It looks like at the moment we are going to do the usual run-in tail off. Now is the time to start putting results together like MK Dons and Cambridge. Bromley's style of play is well suited to succeed at the business end of the season. It looks like these three could secure automatic promotion. Ill discipline could cost us. Who is going to lead the line on Tuesday night? If we win the next two matches, then it's game on! If we lose any more ground it's paly-offs.

Love MP's focus and motivation to succeed, but he's showing signs of tightening up

He says the team has 'to play our way', like in the last 15mins at Walsall. He should remember then to coach 'our way' too and that means keeping positive.

So don't pick an inferior ball-user for Right-back and 2 sitting midfielders for a home game - keep positive and send out the right attacking message.

Another strange comment in yesterday's post-match 'some' don't like pressing for an equaliser if it means you concede another and lose by 2.

Surely nobody thinks that, nobody worth listening to anyway. Keep positive - if we fail being brave, so be it

Edited March 15Mar 15 by theAnticlough

MK won last night. It's looking tough now, need to go on an incredible run. This is the problem - every year promotion places are generally filled up by teams that

• have thrown money at it

• maybe shouldn;t have been relegated the year before and that bounce straight back

• come out of nowhere thanks to a good coach and everything just clicks

  Which doesn't actually leave much room for just plain 'good' teams. I'm still hopeful for auto or play-offs but we could be stuck in this division for a few years yet unless everything really comes together like it did under LW.

I watched the game @Sheffield Pie. What struck me is that they have a fortress at home. It's such a perfect, big pitch...spoiling teams don't have much of a chance. They look like strong title favourites to me

Bromley have got a head start and a nice run in.

Our 9-game run-in though looks better than Cambridge's so if we're to go up it looks like we'll have to go toe-to-toe with them.

It could be a bit like the game-by-game battle with Wrexham, with an away game deep into the run-in.

I think Bromley & MK Dons are running away. It's probably now between Notts, Cambridge, Salford & Swindon for the third promotion place. It's going to be tough, but it's still possible for Notts. Cambridge v Notts could have a lot to say about the final outcome.

Cambridge have a tough run in, beside playing Notts they have to play Salford, Grimsby & Swindon at home, plus Bromley away.. So some of those teams are going to drop points.

This is being written to be negative, but to see what fans think.

How impactful do the Grimsby, Chesterfield and Olham defeats feel? We had a game in hand that could have positioned us nicely alongside Cambridge, but that opportunity has now passed. Even one of those games won would have made such a huge difference, and I don't want to dwell on past games but with the remainder of the 7 we have left, it will put more pressure on maximising the amount we can gain in order to seal automatics.

I am swaying more towards the playoffs being likely, simply due to Swindon Town and Salford City now being on our toes. Such crucial games, swung against our odds but there's plenty to fight for.

Good summary Chris,

Our odds must be at something like 20% auto, 75% play-offs 5% nothing. 20 might be generous considering the McDonald news. In other posts I mentioned what the only formula might be.

All I ask is that the run-in/play-offs have a different character to last year's....

...Losing vital, clutch games because of a lack of bottle and fight

...Going out with a pathetic whimper

I don't think MP's team will behave the same way. Hope not, anyway.

@theAnticlough: It's great that the results were in our favor yesterday. This makes the losses I mentioned seem less worrying. Isn't this shaping up to be an exciting showdown with so many realistic chances for automatic promotion?

Had the teams above us done better, it could have pushed the reach we require to be somewhat more of a challenge.

Notts are firmly back in the mix, being 3rd or 2nd with 3-4 games remaining would re-assert my confidence in automatics. You just know it's going to go down to the final game for it to be decided, that's a very 'Notts' thing.

2 of our next three are the big ones @Chris away to Salford and Cambridge in the space of 8 days...

If, say, we take 1pt out of 6 there, but beat Newport, then it's 100% play-offs

At Salford, MP won't be able to add an extra CB or defensive CM, he's going to have to commit to another attacking team and outplay them. We're capable, we just need to commit to it and have confidence.

Massive game coming up this Easter Friday

@Chris I thought that way before yesterday's matches, but Notts winning at Harrogate & MK Dons, Bromley, & Cambridge all losing on the same day, puts Notts back in the mix for the automatics.

Notts now have their own destiny in their hands again, & with teams in the top nine having to play each other, (Cambridge meet Swindon on Thursday), there are going to be lots of twists & turns between now & the end of the season.

Lots of games to play for our closest rivals. Plenty of banana skins, & potential for dropping points.

@theAnticloughI think the odds for success for Notts at this time are 75% playoffs & 50/50 automatics especially after yesterday's results.

I agree that the Salford & Cambridge games are going to probably decide our promotion chances Avoiding defeat is going to be paramount. Winning both or even one of those games would be massive.

Also to bear in mind, other teams in the top nine are going to take points off each other, which could favour Notts.

I agree, I think we definitely need to beat at least one of Salford or Cambridge or at least get 2 draws. If we lose both I think then we'd have to win the other 4 matches and rely on other teams to do us a favour.

It’s funny how last season all the top 7 teams had a great chance of finishing top 3, but everyone apart from Doncaster and Port Vale had shocking form and basically blew the chance of going up automatically. At this stage last season after 40 matches played with the points we’ve got we’d have been top!

This season it’s the complete opposite, no-one has really dropped off, there's a couple of losses here and there but nothing drastic. We could end up with the number of points Doncaster achieved last season and not go up automatically.

4 hours ago, Robbie said:

@theAnticloughI think the odds for success for Notts at this time are 75% playoffs & 50/50 automatics especially after yesterday's results.

I agree that the Salford & Cambridge games are going to probably decide our promotion chances Avoiding defeat is going to be paramount. Winning both or even one of those games would be massive.

Also to bear in mind, other teams in the top nine are going to take points off each other, which could favour Notts.

Good analysis @Robbie 

I think I'm in a slightly different place. I'd put 'at least play-offs' at 95%, as even just a win against Newport could secure that.

The overall chances, across the 3 outcomes... i'd say Autos (back to) 30%, Play-offs 65%, neither 5%

Why only 30%? Well there's the loss of both Platt & McDonald and the difficult away fixtures we have left.

But there's also the impression i have that MP is too late a convert (and only through necessity) of a positive, all-out, attacking game. And that he doesn't really believe in it. I think he should have been enpowering our excellent, ball-playing technicians like Macari and Tangan and that overall style instead of a gnarly journeyman like Norburn, who ended up letting us down anyway. The selection for the Chesterfield game showed me that he had a mind to try and grind our way to promotion. So we don't have the reps and the benefits of singing from the right hymn sheet (free flowing attacking football) all season long. This is my own, personal take on things. I don't expect others to agree but it is one of the main reasons I'm still pessimistic about autos.

I get what you are saying@theAnticlough & I agree about your point regarding MP.

There is also a big variable regarding all the injured players. We know three will not return, but hopefully the four that went of injured against Harrogate will be alright. If not we are in trouble.

I think Norburn has another game suspended so he won't be eligible until the Newport game a week on Monday. I wouldn't play him, unless those injured players aren't available.

I guess Martin will try to grind a result from each of the Salford & Cambridge games. Not sure if I would risk Norburn for the Cambridge game.

I think we have to win all our home games & 2 away games out of the six for an automatic place. Every game will be very difficult.

Yeah, ideally Norburn doesn't get back in.

It was encouraging what MP said about Robertson. The Palmer-Robbo pairing is a lot better and isn't just duplication. Robbo gets about the pitch a lot more and can pop up a lot more in the final third.

Regarding the Salford game, do we have the grinding option? I can't imagine MP adding Browne to the team. If you meant by grinding just withstanding whatever they throw at us and get a positive result in whatever way we can, then yes sign me up for that please.

I'd say the odds are still slightly against us, but it's been a fantastic weekend for us. It's all in our hands - win the last six and we're promoted.

In reality, I doubt we'll win all our remaining games. Cambridge and Salford away are massive games and both will be a tall order as we're away from home. But what a boost this weekend has given us!

6 cup finals. We can do it #Notts

We have a great opportunity now Swindon have just blagged a point at Cambridge!

Good result for us, we need to take advantage at Salford now, of course. It remains very tight and the lack of consistency amongst the contenders makes it fairly unpredictable tbh. The fixtures give every one a chance too - a few “6 pointers”, incl our games at Salford & Cambridge but Cambs and MKD’s have games v top 6 Clubs too.

I’m more hopeful than confident at this stage but the situation may look completely different after Monday’s game v Newport. This us going down to the wire in my view, we’ll probably have to beat Brizzle Rovers to go up automatically……..