Half Term Report

[sussexdiamond]

With 20 of our fixtures now complete what is your view of our season so far.? Only Coventry and Corby yet to play. Coventry hopefully we can assess tonight and Corby we know pretty well already.

It would appear the title is going to be between Corby and Quorn, with probably Worcester third. So we have two places up for grabs.

So far some good performances, notably Darlaston, Loughborough and Grantham (home) but of course a few disasters Anstey, Khalsa and Warwick.

For me obviously far better than last 2 seasons and the players retained from last season continue to be the backbone of our squad.Especially Heath, Wilson and Dallas. (still think Corden should be getting more game time).

We have signed so many new players but of those only the Greens, Webster and Adams have made a significant difference. It's too early to judge the very latest three but they have made promising starts.
Once we get a settled side again I am confident we can kick on for one of those play off spots.

My overall rating is 6.5. Have potential to improve.

[The pressman]

I agree with most of that. In addition to the games above, perhaps we should include Quorn where we led the leaders going into injury time - who knows how much confidence the team would have gained from taking 3 points there.

To state the obvious, we are unlikely to end up in a relegation battle this season and 99% of us would have taken that situation prior to the season starting. Although I think the play-offs maybe a step too far this season, I also agree that we need to look at the table again once we have a settled side. SD is right that Quorn and Corby look to be the only championship candidates but to be honest, you could take any 3 from 10 for the remaining 3 play-off places - and that includes us!

Player wise we look stronger than last season but if I had one question mark it would be why Fraser Corden doesn't start? He is a class act and it baffles me why he continues to be on the bench. As one cynic said to me recently - its probably because he's never played for Bugbrooke!!

Very happy how its going at the halfway point.

[STAGMAN]

Same here very happy with the start, said i would be happy with mid table this season and i think we will end just above it so a good basis for a push next year

[TheIncognitoKid]

Only thing I can grasp from the cordon situation is that he's not fully fit? Saturday was a difficult one as the game was spoilt by the weather, so any change there wouldn't have really made a difference, but thee has been previous recent matches where he either hasn't feature or not much at all. He can be a game winner on his day, brilliant passer, ok in the tackje and has an eye fir goal. Unless maybe harriman thinks he's too simular to Webster.

[Three of Diamonds]

It's been unfortunate that we've had a stop start season at times, with big breaks between games, we've struggled to build consistency. Management does seem to be trying to strengthen the side with the recent signings, presumably for a run at the play offs which we'd all welcome.
I'm going for a steady 7.5 at this point as I think we've shown signs of improvement, but still have a wobble now and then. If we can take a few more of our chances we could be in the play off mix.

[Pigman]

At the start of the season I said I’d hoped we’d avoid a relegation battle and be top 10, but didn’t expect us to be top 5 - I stand by that!

Vast improvement from the last two seasons overall, albeit my opinion is only really based on the home games I’ve been able to get to, I’ve seen no away performances.

Based on the last two seasons I’d go for a strong 7/10 - if we can stay in contention for the play off spots during Jan/Feb we could have an exciting end to the season, but I feel like we’ll be a tad short in the end.

I also don’t think the league overall is as strong as it was, lots of the teams seem to be much of a muchness and there have been some very strange results - anyone can beat anyone it seems this year!

Looking forward to Saturday and hoping it’ll be on !!

[STAGMAN]

Hope to see you all being well Piggers

[Rushdenjim]

Solid 7/10. Just pleased we're not dreading every game. The mid table is very tight and a few poor results would still leave us looking over our shoulders but Top 10 would suit me this season. Would have loved a cup run!

The slightly disappointing thing may by the attendances which is no doubt having a knock on effect on the finances. It's not gone unnoticed that all of our signings this season have come from lower divisions which is certainly driven by the finances.

[rickthediamond]

I predicted us to finish 9th this season, and based off what we have seen so far that seems very achievable. As already stated, in comparison to the past 2 seasons this season has thus far been fantastic. I think given the constraints the club faces, you would have to give this season at least a 7/10 but probably more like a 7.5 or 8. The thing I like most about our group of players & management is that they never fail to prove me wrong. I expressed concern after the Newark & Anstey defeats early on in the season, but I was immediately sat back down. I try to be much more positive on the whole these days albeit there have obviously been some disappointing defeats after that point. If we managed to finish in the top half it will be a successful season for the club and everyone should be pleased that we’ve managed to ‘steady the ship’ so to speak.

If we do manage to finish top half this season, I will have different expectations for next season. Whilst these expectations will not be ludicrous (such as expecting to win the league), I would expect us to kick on further from this point and my preseason prediction will probably place us in the final playoff spot. Obviously this is dependent on what happens throughout the remainder of this season. Perhaps it’s unwise to remove the wider context of our club, but in a normal scenario, a club like ours would be expected to compete for the top 5 places at Step 4.