Newsletter #493

Last weekend saw the Blues pass what many thought would be a real test of character, running out 2-0 winners, and ending Gillingham’s 7-month unbeaten home record. Alas Walsall also continued their own good form, winning against Macclesfield. Barring a dramatic downturn in Walsall’s fortunes, it now seems will be ‘playing off’ next month, something I hadn’t thought a realistic proposition only 6 weeks ago!

We have a match report from the Gillingham game, Peter’s news summary, the ‘Anoraks’ guide’, opinion and a Why Blue.

This one reaches 2,449.

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

GILLINGHAM vs. MANCHESTER CITY, Saturday 17th April 1999

As I’ve said before, I do love footy in the sunshine, outside the railway station in Gillingham was a pub full to the brim with Blues, singing in top form; by the time I’d got to the ground I was buzzing. Sunshine, football and that bright away kit, top start.

I went with my two mates, Rob and Ian, and with the three of us in fine vocal form we knew we just had to win. The ticket was the most ridiculous I had ever seen, it looked like the bloke who had designed it was off his head on drugs and was only allowed to eat chocolate and bananas for a month; then he spewed up and bingo there’s your ticket design.

We got in the ground (what a dive). Someone will have to finish building the toilets one of these days, they had no roof and by half time you needed flippers and swimming trunks to get in there. On a more serious note we had a minute’s silence for the Hillsborough victims and families, which was observed well for about 50 seconds before a Gillingham fan started shouting; this led to a City fan shouting something about Southerners at him then when everybody was about to join in the ref blew his whistle. One minute’s silence isn’t a lot to ask for the families of 96 dead football fans, and as a football fan we all know to some small degree what a crush feels like.

The game started and for the first 15-20 minutes Gillingham looked quite useful, they had a big fella up front, Asaba, who looked powerful, strong and very fast (and most of all looked like scoring, hindsight is a wonderful thing).

Gillingham pressed and Weaver made a point blank save, hitting it over the bar. Asaba was putting himself about a bit and shoved Andy Morrison into the Main Stand (I kid you not), but then Cooke scored and City looked in control. Cooke’s shot from the edge of the box took a deflection and we were leading, superb 1-0.

City’s defence now looked solid, Joe Royle was now on the touchline, changing things to suit City. Half-time came and the Blue army was in fine form. The announcer mentioned that there was a special announcement for the City fans that ManYoo were winning 2-0. ‘So What’, Gillingham cheered, City sang ‘You’re a town full of Munichs’. Oh well, at least we have a local rival, unlike Gillingham who have no rivals, such is the state of football in Kent (most people I met in Kent when I lived there for 12 months supported ManYoo, Liverpool or Arsenal, quite sad really).

Onto the second half and City started off brilliantly, they were now looking for a second goal, which came courtesy of Kevin Horlock and a well taken free kick. Other notable points of the second half were: a magnificent save by Weaver; a terrible tackle bringing a superb run by Crooks to an end; an awful miss by Goater which was thankfully ruled off-side; and finally a dreadful preformance by Taylor when he came on; Joe giving the chanting fans a wave with 10 minutes to go. We really did turn them over, we won and what’s more we deserved to win – another 3 points in the bag.

NEWS SUMMARY

Three Points But Walsall Win Too

I don’t know when City last managed a run of seven wins and a draw in eight league games, but that’s the current form after an excellent result at Gillingham. Terry Cooke celebrated his permanent move to Maine Road and the birth of son Charlie 48 hours earlier by opening the scoring with a deflected volley on 31 minutes after City withstood early pressure. Kevin Horlock’s free kick on 64 minutes sealed the points. The result saw the Blues consolidate in third place after Preston’s slump continued – a last minute goal saw them lose their Lancashire derby against Blackpool. North End are now four points behind City with a game in hand, which they play on Tuesday at home to Walsall. And though a Preston win in that fixture would bring them to within a point of us, it’s the result City now need after Walsall beat Macclesfield 2-0. The Saddlers stay two points ahead of City with two games in hand, and if they claim eight points from their next five games then we can’t catch them. Obviously, the ball is decidedly in the Walsall court – they’re showing no signs of slipping up and the odds are strongly that we’ll be in the play-offs. However, the most galling thing of all would be to see Walsall collapse but to fail to do the business ourselves. This being the case, we simply have to win the three remaining games and hope. Moreover, even if our end of the bargain is by no means a formality against three teams fighting for their Second Division lives, it’s still an outcome of which we’re well capable if we can achieve results like being the first visitors to claim maximum points at Priestfield in over seven months.

Weaver Equals Record

Nicky Weaver has equalled the record for the highest number of clean sheets kept by a City goalkeeper in a league season. Saturday’s match was the 21st of the campaign in which the opposition has finished scoreless, so Weaver has matched the tally achieved by Alex Williams in 1984-85. The former Mansfield junior has won considerable praise for his performances this season, and he demonstrated why with a brilliant and vital save after eight minutes on Saturday. And with three matches still remaining, he must have every chance of going on to claim the record outright. Having missed one fixture through injury, Weaver has currently played in the same number of matches as Williams did in establishing the record, and though he’s been performing at a lower level, it’s a tremendous achievement for a player who will hopefully be City’s number one for many years to come. Anyone looking for an omen might also note that in Williams’ record-breaking season, City gave us all heart failure on several occasions but eventually won promotion. Fingers crossed!

Royle Denies Sharpe Interest

It seems fairly likely given the difficulties we’ve experienced in persuading players to drop into Division Two this season that City’s summer transfer recruitment will depend considerably on the division we’ll be playing in next term (of course, more or less any incoming transfer activity of course presupposes a cash injection in some form or other). One of the players who turned us down to play at a higher level was Leeds United winger Lee Sharpe, who’s currently on loan at Bradford. Sharpe has produced some impressive displays at Valley Parade, a fact which hasn’t gone unnoticed by other clubs, reportedly including Everton and Chelsea, who are aware that the player, out of favour at Elland Road, will be allowed to move on for £1.5 million in the summer. There were weekend press rumours that were City to go up, Joe Royle would join the fray and make another attempt to land the former Manchester United star. However, the speculation has been refuted. The official club website at www.mcfc.co.uk quotes the City manager as saying, “I won’t be making a move for Lee Sharpe in the summer. I am thinking of other things at the moment.”

Allsopp Earns New Deal

Australian striker Danny Allsopp has earned a new two-year contract at Maine Road. A £10,000 signing from Port Melbourne Sharks last summer, Allsopp has scored five first-team goals this season, but has featured far more frequently on the bench than in the starting line-up. Joe Royle, however, professes himself “delighted” with the player’s progress, noting that in the light of Allsopp’s move from Australian junior football to the English professional game, it would have been unreasonable to expect miracles immediately. The City manager points to Allsopp’s prolific scoring form in the reserves as evidence that he has the type of “natural goalscorer’s instinct” which is “priceless in the modern game”. And if the player is able to fulfil the kind of potential which once saw him finish as top scorer in the World Youth Championships, the £10,000 Royle spent to bring him to England could turn out to be a transfer masterstroke.

Morrison in Campaign Row

Last Wednesday’s home game with Luton was the focus for a series of events co-ordinated by Kick It Out, the organisation dedicated to stamping out racism in football. The evening, which marked the beginning of City’s anti-racism campaign, saw hundreds of local black and Asian fans given free entry. In addition, both teams paraded an anti-racism banner, leaflets and stickers were distributed, the City mascot wore a campaign t-shirt and a steel band entertained the crowd. Chairman David Bernstein said, “City has a proud tradition in Moss Side. We have always worked hard to make the community feel part of the club and would like to think that Maine Road is a welcoming place for all fans whatever their race or colour.” However, the choice of Andy Morrison to spearhead the club’s campaign has caused controversy, the player having been convicted by Huddersfield magistrates a couple of years ago after a road rage incident in which he racially abused a black bus driver. National anti-racism coordinator Piara Powar claimed City had denied knowledge of this fact and said, “Morrison should have told the club about this incident when he agreed to be a part of the campaign to kick racism out of football.”

Reserves Staying Down

After looking to be in with an excellent chance of promotion earlier in the season, the Blues’ second string have slipped into mid-table in the second half of the campaign. Their hopes were finally ended by a defeat away to West Bromwich Albion last Thursday, the 1-0 reverse coming courtesy of an own goal by City centre half Steve Rimmer. Maybe the reserves’ failure to win promotion is another omen (I hope I’m not tempting fate by looking for portents anywhere I can find them). As I’ve noted more than once before, the reserves prospered earlier in the season while the senior side was struggling and since the turn of the year, the reverse has often seemed to be the case. While the ideal is obviously for both sides to be winning regularly, I know which I regard as more important! Monday night, meanwhile, sees the City second string playing a Manchester Senior Cup tie against Manchester United at Gigg Lane. Following their 5-1 home defeat against the Reds a couple of weeks ago, the City players will be seeking to salvage some pride, while one or two have a little more to play for. Mark Robins, for instance, needs to start making an impact soon if he’s to secure a future at Maine Road beyond the end of this campaign, while the transfer-listed Murtaz Shelia has every reason to try to impress any watching scouts.

Mixed Fortunes For Academy Sides

The City Academy boys have finished their league campaigns and were involved in Cup action on Friday. The under-19s suffered disappointment with a convincing 4-0 defeat by Arsenal but the under-17s managed a 2-0 win against Spurs, producing a performance which by all accounts deeply impressed the London club’s coaching staff. Saturday’s MEN Pink Final, noting that the young Blues are unbeaten this year, claimed they’re “among the favourites” for the competition. In the next round, on Saturday 24 April, they’ll travel to face the winners of last Saturday’s Middlesbrough vs. Wimbledon tie. It was a particularly notable few days for 16-year-old Rhys Day, who 48 hours earlier had returned from a trip to Italy with the Welsh under-18 side. Day scored City’s opening goal, before Chris Killen ended the Spurs resistance with the Blues’ second. It’s widely acknowledged that the City youth set-up had declined in recent years after its halcyon days in the 1980s and the under-19s’ failure is arguably consistent with this view. However, the success at under-17 level coupled with some good results at lower age groups hopefully signals that our eye is on the ball once more.

TICKET NEWS

MCFC vs. Wycombe Wanderers, 24th April 1999, Kick-off 3pm

With only a week to go, this match is selling extremely quickly with certain areas of the ground already close to selling out. Supporters are advised to apply as soon as possible for tickets if they wish to attend this game.

Bristol Rovers vs. MCFC, 1st May 1999, Kick-off 6pm

An extremely limited number of tickets for this fixture are still on sale to regular season ticket holders only, on production of voucher “KK” from their Season Ticket book and 15 different match ticket stubs from away games this season.

If tickets remain, they will be available to Regular season ticket holders with voucher “KK” and 14 stubs from Monday 19th April.

MCFC vs. York City, 8th May 1999, Kick-off 3pm

Supporters are advised that tickets for this fixture go on general sale tomorrow, Saturday 17th April at 9am, to personal applicants at the Ticket Office, or by telephone on the Dial-A-Seat service for credit/debit card bookings.

THE ANORAKS’ FORM GUIDE TO DIVISION 2 – WEEK 10

Well great news! My premonitions of the Luton game came to nothing and on Saturday, the boys in blue went to Gillingham and (after a shaky start) gave our rivals a good beating. The question now is: “Can we catch Walsall?”

Fortunately our goals scored record is better than theirs so, for us to achieve this miraculous feat, we have to win all three of our remaining games and they have to lose 2 and draw 1 of their remaining 5 against: Preston(A), Lincoln(A), Oldham(H), Fulham(H) and Stoke (A). I had hoped that Macclesfield could get a point out of them on Saturday, alas, their good form of late could not be sustained and Walsall won.

Can they slip up in their last 5 games? Well the good news is that all of their opponents will be up for it – except seemingly for Fulham who seem to have knocked off early for their Summer break! So to quote a phrase “Maybe, just maybe.”

P.S. When I started the form guide 10 weeks ago, I said that City would require an average greater than 13 points to stand a chance of achieving automatic promotion. Well the average is now up to 13.30 points out of 18 and they do stand a chance (if a remote one).

Team        Pld GS Pts  L6   Final   L6   Ave L6     Final    Pos
                        GS    GS     Pts   Pts        Pts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fulham       41 69 93 (15)11 78.17 (18)15 14.40	(111.00)105.50=1
Walsall      41 57 80  (9) 9 64.50 (13)13 10.90	 (89.17) 90.83=2
City         43 62 78 (12)13 68.50 (16)16 13.30	 (85.33) 86.00=3
Preston NE   42 74 74  (7) 9 80.00  (7) 5 10.00	 (80.00) 77.33=4
Gillingham   42 65 71 (11) 6 69.00 (12) 9 10.40	 (83.00) 77.00=5
Bournemouth  42 61 71  (6) 5 64.33 (10) 7 10.40	 (80.00) 75.67=6
Stoke        41 54 63  (9)11 63.17  (7) 9  5.60	 (69.17) 70.50
Wigan        39 59 62  (8) 7 67.17  (9) 7 12.50	 (73.00) 70.17
Milwall      41 49 61  (8) 9 56.50  (9)12  8.20	 (67.00) 71.00
Chesterfield 41 45 61  (7) 5 49.17  (7) 7  9.00	 (66.17) 66.83
Reading      43 51 58  (5) 4 53.00  (4) 1  9.00	 (60.33) 58.50
Key:
Figures in brackets indicate last week's values
Pld = Played
L6  = Last 6
GS  = Goals Scored
Ave = Average
Pts = Points
Pos = Final Position

And the games that count during the next few weeks are…

Tuesday 20 April
Chesterfield   vs.  Bristol Rovers  KO 7.45
Northampton    vs.  Wigan           KO 7.45
Preston        vs.  Walsall         KO 7.45 <6 pointer - PRESTON MUST WIN>
Wrexham        vs.  Gillingham      KO 7.30
York           vs.  Blackpool       KO 7.45
Wednesday 21 April
Fulham         vs.  Millwall        KO 7.45 <6 pointer>
Saturday 24 April
Bournemouth    vs.  Chesterfield    KO 3.00
Fulham         vs.  Wrexham         KO 3.00
Lincoln City   vs.  Walsall         KO 3.00 <COME ON LINCOLN>
Man City       vs.  Wycombe         KO 3.00
Millwall       vs.  Preston         KO 3.00 <6 pointer>
Oldham         vs.  Gillingham      KO 3.00
Stoke          vs.  Burnley         KO 3.00
Wigan          vs.  Reading         KO 3.00 <6 pointer>
Tuesday 27 April
Bristol Rovers vs.  Millwall        KO 7.45
Colchester     vs.  Bournemouth     KO 7.45
Luton          vs.  Chesterfield    KO 7.45
Macclesfield   vs.  Stoke           KO 7.45
Wigan          vs.  Lincoln City    KO 7.45

IN DEFENCE OF TONY BURNS

In defence of Tony Burns and in reply to David Ward (“in defence of Lincoln”). I have to say that I personally find Tony’s match reports a delight to read. The humour is obviously not intended to be offensive, just like others he tries merely to stamp his individuality on MCIVTA (possibly at the expense of said others! But he’s not on his own on that one).

I regularly get the p**s taken out of me at work for being Blue by a “balding ugly sad Red git”… but it’s all in the best of spirits. Leave the lad alone or write something half as amusing… we all like a good laugh… it comes with the job.

RE – IN DEFENCE OF LINCOLN

I reply to David Ward’s piece. I lived in Lincoln and the people there are very strange. They might not have tractors parked in the drive but they are definitely yokels, in general.

My favourite story is when an office in Liverpool was relocated there, the employees that transferred were traders and would often work through lunch so wanted the canteen to supply sandwiches. You can imagine that such a request resulted in a row which eventually was brought to the attention of the general manager. A compromise was agreed, they would provide sandwiches but they wouldn’t label them.

OPINION – SANITY OR STUPIDITY

Prior to the defeat of Luton and the news of Terry Cooke’s pending signature, I made a £50 bet with a Spurs fan that City will be back in the Premiership by 2002. Am I sane or stupid?

I don’t think so. Even if we don’t make it by then my £50 will be worth more like £40 so my losses won’t be so great. However, I stand by my bet, we will be there by 2002.

The bet sprang from having to listen to a load of crap from Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Trafford fans in my local about their respective teams’ merits. It may have been envy or just plain anoyance but when a gap appeared in their self congratulation and twaddle I said that no one gives a s**t about what happens in the Premiership, there are more teams outside of it than in it. I was seriously heckled for being a City fan and told that it would be at least ten years before City get back there, if at all. Hence the bet.

I took great delight during the next seven days seeing the Spurs and Arsenal fans choking on their FA Cup semi-final defeats; let’s hope Newcastle do the honors against the Rags at Wembley.

Chelsea fans seem to forget that they spent a few years in the old second not so long ago, as did Newcastle and Leeds. I also remember Villa in the old third as well. Although I don’t remember meeting many smug Villa fans, actually I don’t remember meeting many Villa fans at all. They must all reside in Brum and don’t travel much.

WILL WALSALL WOBBLE?

After the solid victory away at Gillingham on Saturday, our play-off place seems all but assured. The big question now is… can City scrape the 2nd automatic promotion place come May 8th?

In order for this to happen, we need Walsall to lose tomorrow night at Preston for starters! As City can finish on a maximum 87 points, Walsall (currently on 80 points) with 2 games in hand require just 8 more points to put themselves out of reach. As it stands now, City have a better goals-scored record – 5 more than Walsall. So should the Midlanders only scrape a meagre 7 points from the available 15, then the ‘goals scored’ issue will surely be academic, given City must take 9 points out of 9 (thus obviously scoring goals) for it to matter!

So if Walsall lose at Preston (which is a real possibility) that would hopefully start getting them a little bit edgy prior to their visit to relegation-fighting Lincoln at the weekend. You’d expect them to beat Oldham at home (but so did we!) the following Saturday, who are also scrapping it out at the other end. They then face Fulham at home in a midweek match and Stoke away on the 8th May. Realistically they should get the 8 points required but hopefully Preston can do us a favour tomorrow night. A win for them would put the Lancashire side one point behind us having played the same number of games. Two other factors in our favour: Fulham will be after the record number of points and their players are keen to impress Kevin Keegan as he’s hinted a few of them might not make the grade at Division One level. So this bodes well for their games against Walsall (Tues 4 May) and Preston (Sat 8 May). The other factor is Stoke City; they still have some hopes off making the final play-off place and we want them to still have a chance when it come to playing their final match which is Walsall at home. So if they can win their next two against Burnley and Macclesfield it would put them in good spirits for their visit to Gillingham, where as we’ve shown they can be beaten.

It would be absolutely fantastic to go up in second place, but I know a lot of City fans would love a day out at Wembley. If only we could guarantee success via that route I know which way I’d prefer! Having spent yesterday at Wembley with my father-in-law (a life-long Wigan fan) seeing them beat Millwall, the atmosphere was great despite a fairly dull match, and that was with only 55,000 people for the Auto-Windscreens Shield Final! I can just imagine the intoxicating joy of seeing City take a giant step back to the Premiership in front of a full house at Wembley!

OPINION – FOOTBALL NEEDS CITY SUPPORTERS BACK IN THE BIG TIME

I read a great comment in the Sunday People on the 18th of this month, it was entitled ‘Fans for the memory’. The article went on to say:-

Earlier this season photographs highlighted a deserted Maine Road playing host to an Auto Windscreens Shield clash between Manchester City and Mansfield. It was pointed out that, in 24 hours’ time Old Trafford would be bursting at the seams for the visit of Bayern Munich. On Wednesday night, only 30,000 fans attended one of the greatest FA cup semi-finals of our time, involving the ‘world’s biggest club’. At Maine Road on the same evening, there were over 26,000 fans present for the visit of the mighty Luton. And Joe Royle and Willie Donachie are finally giving them what they deserve… a successful side. These supporters have suffered enough. It maybe a cliché, but football needs clubs like Manchester City back in the big time.

What a top article, notice that the Mi**or never ran any story like this, B*****ds.

On a funny note, I was talking to a lady at our work on Friday, she is a ManYoo season ticket holder, being from the East End of London born and bred, and we had the following conversation. She asked whereabouts in Manchester I was from; I told her Fallowfield.
“Nope never heard of it.”
I responded, “Where do you know in Manchester?”
“I pass Knutsford.”
“Sorry love that’s Cheshire.”
“What about Wilmslow?”
“Sorry Cheshire again.”
She look confused, and replied sarcastically “What about Old Trafford?”. Embarrassingly I replied “Nope, Old Trafford is in Trafford”. Angrily she turned on me: “What about Salford, that’s full of Man Yoo.” I had to reply “Sorry, Salford is a place on its own right, it’s not part of Manchester.”
“WELL WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS MANCHESTER THEN?” she said, looking bewildered.

Read into it what you will.

THANKS – CANTONA PICTURE

A big thanks to all the magnificent Blues out there who took the time to respond to my request for where to find the above picture. I’d like to thank Steve Millington, Niall Burns, Dave Ward, James Needham, David Scally and last, but not least, Jon (this is beginning to sound like an Oscar ceremony). Seriously though, it is nice to know the brotherhood can take time out to respond to requests from a fellow Blue.

Hope I can do the same.

CANTONA PICTURE – DID YOU KNOW?

In response to Dave Kilroy’s request for Cantona kicking the s**t out of that Palace fan, did he know that the photo was used for the cover of a record by the punk group Ash called Kung Fu?

WHY BLUE? WHY ASK?

I sadly cannot be alone in having grown up in a Cheshire family where Blue was definitely a minority colour, and that during the heady days of the late ’60s/early 70s. My father, uncle, sister and brother all took the easy option, the latter two some years on, leaving me (still) as the sole Blue. A splendid photo of Mick Doyle from ‘Shoot’ is my earliest momento from those days and possibly marks the start of my obsession. Things were a little better at school (mixed loyalty amongst the bullies invariably meant that you got thumped whichever way you responded to the eternal question “City or United?”).

Since moving away from Manchester, visits home have seen some great moments (the 5-1 being one) but more dread whilst waiting for half and full time scores on the telly. More recently it’s been a diet of away fixtures in the South as I am now living in Bristol.

Any fellow Bristol Blues can contact me on: 0117 974 1873.

RESULTS

Second Division Results, Saturday, April 17 1999

Burnley                   0-0  Bournemouth            9,802
Chesterfield              1-0  Fulham                 5,800
Hewitt (77)
Gillingham                0-2  Manchester City       10,400
                               Cooke (31)
                               Horlock (64)
Luton Town                0-1  Lincoln City           5,122
                               Thorpe (61)
Preston North End         1-2  Blackpool             15,337
Nogan (60)                     Nowland (45)
                               Ormerod (89)
Reading                   0-1  Northampton Town      10,132
                               Savage (81)
Walsall                   2-0  Macclesfield Town      6,256
Steiner (54)
Rammell (59)
Wrexham                   1-2  Oldham Athletic        3,267
Spink (35)                     Garnett (44)
                               Holt (84)

Second Division Table

Up to and including Saturday, April 17 1999 (5:06pm)

                              HOME            AWAY
                         P  W  D  L  F  A   W  D  L  F  A   Pts   GS
Fulham                  41 17  2  1 42 10  12  4  5 27 17    93   69
Walsall                 41 12  6  3 32 20  12  2  6 25 21    80   57
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MANCHESTER CITY         43 12  6  3 33 12   9  9  4 29 17    78   62
Preston North End       42 11  5  5 44 22  10  6  5 30 22    74   74
Gillingham              42 14  5  3 41 17   5  9  6 24 24    71   65
Bournemouth             42 14  5  2 37 11   6  6  9 24 28    71   61
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stoke City              41  9  4  8 29 28  10  2  8 25 25    63   54
Wigan Athletic          39 11  4  4 34 14   7  4  9 25 26    62   59
Millwall                41  9  7  5 31 21   8  3  9 18 26    61   49
Chesterfield            41 14  3  4 34 16   3  7 10 11 24    61   45
Reading                 43  9  6  7 27 26   6  7  8 24 31    58   51
Blackpool               42  6  8  7 21 21   7  5  9 18 27    52   39
Notts County            41  7  5  7 26 23   6  5 11 22 33    49   48
Luton Town              42  9  4  8 23 24   4  6 11 23 33    49   46
Colchester United       42  8  7  6 22 26   3  8 10 23 35    48   45
Wrexham                 41  7  6  8 19 25   5  6  9 21 32    48   40
Burnley                 42  7  7  8 22 33   4  7  9 25 37    47   47
Bristol Rovers          41  7  8  6 30 26   3  7 10 24 24    45   54
Oldham Athletic         42  6  4 10 22 27   6  5 11 21 32    45   43
York City               42  5  8  8 27 32   6  3 12 26 42    44   53
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Northampton Town        42  4  9  7 18 23   6  5 11 17 26    44   35
Wycombe Wanderers       41  7  4 10 27 23   3  7 10 18 30    41   45
Lincoln City            41  8  4  8 26 25   3  3 15 11 43    40   37
Macclesfield Town       41  7  4  9 19 22   3  5 13 16 31    39   35

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Editor: