Who wants it then? The Wacky Playoff Races

By Albatross
April 25 2005

Ever seen those Cycling Races where they seem to be going as slow as possible for most of it? We seem to be seeing the Footballing equivalent of it at the moment, as no-one seems able to secure a playoff place in Division 2. Can Pools take the bull by the horns next weekend?

The results over the weekend mean that the sides from Pools down to Brentford in 7th seem to be doing a bit of "after you, Claude" with the playoff places - the only side currently guaranteed a place is Tranmere just above us. Meanwhile the last dozen games involving the four sides have produced just four wins and three draws. One of those was Brentford's game in hand; if you look just at the last three fixtures for all of the teams then Pools are actually best off with four points!

In fact, even Tranmere aren't in great form at the moment - no win in three - and fans of Bristol City must be rubbing their hands in anticipation. A further three points behind, wins in their last two games could yet prove enough to take them into a playoff spot that looked out of the question not so long ago; a win at home to Doncaster next week would set them up for a potentially crucial clash at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season that could well end up as "Winner takes all".

Pools on the other hand can still go into the final day knowing that they're already secure in the top six. A home game with the now safe Walsall doesn't look quite as straightforward as it did at the start of the month; three wins on the spin, including 3-0 over Hull on Saturday, see them as one of the form teams. However, a win for Pools could be enough to claim a playoff spot - all it would need then would be for one of Bournemouth (away to Bradford) or Wednesday (away to Hull) to slip up, or for Brentford (away to Luton) to lose and then fail to beat Wrexham in midweek. Given the way all of the sides have been performing, you wouldn't bet against it....

The permutations are almost endless about what might happen, but Pools do have the knowledge that even a defeat against the Saddlers wouldn't end our hopes completely - a win over Bournemouth would still snatch the fat from the fire.

Cooper has claimed since the defeat on Saturday that some of the players were suffering from a bug. Hopefully everyone will be in peak condition for Saturday - or else there could be an awful lot of people suffering from butterflies in the stomach before May 7th. Mind you, we must all be getting used to it; the last five seasons have seen us get into the playoffs on the last day three times, and have a title decider once. What price on us having to go right down to the wire pnce more? At least this time we wouldn't lack for company......