DangerousSausage

I remember standing so close to the fire that I could feel my skin going crispy. In hindsight probably not that healthy... I miss bonfire night, maybe I'll have a fire in my garden next year (in a fire pit that is, I'm not setting my shed alight).

It felt like an accident waiting to happen and so it proved. We created about three chances in 120 minutes against a part-time team. After the lead we completely handed the initiative to the home side and never got it back. We missed Palmer badly; if he's fit, he should be playing (with the exception of tomorrow's silly cup game against Man United under 12s). But I do have some sympathy with MP here - you should be able to rest a single player without everything collapsing like a pack of cards. Especially as the replacement was the experienced Ollie Norburn, who was about a close as we came to a marquee signing this summer. And the less said about the Sunday League-esque performance of our goalkeeper the better. I don't agree with some of the comments about the referee, I thought he got all the big calls spot on - their number 11 had been offside and was interfering in play for the offside goal, Grant was tripped for our penalty (this was more visible from one side than the other) and Norburn obviously handled the ball for their penalty. The fake outrage by the commentary team irritated me and was disrespectful towards officials who did their job well. The better team on the day progressed, we've got to get back into our rhythm and forget this quickly.

The results: Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Southampton Millwall 1-0 Leicester City Barnsley 0-1 Rotherham United Reading 1-1 Doncaster Rovers Barrow 2-2 Barnet Harrogate Town 0-3 Newport County Forest Green Rovers 2-1 Boreham Wood Hartlepool United 2-0 Solihull Moors Congrats to @william1984, who wins this round! And I must confess I'm a little mardy - I pored over all the form tables for this week's predictions, and then @Hi Humans ツ comes along, just makes up some numbers and scores higher than me! In our leaderboard, @magpiejue moves back to the top with @4everapie and @Robbie just a few points behind. As our FA Cup run will be taking place this weekend, we'll now have a little break - the next round is on the following Saturday, 8 November, with the fixtures posted a few days before as usual. Thanks for playing!

It's a bit of a meaningless statement this early in the season. Barnet would have been in the top seven if they'd beaten us. But we beat them, so they're not. (I know, insert comment about aunties and uncles here.) What counts is the ability to decide the really tight games in our favour, and we've struggled to do that for years. Even in the NL days, I'm convinced that if we'd beaten Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground, we'd have been spared the play-offs. It's a habit that has held us back since too, and a couple of "statement wins" as @theAnticlough puts it would really breed confidence that it could be our year.

Enjoy the rest of your trip @Fan of Big Tone! You're coming back at just the right time though in my opinion - the nights are getting darker and there's a bite in the air. You can't beat this time of year. I've been a bit elusive yesterday as I haven't been well; a few weeks ago my mouth swelled up and I was sporting the full botox look for a few days. The Hollywood lips are more or less gone now but I still don't know what caused it. At the weekend I'd recovered enough to go to a concert, the German pagan folk band Faun in Offenbach near Frankfurt. Their songs are based on folklore and some are even in English (albeit not always modern English). Give them a listen if you fancy something different!

Not a good move by the club - the original announcement was tin-eared. At least they've responded to the criticism, though it's unclear what will ultimately come of it. We could possibly get around it by calling it the "Haydn Green Stand sponsored by Green Shift Energy" if the sponsors agree to that. I hate the trend of naming everything in football after sponsors. Some years ago I knew what every ground was called, now it's just an ever-changing roll call of sponsors. It's even worse for those grounds that have only ever been named after a sponsor as they don't even have a traditional name to fall back on. But money talks. A while back I saw a list of stadium sponsorship agreements for German third division clubs, and every single one of them was in seven figures (bar a couple of clubs without sponsorship deals, and one in particular that gave away permanent naming rights in the early 90s in return for a scoreboard, which then broke). Sponsors in the UK aren't as generous, but there's lot of money to be made. And the fuss about the Haydn Green Stand shows that it might even be less controversial to sponsor the whole ground as it isn't named after someone.

Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Southampton Millwall 2-0 Leicester City Barnsley 2-1 Rotherham United Reading 2-0 Doncaster Rovers (joker) Barrow 0-1 Barnet Harrogate Town 2-1 Newport County Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Boreham Wood Hartlepool United 1-1 Solihull Moors

Fun fact: I'm going to a concert on Saturday and a member of the band I'm seeing does tarot readings. Unfortunately it starts after these matches have finished, so I can't cheat by asking her the results. All of these matches kick off at 3pm on Saturday - predict them using conventional means (i.e. guessing) and remember your joker! Blackburn Rovers v Southampton Millwall v Leicester City Barnsley v Rotherham United Reading v Doncaster Rovers Barrow v Barnet Harrogate Town v Newport County Forest Green Rovers v Boreham Wood Hartlepool United v Solihull Moors

It's a shame we couldn't hold on (the first Swindon goal in particular was soft), but I think that's a decent result to cap a very good few days' work. I was thinking about where we must be in the form table, given the poor start we had and the way we've recovered since.

Call me cynical, but when I hear about vilage teams winning the league, my first thought it that they've been financially doped. If that's not the case, this is an amazing achievement.

The results are in... Birmingham City 2-3 Hull City West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Preston North End Blackpool 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Northampton Town Grimsby Town 1-0 Gillingham Newport County 0-2 Cheltenham Town Altrincham 1-3 Woking Brackley Town 0-0 Gateshead A few of you posted your predictions in the thread for round 11. Luckily they were the correct fixtures so I was able to count them! But do it again and I'll dock you all one million points 😉 Here are the scores for this round. Congrats to @Sir Magpie, who won't be propping the table up for long on this evidence... Overall, @JustLikeJuve and @magpiejue now share the top spot a point ahead of @Robbie. The next fixtures are on Saturday, so I'll post them at some point tomorrow. Have a good week!

I missed the first half on Saturday, but looking at the chances Barnet had it looks like we rode our luck a bit. I was pleased with our fighting qualities in the second half though - if the footbally part isn't quite coming off, you've still got to hang in there and give yourself a chance. And given some of the options we have on the bench, there's always the chance of a late winner. I agree about McDonald too, I think he was underrated last season but this season he's made the shirt his own. And players forcing their way into the first team picture is exactly what you want - it shows the rest of the squad that the first 11 are staring on merit and that they too will get that chance if they perform well enough.

He'd done well with them up to this season, but he's such a volatile character it's always seemed inevitable that it'll turn sour. There's a non-zero chance of us meeting them in League One in a couple of years.

This is last week's thread. Please post your predictions here!

To everyone: THIS is the thread for this week's prediction league; several of you have posted in last week's thread, which is now locked. Luckily, you seem to have posted this round's fixtures in the other thread, so I can count them and you don't need to post again. If any more of you have predictions, you can post them here before 3pm as usual. Thanks @Robbie for bringing this to my attention. Here are mine: Birmingham City 2-1 Hull City West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Preston North End Blackpool 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Northampton Town (joker) Grimsby Town 2-1 Gillingham Newport County 1-0 Cheltenham Town Altrincham 1-1 Woking Brackley Town 1-1 Gateshead

To add to the glory, I highlighted your score in yellow. Don't let it go to your head.

Proper football starts again on Saturday! All of these fixtures kick off at 3pm, and remember your joker! Birmingham City v Hull City West Bromwich Albion v Preston North End Blackpool v Wycombe Wanderers Doncaster Rovers v Northampton Town Grimsby Town v Gillingham Newport County v Cheltenham Town Altrincham v Woking Brackley Town v Gateshead

A suspended punishment is about the best he could have hoped for. He's a lucky boy!# Looking forward to him kicking on now and getting some more game time. The more he plays, the beter he'll be.

Please no! Am I the only one who remembers losing to then Northern Premier League Salford on BBC One?

What's the scores, George Dawes? Burton Albion 3-0 Bolton Wanderers Exeter City 1-1 Reading Leyton Orient 4-0 Doncaster Rovers Wigan Athletic 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers Chesterfield 2-0 Salford City Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Bromley Fleetwood Town 3-2 Harrogate Town Tranmere Rovers 0-2 Barnet @Garry Lee smashed it this week. Congrats! @allardyces tash manages to hold onto top spot, but now has to share it with @ARLukomski. Just five points separate the top 11 a quarter of the way into the season! That's it for now, but I'll be posting Saturday's fixtures tomorrow if your crystal ball isn't worn out already. Thanks for playing!

Oh no. (But as @Robbie says, let's throw the kitchen sink at the cup this year. For the sake of two or three extra fixtures we could have some unforgettable memories if we take it seriously.)

Nobody should have a right to a place in the team, but the goalkeeper's position is a unique one - if you aren't first choice, you're out of the team for months at a time and there'll be no cameo appearances off the bench either. I'm not opposed to the kind of set-up where two senior keepers fight it out for the number 1 shirt, but realistically we might be a hard sell for s senior goalkeeper if we've already got another one on our books.

It's a step in the right direction, but the proof of the pudding wil be in the eating. I've had a taste of this in Germany. Sometimes licenses are only granted subject to certain conditions, so if a club's crowd forecasts are too optimistic, they'll be told to lower their budget. Sponsorship agreements are also looked at. Clubs that sail close to the wind or don't submit their documentation on time have been relegated multiple divisions, but others have still managed to slip through the net and go belly-up mid-season. Overall I don't think more oversight is a bad thing (but get ready for club owners blaming the IFR for budget cuts or demotions). Possibly most importantly, it's there now, a precedent has been set and it can be beefed up in the future to hopefully tackle some of English football's structural issues.

Burton Albion 0-2 Bolton Wanderers (joker) Exeter City 2-1 Reading Leyton Orient 1-1 Doncaster Rovers Wigan Athletic 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers Chesterfield 2-1 Salford City Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Bromley Fleetwood Town 2-1 Harrogate Town Tranmere Rovers 0-2 Barnet

Amidst the glamour of the international break, Leagues One and Two continue. And so do we. Kick off is 3pm on Saturday, and remember your joker! Burton Albion v Bolton Wanderers Exeter City v Reading Leyton Orient v Doncaster Rovers Wigan Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers Chesterfield v Salford City Crewe Alexandra v Bromley Fleetwood Town v Harrogate Town Tranmere Rovers v Barnet