Momentum

Yes he is right. Look at Cambridge lost the last 4 games or something and still went up.

Quoted from ginnywings

Yeah and funnily enough, despite my dislike of Hurst, i wouldn't pin too much blame on him if we did fail in the play offs as they are very much a lottery and don't represent what has happened over the entire season.

The fact that we failed to mount a sustained automatic promotion push however.....................

Totally right Ginny. The playoffs are a new competition and the only things the manager can be blamed for now are performances and results in these games.

I must admit to feeling a foreboding since the 2 points were dropped at Chester. We had a real chance of top spot and blew it from there with the wrexham and Gateshead games after we had clawed our way up. Some keep saying that we do well with our budget but we have always been 2 players short of a top side and I just hope for Hurst's sake and ours that this is not why this season is remembered.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Our failure to get a striker in at the start of the season has cost us,

Apart from John-Lewis who has been one of the top scorers in the league all season and Pittman who, had it not been for injuries would have (in my opinion) scored even more than John-Lewis.

You can either put all your eggs in one basket and go broke on a striker or spread it out and build a good squad.  In Barnet's case they've gone for broke on Akinde and it looks to have worked.  We tried that approach with a main striker when we had Connell and then Hearn.  Both seasons we finished outside the play-offs.  Since then we've spread the goals out and had less reliance on a single man, we've also finished in the play-offs every season.

Our failing hasn't been lack of quality in striking areas, it has been the sluggish start to the season and then a lack of killer instinct in tactics.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

Apart from John-Lewis who has been one of the top scorers in the league all season and Pittman who, had it not been for injuries would have (in my opinion) scored even more than John-Lewis.

You can either put all your eggs in one basket and go broke on a striker or spread it out and build a good squad.  In Barnet's case they've gone for broke on Akinde and it looks to have worked.  We tried that approach with a main striker when we had Connell and then Hearn.  Both seasons we finished outside the play-offs.  Since then we've spread the goals out and had less reliance on a single man, we've also finished in the play-offs every season.

Our failing hasn't been lack of quality in striking areas, it has been the sluggish start to the season and then a lack of killer instinct in tactics.  

Always think the strength of a team is reflected by who you have on the bench.

For our first home league game we had Paul Bastock, Paul Walker, Lewis Bemrose, Ellis Humble & Cane Winfarrah (who came on after 15 mins) on our subs bench. It shows we were really down to the bare bones.

Yes, the starting eleven should have been strong enough but  when you think where Alan Connell is now you have an idea of how weak we were

We also had two of our best players suspended (Neilson and Pearson) plus an injury list not really associated with the first few months of the season.

Should we have made better use of the loan market?  Maybe.  Does it level itself out over the following 8 months? Probably.  As I've said before, the league table doesn't like at this stage.  Over the course of the season we've been third best.  There are no extra points gained for wins in August, just as there are none in April.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

We also had two of our best players suspended (Neilson and Pearson) plus an injury list not really associated with the first few months of the season.

Should we have made better use of the loan market?  Maybe.  Does it level itself out over the following 8 months? Probably.  As I've said before, the league table doesn't like at this stage.  Over the course of the season we've been third best.  There are no extra points gained for wins in August, just as there are none in April.  

No but points gained in August still count the same in April. That's the point people are making about the strength of the team and the squad from the start.

If we win at Wembley it won't matter but if we don't .............