DangerousSausage

Southampton 0-2 Millwall

Swansea City 2-1 West Bromwich Albion

Leyton Orient 1-1 AFC Wimbledon

Reading 2-0 Burton Albion (joker)

Wigan Athletic 3-1 Barnsley

Fleetwood Town 2-0 Grimsby Town

Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Bristol Rovers

Swindon Town 2-0 Gillingham

The results:

Leicester City 2-1 Derby County
Oxford United 0-1 Swansea City
Blackpool 4-0 Rotherham United
Peterborough United 1-1 Reading
Plymouth Argyle 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers
Chesterfield 0-1 Cambridge United
Gillingham 1-1 Colchester United
Grimsby Town 1-0 Shrewsbury Town

@magpiejue wins this round, congrats!

That means @magpiejue extends her lead at the top, with @Robbie and @4everapie leading the chasing pack.

That wraps things up for 2025 and the first half of the season. But there's plenty of prediction league over the coming days - there's a round up and running for 1 January, so go and send in your predictions if you haven't already! Thanks for playing!

A very well deserved point on the road and a good response after Chesterfield. The advantage of the games coming thick and fast is that the next opportunity to make amends is only a few days away.

The Iorpenda twins were excellent and seemed to be all over the pitch. I noticed we had the wing backs relatively deep, which blunted our attacking threat a little. All the same, the way we gradually wrested control of the game was impressive and the franchise looked beaten until Dennis decided he was Maradona.

On that: he did well to get past the first two home players, but instead of passing it he decided to run with the ball. It was a split second decision he got very wrong, resulting in the goal and turning the momentum of the game for a while. All the same, I'd prefer it if the manager didn't blame him (in not so many words) for us dropping the points in his post-match interview. That's how you lose dressing rooms.

Watching on PiesPlayer, it seemed the franchise customers were having a fancy dress day, with a good number of the alleged home crowd of 7000 coming dressed as black seats.

What better way to see in a glorious new year than to play the prediction league? Kick-off is 3pm and don't forget your joker!

Southampton v Millwall

Swansea City v West Bromwich Albion

Leyton Orient v AFC Wimbledon

Reading v Burton Albion

Wigan Athletic v Barnsley

Fleetwood Town v Grimsby Town

Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers

Swindon Town v Gillingham

@gtownjohnno no worries, I'll only count your third attempt. You might regret it if Swansea win 19-2 though! There's no need to do anything this round, but in future you can take @4everapie's sage advice and edit your post up to kick-off time if you like.

@Michael D Pie. as football ferrets aren't explicitly mentioned in The Rules, I'll permit it through gritted teeth. However, octopuses (octopi?) are not allowed under any circumstances.

Here's my go:

Leicester City 1-1 Derby County

Oxford United 2-1 Swansea City

Blackpool 2-0 Rotherham United (joker)

Peterborough United 2-1 Reading

Plymouth Argyle 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers

Chesterfield 2-0 Cambridge United

Gillingham 1-1 Colchester United

Grimsby Town 2-1 Shrewsbury Town

It's time to wrap up 2025. No doubt you'll look back on the year with mixed feelings, recalling the highs, the lows and - most importantly of all - the number of prediction league points you had. We can help with the last one. All of these matches kick off at 7:45 p.m. on Monday - don't forget your joker!

Leicester City v Derby County

Oxford United v Swansea City

Blackpool v Rotherham United

Peterborough United v Reading

Plymouth Argyle v Wycombe Wanderers

Chesterfield v Cambridge United

Gillingham v Colchester United

Grimsby Town v Shrewsbury Town

Today's game was a chore,
So I'll present to you the scores:

Stoke City 0-0 Preston North End
West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Bristol City
Burton Albion 5-1 Northampton Town
Luton Town 4-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Accrington Stanley 2-1 Barrow
Gillingham 1-1 Cambridge United
Eastleigh 1-1 Woking
Solihull Moors 7-1 Tamworth

This round the honours are shared by @Garry Lee, @Robbie and @super_ram, who all hit double figures!

@magpiejue holds on to the lead overall, while this was also a good round for @super_ram, who goes second.

We've got a full round of league fixtures on Monday (the 29th), so I'll post the fixtures for that in the next few minutes. Thanks for playing and see you over there!

What a poor display that was. We had no control over the game at all, and if you can't string more than three passes together you're not going to have many opportunities in the final third. And we wasted the few opportunities we had. We had no midfield - whenever our players were struggling to hold onto possession by the sidelines, there was no support forthcoming from the centre of the field - their options were to go back or to have a hopeful punt forward. With Palmer or Robertson (ideally both) on the pitch, it would have been a different game.

Bennetts is quick and gets into good positions, but is often wasteful with his end product. I think he'll be rested for Monday. I still don't see the point of Norburn. Jones could do with more minutes to build his confidence, he's getting cameos off the bench and is overthinking everything. Roos needs to learn to catch. HOWEVER, a bad day at the office doesn't mean we need to offload half the team. Some fans are too quick to write players off.

I was a bit surprised the manager didn't freshen things up a bit. He'll definitely need to for the next match now. In the absence of Palmer and Robertson, I'd give Hinchey a go in the middle in the hope of having an actual midfield again, select Jones from the start and tell him this is his chance to reclaim his first 11 spot again. Jatta/Dennis have served us very well, give them better service and the goals will come again. Having said that, they would benefit from some help/competition arriving in the January window.

Stoke City 1-2 Preston North End

West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Bristol City

Burton Albion 1-1 Northampton Town

Luton Town 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers

Accrington Stanley 2-0 Barrow (joker)

Gillingham 0-0 Cambridge United

Eastleigh 1-2 Woking

Solihull Moors 2-0 Tamworth

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Did you know, Boxing Day
Is a day on which they football play;
I don't know, if we'll win
But I'll give the prediction league a spin.

Now that regrettable outburst of poetry is over, here are the fixtures for round 22 of the prediction league. As always, all of our matches kick off at 3:00 p.m. and you get one joker each. Good luck!

Stoke City v Preston North End

West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City

Burton Albion v Northampton Town

Luton Town v Wycombe Wanderers

Accrington Stanley v Barrow

Gillingham v Cambridge United

Eastleigh v Woking

Solihull Moors v Tamworth

The results:

QPR 4-1 Leicester City
Sheffield United 3-0 Birmingham City
Doncaster Rovers 1-5 Plymouth Argyle
Lincoln City 2-1 Cardiff City
Rotherham United 1-3 Huddersfield Town
Barnet 1-3 Salford City
Fleetwood Town 2-1 Gillingham
Oldham Athletic 3-1 Tranmere Rovers

This round's winners are @Dan, @gtownjohnno, @magpiejue and ME! ME! ME! with seven points. @Michael D Pie. wins the prize for best poetry, but unfortunately there are no points for that.

@magpiejue has swapped places with @4everapie and will spend Christmas in first place.

It should come as a surprise that there is football on Boxing Day (apart from that Premier League nonsense, but who cares about that?). I'll post the fixtures in the next few minutes. Thanks for playing and have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

I haven't heard the interview yet but have read some of the summaries. It's long been the club's mantra that every player has his price. It's the reality of football and it's good that the club is honest with us. If someone is sold, it's crucial that we sign a good replacement or otherwise tweak the squad such that we don't miss him - selling a player for 500k but then missing out on promotion is a false economy.

I'd normally agree with @Robbie that we don't need a like-for-like replacement, the NL years taught us we can be just as potent with one striker if we have a good number 10 behind him. But we're currently extremely stretched in the strikers department with only two viable options (sorry, I don't rate Traore at all), and we've been able to gloss over it so far as both Dennis and Jatta have been scoring and have remained injury-free. But if we go into the second half of the season with Dennis and Traore as our only options up front, we're not serious about promotion. I think we need another option up top, but can't really expect a "marquee signing" if Jatta and Dennis both remain.

Also think we need a new keeper. As good as Roos is as a shotstopper, his habit of staying glued to his line as crosses come in or punching balls that could easily be caught makes me nervous. Also, Griffiths evidently isn't seen as a candidate for the number one shirt, so he could do with some match practice on loan elsewhere.

QPR 0-2 Leicester City

Sheffield United 1-1 Birmingham City

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Plymouth Argyle (joker)

Lincoln City 1-3 Cardiff City

Rotherham United 0-2 Huddersfield Town

Barnet 0-2 Salford City

Fleetwood Town 2-1 Gillingham

Oldham Athletic 1-1 Tranmere Rovers

What's Father Christmas bringing you? If it's prediction league points you're after, I'm afraid you'll have to get them yourself. Get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday and remember your joker - good luck!

QPR v Leicester City

Sheffield United v Birmingham City

Doncaster Rovers v Plymouth Argyle

Lincoln City v Cardiff City

Rotherham United v Huddersfield Town

Barnet v Salford City

Fleetwood Town v Gillingham

Oldham Athletic v Tranmere Rovers

I see how it can give validation, and that's probably quite the drug for people who feel friendless in life. But even for well-adjusted people like me, it's nice to have a little acknowledgement, even if it's just to confirm that what I posted has been seen rather than getting lost amidst all the clickbair and nonsense AI pots.

Rovers have slammed the panic button and appointed Steve Evans. To be fair, he is good at instilling team spirit and getting results.

I honestly wouldn't have recognised him without the eyeliner though! He's half the man he used to be. Literally.

BBC Sport

On 14/12/2025 at 02:38, theAnticlough said:

I know we're supposed to hate them but can't Harrogate go down instead, please?

Assuming we don't make it this year, Rovers going down would take a potential promotion rival out of the picture, so they can have a year or two playing Braintree as far as I'm concerned. It's moot though, I doubt they'll go down.

We need to revive this to finally get our hands on that cup. No need to invite the tinpot Spanish team though, they weren't competitive at all last time.

On 16/12/2025 at 00:04, Robbie said:

I'm happy to be still in a playoff place. Well it does sound better than just 5th place.

It's a big league, so the play-offs stretch all the way to 14th! 😎

Right, time for the next round. Let's go!

Aaaand the results:

Portsmouth 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
Wrexham 2-2 Watford
Burton Albion 0-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Peterborough United 2-1 Northampton Town
Stockport County 1-3 Stevenage
Cheltenham Town 1-1 Harrogate Town
Chesterfield 3-1 Barnet
Crawley Town 2-2 Oldham Athletic

Congrats to @liampie, who wins this round! @Fan of Big Tone also did well once again. At the other end, @Chris, @Joshua, @super_ram and @william1984 face the walk of shame...

Our top two @4everapie and @magpiejue are now tied in top spot, with @Dan joining the top three.

On Wednesday I'll post Saturday's round, which will kick off a busy festive season with rounds on the 20th, 26th and 29th of December and the 1st and 4th of January. Five rounds in just over two weeks - my crystal ball will be worn out. Thanks for playing everyone!

Some good points have been made above. We might be happier to put our foot through the ball when under pressure, but we're not surrendering possession by design. A bit of solid possession would have been handy while Grimsby were chasing their equalisier. However, what happens in the boxes ultimately decides where the points go, and that's the department we've been lacking in since promotion. It's so nice to be winning these games for a change!

You can't beat a good, gritty away win at a proper old-school ground like Blundell Park. But that's easy for me to say from my armchair ;)

Portsmouth 0-2 Blackburn Rovers

Wrexham 1-1 Watford

Burton Albion 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers

Peterborough United 1-2 Northampton Town

Stockport County 2-1 Stevenage

Cheltenham Town 2-0 Harrogate Town (joker)

Chesterfield 1-1 Barnet

Crawley Town 1-1 Oldham Athletic

@theAnticlough I can understand his frustration as they probably deserved a point at least (or at least they would if they weren't the franchise, all they deserve is expulsion from the league, but I digress). However, I think neither side dominated that game. The visitors were wasteful with their chances, and they had plenty. They cut through us too easily to my taste. With Palmer and Robertson in midfield, we would have had a lot more control over the game, but then being able to replace key players is a sign of a genuine promotion candidate.

It was tight, but we found a way to win, and that's my key takeaway. There so many big games last season that were on a knife edge and could have gone either way, but we rarely ended up collecting the points.

And now time for Saturday's round. Kick-off is 3pm and don't forget those jokers!

Portsmouth v Blackburn Rovers

Wrexham v Watford

Burton Albion v Wycombe Wanderers

Peterborough United v Northampton Town

Stockport County v Stevenage

Cheltenham Town v Harrogate Town

Chesterfield v Barnet

Crawley Town v Oldham Athletic

The results:

Leyton Orient 1-1 Luton Town
Lincoln City 3-1 Barnsley
Northampton Town 1-1 Huddersfield Town
Stevenage 0-1 Cardiff City
Barrow 0-3 Tranmere Rovers
Cambridge United 1-1 Chesterfield
Fleetwood Town 1-1 Salford City
Harrogate Town 0-2 Accrington Stanley

Some impressive scores this week - not least this round's winner @Fan of Big Tone, who claimed the biggest score of the season so far!

@4everapie stays top by a single point from @magpiejue, with @super_ram joining the fray. @Fan of Big Tone jumps 11 points in the table, but stays below me, which is the main thing.

Saturday's fixtures are coming up in the next few minutes, so keep your eyes peeled. Thank for playing!