Carl Sagan

Tuesday 12th March:

• Portsmouth 2 Burton 1
• RAMS 2 Reading 1
• Bolton 5 Oxford 0
• Carlisle 2 Barnsley 3

Everybody won, which we have to expect most weeks in this league. Leaving the picture as:

Clearly a four-horse race for second. Saturday has become a "must not lose" game. A win would be a massive stride towards the automatics.

Now, with 8 games to go, we can't finish lower than 11th. So we'll definitely be top half! Only Bristol Rovers and above can overtake us.

Maybe with 4 or 5 games left I'll start looking at the remaining fixtures to see what a difference that makes in terms of people being mathematically able to overhaul us. 

14 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

But he is 35 and didn’t play for weeks, 3 games in a week might be too much…

13 hours ago, Loughborough Ram said:

I prefer "he is ONLY 35". Manage his training if you have to but games is what it's all about at this stage. He's started the last 2 or 3 games and as Spalding says, he'll be absolutely flying having scored a couple of goals.

When actually he's only 34. Not 35 till October! Meaning he can defo play three games a week. 

1 hour ago, therealhantsram said:

Is the op going to keep this thread up to date. What's the lowest we can finish now?

You could read back one page! Or am I meant to update it every day, even when there are no matches?

On 09/03/2024 at 17:33, Carl Sagan said:

Some great results today at the top. At the bottom, we can't now finish lower than 14th. I do remember one ignominious point earlier in the season when Burton Albion were above us in the league. Now they can't catch us! 

RamsTV Highlights: https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2024/03/match-highlights-bristol-rovers-vs-derby-county-march-2024

Great to see. Could have been many more. Well done everyone. Come on you Rams!

3 hours ago, Srg said:

A hat trick is a hat trick, but it was against a team from the NLN, a division lower than Gateshead. Let’s hope they give him a shot in the league. 

It was the quarter final of the FA Trophy so a pretty big deal. And now through to the semi-finals.

Well done Dajaune! Great he's found his scoring boots. Looks really promising.

What a great Saturday:

• Blackpool 0 Portsmouth 0
• Exeter 2 Bolton 2
• Bristol Rovers 0 RAMS 3
• Barnsley 1 Lincoln 5
• Burton 1 Peterborough 3

With nine games to go, we have moved into our best league position of the season - for the very first time we are second on points per game. Objectively second.

There are going to be a fair few twists and turns between now and the end, but I'd rather be in our position than the three below us. Plus our excellent goal difference had another boost. Come on you Rams!

Some great results today at the top. At the bottom, we can't now finish lower than 14th. I do remember one ignominious point earlier in the season when Burton Albion were above us in the league. Now they can't catch us! 

Pleased Sibs is doing the pre-match as he might even get a start. Before being hauled off, first to go, after 55 minutes...

Next Mars flight test is scheduled for Thursday 14th March UK, 6-8pm UK time.

This is much more ambitious than previously so, once in space, there'll be a test of the cargo bay doors (I don't think I can do that, Dave) and also a test of orbital fueling.

This flight test is Ship 28 on top of Booster 10. But SpaceX is building loads of these, so today Ship 29 was being tested out on another launchpad. The plan is to do a flight test per month from now on.

2 hours ago, MickD said:

Last minute equalizer for Bolton 😡

Based on points per game, before tonight we were 4th and have now moved up to third. A draw was much the best result for us, with both these promotion rivals dropping 2 points. Fabulous!

Best result tonight in terms of the Barnsley Bolton draw. A shame Peterborough are coming up on the rails. With Portsmouth off in the distance, it's turning into a 4-horse race for second spot:

There will be twists and turns, but we can't afford too many. Ten games to go. Seven wins and we're in the mix, eight wins and we're probably over the line. Obviously the Bolton game has massive significance and is "must not lose". 

"Wet dress rehearsal" for the third Integrated Flight Test completed. And with some lovely photography:

You'd expect the launch within a few days from now. Another step further on the long road to Mars.

On 02/03/2024 at 23:12, Carlin said:

I think 90 points will be enough for automatic promotion.

I'll be surprised if it's that low - I think 2nd will need at least 2 points a game, probably 93 points which would mean 8 more wins rather than the 7 for 90. It will be a big ask. 

Fantastic first senior goal - great composure. Dajaune only came on in the 81st minute, and scored 6 minutes into injury time. Hopefully it's a prelude to him getting more game time with them.

3 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Portsmouth aren't running away with it and I don't quite get the point you are making about them finishing 8th last season.

Portsmouth do seem to be running away with the league to me. Their total with 10 games to go will already be enough for the playoffs. If they maintain their season-long form, they will finish on 97.1 points. By contrast their closest challengers, Bolton, are looking at 90.7 points. They've only lost 4 games all season - we've lost 9! Barnsley are next closest to them on that stat, losing 6 matches.

2 hours ago, rynny said:

Wouldn't the best outcome be Barnsley win, with them then losing their other game in hand? Obviously that's in fantasy land. The 2nd best result would be a Bolton win, take them 3 points ahead of us but as we still need to play them then we can still overtake them, the draw would be the worst result as we would have to try and overtake both of them (if Barnsley win their game in hand).

I disagree because I think the fewest points our rivals have, the better. A draw means only 2 pts going against us instead of 3. Our current ppg is 1.92, behind Barnsley on 1.94 and then Bolton on 1.97. The different scenarios are:

• Barnsley win sees them on 1.97 while Bolton join us on 1.92, but fall behind on goal difference.
• Bolton win sees them on 2.00 while Barnsley fall back to 1.89.
• Draw and Bolton are on 1.94 and Barnsley 1.91.

So a draw puts us objectively 3rd, and only 0.02 ppg behind Bolton in second.

On 29/02/2024 at 01:05, Carl Sagan said:

Well, after back-to-back defeats we've fallen to fourth place in the table that properly reflects points over the season:

It's been a big dropoff by us and Bolton with the 95 point target for automatics now looking a significant overestimate. Barnsley will fancy their chances and if poor form continues then Peterborough can come back into the mix.

All is not lost, but we need to put a run of results together quickly. If my auntie had balls she'd be my uncle, but what a missed opportunity this has been. We could have been well clear with Portsmouth...

After wins for all the top 5 on Saturday, we remain 4th in this "effective" table, everyone on 3 points more from a game more. However, Tuesday night sees Barnsley at home to Bolton meaning one or both of them will drop points and, regardless of the result we shall move up into effective 3rd place. My preference would be for the draw. Peterborough are also playing at home to Northampton. It would be great if they drop points so remain at arms length.

24 minutes ago, Ram-Alf said:

The Quatermass films were good in their day 🤷‍♂️, A couple or 3 years ago I watched "Them" shot in black and white, About Giant Ants on Talking Pictures" TV channel   there was a scene where a Giant Ant appeared from behind a rock the Woman screamed as she could see the ropes working the Ants 😁

Watched all these things with my bro growing up - we adored them. What a time for filmmaking, including with the giant creatures, or small people. And of course I love Quatermass, and even more modern versions.The Fly led to us reminiscing about The Incredible Shrinking Man, which I've just googled and see was made in 1957.

14 hours ago, BaaLocks said:

Dune 2: was made to sit through the first one and ended up enjoying it much more than I expected. But the second one is just so drawn out. Scene after scene of millions of (CGI generated) soldiers swearing feilty to some leader or other while your ears are bombarded with dramatic music. It just goes round in circles and - guess what - leaves you then realizing the story isn't finished so another three hours to sit through to find out the conclusion (at least). Just feels like this all could have fitted more than easily into, maybe, two two hour films rather than three, three hour ones.

Interesting as I've only noted spectacular reviews. Seeing this on Thursday. In the meanwhile:

The Fly (1958 version): was on the other night and me and Mrs Sagan really enjoyed it. We both were puzzled as we'd seen it as children, and thought it was a black and white film, yet this was screening in colour. But then it dawned we must have seen it on b&w tellies. Old school science horror, in glorious technicolour, with the magnificent ending that stays with you. Terry Hennessy/10.

1 hour ago, Loughborough Ram said:

I think that he's the best left wing back at the club. I don't think that he's in the top two in any other position. 

If Paul Warne decides to go with 3 centre halves and the two best wing backs, in ward and Sibley, from now on, I think that our home performances and results will improve, but our away performances may suffer.

I guess you pays your money, you takes your choice.

I say Louie is our best attacking central midfielder. But he's never given the opportunity to show it.

The good news tonight, with 10 games still to go, is we're now safe from relegation. With our 69 points, we can't be caught by: Carlisle, Fleetwood, Port Vale (obviously a crucial win today), Shrewsbury or Charlton.

So the worst position we could end up in is 19th, and might even be higher with teams below us having to play each other.

As we begin the business end of the season, the hope is fewer and fewer teams will be able to catch us. For instance, Oxford in 7th can now only get a maximum of 87 points, and the time will come (maybe in 5 games or so) when we're mathematically cemented in the playoffs. Let's hope we reach a point when we cannot finish lower than 2nd. Let's count it down in this thread.

4 minutes ago, B4’s Sister said:

Congratulations on getting published. This flower looks fascinating 

Thanks, but in this case I'm only the book publisher. This is one by someone else (the botanist Chris Thorogood) where I'm just his editor. But it's a great book. He transports you into the rainforest with him.

30 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Forest owner sent off on the touch line 😂😂 clatternburg better get to work 

I would worry for Paul Tierney. And the ref for the gump's next game. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/revealed-would-nottingham-forest-owner-8451522

Great to get back to winning ways. And Sky gave me a free £1 build a bet that was used to fine effect:

With everyone else winning too, we briefly remain effectively 4th (on points per games), but it's very tight between Bolton, Barnsley and us, and because Barnsley play Bolton midweek, whatever the result we will sit 3rd on ppg. Plus goal difference may yet be a factor. Boosting that really helps and brings confidence.