Not a bad result Saturday which saw us the first team mathematically confirmed in this season's playoffs. Think all the games are likely to be tight, it's the first time for a while I can remember where no-one has confirmed they final position in the playoffs ahead of final day. The fact the current 4 have just 3 points between them indicates how tight the division has been this year. Normally have at least one team a few points ahead having given the automatics a real challenge like us 2 years ago, but having said that I'm glad we aren't coming into them this season having been pipped to autos and having that disappointment hanging over us.

I suppose the questions are:

1) Will we finish 3rd/4th and nick that home advantage for the 2nd leg?

2) Who else gets in?

3) Who would you rather face?

30 minutes ago, freds dad said:

Barnsley didn’t. Both sets of away fans were capped at 2000.

Yes, I just thought it may suit Bradford to give whoever they play in the play offs their usual away sections, as they can't just use that stand behind the goal, its not big enough.

And 2k was probably plenty for Barnsley for a night match, so no incentive for them to give us more.  Different for Bradford.

10 minutes ago, BeeversLeftPeg said:

I imagine if it's Bradford we'd only get behind the goal for the away leg.

Whoever it is stick them in South Upper and give them the bare minimum.

You'll have some on here saying give them the whole end, roll the red carpet out and get Lofty dressed up as a Bantam.

11 minutes ago, BeeversLeftPeg said:

I imagine if it's Bradford we'd only get behind the goal for the away leg.

Whoever it is stick them in South Upper and give them the bare minimum.

I think they'll have to give us a bit on the side as that away end only holds 1644. Not as much as last weekend but enough to top it up to 2k.

We'll do the same and just give them the upper tier of the south, which is handily 2064 seats so we don't really lose out on segregation.

It's just annoying if we end up playing in one of the other tiny stadiums and still have to give them 2k for 1k in return

17 minutes ago, gonzo said:

You'll have some on here saying give them the whole end, roll the red carpet out and get Lofty dressed up as a Bantam.

Not for a playoff match where you don't keep 95% of the revenue.

It's a play off rule isn't it? Away fans are capped at 2k I think. Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday did the same in their L1 play off a few years back.

I’ve had a service led communication from the club about play off tickets .

Whatever that is. 

On 27/04/2026 at 12:32, tomski said:

Not bothered who we get or when. Think it’s our time.

Swapping with Oxford just feels right.
 

Would have preferred Blackburn  

5 hours ago, Stig said:

I think they'll have to give us a bit on the side as that away end only holds 1644. Not as much as last weekend but enough to top it up to 2k.

We'll do the same and just give them the upper tier of the south, which is handily 2064 seats so we don't really lose out on segregation

I'd not give them the extra 64 tickets either.

Port vale 1:0 up

9 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

That would discourage a few from going, the earlier set off and less drinking flattening the pre-match vibe (as per all 12.30 KOs)

Wimbledon away was a great atmosphere tbf

If we got to the final then I was planning on going down on the Saturday anyway so early kick off would suit quite well with more trains to choose from coming back

40 minutes ago, Hoppy said:

Port vale 1:0 up

2 up

6 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

It's a play off rule isn't it? Away fans are capped at 2k I think. Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday did the same in their L1 play off a few years back.

It's not a rule, we could give someone the whole stand if we wanted

There's a minimum and clubs have started sticking to it

The Sunderland Sheff weds game was when both teams could've easily sold out big followings but one team said no (think weds refused to give them lowe tier) so the other said fuck you and both gave as few as they're allowed 

8 minutes ago, Zico said:

It's not a rule, we could give someone the whole stand if we wanted

There's a minimum and clubs have started sticking to it

The Sunderland Sheff weds game was when both teams could've easily sold out big followings but one team said no (think weds refused to give them lowe tier) so the other said fuck you and both gave as few as they're allowed 

Correct. I think it makes for a worse spectacle as a neutral when teams can't sell all their home tickets but we'll be there or thereabouts if we restrict the opposition to 2k

There's a difference between giving teams a bigger away allocation in a normal league match where you keep 95% of the revenue and a sudden-death playoff match where you keep 25%. 

Just now, jmjhb said:

There's a difference between giving teams a bigger away allocation in a normal league match where you keep 95% of the revenue and a sudden-death playoff match where you keep 25%. 

And tickets are cheaper in play offs (were the last 2 times so presume that will continue).

If Stockport lost this they will be seriously twitching come the weekend and hoping we do them a favour.

A loss away at Barnsley (not inconceivable) and a Luton win at our place would see Luton go above them on goal difference. Assuming Bradford get a point and Stevenage do what they need to do at home to Wigan then Stockport would slip out!

All unlikely but you wouldn’t want to be going into the last day with a reasonable amount of concern when you could have wrapped it up and put yourself in pole position for 3rd spot with your game in hand at home to Port Vale.

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

If Stockport lost this they will be seriously twitching come the weekend and hoping we do them a favour.

A loss away at Barnsley (not inconceivable) and a Luton win at our place would see Luton go above them on goal difference. Assuming Bradford get a point and Stevenage do what they need to do at home to Wigan then Stockport would slip out!

All unlikely but you wouldn’t want to be going into the last day with a reasonable amount of concern when you could have wrapped it up and put yourself in pole position for 3rd spot with your game in hand at home to Port Vale.

I agree but if it’s the Barnsley I’m watching tonight County should have no worries. They may be a goal up at Northampton but it’s hard to describe just how bad the Cobblers are. I’m struggling to understand why Tykes are so bad because when you look at some of the players they have like Connell, Cleary, McGoldrick, Philips and O’Keefe they should be so much better. Mind you if those players turn up on Saturday County might just pay the price if we do slip up?

3 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

I agree but if it’s the Barnsley I’m watching tonight County should have no worries. They may be a goal up at Northampton but it’s hard to describe just how bad the Cobblers are. I’m struggling to understand why Tykes are so bad because when you look at some of the players they have like Connell, Cleary, McGoldrick, Philips and O’Keefe they should be so much better. Mind you if those players turn up on Saturday County might just pay the price if we do slip up?

Maybe so, but lose at home to Port Vale and you’re not confident of going away to Barnsley in a few days - no matter how poor they looked in their own mid week game

Just don’t lose Saturday and same for Stevenage and we have a great chance of winning these playoffs 

Surely nobody is favouring Luton or Plymouth in the play-offs to Stockport?!

Luton’s 5 and 10 game form is fantastic.

We need to put them to bed Saturday.

The form, fitness, player availability of a confident and firing Luton is surely a more concerning prospect than a bereft and and out-of-form Stockport, despite the fact they beat us twice nearly a year ago and knocked us out of the FA Cup 5 years ago. 

Definitely some shaky bums for Saturday after that result tonight but it will really fire up Luton even more now. None of the 3 current top six incumbents can rely on us to beat the Hatters even though I believe we will and we can’t yet rule Plymouth out if Stevenage slip up. So it’s up to us then and I’d much rather that than rely on the other three.

Quite bizarre that the teams in 3rd down to 8th can still all play any of the other 5 teams in the play off semis, with the exception that Plymouth can't play Stevenage.  

No doubt it will change several times during the games on Saturday.

If Luton play at their best and we play at ours we still beat them.

That also goes for the rest of the top 6. But that's a big if, we are generally the dominant team in most matches and we never give up. And I genuinely believe we have the best squad out of those teams.

I've said it before, our biggest opponent in getting promotion is ourselves.

1 hour ago, desperado said:

Surely nobody is favouring Luton or Plymouth in the play-offs to Stockport?!

Luton’s 5 and 10 game form is fantastic.

We need to put them to bed Saturday.

The form, fitness, player availability of a confident and firing Luton is surely a more concerning prospect than a bereft and and out-of-form Stockport, despite the fact they beat us twice nearly a year ago and knocked us out of the FA Cup 5 years ago. 

I don't really want to face the likes of Louie Barry in full fitness and form in a sudden-death match. He's one of the few players in this division that should be playing at a higher level. Equally they can say the same about ACD, Kenny etc.

Tbh can't see Luton winning at ours; nor do I see Stevenage slipping up at an on-the-beach Wigan.

We land where we land. Not particularly worried.

Edited April 28Apr 28 by jmjhb

Excellent job by Stockport to set up the perfect Saturday for people who love permutations.

Us - Can finish as high as 3rd and as low as 5th

Stockport - Can finish as high as 3rd and as low as 7th

Bradford - Can finish as high as 3rd and as low as 7th

Stevenage - Can finish as high as 4th and as low as 8th

Luton - Can finish as high as 4th and as low as 8th

Plymouth - Can finish as high as 6th and as low as 8th