StarkMallard

What a demoralising and humiliating day yesterday was. Cambridge were very good and started with high intensity just like @theAnticlough warned us they would. MP's game plan was clearly to hang in there and unleash our more creative players at the end. Jones, Hall and Dennis pose more of a goal threat than the side we fielded but offer nothing defensively. I would maybe have replaced Grant for this game. But the performance was unprofessional irrespective of who was starting and IMO you can't blame such a collapse in performance levels on the head coach. The players have to take responsibility. By the time of the sending off we were already out of the game and we were a distant second best against ten men too. The game was gone by the time he came on, but Enoru can't possibly be as bad as he's looked so far. The referee only left him on the pitch out of pity.

I'm sure he doesn't take it personally that we're still upset about yesterday. Might have been a good idea to add "the fans" as an option though!

Browne and Enoru on. MP has evidently decided there's no point risking Hall and Jones for a complete lost cause and is trying to get minutes in legs instead. As well as losing a game we couldn't afford to, we're getting humiliated by ten men and we've completely shot our goal difference, which was almost the same as Cambridge's at the start of play. Well done Notts.

I did that and a goalkeeper disappeared. Not that they needed a goalkeeper anyway.

PiesPlayer is broken, I appear to be watching a replay from 2019. How do I fix it?

Good point @Robbie. In that case maybe we should cross our fingers for a draw, as I'd prefer Bromley to be fully motivated when they play Cambridge!

Charlton Athletic 1-1 Preston North End Southampton 2-1 Derby County (joker) Bradford City 2-0 Stevenage Huddersfield Town 2-1 Wycombe Wanderers Grimsby Town 1-0 Crewe Alexandra Newport County 1-0 Harrogate Town Aldershot 0-2 Gateshead Altrincham 1-1 Eastleigh

Fantastic result for us, if we win tomorrow it'll be difficult for them to catch us. Big if though! It's also shaping up to be a big matchday for Salford, with at least three of the teams above them guaranteed to drop points and possibly all five. As for who I'd like to go up, Bromley are probably done now, plus us and Cambridge automatically and Grimsby via the playoffs. If we don't make it, I'd like Salford to go up so that we're rid of them.

Bromley beating Shrewsbury on Tuesday night probably puts paid to our chances of us catching them, they're now seven points clear with just four games to go. They've lost only five times this season, so I really can't see them losing three of their next four. It's probably in our interests now for Bromley to sail into League One, beating our rivals as they go - they've got the franchise away on Saturday, followed by possible promotion deciders at home to Cambridge next Thursday and then Salford away.

You've only got a few chances left to gaze into your crystal ball now - why not end the season on a high? As always, our painstakingly curated fixtures kick off at 3pm on Saturday and you get a joker each! Charlton Athletic v Preston North End Southampton v Derby County Bradford City v Stevenage Huddersfield Town v Wycombe Wanderers Grimsby Town v Crewe Alexandra Newport County v Harrogate Town Aldershot v Gateshead Altrincham v Eastleigh

Good tip @Sheffield Pie! Every game from now is huge.

The results: Blackburn Rovers 0-0 West Bromwich Albion Bristol City 1-0 Sheffield United Barnsley 0-3 Plymouth Argyle Mansfield Town 0-0 Burton Albion Gillingham 2-0 Accrington Stanley Swindon Town 2-1 Walsall Eastleigh 2-1 Yeovil Town Hartlepool United 0-0 Rochdale @Fan of Big Tone claims the honours this week - congrats! Overall, @william1984 now has a sixteen-point lead ahead of @magpiejue. I think I need to start to Get Serious™ if I want to win this year! We have a full batch of fixtures coming up on Saturday, so I'll post on Wednesday (tomorrow) as usual. Thanks for playing all!

Another win for York, taking them over 100 points, while Rochdale were held by Hartlepool. They’re definitely in the driving seat now, although they visit Rochdale on the final day. Is there more drama to come? I’ve been crossing my fingers for York - I think Stuart Maynard deserves it and York belong in the league. If they do, I hope justice is done and Dale come up in the playoffs. Only one team going up automatically out of 24 can be incredibly cruel on whoever comes second. It’s about time the National League was given a third promotion spot.

Ness decisively turned the game in our favour with his two goals and generally played well, although I think he switched off for Newport’s goal. Norburn and Iorpenda were their consistent selves too. Kouhyar was industrious and hard working, but didn’t have the beating of his man the same way as Bennetts did on the other side.

A win and suddenly the world is a happy place again. Looking at the team sheet I was a little concerned where the goals were coming from and had pinned my hopes on Ndlovu or Grant to locate their shooting boots. In the end the first two (almost identical) goals came from the unlikeliest source. Following that, the whole ground visibly and audibly relaxed a little too much, and when Newport finally stepped it up and started pressing us in the second half we had a few uncomfortable moments. In the end Luker delivered a moment of quality to seal the points before deciding he was Pele and shooting from any distance when team mates were better positioned. What counts is that we got the job done and are now sitting pretty in the top three!

Partially agree with the above. When Jatta has helped us get into the position we're in and when he gets back, he needs to channel his aggression in the right way. However, I think recent events should be considered if Portsmouth come calling again. We're very close to achieving our aim this season. If we fall short, we won't need a clear-out - a few targeted, high-quality additions would see us over the line next time.

Same procedure as every year. Jatta needs to let his goals do the talking. How can he do that when he's constantly suspended? I remember some appeals but nothing was visible on PiesPlayer. But chances are he's been caught on camera. For the coming matches I'd pick Ndlovu up front, select Hall and Luker behind him and tell them to enjoy themselves. Ndlovu can hold the ball up better than Jatta and bring his teammates into the game. Others will have to find their shooting boots.

Behold! The correct predictions. Possibly? Blackburn Rovers 2-1 West Bromwich Albion Bristol City 2-0 Sheffield United (joker) Barnsley 1-1 Plymouth Argyle Mansfield Town 2-0 Burton Albion Gillingham 0-1 Accrington Stanley Swindon Town 1-1 Walsall Eastleigh 0-1 Yeovil Town Hartlepool United 0-1 Rochdale

Friday's scores: Charlton Athletic 1-2 Bristol City QPR 2-1 Watford Huddersfield Town 1-1 Reading Stockport County 3-0 Wycombe Wanderers Bristol Rovers 1-0 Fleetwood Town Newport County 0-2 Crawley Town Aldershot 2-2 Sutton United Tamworth 1-0 Solihull Moors A big-scoring round with lots of correct predictions. Congrats to @Robbie and @william1984 for scoring 15 this week! @william1984 leads the table and has turned a slender lead into an imposing one once again. Is the title race run? That's our lot for Good Friday, but we also have a round up and running now for Easter Monday so I'll lock this thread to avoid any confusion. See you all there. Thanks for playing!

That was really galling. We spent the first half chasing shadows and should really have been at least two down by the break, so we can't really complain about losing it. Belshaw with two incredible saves - the low header he clawed out of his left post was Banks-esque. He didn't deserve to be on the losing team. The second half was much better, up to stoppage time I thought we looked likelier to score. We certainly had the best chance of the half until then with Hall's miss (more on him below). Then of course stoppage time was wild. The Salford keeper's ridiculous playacting was deservedly punished for our equaliser but as we know events took a different turn. Regarding the Hall social media pile-on - yes, his miss was bad, and for Salford's second he saw and reacted to the danger far too late. Somebody should have been throwing themselves at that loose ball. However, the point of PL clubs sending us players like Hall on loan is for them to learn - the parent club gets a more complete player back, and in return we benefit from a player is is potentially much better than League Two quality and can turn matches for us. But the flipside of that is that they sometimes make mistakes that senior pros don't. He likely cost us points on Friday, but he'll win us points another day if we don't immediately turn on him. Maybe his finest hour in a Notts shirt is yet to come. Positives? Salford away is over and done with and we haven't lost too much ground. Five wins and we're up.

I'm going to stop posting in this thread for fear of angering the football gods. One thing is (almost certain) - it's an absolute bunfight now and will go down to the last minutes of the last game of the season.

We conclude our cracking (oh ho ho) Easter double-header with another prediction league round. If you're taking part, submit your scores by 3pm on Monday and don't forget your joker! Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion Bristol City v Sheffield United Barnsley v Plymouth Argyle Mansfield Town v Burton Albion Gillingham v Accrington Stanley Swindon Town v Walsall Eastleigh v Yeovil Town Hartlepool United v Rochdale

I'm getting a new hobby. Gardening or something. Weeds can't hurt me.

It's looking all too familiar so far, Salford are playing their game and we're trying (and failing) to stop them. Belshaw has made a number of saves already. We need to assert ourselves on this game somehow. I hate Salford.

Not watching (only got PiesPlayer) but crossing my fingers that Swindon pick up something. I'd rather not go to Cambridge having to win. So here's a humble appeal to the foodball gods for Swindon to grab an equaliser, followed by a mass brawl and lots of red cards and suspensions!