Getting hairy: Portsmuff at home 13/4/24 3pm KO

[jmjhb]

Can't decide how it makes me feel.

"Good but not quite good enough to beat the champions" might be alright.

"Good but not quite good enough to go up" would hurt.

Back out of our hands now. But weird stuff continues to happen. Ask Posh, battered 5-0 by the same Oxford we battered 5-0.

Ultimately it looks like we might be one goal short of automatic promotion. Fine margins indeed.

A goal in this game? Or the one at Derby? Or do you mean GD altogether?

The table does have a terrible habit of being meritocratic by season's end. (Well, barring financial doping, but that's a different show.)

Best we can get now is 91pts. Derby (with two games left) are on 86 with a +5 better GD. So they still need to win their two games IF we win all three. Our game in hand is Tuesday – Shrewsbury at home - so guess what? Just. Keep. Winning.

One goal in either of those games.

Might be channelling Insano here but people say they're more confident of the playoffs after the performance. It's the opposite for me. We were poor against Bristol Rovers and won; today I thought we were majestic yet didn't win when we desperately needed to.

[Mar]

Can't decide how it makes me feel.

"Good but not quite good enough to beat the champions" might be alright.

"Good but not quite good enough to go up" would hurt.

It does hurt and that's what it feels like today. The point is bittersweet and should we get promoted it'll seem decent but given the context of our season it seems like another chance we've had that's gone wayward.

Portsmouth are not a better side than us. They are however more consistent and ultimately that's what's done it. Couple that with the extra 8 points for pens they've had and it's a game changer for their season. Had we got the pen at the end of todays match we would've had a similar boon but it's not to be.

Us and Derby have had the same number of pens this season but Wycombe and Portsmouth have had significantly more. Is there something substantial that they're doing that we are not?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Might be channelling Insano here but people say they're more confident of the playoffs after the performance. It's the opposite for me. We were poor against Bristol Rovers and won; today I thought we were majestic yet didn't win when we desperately needed to.

I dunno mate.

Lincoln have suddenly lost the plot (held by Reading then beaten by Wigan - who loses to WIgan, eh?) and are now 5pts off Oxford in the last slot, with 3 games left. Blackpool are nearer but only have 2 games left. That means Oxford, who have picked up some steam in the last week or so, might be in the playoffs with a game to spare.

Barnsley, well they're all over the shop.

Posh, I've said before are the team I fear most - but then they got spanked 5-0 today.

Nobody will fancy facing us and I think we might enter the playoffs in the best form. Might.

[Mar]

Might be channelling Insano here but people say they're more confident of the playoffs after the performance. It's the opposite for me. We were poor against Bristol Rovers and won; today I thought we were majestic yet didn't win when we desperately needed to.

I dunno mate.

Lincoln have suddenly lost the plot (held by Reading then beaten by Wigan - who loses to WIgan, eh?) and are now 5pts off Oxford in the last slot, with 3 games left. Blackpool are nearer but only have 2 games left. That means Oxford, who have picked up some steam in the last week or so, might be in the playoffs with a game to spare.

Barnsley, well they're all over the shop.

Posh, I've said before are the team I fear most - but then they got spanked 5-0 today.

Nobody will fancy facing us and I think we might enter the playoffs in the best form. Might.

That marathon Lincoln have run would've been tiring. Unexpected charge to the playoffs vs actual pressure to deliver is sometimes a death knell.


We could do with spanking the next two teams to increase our goal difference. It might come down to a draw on the final day being enough to pull level with Derby. Could do with it not being a panic over gd as well

[Worthy4England]

Can't decide how it makes me feel.

"Good but not quite good enough to beat the champions" might be alright.

"Good but not quite good enough to go up" would hurt.

Back out of our hands now. But weird stuff continues to happen. Ask Posh, battered 5-0 by the same Oxford we battered 5-0.

Ultimately it looks like we might be one goal short of automatic promotion. Fine margins indeed.

A goal in this game? Or the one at Derby? Or do you mean GD altogether?

The table does have a terrible habit of being meritocratic by season's end. (Well, barring financial doping, but that's a different show.)

Best we can get now is 91pts. Derby (with two games left) are on 86 with a +5 better GD, which is effectively a point, BUT they still need to win their two games IF we win all three. Our game in hand is Tuesday – Shrewsbury at home - so guess what? Just. Keep. Winning.

The table doesn't have a terrible record of being meritocratic. It has a brilliant record at it. Folks/teams can always express frustration with decisions/money and Aunt Fanny's Goat. But there is only one measure that counts.

[officer_dibble]

To quote David higson that referee must have come down on the Portsmouth team bus…

[The_Gun]

Can't decide how it makes me feel.

"Good but not quite good enough to beat the champions" might be alright.

"Good but not quite good enough to go up" would hurt.

Back out of our hands now. But weird stuff continues to happen. Ask Posh, battered 5-0 by the same Oxford we battered 5-0.

Ultimately it looks like we might be one goal short of automatic promotion. Fine margins indeed.

A goal in this game? Or the one at Derby? Or do you mean GD altogether?

The table does have a terrible habit of being meritocratic by season's end. (Well, barring financial doping, but that's a different show.)

Best we can get now is 91pts. Derby (with two games left) are on 86 with a +5 better GD, which is effectively a point, BUT they still need to win their two games IF we win all three. Our game in hand is Tuesday – Shrewsbury at home - so guess what? Just. Keep. Winning.

The table doesn't have a terrible record of being meritocratic. It has a brilliant record at it. Folks/teams can always express frustration with decisions/money and Aunt Fanny's Goat. But there is only one measure that counts.

Brilliant, but not perfect measure of merit. Variance plays a huge part in football.

[Worthy4England]

It does TG, indeed. Minor party for second and third. We don't want to turn it into Ice Dancing where the judges decide.

[truewhite15]

Thought we were very good. There's not a lot to choose between the two sides, but we were better than them today. Should have come away with three points, which is mildly frustrating, but I can't say I'm too disappointed with the result.

We're back to needing Cambridge and/or Carlisle to do us a favour. Stranger things have happened in football. We just need to keep confidence high by winning our games, that's all that matters.

Rico was imperious today against both Bishop and Yengi. Should shut up all the not-rights, but likely won't. Thought everyone was at least 7/10 today.

Whether we go up in the autos or not doesn't come down to today. It's games like the defeat vs Carlisle, or the draw vs Charlton - if we'd done the appropriate business there, then there's an extra 5 points, which has us within four of Pompey and one clear of Derby. Coulda woulda shoulda, I guess.

I'm not too bummed. Keep up that intensity, and we'll go up one way or another.

[TANGODANCER]

I still believe we can do it. Today we played some lovely football and were unlucky not to get the points, but it was back in the season aways where we possibly failed: too many chances missed and too many soft goals conceded. Let's not write off the bonuses, rather a good season with some great players and matching the best. That isn't failure, and we're not done yet. The large person hasn't sung yet.

[Worthy4England]

The world is full of "coulda been a contenders." They're the ones that didn't. Let's give 'em a badge for trying.

[officer_dibble]

Thought the decision to start Gethin cost us the goal fwiw.
But not slating them how they played / tried today.

[truewhite15]

Thought the decision to start Gethin cost us the goal fwiw.
But not slating them how they played / tried today.

Bold claim indeed, considering the goal came from a breakdown between Ogbeta and Sheehan, then Kamara driving towards Toal.

Jones had nothing to do with it.

[truewhite15]

The world is full of "coulda been a contenders." They're the ones that didn't. Let's give 'em a badge for trying.

I was just saying that the margins have been finer than they appear over the course of the season. There's no doubt that we'll finish where we deserve to finish - but today's game, for me, went a long way to proving that we really aren't that much worse a side than the champions-elect - if indeed we are worse than them. We were the better side today.

[Mar]

Thought the decision to start Gethin cost us the goal fwiw.
But not slating them how they played / tried today.

Bold claim indeed, considering the goal came from a breakdown between Ogbeta and Sheehan, then Kamara driving towards Toal.

Jones had nothing to do with it.

Jones starting RCB stops Toal playing RCB and prevents Iredale at LCB. Thought Jones had an okay game and certainly wasn't at fault for their goal, whether we consider that change to have disrupted our left hand side remains to be seen.

I certainly expected Portsmouth to target our left side in their attack as our weak side and their strong side, but it's not a massive difference or a weak part of our side, it's just more where they would see their player getting the most rewards.

All in all our defence played well, nullified their attack. Rico was amazing and stepped up, should've scored but great nonetheless.

[Harry Genshaw]

We played well today and another hard luck story but ultimately, we're probably the 3rd best team in the division and where we should be. The 3rd best don't always win the play offs but hopefully this year, they do.

[Worthy4England]

The world is full of "coulda been a contenders." They're the ones that didn't. Let's give 'em a badge for trying.

I was just saying that the margins have been finer than they appear over the course of the season. There's no doubt that we'll finish where we deserve to finish - but today's game, for me, went a long way to proving that we really aren't that much worse a side than the champions-elect - if indeed we are worse than them. We were the better side today.

Indeed. The difference between win or lose is allegedly small. Some do, some don't. Strong second best, just really don't cut it.

[sonicthewhite]

Shame about the scoreline. Seems we did everything to win except get that all elusive second goal. On to the game against Shrewsbury. Here's hoping to Elias remembering where the net is against Derby

[BorsdaneWhite]

Bloody shame. Lots of opportunities et cetera, but nowt to say in that regard that hasn’t been already.

Positives, in that Collins is looking a ruthless finisher, Santos—despite some awkward distribution—absolutely monstered both Bishop and Yengi, and we played with fight, guile, and some brilliance.

The shooting from the centre-mids today was well off. Only half-chances, really, but they were lacking in either power or direction. It’s those that win you a game against top sides. Those or set pieces, and, well… The few corners that weren’t hopeless, we never really threatened. And our attacking throw-ins seem to exclusively result in defending a dangerous counter-attack.

[Worthy4England]

Shame about the scoreline. Seems we did everything to win except get that all elusive second goal. On to the game against Shrewsbury. Here's hoping to Elias remembering where the net is against Derby

No kettle, Sonic I'll just leave this here.