DangerousSausage

Anyone who plays pool will know that when you're in form, everything seems to go your way almost effortlessly and you get the lucky breaks. The opposite is true when you're not in form, which Notts are discovering now. The second half is as good as I've seen us play this season, it was the performance I was hoping to see against Doncaster. They gave everything and created lots of chances. I'm angry at the officials, not the team. The minor decisions all went the visitors' way. At first I saw Bass hesitating over the cross for Wimbledon's goal and blamed him, but looking at it again he'd have struggled to reach that cross. However, it was a free header because Platt's shirt was being held and shouldn't have stood. Why did nobody protest? Our team is too nice half the time, Wimbledon had more of an edge to them. Secondly, the sending off. Jatta lost his head, left the ground and lunged two-footed. He was back on the ground by the time he reached their player, but I can see why it's a straight red. However, the incident wouldn't have happened at all if the ref had blown for a clear foul a few seconds before! McGoldrick gave me a fright but I think he'll be fit for the second leg. Don't expect the manager to say that in public though, he'll want to keep Wimbledon guessing. If we're as aggressive and creative in the second leg as we were in the second half, it's all still to play for. It feels a bit 2018 right now, but none of what happened before really matters - we're one good performance away from Wembley and a shot at promotion.

Our DVD player is sitting under the telly, unused and unloved. It's not even plugged in. We normally stream our favourite series now, although we're currently watchng Let's Dance (German Strictly) on normal TV. Talking of technology, my toaster exploded this week and the electricity in half the house went off. It quite literally went out with a bang. And I managed to tip a mango lassi into my keyboard today (luckily a cheap one I've been using since 2007). When the robots inherit the earth, I'll be first on their hit list.

I think he looked miserable because we played poorly @liampie, and JJ knows he's not playing as well as he could. He was injured a long time and it's a tall order for him to get his form back, realistically he'll need a pre-season. But for better or worse, SM has decided to give him as many minutes as possible in the hope that he regains his match fitness when it matters the most. Time will tell whether that gamble pays off. I'm not super confident about the play-offs, but we are one of three out-of-form teams and at least one is guaranteed to be in the final. And then it's a one-off and anything can happen. I hope there's a full crowd and a banging atmosphere. I think it's going to be tight.

Yesterday (before the match) I got back from a couple of days in Nuremberg. It's a wonderful city with a gorgeous old town and a copious supply of beer and sausages, I can definitely recommend it. On a side note, yesterday is all my fault. At the market square, I noticed that people were climbing onto a fountain and rubbing a metal ring as this apparently brings good luck. I didn't do it. Worse, it started raining, so I went in the nearby church and accidentally blasphemed when my phone went off. So I'm sorry for single-handedly ruining our season. It was a nice trip though. @Piethagoram, I might have a go with Interrail myself soon. Lufthansa's prices to the UK have grown to the extent that an Interrail ticket including Eurostar reservation costs about the same.

The final results for 24-25: Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Stevenage Mansfield Town 3-0 Exeter City Northampton Town 1-1 Wigan Athletic Wycombe Wanderers 1-3 Stockport County Colchester United 0-0 Barrow Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Walsall Grimsby Town 0-1 AFC Wimbledon Newport County 1-4 Tranmere Rovers --- The round's winner was @Dan, with @Fan of Big Tone and @Megan_Elizax also achieving good scores... --- So here it is, the final table. --- Congratulations to @super_ram for winning the prediction league for the third time, and for the first time since 2016! And well done too to @ARLukomski and @Robbie for putting up sch a strong fight - you both also achieved record scores. And of course thanks to all the rest of you for taking part, making it fun and (mostly) finishing below me!

With us and Wimbledon being consistently inconsistent and Walsall blowing promotion, it's Chesterfield that go into the play-offs on a high and I think they're the team to watch. I can't see past them unfortunately, although it would be a bitter pill to see them, Mansfied and Doncaster playing above us next season. But our name's in the hat and everything is possible.

We went into that with about a 5% chance of promotion tops. Bradford and Walsall both winning (in doing so rendering our result irrelevant) takes the edge off the disappointment, but it was still a really poor performance and doesn't bode well for the play-offs. Mark Stallard frequently commented that Donny were under more pressure, and for us it was a free hit. I'm not sure I quite agree with him - the visitors had already achieved promotion, so for them yesterday was a bit of fun with the aim of winning the title as the cherry on the cake. We hadn't achieved anything yet and our season depended on not conceding early. To me, the team looked more scared of losing than hungry to win. We never truly threw the shackles off even at 2-0 down. Once again we were harmless going forwards. Grant and Whitaker were anonymous and should have been replaced sooner than they were. Our only attacking outlet were the wing backs, who were too far away from Jatta. As a result, most of our attacking moves petered out with aimless crosses. The fact that we missed a 37-year-old this badly goes to show how much quality we've lost in this area since last season. We finished the match with three players who have suffered long-term injuries this season, which also tells a story. But why was Palmer taking set pieces even with Jones on the pitch? And if McGoldrick was so unfit he couldn't even play the last 20 minutes, what was he doing on the bench in the first place? SM has managed his juggling act well enough to secure a play-off place, but I doub't we have the quality to make the step up this season.

You could always ask @Chris whether he's willing to top up the prize a bit

Congratulations to @super_ram on winning this season's prediction league! You win pride, honour, a plant from my garden (might not be alive) and this digital trophy: I'll count the rest of the points and post the final table at some point today.

I've liked @gtownjohnno's predictions just because Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Stevenage Mansfield Town 1-2 Exeter City (joker) Northampton Town 0-3 Wigan Athletic Wycombe Wanderers 0-2 Stockport County Colchester United 0-1 Barrow Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Walsall Grimsby Town 2-1 AFC Wimbledon Newport County 2-0 Tranmere Rovers

So this is it - as Notts have their final throw of the dice (possibly excluding the play-offs), this season's prediction league also comes to a close. We don't quite know who'll finish where yet, but we do already know that a points record will be set this season... For one last time, let's gaze into the crystal ball before putting it away for the summer. All the fixtures I've chosen kick off at 3pm on Saturday (hence no Championship), and remember your joker! Bolton Wanderers v Stevenage Mansfield Town v Exeter City Northampton Town v Wigan Athletic Wycombe Wanderers v Stockport County Colchester United v Barrow Crewe Alexandra v Walsall Grimsby Town v AFC Wimbledon Newport County v Tranmere Rovers

The results: Hull City 0-1 Derby County Preston North End 1-2 Plymouth Argyle Burton Albion 2-1 Cambridge United Crawley Town 3-0 Northampton Town Fleetwood Town 2-0 Newport County Salford City 4-1 Colchester United Boston United 2-1 Gateshead Forest Green Rovers 1-0 Oldham Athletic --- Congratulations to @Dan, who wins his second round in the last three! --- This is what our league table looks like heading into the final game. @super_ram leads @ARLukomski by 11 points, @Robbie looks set for third unless I find some points down the back of the sofa, and some positions look up for grabs in the lower half of the top ten... --- And on that bombshell, I'll sign off for this round. The final round of fixtures will be posted by Wednesday. See you all then for the final instalment!

Hold your horses @ARLukomski, we've had a few people get 15 points this season. And there's a non-zero chance of my laptop blowing up and me having to make up some numbers on the final day!

True words @menzinho. It feels like every week @Robbie has been telling us that only one or two teams from the top half won this week. It's certainly not the National League where you can get 100 points and miss out - the bar is a bit lower in L2 thanks to the three automatic spots. Notts, Bradford and Walsall have made a heroic effort to avoid having to go to Field Mill next season but one of us will have to do it. Three results have to go our way for it to happen. I can see them all happening in isolation but all three is an outside bet. I do think the two that successfully avoid League One will have a tough time in the play-offs, while whoever qualifies on the last day will have the wind in their sails. I definitely want to avoid Salford. Who would you fancy us beating, and who do you think we should avoid?

We're definitely in the playoffs now as Wimbledon, Grimsby and Colchester would all have to overtake us for us to miss out. With Wimbledon playing Grimsby on the final day, this is no longer possible. I'll cheer for Accrington this afternoon! A much improved second half after a ragged first half display in which we had great difficulty dealing with simple long balls. I'm happy with that, let's build on it.

Hull City 2-1 Derby County Preston North End 1-3 Plymouth Argyle Burton Albion 1-1 Cambridge United Crawley Town 0-2 Northampton Town Fleetwood Town 2-0 Newport County (joker) Salford City 2-1 Colchester United Boston United 2-0 Gateshead Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Oldham Athletic

If we want to go up, we should be winning at Harrogate, especially when a season's work is at stake. Forget the last few games, just put the blinkers on and get the job done. Tsaroulla is injured unfortunately, so it'll be two out of Jones, Jarvis and Grant for the wide positions. I think Grant will get the nod as he does a lot of work off the ball; personally I'd try the other two and put an extra man in midfield. But above all, I want to see an aggressive, brave Notts team booking a play-off spot tomorrow.

I don't really care* what the teams chasing us do @Robbie, if we win one of our two remaining matches, we're through and in the play-offs. If we don't, is there any point in us being there anyway? The wild thing is that we still have a theoretical chance of automatic promotion. If we win and Doncaster beat Bradford (and I think they will), we will take it to the final day of the season, when we will play a Doncaster team who have spent the week parting on the final day. It's still very much an outside shot (and also dependent on Walsall not beating Accrington at home), but strange things happen in football. * Not quite true, I really don't want to see Salford in the play-offs.

It's more "tiresome and predictable" than sad @Piethagoram. KFC Uerdingen (unfortunately not nicknamed the chickens) seem to go through this cycle where they go on a wild spending spree with money they don't have, go bankrupt, and once they've dumped their debt they start again. This is something like their fifth insolvency. They shouldn't have been allowed in the Regionalliga. This just means they'll be playing a division lower next season, where they were last season anyway. They were also in the third division a few years back, with a Russian investor promising to get them back to the Bundesliga. I don't need to tell you how it ended. Back in the 80s this club was incidentally Bayer Uerdingen, until Bayer withdrew and decided to focus on Leverkusen instead.

It's time to whip out your crystal balls and revive the spirit of Mystic Meg for the penultimate time this season. These fixtures all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and - you've guessed it - you get a joker each. Good luck! Hull City v Derby County Preston North End v Plymouth Argyle Burton Albion v Cambridge United Crawley Town v Northampton Town Fleetwood Town v Newport County Salford City v Colchester United Boston United v Gateshead Forest Green Rovers v Oldham Athletic

The results: Hull City 2-1 Preston North End Millwall 3-1 Norwich City Lincoln City 4-2 Bolton Wanderers Wigan Athletic 1-0 Rotherham United Accrington Stanley 1-1 Carlisle United Chesterfield 3-3 Bradford City Eastleigh 1-0 Yeovil Town Wealdstone 1-1 Maidenhead United --- Well done to @menzinho, who scooped one of the season's biggest scores! --- No change in this week's table, with @super_ram leading the way with two rounds to go: --- Round 45 is coming up on Saturday, the fixtures will be posted tonight. Thanks for playing!

I'm not fussed about St George either, but it is a nice excuse to eat one of the fresh hot cross buns Mrs Sausage made at the weekend. And it's handy we're having an "official" day as I've got a Sam Smith's outmeal stout I forgot to put in the fridge. Not that I need much of excuse for either!

Or they (and possibly SM) have someone specific in mind who isn't free yet. Maybe from one of the other clubs they're involved with? Wild speculation on my part. Only the players can really say whether fewer coaches has had a negative effect.

If you cast your minds back to pre-season, we were beaten 4-1 away to MSV Duisburg, who had just been relegated to the Regionalliga (fourth tier) for the first time. Today, the Zebras secured the title and an instant return to the third division in front of crowds averaging more than 16,000. Ignoring the frankly boring Bundesliga, the German Cup (DFB Pokal) offers some entertainment. This season saw the first ever third division team make the cup final in the form of Arminia Bielefeld. They will play VfB Stuttgart, who themselves have only won the cup three times, the last time in 1997. Ticket allocations are a talking point at the minute, with each club receiving just 24,000 tickets for the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Elsewhere, a club close to my heart has decided to "liven up" its season by replacing its sporting director and coaching team while perched precariously above the third division relegation zone. Worse still, the new head coach has no experience in professional football either as a player or as a manager and had two days to prepare his new team for the visit of 1860 Munich, who inevitably won 3-0 after Waldhof Mannheim (for it is they) put out a team that could only have been drawn out of a hat. I'm getting genuine Jamie Fullarton flashbacks here. Nearly forgot to mention Bundesliga 2, which is gripped by the customary tight promotion race, with half the teams in the division having a chance of promotion with just four games remaining. The top two are Hamburg and Cologne, who would surely enrich the top flight, but there's a battle royale behind them. Hertha Berlin and Schalke look like they're going nowhere though.

Good post @menzinho, I knew our home form wasn't great but didn't think it was quite that underwhelming. And a good point against fan pressure too - Keith Curle broke records with our away from, yet got dogs' abuse because we were pants at home.