Update time!
CHAMPIONSHIPHell must have frozen over, because Bristol City are actually in a three-way logjam in the points atop the division! :shok: West Brom and Watford are ahead of them by virtue of more wins, and West Brom are the official leaders because of goal differential. Championship is actually pretty close at the moment, with only a dozen points separating the playoff zone from the relegation zone. Stoke, Charlton, and (much to my delight) Ipswich hold the other three playoff spots at the moment, with the next five teams in the table (Plymouth, Crystal Palace, Hull, Wolverhampton, Cardiff) all within a win of Ipswich.
And guess who's last! :evil: PRESTON NORTH END!! AAAHAHAHAHAHA!! :haha: :haha: :haha: QPR have surged out of the red zone and now have 30 points (6 more than PNE). Colchester and S****horpe are in the other two red zone spots.
Now for Canadian content news:
Cheltenham has extended the loan for Canadian Mike D'Agostino, who has made five appearances (2 starts, 3 subs) for them on loan from Blackpool. And y'know what? Cheltenham might like him so much that they could make that deal permanent. I'll be keeping my eyes on this situation for sure.
Ipswich's Jason DeVos is playing for the best team out of any of the four Canucks owned by Championship sides, but Jaime Peters has yet to make an appearance this season, something to do with his mindset according to the people at the Voyageurs website. Shame really. He's a good player when he's on, and Ipswich fans know that, but apparently he's really just been
bad this season.
Iain Hume is rumoured to be on his way out of Leicester, and there are rumours that Everton and Fulham are interested in him. Can't say I blame him if he leaves that club. Leicester are stinking it up at the moment and are only one spot out of relegation, only because they've allowed ten fewer goals than S****horpe.
LEAGUE ONESwansea have a two point lead over Carlisle at the moment for top, with Forest, Leeds, Doncaster and Walsall in the remaining playoff spots. Good thing Leeds has that 15-point penalty, though, or they'd be running away with the title this season! Walsall has one eye over their shoulder, I'd imagine. Leyton Orient are only behind them on goal differential, and Yeovil and Tranmere are within a win.
On the other side of things, Port Vale are really stinking it up at the moment - they're nine behind Millwall, who are the last side clear of the red zone. Bournemouth, Cheltenham, and Luton are in the other three red zone spots, and unfortunately, two of these clubs have Canadians atm. Luton's in a whole world of trouble financially despite selling players, hence the ten-point penalty that has them in the red.
Which brings me to the CanCon part of my report.
Paul Peschisolido has yet to play a match for Luton despite having been one of the big reasons Derby (who are now struggling) made it to the Premiership in the first place. Something tells me Pesch isn't far removed from retirement tbh. He
is 35 after all.
You've already heard about the D'Agostino situation, and I have the feeling that Cheltenham may be inclined to play him more out of desperation for points. They aren't as bad off as Port Vale, but they're still five behind Millwall.
Marc Bircham (who isn't
really Canadian) has only played once for Yeovil this season and that was as a sub. Most Voyageurs have as big a problem (if not bigger) with him playing for Canada as they do with Hargreaves playing for England.
LEAGUE TWOMK Dons are
destroying this league. Seriously. Last time I updated, they only led by two. Now they lead by
eleven. Hereford and Rotherham are second with 46. You do the math :p Chesterfield, Peterborough, Darlington, and Wycombe are holding down playoff spots, with Morecambe within striking distance... I can't believe I just said that
At the other end, it looks like Mansfield and Wrexham are speeding towards relegation, being five and six back of Dag & Red respectively. Bury, Notts County, Macclesfield, and Lincoln aren't doing so hot, either.
Unfortunately, not all teams with Canadians can be Ipswich :p Macclesfield and Dag & Red aren't so hot, and the team with a Canadian that
is doing something doesn't have the Canadian in the senior team (he's in the youth side - he's only 18 after all).
Family man Ross Smith from Dag & Red has made 11 appearances and picked up a booking, plus his shot couldn't hit the side of a barn. Good thing he's a defender, eh?
Terry Dunfield, on the other hand, has been a right terror this season for Macclesfield, picking up seven yellows in his return to play after a long injury-based hiatus. He does, however, have a goal and an assist, and has been a regular in Macclesfield's lineup with 22 appearances. He's not afraid to put the ball on target, just that he only does so 30% of the time (7 on target, 13 off, and a team leading 3 shots off the woodwork). Not bad for a guy who's been out with injury for the past two or three seasons!
CONFERENCE PREMIERAldershot seems to be the team to beat at the moment. They have 61 points, seven-clear of second-place Torquay. Stevenage also seems well on its way to a playoff spot. The next two spots are contested by six teams, though - Burton and Cambridge have a distinct advantage as they have only played 24 matches, where Histon (6th place) have played 27, Forest Green (7th place) have played 25, and Ebbsfleet (8th place) have played 26. Games in hand could also come back to bite Aldershot in the ass, if Torquay wins both of its games in hand!
Speaking of Forest Green, Stuart Fleetwood is slaying the opposition goalkeepers with his astonishing 28 goals, of which 22 are in Conference.
At the other end, Stafford Rangers and Droylsden look like hopeless cases, being ten points in the hole (aka ten points behind Farsley) and with the former only having won
once all season! Northwich aren't much better off, only three points ahead of those two. Altrincham actually has a chance. I still hope they don't make it, though. Farsley and Weymouth are still very much in danger.
Canadian Content?
Well, Torquay's starting goalkeeper is Canadian. Big man Simon Rayner (6'4", 15st) has started in goal for 3 of every 4 Torquay matches and has 5 clean sheets. Not to take anything away from his partner, who has three clean sheets to his credit in eight matches played.
Simeon Jackson's position has slipped from second to fourth in Conference scoring, but for once I'm actually happy - it shows the rest of the team has finally decided to pick up the slack to help him! Still, fifteen goals is nothing to sneeze at! He's not Fleetwood, but he is decent enough for League football and I think someone ought to pick him up in the summer. R&D are thirteen clear of relegation and not as low in the table as they were (they've been 19th and 18th at points this season) but they still have a fight ahead of them.
Weymouth just needs to smarten up. Gavin McCallum hasn't scored since October (he's a holding mid, can you blame him?) but that's not the point. The point is, they're 18th and only five clear of Altrincham HOWEVER they have a game in hand, so that five could easily become eight.
CONFERENCE NORTHI'll bet Kettering is liking where they are. They're five clear of Southport for top
and they have a game in hand. If I were them, I'd be more worried about third-place Harrogate, who also have a game in hand on Southport. Telford and Hyde have the other two playoff spots, and Nuneaton is in striking distance of the fourth and final spot. Nuneaton has to be careful, though. Stalybridge Celtic is only three back and has
two games in hand on them.
Leigh is bottom, six behind Solihull, five behind Vauxhall Motors, and three behind Hinckley. Hinckley may be second-from-bottom, but they also have games in hand on the other teams in their immediate area of the table - two on Vauxhall and Leigh and three on Solihull, to be exact. Blyth Spartans, who are two up on Solihull and three up on Vauxhall, have a game in hand on Vauxhall, two on Solihull and
three on Blyth Spartans, who are two ahead of them. Tamworth isn't out of the woods yet, either. This wacky scheduling could make for some interesting football at the southern end of the table :p
No Canadians in Conference North.
CONFERENCE SOUTHI wouldn't be getting too cocky if I were Lewes. Sure, they're nine clear up top, but they've also played two more games than second-place Eastbourne, who IMO are the biggest threat to their title. Surprising Hampton and Richmond Borough are stubbornly holding third down thanks to the second-highest goals-for total in the division. Canadian Elliott Godfrey has seven goals, but he's just one of several who have contributed to the 47 goals the H&R Block have scored this season. Nigerian Lawrence Yaku leads the way with eight. They have a game in hand on 4th-place Bath, who aren't doing too shabby in their own right, only a point back of H&R. Newport County rounds out the playoff lot, three back of Bath, but only goal diff is keeping them ahead of Eastleigh, with Bromley, Basingstoke, Fisher, and Bishop's Stortford all within a win.
The relegation race (or the race to stay out of relegation) is pretty tight. St. Albans is bottom, but they also have a game in hand on both Sutton (who have the same number of points)
and 19th-place Bognor Regis, and two games in hand on 18th-place Welling United. Dorchester, two points ahead of St. Albans, also have the same number of games in hand. A bit of advice to those teams - USE THEM!!
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