wrexham amongst others.
We're scheduled to have played 16 matches by end of October, if our points ratio is around 65% then (31pts), that I think would be the time to assess our true automatic promotion credentials.

This something I had noted. During October / Early Nov we play 6 of the top 10 (everyone except Crawley and the 2 we’ve played - Accrington and MK). If we are still in the top 3 come mid November time to start getting excited.

[Hoppie]

Three up automatically? And then 1 playoff place as well? Are the Beeb and sky Sports websites wrong?
Have we been out that long and I’ve suddenly forgotten it’s 3 up auto? Since when?
.

Think it’s always being 3+1. I’ve always assumed it’s a hangover from tier 4 moving from north/south to national.

[upthemaggies]

Think it’s always being 3+1. I’ve always assumed it’s a hangover from tier 4 moving from north/south to national.

Yes, it's been 4 up 4 down between tiers 3 and 4 since 1958/59, the first season of a national tier 3 plus a new tier 4.

Why they voted for 4 up/down when all levels above continued with 2 up 2 down (until 1973) is a bit of a mystery. Seems a very drastic move to double the amount of teams going through the process in just one corner of the pyramid. We're always glad about it when we're trying to go up from tier 4l but it soon becomes a very unwelcome sight when you're trying to consolidate in tier 3.

Makes more sense to have 4 up 4 down between tiers 5 and 6 where you've got separate regional leagues feeding the one national league.

[countygump]

Yes, it's been 4 up 4 down between tiers 3 and 4 since 1958/59, the first season of a national tier 3 plus a new tier 4.

Why they voted for 4 up/down when all levels above continued with 2 up 2 down (until 1973) is a bit of a mystery. Seems a very drastic move to double the amount of teams going through the process in just one corner of the pyramid. We're always glad about it when we're trying to go up from tier 4l but it soon becomes a very unwelcome sight when you're trying to consolidate in tier 3.

Makes more sense to have 4 up 4 down between tiers 5 and 6 where you've got separate regional leagues feeding the one national league.

Makes more sense to have 4 up 4 down from all Leagues, from Nat League North/South (2 each) upwards.

[marky]

October is a really hard month for us, I can practically guarantee that we will lose at least once that month, just hope it's not on October 14th.

[matt_magpie]

October is a really hard month for us, I can practically guarantee that we will lose at least once that month, just hope it's not on October 14th.

It’s still quite hard to know exactly where we are at the moment as only 2 of the teams are in the top 14 we’ve played so far but having said the we’ve had 5 away games out of 8.
If we play like we did Friday I have absolutely no doubt we’d be top 3 by the end of the season but that’s the challenge to keep playing at that level.