Update Monday 30th July:We all knew the importance of yesterday’s home game against Oldham but quite how significant that win was can really be seen when looking at the projected outcomes over the remaining seven games. My ‘best guesses’ as to who will win in the remaining fixtures shown below are listed in red. After beating Oldham, we now have a very realistic chance of finishing third.
Team & Pts........Diff & Rank......Round 20..............Round 21..........Round 22...............Round 23.................Round 24................Round 25.............Round 26.............Final Points & RankBradford 34...........+620 (1).......
Whitehaven (H)......
N Wales (H).......
Workington (H).........
Keighley (H)...........
W Wales (A).........
Oldham (A)..........
Hemel (H)..............48 (1)
York 34.................+544 (2).......
N Wales (H)...........
W Wales (A).....
Hunslet (H)..............
Workington (A).......
Oldham (H)............
Hemel (A)...........
Whitehaven (H).......48 (2)
Workington 26 ......+276 (5).......
Keighley (H)..........
Coventry (H).......Bradford (A).............York (H).................
Newcastle (A)........
London (H)..........Dons (A)................34 (4)
Whitehaven 26......+195 (7).......Bradford (A)..........Oldham (A)..........Dons (H)..................Hemel (A)..............Hunslet (H)...........Coventry (A)........York ((A)................34 (5)
Oldham 24.............+443 (3)......
Hemel (A).............
Whitehaven (H)....
Newcastle (A).........
Coventry (H)...........York (A).................Bradford (H).......
.London (A).............34 (6)
Dons 24.................+281 (4)......
Coventry (A)...........
London (H).........Whitehaven (A)........
Newcastle (H).......
.Keighley (A)...........
N Wales (A).......
Workington (H).......36 (3)
Hunslet 24..............+99 (8).......
W Wales (A)..........
Hemel (H)..........York (A)..................
London (H).............Whitehaven (A).......
Newcastle (H).....
Coventry (A)..........34 (7)
Keighley 20...........+196 (6)......Workington (A).......
Newcastle (H).....
London (A)..............Bradford (A)............Dons (H)................
W Wales (A).......
N Wales (H)..........28 (8)
It’s going to remain incredibly close. Everything will almost certainly go down to the last matches of the season when we’re at home to Workington. Providing we only lose one of our other remaining games (possibly at Whitehaven) a win against Workington could mean we’d finish third, a loss to Workington would possibly mean we’d be relying on points difference to keep us in the top five. In fact, this game could be the decider in who finishes third and fourth, and consequently who has home advantage in the play-offs although Oldham's superior points difference may mean the loser will finish 5th, with a visit to either Bradford or York.
Of course, these projections rely on our rivals dropping points along the way. We very much need Bradford and York to keep winning to deprive our rivals of points. Thirty six points seems to be the ‘magic number’ for third place.
What is stopping teams reaching 36 points?Oldham would have to beat Bradford (H) or York (A) to reach 36 points.
Whitehaven would need to beat either Bradford (A), York (A), or Oldham (A) to reach 36 points. From our point of view, an Oldham win in Round 21 seems preferable.
Workington would have to beat Bradford (A), York (H), or the Dons (A) to make 36 points.
Hunslet would need to beat either York (A) or Whitehaven (A) to make 36 points.
Keighley would need to win all their remaining games to get 36 points – including winning at Bradford and Workington.
Key games to help the Dons:Round 20: We need Keighley to beat Workington and Bradford to beat Whitehaven. A defeat for Workington would mess them up quite a lot. Come on Keighley!
Round 21: Oldham to beat Whitehaven is a slightly better result for us.
Round 22: Bradford must beat Workington at home and York must beat Hunslet at home. A Dons win at Whitehaven would be huge!
Round 23: York need to win at Workington.
Round 24: York must beat Oldham at home. A Whitehaven win against Hunslet looks best as this will help stop Hunslet from getting 36 points.
Round 25: Bradford need to win at Oldham. We could do with Newcastle winning at Hunslet.
Round 26: York must beat Whitehaven at home or else Whitehaven could get 36 points. Our game against Workington is massive!
Apologies for the table above not being properly aligned. I prepared it as a Word document originally but you can't copy tables into the forum. We'll have another look at how things stand after next weekend's games.