Paullow

They don't seem too bad at home though, won 6 and drawn 3 of their last 14, and are the 10/11 faves to win the match. Its not in their hands, but I think I'd rather be in their position than Blyths.

Not the best looking match on Sky tonight, Oxford vs Stevenage. I guess when it was picked both would have been likely playoff candidates, but Stevenage have only won one of their last 10 matches and their season is almost done. Even a 2-0 win tonight isn't much use for Stevenage, they realistically need to win by 4 or 5 to keep their faint hopes alive. There's also about 75 miles between them (80 the quickest route), so it's not exactly a local derby either. 2 of our PL era FA Cup nemesis' though.

It's not looking too clever for all 3 NE sides with something to play for in the National League North. At least it is in Blyths hands, but Brackley know they will likely have to win to finish 3rd and get the bye to the semi final, so that will be a tough match. No idea if that Blyth takeover news will be seen as positive, negative, or neutral / expected, but they might be relying on a favour from Buxton to beat Farsley. Buxton can finish in the top half with a win and other results going their way, but not a huge incentive, plus they would avoid a lengthy trip next season if Blyth were to go, although doubt that will be in their thinking

That Heaton result was good news for Bishops. They just need 4 points from their last 4 games to clinch the title and one of them is against Tow Law, so that should be 3 of them. Seems they have been wanting promotion for a while, so will be nice to see them back in what was the old Unibond league.

Huddersfield needed at least a point to keep their survival hopes alive. Imagine the team talk before the game, let's keep this tight as long as possible, and see if we can convert a set piece, out of the window within 11 seconds

Forest could have still won the league if we lost, and still mathematically if we drew. They weren't playing today.

The bookies now have us and Man Utd pretty much level in terms of top 6 chances, with us a very slight fave at some places - it looks like it will come down to the Old Trafford match. They have 4 matches at home, we have 4 matches away, and while not guaranteed, their next 2 league fixtures are Sheff Utd (H) and Burnley (H), so despite them being awful, it would be a surprise if they didn't take 6 points from those. We will be favourites to win every individual remaining match, bar Man Utd (A), but our away record is pretty poor, even before the mass injuries, and we've lost 9 of our 16 matches on the road. Based on fixtures, and them being at home in the big one, I do expect them to unfortunately pip us, but I certainly didn't expect us to be within reach of 6th when 1-3 down with 10 mins to go vs West Ham.

He's done an amazing job, They looked absolutely doomed at the turn of the year. Not looking great for either regional side in terms of the playoffs after yesterdays results. Shields and Spenny both lost. Boston play already relegated Banbury, who taken 1 point from their last 15 games (not last 15 points) on Tuesday, so that should see them leapfrog Shields into the final spot. Curzon's last game is at home to the bottom club who only have 20 points from their 45 games so they should be fine. Shields and Spenny both have winnable home games, but they will likely be relying on Boston dropping points away at Hereford, which isn't impossible, and certainly their best hope, but if Boston do win on Tuesday, as expected, then Hereford's season will be over, so possibly less incentive for them. I think Blyth will mainly be hoping that Farsley lose at home to midtable Buxton in their quest to stay up. Blyth play 3rd place Brackley at home who will need to win to make sure they get a playoff bye and avoid the 4th vs 7th 'quarter final' match.

Apologies if already been discussed, but do the strips look completely different at the back, like looks much whiter.

It is nice this lot now starting to worry about Atl Madrid vs Dortmund out of nowhere when it looked nailed on they would be playing Champions League football a few weeks ago for the first time in their history (note I specified CL, not EC). https://www.villatalk.com/topic/24158-race-for-champions-league-20232024/page/419/

Chelsea would have to win it for it to affect the league. If they finished 8th but lost to Man Utd in the final who finished 6th, and we finished 7th, we would get Conference football and Chelsea would miss out altogether if they finished outside the top 7 (this is assuming England doesn't get the 5th CL spot). Just thinking, I would be vexed if we did pip Man U to 6th, but they ended up winning the FA Cup and taking the Europa spot and we ended up in the Conference. I'd certainly take Conference football if offered right now, but it would still be annoying if this scenario happened.

Spennymoor won 5-2 tonight to move into the final playoff spot, but a very tight turnaround to the Alfreton (away) match on Saturday, which will be very tough as they still need points to secure their own playoff spot. Spenny beat Banbury who are now officially relegated, and I've mentioned it before, but after 30 games, Banbury were on 37 points, Spennymoor were on 36, and now 14 games later Spennymoor have taken 35 points, whereas Banbury have just taken 1 extra. Hell of a contrast between them.

Slight difference mind. Hashtag's record is P19 W15 D1 L3 +23 PTS 46, plus obviously got to the final. Huddersfield is P19 W2 D2 L15 -34 PTS 8 Huddersfield lost 0-2 to Forest tonight to keep the latter's tiny title hopes alive (it was still 0-0 after around 60 mins), but that result means Huddersfield are down if they lose on Sunday. They are 7 adrift with 3 to go. Their last 2 matches were very winnable (against Fylde and Stourbridge who have the worst 2 GDs in the league), but those games won't matter if they lose on Sunday. Fantastic attendance.

I think that might have been Ryan Noble, who is the same age, and I think was more highly rated back in the day, and played a few games for them as well as some Championship loans. Seem to recall he had the nickname 'Hell On' on that board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Noble

Away goals rule was so shit, hated it. Awful if you generally watched ties as a neutral, wanted close competitive matches, and liked the prospect of extra time and penalties. That PSG-Barcelona game would have been much less intriguing if even a 0-1 win in Spain wasn't enough to keep the tie alive. I was delighted when they got rid.