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January 2022 fixtures for top seven teams :

 Ilkeston
Sat 01  Jan   Belper Town (home)                 
Sat 08  Jan   Histon  (away)
Sat 15  Jan   Sutton Coldfield  (home)
Sat 22  Jan   Soham Town Rangers  (away)
Sat 29  Jan   Halesowen Town  (home)           

Belper
Sat 01   Ilkeston  (away)                                                             
Sat 08   No match
Sat 16   Sporting Khalsa  (away)
Sat 22   Stamford   (home)                             
Sat 29   Bedworth (away) 

Halesowen 
Sat 01   Sporting Khalsa (home)
Sat 08   Wisbech (away)
Sat 15   Stamford (home)                                
Sat 22   Yaxley  (home)
Sat 29   Ilkeston  (away)                                   

Chasetown 
Sat 01   Bedworth  (home)
Sat 08   Yaxley  (away)
Sat 15   Coleshill  (home)                                
Sat 22   Histon   (away)
Sat 29   Corby   (home) 

Coleshill
Sat 01   Sutton Coldfield  (home)
Sat 08   Carlton    (home)
Sat 15   Chasetown  (away)                             
Sat 22   Corby   (away)
Sat 29   Loughborough D  (home) 

Stamford
Sat 01   Corby   (away)
Sat 08   Sporting Khalsa  (home)
Sat 15   Halesowen   (away)
Sat 22   Belper   (away)
Sat 29   Shepshed   (home) 

Carlton
Sat 01   Daventry  (home)
Sat 08   Coleshill   (away)
Sat 15   Wisbech   (home)
Sat 22   Loughborough D  (away)
Sat 29   Soham T R   (home)



Carlton have the easiest looking fixtures so should recover some of the ground they have recently lost.

Chasetown only have one match against a top seven rival

Ilkeston, Belper, Halesowen, Coleshill and Stamford all have two matches against top seven rivals



 

Last edited by Matchman (03/1/2022 12:18 PM)

Big match next weekend coleshill v Carlton. Both teams can't afford to lose nor can they afford to draw but both teams will turn up for their cup final against us at the NMG

To be honest I've not look past the 8th. I take every game now as a cup final for whoever we play. I notice that teams seem to up their games against us.

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CURRENT FORM

Just been looking at the current form of the leading teams over the last six matches

I knew Carlton and Coleshill were starting to drop points but so are Chasetown. All three have drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 6 matches. Carlton and  Coleshill play against each other on Jan 8th and Chasetown play Coleshill on Jan 15th so more points to be dropped by those three.
The current form top team are Halesowen but they’ve had comparatively easy matches of late. That could change in the next  few weeks when they play Stamford and Ilkeston.
Stamford on their day look the best team in the league but for some reason they lack consistency against the lower teams.  They have away matches against Halesowen on Jan 15th and Belper on Jan 22nd
Belper’s problem is that they have had poor results against the top teams (W1, D1, L6) and have only beaten Carlton. Can’t see them beating Stamford on Jan 22nd.
Ilkeston look like they have got over their blip against Khalsa taking seven points some their last three against tough opposition and now have three matches against teams in the bottom five before the clash with Halesowen on Jan 29th 

Outside of the top seven Yaxley have won their last five and have climbed out of the relegation area up to 12th.
Bedworth United have put a decent run together and are unbeaten in their last seven with four wins and three draws. They are now 7 points outside the  playoff positions.
The worst current form team are well supported Corby Town who have lost their last seven. Despite their awful run, 771 turned up to see them play Stamford last Saturday.


 

I will have a look and see what is behind Yaxley's turnaround in form. Do they have a new team, new manager or has the local characters lifted a spell on the ground.

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What an exciting season this is for Ilkeston fans. When your team is going for promotion, every match is important and looked forward to. It’s even more exciting because seven teams are battling to finish in the top five and two teams (Ilkeston and Halesowen) are currently neck and neck for the automatic promotion spot. Not that only Ilkeston and Halesowen could finish as Champions. Stamford are a few points behind but we know they are good enough to make up the lost ground. 

Stamford have a chance to show their credentials this Saturday when they visit Halesowen. If they win then they are right back in contention. The following week they play Belper.
From Halesowen’s viewpoint a win against Stamford will give them real confidence for when they visit Ilkeston.
3rd placed Chasetown will feel they have every chance of finishing top of the pile. They have a tough looking game against 6th placed Coleshill this Saturday.
It’s not out the question for 4th placed Belper to finish in top spot but if they lose against Stamford on Jan 22nd it will be a major setback to their hopes. 

So January sees several top seven clashes. For Ilkeston, the most important matches are Halesowen v Stamford and Ilkeston v Halesowen.  

Right now, in my opinion, the top five at the end of the season will be made up of  Ilkeston, Halesowen, Stamford, Chasetown and Belper and any one of them could finish in the top spot. The two teams to miss out are Coleshill and Carlton who happen to be the teams with the lowest support.
We may have a better idea at the end of January.

Interesting that 15th placed Corby have a better average home attendance (466) than 5th placed Stamford (344) 


   

Last edited by Matchman (13/1/2022 5:57 PM)

Only 1 big game next week belper v Stamford. A draw no good to both teams but a loss could be very bad for either team