its almost that time of year again!

[bixieupnorth]

well i still cant make it send us up automatically, predicted the win yesterday and also against accrington and barnet, but shrews and creepy just have those games in hand and both seem to be hitting form at exactly the right moment, southend and chelts both seem to have faded badly and the other teams congregating are prob just that little bit too far behind us to catch us up

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... efault.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

we've all just gotta hope that either bradford or burton will have a storming day this week and creepy will drop the 3 points needed to keep us a nose ahead of them? if only a few of those 1-0 wins couldve been a bit more convincing but i fear that our goal difference is gonna push us into the lottery of the playoffs

and once there who knows......?

[AlexGulls]

Aye. I'm not getting carried away like some I know. We wont really know how the table will look properly until Shrewsbury/Crawley/Oxford/Swindon all play there games in hand. Then we know what we have to do to either stay where we are if they slip up or what we have to do to regain the position. All we can do is keep winning games and hope the ones around us slip up.

[Colorado Gull]

Aye. I'm not getting carried away like some I know. We wont really know how the table will look properly until Shrewsbury/Crawley/Oxford/Swindon all play there games in hand. Then we know what we have to do to either stay where we are if they slip up or what we have to do to regain the position. All we can do is keep winning games and hope the ones around us slip up.

Yep, I agree.

[Gullscorer]

Thanks to the post-match argy-bargy at Bradford on Tuesday it looks as if Bradford and Crawley will be fielding somewhat weakened teams for the next three matches, which take us through the Easter period, so I tried a little objective forecasting (no wishful thinking involved, obviously) on the BBC Predictor for those upcoming games, on the assumption that Bradford's and Crawley's results will be adversely affected.

Bradford must play Plymouth (a), Southend (h) and Shrewsbury (a).
Crawley must play Burton (a), Crewe (h) and Barnet (a).

Assuming that their opponents take full advantage, I predict that Swindon, Shrewsbury and the Gulls in the automatic promotion spots will pull away from Southend, Crawley, Oxford and Crewe in the play-off pack, with Cheltenham slipping out of the top seven. I'm not giving a precise forecast with points totals as my predictions are always useless, but you can try it yourself: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... efault.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bixieupnorth]

just tried again and i whilst i want to agree with previous post, i think that shrews and creepy will pull away. got us to win the next two games comfortably, with crawley to draw their next two and shrews to win both, this giving us a false hope that all is going well.

easter monday defeat at oxford with wins for creepy and shrews, draw with southend, while the other two win again, then crawley win game in hand. another draw at wimbledon for us, and again v crewe, meaning the win at hereford is academic and we finish 4th 7 points adrift of the top three, damn it!!

i can see crawley winning all their last 4 matches and i'd be surprised if shrews even dropped a point for the rest of the season?

hope i'm wrong??!!

[bixieupnorth]

we'd play chelts in play off, win that then face southend/oxford

hereford and macc to go down

btw we'd have 84 points, the other 3 would all have 91+, mr ling thinks 84 would be ok for auto, i'm not so sure!!

obviously theres so many twists and turns yet, i do love this time of the year, but this year its extra nerve wracking!! even tho we have the most steadfast team for a long while!

[Gullscorer]

But why are so many of us so negative and pessimistic and defeatist about the Gulls, who are second in the table and are as good as all the other teams around them. The Gulls can win all their remaining games. And other teams could also drop points, even Crawley, I suggest, with their players suspended.

I suppose many of us still cannot really believe that our team is up there. But they are, on merit, and the pressure will be on the other teams to win their games in hand and overtake the Gulls. If we keep on winning, automatic promotion is ours. Even if we drop two or three points along the way, I've no doubt that our rivals will do the same. We're going up!

[bixieupnorth]

if we keep on winning, gullscorer, promotion is highly likely to be ours, but dont forget that BOTH shrews and creepy can overtake us no matter what we do

thats the fact thats worrying me, and several others on here. its not being defeatist but automatic promotion is out of ours hands and we have, arguably, the toughest run in, with crewe, oxford and southend all to play, plus our perennial bogey side accrington, and trips to teams threatened by relegation. its not that fact the we dont possess the ability to beat all of these teams, its the fact that we can beat them and still lose the big prize!!

[Gullscorer]

I understand what you're saying Bixie about the other teams' games in hand. But I'm saying that they will drop points and will not overtake us. Probably!

I re-iterate what I posted on the 'Will 84 points be enough?' thread:

Looking at our form during March (obviously excluding tonight's game still to be played), we have played seven and picked up sixteen points. Over their past seven games, none of our rivals has equalled this; Swindon and Crawley have only achieved 15 points each.

All teams are going to drop more points here and there, but continue our current form to the end of the season and we will finish with 88 points, and automatic promotion.

[bixieupnorth]

obviously hope yr right mate, but i've been supporting torquay for 40+ years and unfortunately i always expect things to implode!!

we've def got the character to do it, but if i steel myself for disappointment then anything else will be a bonus!! i'm normally a complete optimist in every walk of life except my football team!!

[Bearne1]

On the other side of the coin we'll have a hat full of local derbys ( = more money ) and hopefully may attract the odd player or too to strengthen the squad. The way we have turned this season on its head will be recognised by some and hopefully will make us stand out as more of an 'attraction'.

I of course am hoping and praying of promotion and finally being the highest team in Devon, despite being consider as 'little old Torquay'!!

[SuperNickyWroe]

god i hate this predictor thing!

no offence of course to those who like it.........

anyway its points on the board for me, we can (sort of) relax!

it puts pressure on those playing catch up.

did anyone think that burton would hold creepy yesterday? 8/

[bixieupnorth]

i did, see my post above!!

[SuperNickyWroe]

i did, see my post above!!

so you did!

bet you didnt have a few quid on it though! =D

[bixieupnorth]

right then, i'm gonna have another go, lets see if i can make it happen this time??!!