DangerousSausage

Another Saturday, another prediction league round, another chance for unparalleled glory (or at least some points). You know what to do - send in your predictions by 3pm on Saturday, and remember your jokers! AFC Bournemouth v Blackburn Rovers Hull City v Bristol City Fleetwood Town v Gillingham Sunderland v Plymouth Argyle Bristol Rovers v Rochdale Stevenage v Carlisle United Grimsby Town v Chesterfield Yeovil Town v Barnet

The results: Accrington Stanley 0-2 AFC Wimbedon Charlton Athletic 2-0 Ipswich Town Cheltenham Town 0-5 Cambridge United Portsmouth 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday Exeter City 1-2 Northampton Town Leyton Orient 4-1 Swindon Town Newport County 3-2 Sutton United Southend United 1-1 Maidenhead United --- Some strange results there, but a handful of you had a very good round - best of all @gtownjohnno and @GrannyPie! Some of the rest of us were held back by Southend's lamentable failure to beat even Maidenhead at home and Cheltenham's decision to roll over and have their bellies tickled by Cambridge. A plague on both of their houses. @gtownjohnno, @GrannyPie - 8 @4everapie, @Chris - 7 @magpiejue - 5 @Dan, @ARLukomski - 3 @Dripsey3, @Megan_Elizax - 2 @super_ram, @DangerousSausage - 1 --- We've got some movement this week! @Dan edges ahead, @4everapie moves into the top four and is there any stopping the @Chris juggernaut? Dan - 128 Dripsey3 - 127 gtownjohnno - 114 4everapie - 103 super_ram - 101 nottsnutter - 99 DangerousSausage - 94 magpiejue - 92 jimbob - 88 Chris - 87 ARLukomski - 86 GrannyPie - 81 Megan_Elizax - 77 barnet11uk - 73 KB1862 - 52 liampie - 45 Joshua - 34 Feral Fox - 29 allardyces tash - 21 TheSkipper - 16 CliftonMagpie - 10 Alex - 7 Canadian - 4 --- The next round is on Saturday - so the fixtures are online now! See you over there...

This round kicks off on TUESDAY night - don't miss this chance to get some points on the board! @Dripsey3, @super_ram, @nottsnutter, @4everapie, @jimbob, @magpiejue, @Megan_Elizax, @barnet11uk, @GrannyPie, @KB1862, @liampie, @Joshua, @Feral Fox, @allardyces tash, @TheSkipper, @CliftonMagpie, @Alex, @Canadian

Accrington Stanley 2-1 AFC Wimbedon Charlton Athletic 1-1 Ipswich Town Cheltenham Town 3-1 Cambridge United (joker) Portsmouth 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday Exeter City 0-2 Northampton Town Leyton Orient 0-2 Swindon Town Newport County 0-1 Sutton United Southend United 1-0 Maidenhead United

Yes and no @Elite_pie. We shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that making the playoffs is easy, it isn't and the league is extremely competitive this season. But a points average of 1.78 per game is very high - that would equate to 82 points over a 46-game season and not all of the top nine will be able to keep that pace for the rest of the season. In the past, a points total in the low or mid 70s has been enough to finish in the top seven. I don't think a team with 80 points has ever finished below seventh. To win the league, you need more than 90. 80 will be comfortably enough for the playoffs, 70 and we miss out.

After a week's break thanks to that strange "cup" competition other teams play in, we've got a busy week for the prediction league coming up. These fixtures all kick off at 7.45pm on TUESDAY, so I'll need your predictions by then, and remember your jokers! Accrington Stanley v AFC Wimbedon Charlton Athletic v Ipswich Town Cheltenham Town v Cambridge United Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday Exeter City v Northampton Town Leyton Orient v Swindon Town Newport County v Sutton United Southend United v Maidenhead United

Any of those teams could win the league, we're shaping up for a proper battle royale. Bit concerned that Wrexham and Stockport have hit form, especially with their blank cheque books. Another striker to give us that something extra, reduce our reliance on Wootton and turn some of the draws into wins could make all the difference - but that striker wouldn't be a guaranteed starter, which limits our options. Gut feeling? Boredom Wood.

Saturdays during the season without any (proper) football are strange. I had my booster jab yesterday and I've been taking it easy, so it would have been nice to have a match to get obsessed about. Played games. Picked up my guitar (really rusty though).

I've never used it before, but go on, why not. What's this t'interweb for otherwise? I've recently discovered Dark Souls, so I've set my mood accordingly (you die a lot in it).

It takes two to tango - I think it's a given that the club will want to extend his contract, but does the player? He know he'll have a contract offer from Notts come what may. If he doesn't sign now, in the summer he'll have offers from other clubs higher up that maybe wouldn't have been interested in paying a fee. So from a cold, sober point of view I can understand the player's point of view in wanting to see other offers, and in turn I can understand the logic of clubs looking to sell in January rather than losing a player on a free in the summer. I still hope he signs a contract extension though. He's never pulled up trees anywhere else, but at Notts he knows where he is and he knows he's onto a good thing.

Hur hur hur

I see he was in the starting line-up. How did he get on?

The results: Peterborough United 0-0 Barnsley Stoke City 0-1 Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Cheltenham Town Plymouth Argyle 1-2 Wigan Athletic Northampton Town 1-0 Leyton Orient Swindon Town 1-1 Harrogate Town Grimsby Town P-P Boreham Wood Wrexham 2-0 Bromley --- This week's winner is @barnet11uk, with honourable mentions going to @Dan, @Chris and @GrannyPie! @barnet11uk - 9 @Dan, @Chris, @GrannyPie - 8 @DangerousSausage - 6 @Megan_Elizax, @CliftonMagpie - 4 @ARLukomski - 3 @super_ram, @magpiejue, @liampie, @allardyces tash - 2 @Dripsey3, @4everapie, @jimbob - 1 @gtownjohnno - nul points --- @Dripsey3 decided to give the rest of us a chance this round. @Dan said thank you very much and has now drawn level. And @super_ram has joined the 100 club. The standings: Dan - 125 Dripsey3 - 125 gtownjohnno - 106 super_ram - 100 nottsnutter - 99 4everapie - 96 DangerousSausage - 93 jimbob - 88 magpiejue - 87 ARLukomski - 83 Chris - 80 Megan_Elizax - 75 barnet11uk - 73 GrannyPie - 73 KB1862 - 52 liampie - 45 Joshua - 34 Feral Fox - 29 allardyces tash - 21 TheSkipper - 16 CliftonMagpie - 10 Alex - 7 Canadian - 4 --- And now the prediction league goes into a week-long hibernation, as the FA Cup (which apparently has something called a "second round") is this coming this weekend. So our next round will be on Tuesday 7 December, and I'll post the fixtures the weekend before. See you then!

Peterborough United 2-1 Barnsley Stoke City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Cheltenham Town Plymouth Argyle 1-1 Wigan Athletic Northampton Town 1-1 Leyton Orient Swindon Town 2-0 Harrogate Town Grimsby Town 0-1 Boreham Wood Wrexham 2-0 Bromley (joker)

The results: Middlesbrough 1-2 Preston North End Nottingham Florist 0-0 Luton Town Burton Albion 4-0 Accrington Stanley Plymouth Argyle 0-3 Wycombe Wanderers Salford City 1-1 Bristol Rovers Tranmere Rovers 2-1 Bradford City Halifax Town 1-2 Wrexham Solihull Moors 2-0 Grimsby Town --- This round's winner is @Dripsey3, while @GrannyPie takes a respectable second place: @Dripsey3 - 8 @GrannyPie - 6 @super_ram, @4everapie - 5 @Dan - 4 @DangerousSausage - 3 @gtownjohnno, @nottsnutter, @ARLukomski, @Megan_Elizax - 2 @Chris - 1 --- And so the table looks like this: Dripsey3 - 124 Dan - 117 gtownjohnno - 106 nottsnutter - 99 super_ram - 98 4everapie - 95 DangerousSausage - 87 jimbob - 87 magpiejue - 85 ARLukomski - 80 Chris - 72 Megan_Elizax - 71 GrannyPie - 65 barnet11uk - 64 KB1862 - 52 liampie - 43 Joshua - 34 Feral Fox - 29 allardyces tash - 19 TheSkipper - 16 Alex - 7 CliftonMagpie - 6 Canadian - 4 --- The weekend's fixtures are up now - so cast your rune sticks, gaze into your crystal ball, and click on this link. Good luck!

Aaand we move straight on to Saturday's prediction league round. If you fancy getting some points and climbing up the table, get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday, and remember your joker! Peterborough United v Barnsley Stoke City v Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers v Cheltenham Town Plymouth Argyle v Wigan Athletic Northampton Town v Leyton Orient Swindon Town v Harrogate Town Grimsby Town v Boreham Wood Wrexham v Bromley

Reminder: these fixtures kick off TOMORROW - that's Tuesday night - at 7.45pm. Don't miss out! @super_ram, @jimbob, @magpiejue, @ARLukomski, @Megan_Elizax, @barnet11uk, @GrannyPie, @KB1862, @liampie, @Joshua, @Feral Fox, @allardyces tash, @TheSkipper, @Alex, @CliftonMagpie, @Canadian

Could you speak up? I can't hear you all the way back there...

Were we really as bad as those highlights made us look? There's some really careless, slack passing in there. And the second was a howler - if you're coming out for those, you should make sure you reach them.

I've heard of it but never been. You're not getting me on that thing!

And here are mine: Middlesbrough 2-1 Preston North End Nottingham Florist 2-1 Luton Town (joker, but yuck) Burton Albion 1-2 Accrington Stanley Plymouth Argyle 3-1 Wycombe Wanderers Salford City 1-1 Bristol Rovers Tranmere Rovers 1-1 Bradford City Halifax Town 1-1 Wrexham Solihull Moors 0-2 Grimsby Town

The results: Middlesbrough 1-1 Millwall Swansea City 1-1 Blackpool Fleetwood Town 1-2 Morecambe Sunderland 2-0 Ipswich Town Barrow 0-1 Crawley Town Bristol Rovers 2-2 Tranmere Rovers Barnet 2-1 Torquay United Woking 1-2 Stockport County --- Quite a mixed bag points-wise - a couple got zero for the first time this season, but there were big scorers too. Congrats to @Joshua, who won this round! @Joshua - 9 @nottsnutter, @super_ram - 7 @ARLukomski - 6 @Chris - 5 @jimbob, @Megan_Elizax - 4 @gtownjohnno, @liampie - 3 @4everapie, @GrannyPie - 2 @Dripsey3, @DangerousSausage - 1 @Dan, @magpiejue - nul points --- It's pretty much as you were at the top, with the chasing pack only making limited inroads into @Dripsey3 and @Dan's lead. There's some movement elsewhere though. Dripsey3 - 116 Dan - 113 gtownjohnno - 104 nottsnutter - 97 super_ram - 93 4everapie - 90 jimbob - 87 magpiejue - 85 DangerousSausage - 84 ARLukomski - 78 Chris - 71 Megan_Elizax - 69 barnet11uk - 64 GrannyPie - 59 KB1862 - 52 liampie - 43 Joshua - 34 Feral Fox - 29 allardyces tash - 19 TheSkipper - 16 Alex - 7 CliftonMagpie - 6 Canadian - 4 --- The next round is this coming Tuesday, so click this link and make your predictions!

What? Another prediction league round already? Yes - there's another full set of fixtures on Tuesday night, so don't miss out! All of these matches kick off at 7.45pm on Tuesday, and remember your jokers. Good luck! Middlesbrough v Preston North End Nottingham Florist v Luton Town Burton Albion v Accrington Stanley Plymouth Argyle v Wycombe Wanderers Salford City v Bristol Rovers Tranmere Rovers v Bradford City Halifax Town v Wrexham Solihull Moors v Grimsby Town

That's a real let-down after the last few weeks. We seem to slip up against average but well-organised teams far too often, and you only afford to make very few mistakes in this league if you're serious about automatic - it's like like L2 where you can fluke third place on 70 points. Boredom Wood next. They are where they are for a reason, but we can't afford to drop points two games in a row.

When you do well, other clubs will naturally be interested in your best players. It's just how it is. Even if a big fee is on offer, selling is always a huge gamble - you've got no way of knowing whether the replacements you bring in will be better. Get it wrong and the season could be a write-off. From the point of view of the players mentioned, I couldn't blame them for being interested after three years in the NL. On the other hand, they both know the backroom team at Notts, are well-liked and are among the first names on the teamsheet - not necessarily a given elsewhere. In a peverse way, us being in the NL could actually work to our advantage when it comes to keeping them - I doubt many L2 clubs could pay them significantly more than us, and I'm not sure it makes a massive difference to most players whether they play in L2 or the Bananarama League, and many L1 clubs might not be willing to take a chance on a player two divisions below. I expect us to get speculative offers anyway, but I think we'll hold on till the end of the season.