The relegation battle thread 2024

[Tall Dart]

We have a mountain to climb looking at the fixtures we have left, it's hard reading.

IMO we are going to really need maximum points against others around us (turo, h & w, Eastbourne), there are a number of very tough games Yeovil, Chelmsford, Worthing, Braintree (the top 4) plus Maidstone and others that we are going to need something out of too.

I'm optimistic 14 points is possible from the remaining games, but we will need a couple of additions to help, I know we have players coming back from injury, but if the new manager was to have 2/3 gems up his sleeve it wouldn't hurt.

Welling are looking like they have the form to pull themselves out of it at the moment, an early win under pennock would be welcome.

Was trying to think of alternative ways to motivate them, not sure if the players have any sort of win bonus at all? What if a number of us that could afford it and we're willing, put a tenner or something in each to be shared with the team as a thank you from the fans for each win?

It could amount to a nice little bonus if there were enough of us, it may only be a token gift, but it would be more than they get for MOM.

Anyone think that would be worth it?!

[Sleightly Deceptive]

A lovely gesture but I fear not enough to make it sustainable. At the moments the players should be handing out tenners to the fans!

[KentC]

Your intentions are clearly a very kind gesture to them.
I’d be surprised if they would like this in fact they would probably be more embarrassed by this I would imagine.
For me they are lucky enough to have all this talent and it’s their personal and professional responsibility to fight for the supporters, themselves and the club. In no particular order.
Their attitude should be “I have this amazing opportunity as a footballer and I’m going to make the very best of it as long as I have a football career”
And I’m sure most of them do.

[Tall Dart]

A lovely gesture but I fear not enough to make it sustainable. At the moments the players should be handing out tenners to the fans!

Lol... True

[Tall Dart]

Your intentions are clearly a very kind gesture to them.
I’d be surprised if they would like this in fact they would probably be more embarrassed by this I would imagine.
For me they are lucky enough to have all this talent and it’s their personal and professional responsibility to fight for the supporters, themselves and the club. In no particular order.
Their attitude should be “I have this amazing opportunity as a footballer and I’m going to make the very best of it as long as I have a football career”
And I’m sure most of them do.

Fair enough, I do see your point. I recall fans paying for a certain player to play for us back in the day as dfc couldn't afford the wages (glad that's not a factor now at least).

[Tall Dart]

The three directly below us all play on Tuesday,

Farn v Welling
H & R v EB Boro
Taunton v Slough

Hopefully they will go in our favour. I noticed our last game of the season is home v Turo. Let's hope the new man can get the best out of the team, and we can avoid last day nerves

COYDs

[Taunton Dart]

I'll be stunned if Taunton play on Tuesday

[M1 South]

Looking closely at the table i think the current bottom 3 are down!!
And it’s between:
Us
Welling
Truro &
Taunton who join them??

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Looking closely at the table i think the current bottom 3 are down!!
And it’s between:
Us
Welling
Truro &
Taunton who join them??

I’ll venture to narrow it down to Us, Truro and Taunton. I think Welling have the edge to mount a run. It’s gonna be tighter than a nun’s chuff!

[M1 South]

Careful with that venturing SD? Yes I agree Welling are getting some decent results since our friend Mr Stringer took over!!

[Tall Dart]

I'll be stunned if Taunton play on Tuesday

This is Third time lucky for this fixture isn't it. They must be praying for some sunshine

[Taunton Dart]

Sunshine and a drying wing are required BUT it's raining again!!!!

[Grassbank]

My thoughts, for what they are worth.

Dover, H&W, Eastbourne and Taunton to face the drop.

Dover in big trouble with ten games to play, just four of them at home. BUT - They play home to H&W (16-Mar) and away at WSM (09-Mar), Eastbourne (12-Mar), Welling (29-Mar) and Truro (16-Apr). All could be considered six-pointers. Seventeen points from safety suggests that they are doomed, but they may play a big part in deciding who else goes down.

H&W also have ten to play, but six at home. Ten points from safety is a lot to gain, with limited matches against their closest rivals. They travel to Dover (16-Mar) and Weymouth (23-Mar) and have what may be critical games against DFC (06-Apr) and Welling (10-Apr). I think they have too much to do.

Eastbourne still have twelve matches to play with a six home, six away split. In those matches they play six of their relegation rivals. At home they have Dover (12-Mar), Taunton (16-Mar), Weymouth (06-Apr) and they travel to Truro (19-Mar), DFC 01-Apr) and WSM (16-Apr). They soon have two games against teams in the bottom four. If they win both, they will take momentum into their match at Truro which may give them a shot at survival. The next four games are critical and they need at least seven points from them if they are to survive.I think that they have too much to do.

Taunton have to fit fifteen games in with eight of those at home. Only two of those matches are against teams currently in the bottom nine, away to Eastbourne (16-Mar) and away to WSM (29-Mar). They have to perform against play-off hopefuls if they are to survive. Three points from their last five games, four of which were against fellow strugglers, makes me think that they will claim the highest relegation position.

Welling only have four home games remaining and seven away. Three of those home matches are against relegation rivals, WSM (16-Mar), Dover (29-Mar) and Weymouth (13-Apr). They also travel to H&W (10-Apr). I expect that they will avoid the drop.

Truro have fifteen games remaining, eleven at home! Five of those are against relegation rivals including DFC twice, home (26-Mar) and away (20-Apr). If they manage to play all those remaining matches, I believe they will survive to live another day.

[KentC]

I think Eastbourne will have some hope

[Taunton Dart]

Taunton look doomed - they have one win in their last 16 with only 21 goals scored in that time. With the massive fixture backlog they won't have the legs to complete all the games and collect the necessary wins required to stay up. Taunton supporters in my pub are already talking about regrouping next season in the Southern League

[Lars Resort]

I don't know about the scrap to stay up, it sounds as though clubs are queuing to go down because it'll do the club a favour. Regroup.
Maybe we should take up that stance.
Dowson has done us a favour after all.
I wouldn't be surprised if in his next interview he will say it was his aim all along to take us into lower levels of football.
Wherever that may be.

[Tall Dart]

Sunshine and a drying wing are required BUT it's raining again!!!!

Taunton game called off again

[Tall Dart]

I don't know about the scrap to stay up, it sounds as though clubs are queuing to go down because it'll do the club a favour. Regroup.
Maybe we should take up that stance.
Dowson has done us a favour after all.
I wouldn't be surprised if in his next interview he will say it was his aim all along to take us into lower levels of football.
Wherever that may be.

Maybe down to where our b####t takes us

[Taunton Dart]

If you want to know why Taunton's game against Slough has been called off...

[The Futures White]

I used to play on worse pitches than that in the North Kent Sunday League back in the day!