Play Off Chase

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

A bit crap that the FA Cup quarters clash with the Easter weekend fixtures, usually throws up some good games.

Palace away in 2012 (FFS 14 years ago) 6,000 up there back in the day the home support was pretty shit at Selhurst, their ultras consisted of about a dozen lads right down in the corner just constantly banging a drum. Won 2-0, Rickie Lambert brace, happy days.

[Doctoroncall]

5 hours ago, Football Special said:

Some big games today: 

Middlesbrough v Millwall 

Oxford v Hull City 

West Brom v Wrexham 

Coventry v Derby 

 

Not sure of the top match, home wins for the rest of the fixtures. 

[Baird of the land]

We need a lovely draw in the early game

[Willo of Whiteley]

Boro had 32 attempts at home to Millwall and lost 2-1.

Reminds me of when we lost at home to Reading over a decade ago having battered them.

[die Mannyschaft]

6 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Not sure of the top match, home wins for the rest of the fixtures. 

WBA need to hang on for draw, typical 2-0 to 2-2. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

1 hour ago, die Mannyschaft said:

WBA need to hang on for draw, typical 2-0 to 2-2. 

Yes, at the start of the day you would probably accept a point each for Hull and Wrexham is a good result for us, but at half time, I was hoping for more. Watched the Oxford game second half and right at the end Oxford had a great chance to win it...fine margins.

[Charlie Wayman]

2 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Boro had 32 attempts at home to Millwall and lost 2-1.

Reminds me of when we lost at home to Reading over a decade ago having battered them.

Unbeievable that Millwall are in the automatic places tonight

[BarberSaint]

Interesting comments by Parkinson today. Looking to put pressure on the refs for next week?

 

Sounded like it.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

5 minutes ago, BarberSaint said:

Interesting comments by Parkinson today. Looking to put pressure on the refs for next week?

 

Sounded like it.

What did he say?

[Football Special]

Im convinced a Ben Brereton Diaz goal will deprive us of a play off spot this season 

[Harry_SFC]

30 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Im convinced a Ben Brereton Diaz goal will deprive us of a play off spot this season 

Derby unlucky to only be drawing so far. Matt Clarke (their CB) looks like a very good player. Will be a very tough game next weekend. 

Edited Friday at 20:13 by Harry_SFC

[Willo of Whiteley]

Derby will be harder than Wrexham.

Wrexham aren’t playing particularly well, but opposition are letting them back into games.

[Football Special]

12 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Derby will be harder than Wrexham.

Wrexham aren’t playing particularly well, but opposition are letting them back into games.

Im not sure if they'll be harder, Wrexham will be bang up for the game on Tuesday and a real shame to see Keifer Moore is already back for them. 

Eustace is an excellent manager at this level and has done very well at Derby. We could do with Stoke (and our Gav) giving them a good game on Monday and hopefully hold them to a draw. 

Its a massive week and with everyone else playing again on Monday we'll have a clearer picture. 

Monday games of interest: 

Ipswich v Birmingham- expect a home win and i think 2nd place is where Ipswich will finish. 

Millwall v Norwich- interesting game , this Norwich side look capable of giving them a good test. 

Derby v Stoke - predict 1-0 Derby, BBD goal from edge of box past a diving Bazunu 

Swansea v Middlesbrough- four games without a win for Middlesbrough, pressure starting to show? 

Hull v Coventry- could do with Cov digging in and getting a result here, they looked off the pace vs Derby last night 

[IFHP]

Only 2 games have any bearing on us, Derby v Stoke and Hull v Coventry .

Wins for Stoke and Coventry keeps Derby below us and Hull within reach . If we can win our next two league games then a play off place would be for us to lose rather than us to win.

Going to be hard as both Wrexham and Derby look good, but then I dare say they are saying the same about us. 

[skintsaint]

Win both games this week we are gunning for 2nd place imo. 

Winning both games will be tough though.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Win both games this week we are gunning for 2nd place imo. 

Winning both games will be tough though.

We aren’t gaining nine points in seven games on Ipswich and Millwall. We’re fighting over fourth to seventh.

[Dark Munster]

3 hours ago, IFHP said:

Only 2 games have any bearing on us, Derby v Stoke and Hull v Coventry .

Wins for Stoke and Coventry keeps Derby below us and Hull within reach . If we can win our next two league games then a play off place would be for us to lose rather than us to win.

Going to be hard as both Wrexham and Derby look good, but then I dare say they are saying the same about us. 

It’s a long shot but Boro are catchable for 4th. Also I want Millwall to lose and Ipswich win, improving the chances of Ipswich finishing second and us not playing them in the playoffs. 

[Harry_SFC]

33 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

It’s a long shot but Boro are catchable for 4th. Also I want Millwall to lose and Ipswich win, improving the chances of Ipswich finishing second and us not playing them in the playoffs. 

Ideal scenario for us would be

2.Ipswich

3.Us/Boro

4.Us/Boro

5. Millwall

6. Hull/Derby/Wrexham

Granted it's unlikely we will catch Millwall now but that would mean we get the second leg at home and avoid a long trek up to Middlesbrough. 

I do think we'll have enough to finish in the play offs but it'll be 5th/6th. 

[trousers]

F*** the play-offs... Put everything into winning the cup now!

[RedArmy]

Sky won’t be happy. They just moved the Blackburn game to 5:15. 
 

 

[The Kraken]

41 minutes ago, trousers said:

F*** the play-offs... Put everything into winning the cup now!

Well said man.

Play what you can play for. As they said in Twin Town, it’s the F A fucking cup. 

[Harry_SFC]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

F*** the play-offs... Put everything into winning the cup now!

Fuck that. Win every game left, get automatic promotion and win the cup. 

[skintsaint]

On 04/04/2026 at 12:15, skintsaint said:

Win both games this week we are gunning for 2nd place imo. 

Winning both games will be tough though.

If Millwall drop 2 points today.....its the hope that kills ya.

Or maybe 3....

Edited 9 hours ago by skintsaint

[Football Special]

26 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

If Millwall drop 2 points today.....its the hope that kills ya.

Or maybe 3....

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with two games in hand , it's happening 

[Maggie May]

1 minute ago, Football Special said:

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with two games in hand , it's happening 

We’re not going to win every game left. We need to be realistic.

Also, it’d suck if Norwich make the play-offs.

[LGTL]

It’s such a weird league, us and Norwich are two of the best teams in the division and we sit 7th and 9th thanks to two useless managers. 

[Football Special]

35 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

We’re not going to win every game left. We need to be realistic.

Also, it’d suck if Norwich make the play-offs.

I appreciate it's unlikely but the council should be giving some thought to the open top bus route 

[Saint_Tony]

Ridiculous that people are still suggesting we can get 2nd. How about we try and get into 6th?? By next week we could be looking fairly comfortable in the mix, but equally could nearly be out of the race. Minimum 4 points required from 2 tough games now. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Ipswich winning their last couple and will likely win their other game in hand, I’d say second is off now compared to two weeks ago.

I think we’ll beat them in our game against them.

Third and fourth should be the aim, always aim as high as possible, which I’m sure the team will be.

Edited 7 hours ago by Willo of Whiteley

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, Football Special said:

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with two games in hand , it's happening 

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with no games in hand and a GD 14 worse

[Football Special]

15 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Ipswich winning their last couple and will likely win their other game in hand, I’d say second is off now compared to two weeks ago.

I think we’ll beat them in our game against them.

Third and fourth should be the aim, always aim as high as possible, which I’m sure the team will be.

Derby worry me. Unspectacular but set up very well by Eustace, they'll grind some wins out and are "in the mix" for sure, next two fixtures are absolutely massive in the play off chase 

[goodymatt]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with no games in hand and a GD 14 worse

There's a reason why this thread is called 'Play Off Chase' and not 'Automatic Promotion Chase', top 2 never within our reach. 

[Football Special]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with no games in hand and a GD 14 worse

Yeah dreams over now 😞 

[CB Fry]

3 hours ago, Football Special said:

As things stand 9 points off 2nd with two games in hand , it's happening 

 

32 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Derby worry me. Unspectacular but set up very well by Eustace, they'll grind some wins out and are "in the mix" for sure, next two fixtures are absolutely massive in the play off chase 

So are we finishing second or are we being pipped to 6th place by Derby?

[Football Special]

1 minute ago, CB Fry said:

 

So are we finishing second or are we being pipped to 6th place by Derby?

I think we'll be pipped to 6th place by Derby, been a rollercoaster of an afternoon 

[skintsaint]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

 

So are we finishing second or are we being pipped to 6th place by Derby?

2nd place is on, we pretty much have to win all our games...which has happened so many times.

We play Ipswich, who themselves have tricky away games coming up.

Its in the bag.

[SNSUN]

2 hours ago, Football Special said:

I appreciate it's unlikely but the council should be giving some thought to the open top bus route 

Well we can use the bus company that Arsenal were going to use for their FA Cup final win. 😝

[Badger]

BBC reports on the Derby match today say their striker Agyemang was carried off and will be out for a while ( WC place in jeopardy).

Looks like they’ll be without the prolific partnership of him and BBD next weekend 

[whelk]

Every team in play offs look shit. Maybe Wrexham ok but Hull, Boro and Millwall look shot

[Football Special]

14 minutes ago, Badger said:

BBC reports on the Derby match today say their striker Agyemang was carried off and will be out for a while ( WC place in jeopardy).

Looks like they’ll be without the prolific partnership of him and BBD next weekend 

That's interesting also for Larin's chances for the World Cup.  

Derby also lost Brewster  to injury last week for the season so thats three main forward players out for them potentially for Saturday. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Football Special

[Football Special]

14 minutes ago, whelk said:

Every team in play offs look shit. Maybe Wrexham ok but Hull, Boro and Millwall look shot

Agree, although let's see how Hull get on tonight, i thought Cov looked like they were low on fuel Friday vs Derby so will give them a chance. 

[Badger]

1 minute ago, Football Special said:

That's interesting also for Larin's chances for the World Cup.  

Derby also lost Brewster  to injury last week for the season so thats three main forward players out for them potentially for Saturday. 

Playing my MLG card on you to some extent, but Agyemang’s availability for USA probably won’t having a bearing on Canada selection of Larin. 

[Football Special]

2 minutes ago, Badger said:

Playing my MLG card on you to some extent, but Agyemang’s availability for USA probably won’t having a bearing on Canada selection of Larin. 

USA, Canada, they all sound the same dont they 

[Badger]

Just now, Football Special said:

USA, Canada, they all sound the same dont they 

Not according to any Canadian you meet.

But I follow your logic that both prefer ice hockey to “soccer”. 

[Harry_SFC]

12 minutes ago, Football Special said:

That's interesting also for Larin's chances for the World Cup.  

Derby also lost Brewster  to injury last week for the season so thats three main forward players out for them potentially for Saturday. 

And Szmodics has been out for the last two games 

[Football Special]

3 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

And Szmodics has been out for the last two games 

He'll be back, that was for concussion I think 

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

Good results for us so far today. A Hull loss to Cov would make it great.

I think Ipswich being 2nd and out of the playoffs is ideal.

We are currently 9 points off 3rd with 2 games in hand, so I feel that 3rd and 4th are both very much in play if we keep our recent form going. It would be good to get that home playoff advantage; I felt it was a real factor in getting past West Brom two years ago.