Kathcairns

And this Ladies and Gentlemen is what the end result is about.
Stat's mean didley squat if you win
We move onto the next game and try to get 3 points. 

Well, that’s now all the teams in the top six that we have won one and lost one against this season
just Pompey to come. . . 
they won at our place, so surely it’s a win for us at theirs and Champions 🥇 all round?! 😉 
it really doesn’t matter how we play at this stage, just find a way to win each game and be better than our opponents as we did yesterday
what a belting atmosphere! Loved every minute! COYR 

That particular “hitting the bar” wasn’t as close as you can get to a goal. It bounced on the top of the bar so it wasn’t heading into the goal. 

What would bring you joy in football? It appears beating a promotion rival in what was essentially an evenly balanced game isn’t the answer. Here’s how I saw it as someone who likes seeing their team win football Matches, with some of the stats I can find online to support my view…

- The team we all (supposedly) support showed grit and determination to earn a key result yesterday, big plus for me there.

- The possession stats are fairly even (44% to us 56% to them) which backs up what I saw during the game, they had spells with the ball and we had spells with the ball.
- The attempts on goal, well we had 10 shots with 3 on target and they had 6 shots with 3 on target, so they didn’t create massively more than we did in terms of attempts which tallies with what I saw yesterday.

- 6 corners and 1 yellow card a piece, pretty balanced there.
- we made a total of 280 passes with 62% accuracy, they made a total of 385 with 67% accuracy so they won there…I did however notice our players intentionally standing off their defence and allowing them to have the ball which seems a tactical decision to allow them the ball, so my simple observation there is we allowed them to pass it more and they didn’t do much with it…
- the stats I’ve found say we had 1 big chance each and missed 1 big chance each…. Balanced again.
- we had 3 blocked shots, they had 1. Our keeper made 3 saves, theirs made 2. So while our keeper was busier they blocked some of our efforts which could have resulted in their keeper making more saves…
- we made 9 interceptions to their 3 and 32 clearances to their 25, backing up the work our defence did to keep them out.
- we scored 1 goal, they score 0.
So in summary, as I thought yesterday and still today having looked over the numbers, it was a balanced game between two teams at this level, both had chances, both defended well, each side approached the game slightly different to the other and we scored from a set piece to win…. Hooray! 

Everyone who pays for a seat should have the right to watch the match without someone standing up in front of them. A lot of people cannot stand, and children have got no chance of seeing the game. To me the people that block views are very selfish.

Everyone who pays for a seat should have the right to watch the match without someone standing up in front of them. A lot of people cannot stand, and children have got no chance of seeing the game. To me the people that block views are very selfish.

Good work again Daniel.
Keep it up👍👍

That’s right. He once lambasted me for having to miss a game as my wife had arranged for us to go out!

Fairs mate. I think most on here would be happy to see Pompey promoted too, assuming we make the cut also. Your lot have been THE most consistent side in the division and having been bang there pretty much all season, I'd like to think that your long wait will finally be coming to an end this season. I still want us to knock you off top spot mind! 

Decided to read through the thread after hearing the inspiring albeit sad tale of your recently passed young supporter. This post popped out. 
 
Year after year we’ve had close calls with promotion and have thrown it away.  Even now with the lead we have I won’t believe we are promoted until it’s mathematically safe. 
 
After hearing the story about B4 I genuinely hope it’s Pompy and Derby who go up in the automatics. What a fitting tribute that would be for someone who was obviously well loved by this forum and had a good heart. 
 
 

Thats class. Pompy it is then 👌. 

I knew as soon as you mentioned “deserved” that @ap04 would give you a clapping hand. 😀
Seriously though, yes you created the better chances and, on the whole, played the better football. BUT, you failed to score (as you say, either due to some poor finishing or great goal keeping) whereas we did. Therefore, you “deserved” to lose. Maybe our goal would have been ruled out if we had VAR (maybe not though given his arm wasn’t in an unnatural position and the ball was heading into the empty net anyway I’m not sure you could say he “scored” the goal) But, if that is your only case for not deserving to lose, would you concede that we didn’t deserve to lose at your place given the foul for your penalty was outside the box (just) and Wildsmith shouldn’t have been sent off?

If you watch the goal in real time, you can't even tell whether or not it touched Waghorn's arm. The ball didn't slow down or deviate and there was no Bolton player behind Waghorn being prevented from blocking the header. I suspect that Still has either been doctored or is an optical trick caused by the Still being taken just before Waghorn moved his arm slightly. No Bolton player appealed, so they clearly didn't see it hit Waghorn's arm either. A slow- motion replay would be more trustworthy.
Regardless, the ball was going in the net.

Everyone knows we’re more of an away team. A record equalling 12 wins (so far) attests to that. 
it’s about time we had some good fortune. I wouldn’t agree Waghorn ‘handled’ the ball. It brushed between his hand and his leg. Hardly intentional! 
If we think back to the Sheffield Wednesday match, last game of the season; a really soft penalty given against Curtis Davies, yet at the same end Fozzy was literally thrown to the ground at a corner. No pen, obviously. 
Then the refs blunder at Bolton. 
Yes, it is time some things went our way. 

I’d be embarrassed about being a Bolton fan coming on here talking about how they battered us: xG was 0.46 to 0.49. 
They were unlucky not to get a draw, but sideways passing between the centre backs, occasionally rotating into midfield and back to the centre backs, isn’t exactly the ‘battering’ you think it might be. 

Credit to our Goalie? 
Maybe if he wasn't sent off incorrectly at your place the points gap between us would be even greater.
 

Sorry for you and your wifes loss Mucker.

Everyone who pays for a seat should have the right to watch the match without someone standing up in front of them. A lot of people cannot stand, and children have got no chance of seeing the game. To me the people that block views are very selfish.

I don’t think Bolton were miles better than us. The football they play is a lot easier on the eye and is nice to watch as they move it around waiting for space to exploit but I think we were solid and had it not been for the odd poor touch here and there we’d have done a lot more on the counter attack. 
 
Anyway players need to forget it and focus straight on to the next match. Only Derby playing on Saturday out of the mini league of 5 at the top. Psychologically could be massive heading into the busy Easter period 7 points ahead of second and 2 points off top with superior goal difference. It turns the heat up on everybody around us when they’re cramming more games into a shorter time frame. We have to back yesterday up with a result at Northampton. 

Do you actually have anything meaningful to back your last paragraph up.
You do realise that 75% of the teams are the same as last season?
So really you need to compare who went up and down last season, unless you have evidence that teams that were in the division last season have got worse?
Personally, I'd say some have got better and some worse, so the league is pretty much the same standard as last season.

The only time a league is “easy” is when there are 2 runaway leaders and you are one of them. That has not happened this year. Only 1 in Pompey. 
This league isn’t easy, it’s highly competitive. Until yesterday there were 5 teams in with a chance of the automatics and probably 9 or 10 with hopes of the play offs. 

I actually don’t agree. I think without 3 standout teams outplaying the majority of the rest of the league it’s actually proving to be a more competitive league this season, sides are more closely matched at the top end of the table illustrated by the smaller gap between the sides. Last season it was almost always between 3 sides for automatic promotion, this season it’s been less clear with us, Barnsley, Bolton, Posh, Portsmouth and Oxford all competing at various points. 
I’ve never signed up to this idea that the league is somehow “easier”, it is what it is, 24 teams competing for points across a 46 game season and relative to that we’re currently the second placed side.

If you can't enjoy days like today then you should probably consider just not bothering.

Too right, next season is not on the agenda yet, get promoted then worry about that! Regards going up, I’ve never felt so confident as now, it’s not just today’s result (of which we didn’t play very well and rode our luck) it’s more the togetherness of the team and how they are fighting and pulling together, today the players new it wasn’t there best performance, but no way were they going to concede a goal. I think it’s this togetherness that’s going to get us over the line, who really cares how well we play at this stage of the season, just win games!!

On the evidence of yesterday, with seats not often occupied more likely to be filled for the remainder of the season, there's an issue brewing with persistent and sometimes bellicose standing at the top of the south end of the West Stand Upper. Fans who didn't want someone standing infront of them had to face down fans who thought they could bully others into accepting their ignorant behaviour. A couple of stewards came up to take a look, but did sweet FA to force the belligerents to comply with the stadium rules. In fairness, they were severely outnumbered. If these fans persist, I can see the club being forced to bar match by match sales up there.