The play-off thread

[Amor de Cosmos]

Sticky Southern Premier:

Redditch Utd (2) v Leamington (5)

Hitchin Town (3) v Hungerford Town (4)

Wednesday 27th

If not for their points deduction Redditch would have challenged Poole for the title. They should take this tie comfortably.

Top Field has been a fortress this year. Hitchin have most home wins in the division. Over 1100 watched their win today, be nice to get a similar crowd on Wednesday.

[Guy Profumo]

The play-off thread

Midweek:

Blyth v Workington
Salford City v Ashton Utd.

Winners play at highest placed team next Saturday.

(i.e if Workington win they'll be away, if Blyth win they'll be at home)

[longeared]

The play-off thread

NPL Division 1 North:

Spennymoor Town v Burscough
Northwich Victoria v Glossop North End

NPL Division 1 South:

Shaw Lane Aquaforce v Lincoln United
Coalville Town v Basford United

In a magnificent piece of administrative stupidity, Shaw Lane's match is on Wednesday because the Sheffield FA have scheduled the County Cup final for Tuesday. I would sympathise but, you know, it's Shaw Lane.

NCEL Division One:

Bottesford Town v Hallam
AFC Emley v Penistone Church

[Janik]

The play-off thread

Southern League Division 1 Semis are tonight.

Central:
Royston Town vs AFC Rushden & Diamonds
Egham Town vs St. Ives Town

South & West:
Banbury United vs Winchester City
Taunton Town vs Swindon Supermarine

Royston hoping for better luck than last season, when they also went in to the play-offs from second spot. Back then they had won 10 and drawn 1 of their final 11 league games with a 22-4 GD, but then drew the Semi 0-0 and lost on penalties.

[Ray de Galles]

The play-off thread

Isthmian South semi-finals tonight too :

Dorking Wanderers vs Faversham Town
Worthing vs Hythe Town

[My Name Is Ian]

The play-off thread

I'm going to the Ryman League Premier Division match between Bognor Regis Town and Dulwich Hamlet on Thursday night. The other match is between East Thurrock United and Tonbridge Angels.

(I didn't even know that Worthing were playing tonight - it doesn't feel as though play-off fever has been particularly high around here.)

[shackleford]

The play-off thread

Scottish League Two playoffs first round - Cove Rangers 0-3 Edinburgh City (Saturday just past).

A fine win for the Lowland League champions away to the homeless Highland League champions in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire (Cove is a suburb in the south of Aberdeen, about 20 miles away from where this game was played). Assuming they win the second leg on Saturday, City will go into a two legged playoff with East Stirlingshire, the bottom club in League Two, with the winner getting a place in that division.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

I haven't gone to the Royston game tonight, but in a gobsmacking first I can hear actual chanting carrying over to my flat over a mile from the ground. Might be the Rushden fans, mind.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

Yep, the noisy buggers are Rushden fans. And their team is winning.

[Guy Profumo]

The play-off thread

Current scores:

https://twitter.com/Official_Darlo/status/725041529673375746

[Guy Profumo]

The play-off thread

Janik wrote: Yep, the noisy buggers are Rushden fans. And their team is winning.

Are they "back"* in Rushden then?

* all depends whether you think they're a legacy club from Rushden or Irthlingborough, I suppose.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

Acutally, dunno. They are not playing at Nene Park (which is actually Irthlingborough IIRC), that is for sure. I've got a vague recollection that they are sharing with a team in Wellingbrough or somewhere else reasonably close by.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

Lots of goals in the other Div.1 Central game. Was 2-2 last time I looked, St Ives twice fighting back from a goal down.

[Furtho]

The play-off thread

AFC R&D play at the Dog and Duck, home of Wellingborough Town.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

And they will be in the final following a 2-1 win at Royston, though not at the Dog & Duck as being the fifth placed side they are sure to be away. Venue TBC because Egham and St. Ives are in to extra-time.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The play-off thread

Darn. The possibility of another local derby is dashed. I guess we'll just have to get promoted.

[andrew7610]

The play-off thread

I've just got back from the Ryman Div 1 south play-off semi that ended Worthing 7-0 Hythe.

Worthing were fitter, faster and first to everything, and are quite a team. They attacked like they were playing down a slope for the whole game.

Jordan Maguire-Drew, on loan from Brighton, is destined for a much higher level than this. He scored two wonderful goals and has all the FIFA tricks and flicks too, which gave his marker a torrid time. His positional awareness is not so great, but I was behind the home dugout and he seems to be receiving an excellent education from the Worthing coaching staff in this regard.

Good crowd of 948 too - they were hoping for around 500.

[Ray de Galles]

The play-off thread

I've never understood why anybody bothered with a phoenix club for a Frankenstein outfit with less than twenty years history like Rushden & Diamonds.

Why didn't they resurrect the original two clubs? Were they so blinded by their brief period of bought success?

.

[delicatemoth]

The play-off thread

They should just change their name to Southeast Northamptonshire and have done with it.

[Janik]

The play-off thread

Ray de Galles wrote: I've never understood why anybody bothered with a phoenix club for a Frankenstein outfit with less than twenty years history like Rushden & Diamonds.

Why didn't they resurrect the original two clubs? Were they so blinded by their brief period of bought success?

AFCR&D get crowds of 500-odd, which is unusually many for this level. Probably more than Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds got between them. So at a guess many of the people at Garden Walk this evening never had a connection to the original clubs, just to the former Football League side.

[Ray de Galles]

The play-off thread

andrew7610 wrote: I've just got back from the Ryman Div 1 south play-off semi that ended Worthing 7-0 Hythe.

Worthing were fitter, faster and first to everything, and are quite a team. They attacked like they were playing down a slope for the whole game.

Jordan Maguire-Drew, on loan from Brighton, is destined for a much higher level than this. He scored two wonderful goals and has all the FIFA tricks and flicks too, which gave his marker a torrid time. His positional awareness is not so great, but I was behind the home dugout and he seems to be receiving an excellent education from the Worthing coaching staff in this regard.

Good crowd of 948 too - they were hoping for around 500.

Video of that match here.

Faversham Town won 1-2 at Dorking Wanderers meaning Worthing will host the final on Saturday and would seem like hot favourites.

.

[andrew7610]

The play-off thread

Ray de Galles wrote:
Video of that match here.

Faversham Town won 1-2 at Dorking Wanderes meaning Worthing will host the final on Saturday and would seem like hot favourites.

Maguire-Drew is 'unknown player' in those videos and the scorer of goals 2 and 6.

As the final is on the artificial pitch at Worthing, I would make them favourites too.

[longeared]

The play-off thread

AFC Emley beat Penistone Church 1-0 in the NCEL play off semi. Huge crowd of 463 there, very impressive for step 6 even if the clubs are close by.

[Furtho]

The play-off thread

Blimey, that is a massive crowd. In the Step 6 division I'm most familiar with, all the clubs combined will only be able to boast of a handful of crowds in excess of 100 during the course of a season.

[My Name Is Ian]

The play-off thread

I'll be at Worthing on Saturday. 948 is a very big crowd, especially as I'd not even noticed any particular advertising for it around here. I heard the crowd for one of the goals from my front door, and it was the first time that's ever happened. (The ground is about a ten minute walk from my house.)