Way, way back on 18th June…like many others…I had a stab at predicting the final conf south 23/24 season…I wouldn’t be far off would I?!…right?! 😬

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Well let’s start with who I Underestimated!

Aveley – 7th…not 24th! (17 places higher)
Ok wow. Got this totally wrong. Staggering achievement to challenge for promotion again following successive bunks up the ladder. I will not writing off Enfield Town (Isthmian playoff winner this campaign)

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Slough – 10th not 20th!
Chippenham 12th not 22nd!
Weston 13th not 23rd!
(All 10 places higher)
With Weston I again very much did not expect a promoted team to be able to adapt to this level football. In Slough and Chippenham I probably lazily assumed they overachieved a bit in 2023/24 and would find life tougher this time around but neither side flirted with the drop zone really and Slough were chasing the playoffs at one point!

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Chelmsford – 2nd not 11th! (9 places higher)
Yeah this one got noticed…😬 And Xtra was correct, they did do the double over us again!

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Farnborough 8th not 16th! (8 places higher)
Another one that flirted with the playoffs almost up to the wire. Cracking season for the yellows!

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Bath 6th not 12th! (6 places higher)
Yes I wrongly assumed that because they finished 11th in 2022/23 they would be there or thereabouts again in this campaign but a stellar start gave them a platform to stay in the playoff hunt!

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Hampton & Richmond 9th not 14th! (5 places higher)
I knew they had money by this point with their millionaire owners so I’m not sure why I didn’t go higher. In the end I’ve probably been let off lightly here as they dropped out of the playoffs in the end – clearly a disappointment to the board who relieved former Terra Mel Gwinnett of his duties.

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Ye0vil, Worthing, Maidstone, Braintree, St. Albans, Tonbridge, Weymouth, Truro, Hemel Hempstead, Taunton – (All 1-4 places out either way)
I’m gonna give myself a small pat on the back here as I was “pretty close” with 42% of the league. I correctly guessed Worthing, Maidstone and Braintree would all make the playoffs and that Taunton would go down. And sorry Louie but Hemel finished one worse than 19th in 20th and I was delighted as being only one out it was my joint closest guess!

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Now we are firmly into realms of those whom I OVERESTIMATED.

Dover 24th not 17th! (7 places lower)
A cigarette paper famously separated the lily whites and the Terras last season but whereas we steadied our ship the Kent side continue their slide!

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Welling 17th not 8th & Eastbourne 19th not 10th! (9 places lower!)
No idea if “user” was saying Welling should be higher or lower but I’d love to know! I just could not see them struggling but struggle they did until Rob Stringer took over the reins for a remarkable uptick in form.

As for Eastbourne…it shows you how just because money suddenly floods into a club it doesn’t buy you success. I predicted a 10th place finish and even that “lowly” a position was scoffed at!

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Dartford 21st not 6th! (15 places lower)
Almost no one saw this coming. This truly was a major shock with the squad they had. Complacency perhaps or maybe just mental fatigue from five failed playoff campaigns in the last six completed seasons!

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Torquay 18th not 1st! (17 places lower)
Ok so without 11points deducted they would have been 12th but even so they truly were the favourites for promotion in the eyes of most pundits. However of course we now know they started the season as a ticking time bomb and although the news of their owner upping sticks happened late in the season perhaps factors related to that affected performances throughout the season, perhaps simply rumours of financial instability getting into the heads of the players. Or am I being too kind? Did their full time starts just not shine?

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Havant & Waterlooville 23rd not 4th! (19 places lower)
Another huge swing on the swingometer. Yes I put them on a pedestal more than most saying they’d finish in a playoff spot but despite not being quite the moneybags club they were recently they still had a very good squad more than capable of at least flirting with the playoffs so to crash out of the league without so much of a whimper was a massive shock.

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The final scores on the doors…

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Relegation guesses with 20 games to go…
But that is not the end is it dear reader as I then guessed who would go down when Weymouth had 20 games to go.

Even then I struggled to guess what would happen!
24th Dover – Yep, a tick here, they finished bottom but with only 27pts, not 34.
23rd Welling – Wow – Rob Stringer pulled off a blinder!
22nd Havant – I thought they would almost escape but no, only 37pts.
21st Taunton – Not bad! One place out and just one point – I guessed 46.
20th Weymouth – I was pessimistic here and told so at the time!
19th Weston – Did much better than I expected!
18th Chippenham – As above…I thought they’d run out of steam a bit!
17th Dartford – “Too good to go down” I thought and I was wrong!
16th Eastbourne – Yes I assumed money would finally save them in the end!

Will I be brave enough to have a stab again this summer? Probably but maybe a bit nearer August this time!