PoN's December Round Up!

With the busy Christmas and New Year games schedule on the horizon it is perhaps time to look at the clubs in League One who are at the foot of the table and see who has made any green shoots of recovery and those who are seemingly in freefall. The four clubs who are presently in the dropzone are Bristol City on 15 points, then come Crewe and Notts County on 17 points with Stevenage sitting in 21st spot with 18 points. Then just six clubs are separated by two points and goal difference, with clubs facing four games over the holiday period.

There could be many changes to the league table than at present, on current form Sheffield United and Notts County are the two big clubs amongst the pack who are showing positive signs that after dreadful starts-and changes of management-are getting their acts together and moving in the right direction. Since Nigel Clough took over at Bramall Lane, the Blades have been picking up a steady flow of points and have climbed up to 19th following their 1-0 win over Swindon at the weekend. Notts County, meanwhile, found results hard to come by even when Shaun Derry was given the nod to try his hand in management but Notts last two outings -a 3-1 home success over Gillingham and a superb 4-0 win at Colchester United - has given real hope to the Meadow Lane faithful. I expect both these clubs to climb steadily over the next few weeks.

So who has not been doing very well? Bristol City only relegated in the summer, have had a torrid time with just two league wins in their first 20 games. That really is a poor show from the Ashton Gate men and they can only hope that new manager Steve Cotterill can produce an upturn in their fortunes. Another suprise down at the bottom is Crewe. They have managed four wins but have by the far the worst goal difference than anyone. To be on -25 at this stage is shocking but they are now two games unbeaten so maybe they are on the way up.

Stevenage have only managed one win in their last five. Tranmere have suffered two bad away defeats in a row - 1-4 at Carlisle and 0-5 at Peterborough - so again they need to sort themselves out. A cluster of teams above Sheffield United have a bit of breathing space but by New Year's Day the whole picture could change and so it will be interesting to see how the bottom 10 teams are looking after the next four games.