StarkMallard

Hot on the heels of Saturday's games we have the first midweek round of the season, just to keep you all on your toes. All of these games kick off at 7.45 p.m., and remember your joker! Good luck! Norwich City v Leeds United Sunderland v Derby County Birmingham City v Huddersfield Town Crawley Town v Mansfield Town Leyton Orient v Exeter City Doncaster Rovers v Barrow Newport County v Salford City Tranmere Rovers v Swindon Town

Greetings from Greece, where I am now the official (joint) champion at boules (at my hotel). That's surely worth 100 points, so I'll discreetly add them on. Middlesbrough 2-1 Stoke City Millwall 1-1 Preston North End Blackpool 1-1 Burton Albion Wigan Athletic 1-2 Exeter City Gillingham 2-0 Barrow (joker) Newport County 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Woking 1-2 Sutton United Yeovil Town 1-2 Aldershot

Thanks for playing everyone, I'll count the points for this one this weekend once I'm back home, as counting points on my mobile is too fiddly by half and there are low-quality Greek beers to be drunk. Onto the next round!

If Gillingham took just under 1000, leaving 4000 empty seats in the Sirrel stand, that means there'll have been just 1000 empty seats in the rest of the ground. It will have looked full and there wouldn't have been any empty sections at all. I'm far away in a sunny place so I really don't know, but the Lane has a habit of looking fuller than it actually is. But even 11,000 would be an outstanding crowd.

Personally I hope that AJ doesn't dabble in boxing and sticks to football ????

Same procedure as every week - these all kick off at 3pm on the above date, and remember your jokers! Middlesbrough v Stoke City Millwall v Preston North End Blackpool v Burton Albion Wigan Athletic v Exeter City Gillingham v Barrow Newport County v Crewe Alexandra Woking v Sutton United Yeovil Town v Aldershot

Luton Town 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United 3-1 Derby County (joker) Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Reading Peterborough United 2-1 Bristol Rovers Bradford City 0-1 AFC Wimbledon Salford City 0-2 Walsall Hartlepool United 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge Oldham Athletic 2-1 Yeovil Town

Hi everyone, when you read this I'll (hopefully) be sunning myself on the beach, but, thanks to the magic of technology, here are the next prediction league fixtures! However, I'll very probably be late in posting your results for this round. So here we go - these all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and don't forget your joker! Luton Town v Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United v Derby County Bolton Wanderers v Reading Peterborough United v Bristol Rovers Bradford City v AFC Wimbledon Salford City v Walsall Hartlepool United v Dagenham & Redbridge Oldham Athletic v Yeovil Town

The results: Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 QPR Swansea City 1-0 Norwich City Bolton Wanderers 0-4 Huddersfield Town Rotherham United 2-2 Burton Albion Carlisle United 2-3 Fleetwood Town Port Vale 1-0 Chesterfield Southend United 1-3 Sutton United Tamworth 3-1 Maidenhead United --- The scoring was more modest this week, but congrats to @TheSkipper and runner-up @The Heff! --- In a major technological advance, I've introduced a column for this week's overall position and, in blue, last week's position. It's one small step for my spreadsheet, but one giant leap for the PON prediction league (or something). Using this wizardry, we can see that @super_ram is still top, but @TheSkipper continues to climb... --- And that's us done for another week. The next matches are played next Saturday, so the fixtures will be posted on Wednesday as usual. Thanks for playing, let the post-mortem commence!

It's always a tough place to go and we don't tend to do well there, but having missed the start I never really doubted that we'd find our way back into the game and take at least a point. Really impressed by the character they showed today - not everything came off, but when we lost the ball we'd be snapping at their heels straight away and often won it back quickly. Hard work pays off, but the assistance from Rick O'Shay was also appreciated Chuffed for Stuart Maynard and the travelling fans. We are top of the league!

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 QPR Swansea City 2-1 Norwich City Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Huddersfield Town Rotherham United 1-1 Burton Albion Carlisle United 1-1 Fleetwood Town Port Vale 1-2 Chesterfield Southend United 2-0 Sutton United (joker) Tamworth 2-1 Maidenhead United

It's time to polish your crystal ball again - these matches all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and don't forget your joker! Sheffield Wednesday v QPR Swansea City v Norwich City Bolton Wanderers v Huddersfield Town Rotherham United v Burton Albion Carlisle United v Fleetwood Town Port Vale v Chesterfield Southend United v Sutton United Tamworth v Maidenhead United

And two of those games were against Fleetwood and Accrington - no disrespect intended, but they're not exactly crowd pullers. It's incredible. I remember parking in the industrial estate for midweek games and wondering whether the match had been called off because it was so quiet. How different it is now.

I think the people who had reasonable doubts early on have been reassured somewhat. I include myself in that and really want to be eating humble pie come May! We haven't played any of the teams that are expected to challenge yet, but we do know beyond any reasonable doubt that the players have confidence in him and are playing for him. Results have turned around too. What's not to like? Of course there are the usual idiots who just wait for us to lose a game, but that's also a part of football unfortunately.

I'm a bit narked that I got 8 points and still finished half way down! I'd have won some rounds with that last season. @allardyces tash, I think adding the previous round's table would clutter it up too much, but it would be cool to show the players' positions from the previous week so we can see who's moving up and down. I'll see if I can find a way to do it over the next few weeks, no promises though. The next round is coming up soon!

The results: Barnsley 2-1 Bristol Rovers Charlton Athletic 1-1 Rotherham United Cheltenham Town 1-0 Harrogate Town Colchester United 1-1 Bromley Doncaster Rovers 1-0 Gillingham Braintree Town 0-0 Woking Gateshead 2-0 Barnet Hartlepool United 0-0 Halifax Town --- No 7-4 or 5-5 scorelines this week, and that means many of you scooped a lot of points, not least in-form @super_ram with 12 points. @Blake, @nottsnutter and @Robbie follow close behind on 11. Congrats all! --- Overall, @super_ram snatches top spot from @liampie with @Joshua making up the top three... --- The next round is on Saturday, so the fixtures will be posted here on Wednesday. Thanks for playing everyone, let the post-mortem begin

Luckily not! Otherwise I'd probably be dead. The main memory from my PE lessons in the 90s were the cross country runs. We just walked for most of it, but broke into a jog when the teachers turned up in their cars to check on us. It also involved negotiating a farmer's field with bulls in it - I ran that bit!

Accrington looked very Conferencey to mee and we know how that ends. However, you can only beat what's in front of you and we lost against some very poor sides last season. Winning is a habit, long may it continue! Regarding Scott, it's a bit unfair to judge him based on a cameo. However, many of his appearances have been cameos, and often out of position too. His spell with us has been stop-start in general, and while that isn't anyone's fault, I think the next few months will be important for him. I hope his injury isn't anything major.

Talk about a storm in a tea cup. This one has been whipped up by people who are obsessed about "free speech" when it comes to using racist language - but when Lee Carsley exercises his own freedom not to sing a song, the sky is suddenly falling down. Good on him for sticking to his guns and annoying all the right people.

I think that comment might relate to him getting help with an alcohol problem. He's not the only Notts player to have had problems there. Hope he moves on and does well with us - if there are any issues, back he goes.

Barnsley 2-0 Bristol Rovers (joker) Charlton Athletic 2-0 Rotherham United Cheltenham Town 2-0 Harrogate Town Colchester United 1-1 Bromley Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Gillingham Braintree Town 1-2 Woking Gateshead 3-1 Barnet Hartlepool United 1-2 Halifax Town

On 7 September 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev became better known as the initiator of the Cuban missile crisis, one of the biggest gambles in history that took the world to the brink of nuclear war. If you fancy a gamble with slightly lower stakes, we have some prediction league fixtures coming up. These all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and remember your joker! Barnsley v Bristol Rovers Charlton Athletic v Rotherham United Cheltenham Town v Harrogate Town Colchester United v Bromley Doncaster Rovers v Gillingham Braintree Town v Woking Gateshead v Barnet Hartlepool United v Halifax Town

The results: Derby County 3-0 Bristol City Plymouth Argyle 0-1 Stoke City Crawley Town 0-3 Barnsley Peterborough United 0-2 Wrexham Accrington Stanley 1-1 Colchester United Carlisle United 1-2 Tranmere Rovers Altrincham 1-1 Oldham Athletic Gateshead 2-1 Eastleigh --- No fewer than six of you made double figures this week - @allardyces tash got a stonking 16 points, followed by @super_ram, @Blake and @Joshua. Well done all of you! --- This is how we're shaping up overall. @liampie is now sharing top spot with @super_ram, while @allardyces tash and @Joshua join the front runners. Meanwhile, I'm lurking in the bottom half of the table and waiting for my opportunity to pounce. --- Irrespective of the internationals, we'll be back on Saturday for another round, so the fixtures will be posted on Wednesday. Thanks for playing and have a good week!

As far as I know he still is @Blake. At that level, managers typically have a day job, and training will be a couple of evenings after work. He played yesterday, so he hasn't quite finished playing altogether. They lost 7-1 though.

Brilliant. Promotion contenders find a way to win even when things don't quite go to plan. Last season we didn't win many of those "smash and grab" points because we were just too easy to score against. I only saw the end of the game but a win is a win!