Grass Roots Footie 2015/16 (everything except EPL)

Post by **Zidane** » April 19, 2016, 8:47 am

Scunthorpe entertain Bury tonight in League 1.Scunny are on an excellent run of form and sit 6 points outside the play offs with 4 games to go.Can they do it ? Well,if they win all 4 its possible !

Also,of interest tonight,matches between the top 2 of their respective divisions.

Burnley v Middlesbrough...Championship
Burton v Wigan....League 1

All these teams looking good for promotion but who will be champions ?

Post by **Zidane** » April 20, 2016, 8:14 am

Scunthorpe 2 Bury 1

Scunthorpe moved within just 4 points of the play offs with 3 matches left after their victory.Fellow play off contenders Rochdale and Gillingham drew which helped Scunnys cause.

Burnley 1 Middlesbrough 1...Championship top 2
Burton 1 Wigan 1....League 1 top 2

Tonight in the Scottish Championship....Hibs v Rangers....the Gers can do Falkirk a big favour.

Post by **Drunk Monkey** » April 20, 2016, 11:13 am

[quote="Zidane"]Scunthorpe 2 Bury 1

Scunthorpe moved within just 4 points of the play offs with 3 matches left after their victory.Fellow play off contenders Rochdale and Gillingham drew which helped Scunnys cause.

Another superb display and win for inform Scunthorpe ... the new gaffa seems to have struck a cord with the players and they are playing some good footy by all accounts ..as for the playoffs im not too fussed maybe better to stay in L1 next season and steamroller all that come before us .....tho again i wouldnt mind another season in the Championship with the big boys !!.

DM ..CLARET N BLU ALL WAY THRU .

Post by **BobHelm** » April 21, 2016, 8:13 am

Ladbrokes Scottish Championship

Hibernian 3-2 Rangers

With the title won Rangers were playing for nothing but pride while Hibs need to overtake Falkirk to take the play off advantage of second spot.
Hibs went into an early 2 goal lead & then to 3 - 1 before Rangers netted a second with 5 minutes to go to make it a nervous end for the home fans.
3 points behind, with a greatly inferior goal difference, but a game in hand. 2nd. spot is really Falkirk's to lose as Hibs have rather been undone by their own successes on too many fronts this season.

Can't let the opportunity go by without expressing my joy at Town managing to get back up into league 2 at the first attempt. It is a hard league to get out of, especially if you stay there for a couple of seasons.
I saw no football while I was away, but managed to catch the Saturday half time results. Town were 2 nil up while Forest Green were leading by 1. I expected to look on Sunday morning & see 2 home wins so was extremely content to see that the title was won with 2 games to go.
It could well be difficult for Rovers to get promoted from the play offs. They started the season all guns blazing & were racing away with the title after a remarkable opening winning spell & need to rediscover that quality immediately.

Post by **Zidane** » April 21, 2016, 8:49 am

For the play offs in the Conference its looking like Forest Green,Grimsby,Dover and one of either Braintree or Eastleigh.
Eastleigh are the form team of the moment and,if they make the play offs,I quite fancy them to make it into League 2.
But both Dover and Braintree are part time so they have had excellent seasons.

Barcelona,a club in crisis after 3 defeats on the bounce to Real Madrid,Atletico Madrid and Valencia ?
Well,they responded last night by just edging out Deportivo La Coruna 8-0 AWAY with Mr Suarez netting four !

Post by **BobHelm** » April 23, 2016, 7:49 am

Friday 22nd April 2016
Sky Bet Championship

Preston 0-1 Burnley

Burnley go top again after winning a local derby.
The race for the two automatic promotion spots now looks like a 3 way one, with the play off contenders really sorted as well with the current top 6 looking far enough away from the chasers.

At the bottom it is a pretty similar story, with the current bottom 3 rather cut adrift from the rest.

Peterborough V Scunthorpe
Forest Green V Halifax
Macclesfield V Cheltenham
Gainsborough Trinity V FC United of Manchester
Rangers V Alloa 12:30

Note the early kick off in the game North of the border!!

Post by **BobHelm** » April 23, 2016, 7:53 am

Post by **Zidane** » April 23, 2016, 9:42 am

The two FA Cup semi finals are being shown live on Thai TV Channel 7.
Everton v Manchester United,Saturday 11.15pm.
Crystal Palace v Watford,Sunday 10.00pm.

In an amazing twist of fate in the Championship,Middlesbrough entertain Brighton on the last day of the season with the winners likely to get automatic promotion to the Premiership.
Elsewhere,Scunthorpe will need to maintain their play off push with victory at Peterborough and,in the Conference,up to 1,000 fans are expected to travel from already crowned champions,Cheltenham,to the leafy Cheshire town of Macclesfield.
With well over 100 pubs in the town it should be a good day out for the visitors but victory shouldn't be taken for granted as Macc are 9 games unbeaten.

Post by **BobHelm** » April 24, 2016, 7:51 am

Peterborough 0-2 Scunthorpe
Forest Green 0-1 Halifax
Macclesfield 0-1 Cheltenham
Gainsborough Trinity 0-1 FC United of Manchester
Rangers 1-1 Alloa

4 wins on the trot, up to 8th. & only 2 points outside the play offs. This could be a very exciting end to what was a pretty dreary season for the Iron..
With Rovers certain of second spot they had less to play for than relegation threatened Halifax, & it showed. The win lifts the visitors out of the zone but it will be a tense final game.
Town did enough, which is what they have been doing since 3 months into the season. If they win their last game they will top 100 points, which is impressive in any league. Macclesfield end the season mid-table after a disappointing run of results at the start of the year.
FC United of Manchester look like they will end the season mid-table as well. They move up to 13th. place in a season that has been a real learning curve after promotion.
Rangers conceded a soft early goal & then dominated the game, but couldn't get the ball in the net twice. Missed penalty & further missed opportunities by the hatful meant they could not go out on a home win. 2 meaningless away games next week until they can put their boots up for the season. The play offs contenders all drew, meaning second spot is still up for grabs..

Post by **BobHelm** » April 24, 2016, 8:03 am

The Emirates FA Cup - Semi-Fina

Everton 1-2 Man Utd [/quote]

United are through to the final after a pretty typical this year display.
They dominated a poor looking Everton side in a one sided first half, but threatened the opponent's goal little & only managed to find the net once.
When Everton stepped up their game in the second half United looked fragile at the back & relied on another outstanding game from David de Gea.
In the forward battle, Romelu Lukaku had a disappointing outing for Everton, while Anthony Martial continued to show why he might be worth the cash with a classy finish in injury time to win the match.
Rooney had a fine display pulling the strings behind the front man in a role that might make him worth his place in the England line up in the Euros..

Post by **Zidane** » April 24, 2016, 8:47 am

Well,United won but it was a very poor second half display.
de Gea must surely be the best keeper in the world.An absolutely brilliant penalty save from Lukaku.
Martial tormented Everton down the left flank all afternoon and scored an excellent winner in the 4th minute of injury time.
Rooney did well,especially in the first half,and a great header off the line to deny Lukaku.
But that's about it....the rest were nothing special....if you wouldn't have seen the teamsheet you wouldn't have known Carrick was playing !
Fosu-Mensah and Rashford have had better games but they are only 18 so cant be too critical.
As for Everton......woeful in the first half....everything Lukaku tried,he failed and why didn't they have Deulofeu on from the start ?
Three things this game told us.....
1.Hopefully,Van Gaal can now retire with a trophy under his belt.He cant stay even if we win the FA Cup.
2.Martinez must surely be a dead man walking to be replaced by Marco Bielsa in the summer.
3.mat80 had better nip down to Big C to buy the bottles of Chardonnay sooner rather than later !

Post by **BobHelm** » April 25, 2016, 7:28 am

The Emirates FA Cup - Semi-Final

Crystal Palace 2-1 Watford

Crystal Palace will meet Manchester United in the FA Cup final on 21 May after a hard-fought win over Watford.

Yannick Bolasie headed Palace ahead at Wembley when Damien Delaney flicked on Yohan Cabaye's early corner.

Watford, who lost midfielder Etienne Capoue to injury early in the semi-final, levelled when Troy Deeney nodded home Jose Manuel Jurado's corner.

Palace sealed a first FA Cup final appearance for 26 years when Connor Wickham met Pape Souare's cross.

Next month's final is a repeat of the 1990 showcase when Palace and United were involved in a thrilling 3-3 draw before the Red Devils ran out 1-0 winners in the replay.

Post by **Zidane** » April 25, 2016, 8:38 am

Didn't watch the game but congratulations to Palace ! I hear the Morlam dancing was going on in Amphur Phen well into the early hours !
So,a repeat of the 1990 Final but we've got David de Gea in goal now not Jim Leighton !

And talking about Scunthorpe and the play offs,for a moment

it looks like going down to the last game of the season.
Scunny play Port Vale at home next and their final game is a tricky one away to Sheffield United,who in an amazing twist of fate,are managed by former Scunthorpe boss and legend,Nigel Adkins !

Post by **Brian Davis** » April 25, 2016, 3:21 pm

Zidane wrote:Didn't watch the game but congratulations to Palace ! I hear the Morlam dancing was going on in Amphur Phen well into the early hours !
So,a repeat of the 1990 Final but we've got David de Gea in goal now not Jim Leighton !:

No Morlam, but having sweated away watching Udon earlier, then Palace on tv, I fell into bed, chuckling away!

I did feel Palace were worthy winners and that Zaha had a cracking game. Having beaten four premiership clubs to get there, nobody can suggest they had an easy route. Many pubs taken over before and I'm sure after, my three UK sons joining in. I understand more noise and colour generated than the other semi-final could manage. It's special for Clubs like Palace and the fans make the most of it, not 'just another final' for the Big Boys.
It was my 40th birthday on Palace's last (and only) FA Cup final (x 2, if you like, with the replay), so a special memory. United will, of course, be favourites, but like Wright all those years back, if Zaha and Bolasie really get going, United defenders may need a change of shorts. =D>

Post by **Brian Davis** » April 26, 2016, 6:10 am

My 'middle' son's facebook comment perhaps sums up the real spirit in supporting an 'unfashionable' Club.

Post by **Brian Davis** » April 26, 2016, 6:29 am

Whoops - the Facebook comment.

"Stinking hangover but what a wonderful day. 26 years waiting to face Moan Utd again in Cup Final and the boys have got us there. Long live the underdog,David vs Goliath. Bring on the Mancs. Palace and proud as punch."

Post by **Drunk Monkey** » April 26, 2016, 12:15 pm

WELL DONE TO Palace ......... FINGERS CROSSED THEY CAN BEAT Manu U in the final ..

Also the Robins =D>

Back tot he game in its purist form ...and ANOTHER HUGE WIN for Scunny away at Peterboro ... means we could just squeak into the playoffs and get promotion to the Championship and be playing Villa , Newcastle and the Mackems next season

...... cant explain the turn around but and this may suprize some .. IMO Its better for the fans to be at the top of league one winning and getting promotion automatically then going up via the playoffs and getting whipped every week at the wrong end of the Championship ... fans dont like to see their team getting beat week in week out ...(unless from Everton) .... so im easy as to the outcome this season .

Up the Iron

Post by **Zidane** » April 28, 2016, 8:19 am

Bloody hell....this guy takes Forest Green Rovers to 2nd place in the Conference (there highest ever position)
AND.....

Gets the sack

Forest Green Rovers have made the “difficult decision” to part company with manager Ady Pennock ahead of the Vanarama National League play-offs after a run of seven games without a win.
Despite finishing the regular season in second place, Rovers missed out on automatic promotion after recording just one win during the final two months of the season leading up to Saturday’s remaining fixture against Dover Athletic.
Forest Green chairman Dale Vince said: “It was a difficult decision just a week out from the play-offs after Ady had taken us to our highest placed finish in the National League.
“However, as a club we felt we needed to make this change, in order to give us the best chance of succeeding in the play-offs.
“We thank Ady for his efforts while at the club and wish him well in the future.”

and they still have a chance of making the Football League via the play offs...

Post by **socksy** » April 29, 2016, 9:33 am

There could be a very intriguing finale to the Scottish Championship on Sunday. from the way I understand it and if my mathematics, which I was nonsense at are correct.

This from the Sporting Life.

If two or more teams finish level on points the team with the better goal difference will finish higher.
If two or more teams have the same points and the same goal difference, the team which has scored the higher number of goals will finish higher.
If two or more teams finish level on points, goal difference and goals scored, and the championship, they will then play off to decide who finishes higher.

Falkirk lie second with Hibs third, level on points with only a 3 goal disadvantage to Falkirk. If Hibs beat QoS 3-0 at Easter Road on Sunday and Falkirk's game at home to Morton ends 0-0. This, as I say if I understand correctly could mean a further play off game(s)

All fixtures kick off at 1230 pm UK time, with my lot live on BT Sport Europe, away to St Mirren

Post by **Zidane** » April 29, 2016, 10:40 am

socksy wrote:There could be a very intriguing finale to the Scottish Championship on Sunday. from the way I understand it and if my mathematics, which I was **** at are correct.

Falkirk lie second with Hibs third, level on points with only a 3 goal disadvantage to Falkirk. If Hibs beat QoS 3-0 at Easter Road on Sunday and Falkirk's game at home to Morton ends 0-0. This, as I say if I understand correctly could mean a further play off game(s)

But if Hibs win 3-0 and Falkirk draw 0-0,wouldnt that mean Hibs get 2nd place as both teams are level on points leading up to the games ?
Hibs would be 2 points better off or am I misreading the peculiarities of Scottish football ?