Best Of

We will not finish second. I'm guessing we'll go up through the play-offs. I'm basing that on nothing except the fact that I've got a prior commitment on the day of the League 1 play-off final.

Thanks for ruining my Sunday afternoon

I am hoping this will be a sort of Pre Match Day thread - knowing the Gasroom it could end up discussing anything from bright copper kettles to warm wollen mittens.

Looks likely that the match will be a sellout - here are the figures for tickets left available taken from the lcub ticket website this morning:

The terrace and the Origin Stand are already sold out.

For those that like to spot trends, here are the figures for the previous three days (from a bit earlier in the morning).

I will post an update every day on here , or until we sell out.

Should be a good atmosphere. Up the Blues.

A couple of thoughts back:

Thought the ref was poor throughout and made some odd decisions on both sides. But we can be really aggrieved that Kone header was disallowed. A real shocking decision that could cost us dear.

I don’t think Kodua is anywhere near our best 18 now sadly. He’s shown glimpses of something but I’d rather have Lowry, Berry, Lubala and McCleary/Onyedinma ahead of him as subs.

That was fine for Reading fans when he was the only option against the mad man. Will be less palatable for them if he's been the one holding things up against someone who might be a better bet anyway.

Just a few comments on the above. Was the referee really that bad yesterday? It was an incident packed game and a lot of big decisions for him to give. Of the decisions we felt disgruntled about, the foul on Leahy was a bad one, probably a 50/50 call on whether it was a red card. Wouldn't say it was a mistake not to send him off, but on another day he might have been red rather than yellow. The 1st disallowed goal for Kone was a mistake, no doubt about that. No issues with the 2nd, clear handball and the 3rd was ruled out for offside (and given long before the ball hit the net).

Peterborough themselves had 5 big penalty shouts. The 2 in the 2nd half definitely weren't. The one he gave looks a clear penalty to me in the replays I've seen. The other 2 in the first half I've not seen back, but they looked very decent shouts to me. So although we were unfortunate with the Kone effort that was ruled out, we may have got away another penalty or 2.

Really refreshing to hear Dodds not being drawn into blaming the referee and instead focusing on what we can do better. To easy for managers/coaches to go down that path rather than looking at their own failings. He's clearly not a natural in front of the camera, but I thought his post match interview with Phil was a very good, honest assessment of the game.

Not sure I agree that we could have won that 2/3-1 on another day. I thought that apart from the 10-15 minute spell at the start of the 2nd half, Peterborough dealt with us pretty comfortably and could easily have scored more on the break themselves. The 1-1 draw was the very most we deserved from that . Not saying it's a bad result, I actually thought Peterborough looked a much improved side from earlier in the season and you could see why they've hit a good run of form. Poku being back is also a huge boost for them. He's as important for them, as Kone is for us. It's more the performance I was disappointed in, but that said, it might be a big point come the end of the season.

Back to Dodds, I think he's been dealt an incredibly difficult hand with the amount of players who would expect to be featuring. Some of his bench selections are surprising at times though. Lowry and Westergaard both impressed on Tuesday, but didn't make the squad yesterday. Berry who's not featured at all is suddenly bought in (in fairness, I thought he had a positive impact). No sign of Kodua who I'd have thought would be a decent option for McCleary. I do feel for Dodds, as these really aren't easy decisions to be making, but I just think players will be frustrated when they feel they've made a claim to be involved by performing well, only to be completely dropped for the subsequent match.

Yes, I thought the same, I’m far more comfortable with the idea of a back 3 when you’re talking Low, Taylor and Bradley.

Michael Duff gone at Huddersfield, can’t be too much of a surprise there since they have seriously underachieved for a team with their resources.

Top Twenty for the Home Crowd: [8260]

Many congratulations indeed to @NewburyWanderer - best prediction of the season so far. A very fine achievement indeed.

Absolutely everyone overestimated and nobody else was within one hundred.

Top Twenty for our Away Crowd: [629]

Many congratulations to @DevC who was the closest, missing by just seven.

Congratulations to @MFH_Blue who also had a single digit miss.

Congratulations to @Erroll_Sims and @silverfox who also had just one digit wrong in their predictions, unfortunately it was the one the the 'tens column'

Congratulations to @NewburyWanderer; @James; @Mandown; @wwfcblue; @Twizz; @williwycombe; @LDF and @Alexo, who were all close enough to be within 5% [31.45]

Top Twenty for the Home Crowd: [Calculated 7631]

Many congratulations to @NewburyWanderer, closest with a miss of just 13.

This number was also overestimated by all of us and again nobody else was within one hundred.

I should have the 'Tour de Season' thread outcome up today.

The Wrexham attendance prediction thread is already up as there is a chance of a total sell out. At that point any further predictions will appear on that match thread, but will not count on here.

Often winning when playing badly is the sign of a very effective side