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1 of 1- Matchman
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The season ahead
Midland Football League - Premier Division - Teams 2018-19
Position Last Season
1 AFC Wulfrunians 17th
2 Boldmere St Michaels 14th
3 Coventry Sphinx 10th
4 Coventry United 8th
5 Dunkirk Promoted from E M Counties
6 Highgate United 3rd
7 Ilkeston Town Promoted From MFL Div 1
8 Long Eaton United 9th
9 Loughborough University 18th
10 Lye Town 16th
11 Quorn 11th
12 Romulus Relegated from Northern Prem South
13 Shepshed Dynamo 7th
14 Sporting Khalsa 5th
15 South Normanton Athletic 19th
16 Stourport Swifts 15th
17 Walsall Wood Promoted from MFL Div 1
18 Westfields 12th
19 Wolverhampton Sporting Promoted from West Mids Regional
20 Worcester City 4th
After achieving promotion in our first year, what should expectations be for the forthcoming season in the Midland Football League Premier Division? Is it reasonable to expect us to challenge for promotion again. The problem is that with the exception of Walsall Wood we don't know what the other teams are like. We know that Walsall Wood are a strong side and they will almost certainly be among the top clubs. Who will be the other challengers? Last year Highgate United finished 3rd with 90 points from 42 games. Worcester City finished 4th with 83 points and Sporting Khalsa finished 5th with 71 points. It's fair to assume these clubs will be challenging again. Romulus have come down from the Northern Premier and are an unknown quantity. Wolverhampton Sporting have come up from the West Midlands Regional League after scoring 104 points so they could be a threat. Any of the other teams could be dark horses. We should have an indication of who the best teams are after about six matches have been played. Hope we are among them.
Last edited by Matchman (11/6/2018 8:00 AM)
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Re: The season ahead
Based on what little is known at this moment in time, I would consider a top six finish to be highly satisfactory. I would predict the top six to be :
Walsall Wood,
Highgate United,
Worcester City,
Sporting Khalsa,
Wolverhampton Sporting, and
Ilkeston Town.
If we can achieve this then we would be ready for a big promotion push the following season. Not many teams pull off successive promotions as a settling in period in a new league is usually required. However if Walsall Wood continue to attract top players with big wages then they have a real chance of being champions again.
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Thread Starter- Matchman
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Re: The season ahead
My original top six pre season predictions were :
1 Walsall Wood (now 11th)
2 Highgate United (now 5th)
3 Worcester City (now10th)
4 Sporting Khalsa (now 7th)
5 Wolverhampton SC (now 17th)
6 Ilkeston Town (now 1st)
It's still very early days but after approximately half a dozen games played by each team we have a better idea of who will be the front runners. My top six predicted before the season started contains three teams who have not started so well; ie Walsall Wood, Worcester and Wolverhampton Sporting. Apparently Wolverhampton Sporting lost some of their promotion winning players and Worcester have some financial constraints. I expect Walsall Wood to recover and still be near the top.
The top seven are currently :
Ilkeston (Top) Played 7, 18 points
Only lost once to Lye Town. Wins against Stourport, Shepshed, Long Eaton, Walsall Wood, Coventry United and South Normanton.
Westfields (2nd) Played 7 16 points
have beaten South Normanton, Wolverhampton SC, Wulfrunians, Shepshed and Walsall Wood. they drew with Dunkirk and lost against Highgate. They also lost 6-1 to Romulus in the FA Cup
Lye Town (3rd) Played 7 14 points
have played all of their matches so far away from home so must be contenders. They have beaten Quorn, Ilkeston, Wolverhampton SC and South Normanton, drawn with Loughborough Univ and Walsall Wood. Their only defeat was against Coventry Sphinx.
Coventry Sphinx (4th) Played 6 13 points
have beaten Dunkirk, Lye Town, Wulfrunians and Coventry United. They drew with Highgate and lost to Worcester
Highgate Utd (5th) Played 6 12 Points Are unbeaten and have wins against three decent teams Romulus, Westfields and Sporting Khalsa. They drew with Romulus, Dunkirk and Long Eaton.
Boldmere St Michaels (6th) Played 5 12 points
made a surprisingly good start and are 6th after playing only 5 matches. They beat Worcester in their first match, then lost to Wulfrunians and but have won their last three matches against Quorn, Long Eaton and Shepshed.
Sporting Khalsa (7th) Played 6 11 points
have beaten Loughborough, Wolverhampton SC and Wulfrunians, drew with Long Eaton and Stourport and lost against Highgate.
I now think that the top ten teams might be :
1 Highgate United,
2 Ilkeston Town
3 Westfields
4 Lye Town
5 Sporting Khalsa
6 Walsall Wood
7 Romulus
8 Coventry Sphinx
9 Coventry United
10 Boldmere St Michaels
I suspect that Highgate United are the strongest team. We play against them on 3rd November and that could be a clash between the top two.
Ilkeston are about to have a change of manager. Will this hinder their progress?
Last edited by Matchman (31/8/2018 9:44 AM)
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Thread Starter- Matchman
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Re: The season ahead
Points Dropped so far (31st August 2018) :
1 Ilkeston Town 3 points (played 7 matches)
2 Boldmere St Michaels 3 points (played 5 matches)
3 Westfields 5 points (played 7 matches)
4 Coventry Sphinx 5 points (played 6 matches)
5 Highgate United 6 points (played 6 matches)
6 Lye Town 7 points (played 7 matches)
7 Sporting Khalsa 7 points (played 7 matches)
Today Saturday 1st September five league games take place. Three of the top five have a chance to make up ground on Ilkeston who are on FA Vase duty. Westfields could go top if they win at Long Eaton. Lye Town could go one point behind Ilkeston if they win their first home game against Romulus. Unbeaten Highgate United are home to Wulfrunians. The other two league matches are Shedshed v Worcester and Walsall Wood v Stourport Swifts.
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Thread Starter- Matchman
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Re: The season ahead
Today's MFL Premier Division Results
Highgate Utd. 0 AFC Wulfrunians 3
Long Eaton Utd 1 Westfields 1
Lye Town 2 Romulus 3
Shepshed 1 Worcester City 2
Walsall Wood 0 Stourport Swifts 0
More good results for Ilkeston today. Highgate lost their unbeaten record being well beaten at home by Wulfrunians. Second placed, Westfields blew their chance to go top by only getting a draw at Long Eaton and third placed, Lye Town lost at home to Romulus. Meanwhile Walsall Wood continue to drop points. They have only scored six goals in six games. What a contrast with last season when they scored 173 goals in 42 league matches.
Last edited by Matchman (01/9/2018 8:01 PM)
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