Can we make the play offs?

[DJ]

Wolves sit in 5th place just outside the play off positions going into tonights match against 4th placed Eastbourne. And we could easily have been better placed but for some points narrowly lost mainly due to lower scores than expected from Tai. The two reserves have been inconsistent as was probably expected but Jacob, Ricky and Ty have all been doing their job while Piotr has exceeded expectations and is worth the admission money alone. He got another maximum in Poland yesterday.

Above Wolves, Poole and Lakeside both lost at home last week but below us Coventry and Belle Vue seem to be improving. Its going to be a close call for the play off places with only Kings Lynn looking certainties.

If Tai can start getting double figure scores consistently we may just sneak in.

[PS]

M 3W 2W D L 4W 3W D 1L L Pts relative
King's Lynn 11 4 2 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 30 (12)
Coventry 12 1 1 0 2 2 1 0 2 3 18 (6)
Lakeside 15 6 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 4 26 (2)
Poole 11 5 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 23 (2)
Belle Vue 10 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 14 (2)
Eastbourne 12 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 21 (0)
Swindon 11 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 4 11 (-1)
Wolverhampton 13 2 3 2 0 0 1 0 1 4 18 (-3)
Leicester 10 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 4 10 (-5)
Birmingham 11 1 2 0 3 0 0 0 1 4 8 (-10)

Here is the table from the Speedway GB site as of 25th May. I have added a relative column to see where teams are compared to home and away performance. The base is you get 3 point win at home and nothing away. From this we have some work to do.

Still a long time to go for everyone. We certainly need to improve if we are going to make the play offs. Kings Lynn seem certainties for the playoff, the other spots are up for grabs although Birmingham probably have too much to do. Everybody else needs to get good run together.

My view is that Jacob, Ricky and Peter have mostly exceeded expectations. If Ty and Tai can pull out some good scores we have a chance. In fairness as was shown against Coventry are reserves are not going to dominate too many matches.
The book makers have us 7th or 8th which is probably fair.

[Wolfie]

I think our poor home form up until the last couple of weeks will cost us dearly, as we still look unlikely to pick up many points away from home.

[T.N.T]

May 29, 2014 12:29:39 GMT Wolfie said:

I think our poor home form up until the last couple of weeks will cost us dearly, as we still look unlikely to pick up many points away from home.

I wouldn't say its poor home form as much as other teams being suited to the occasion more and the points dropped were to teams that also look to be in the play off race.

Coventry lose matches at home, then win at Poole !! .... It's a weird season and much of it is down to the draft riders at reserve. Coventry have Garrity in great form while Kings Lynn have Lewis Kerr scoring better than anyone in the Elite League.


Add to that the unbalanced heat format and a bit of luck in the right places and matches are hard to predict and who will make the play offs is just as unsure but Wolves do have the potential to get there especially if Tai and Piotr both hit big scores each week. I would still like to see a change in the riding order to get more out of certain heats but Wolves can do it ..... possibly ?

[DJ]

We need to up our game away from home to stand a chance of the play offs. Every rider is averaging less than 7 away. Only Ricky could be pleased with his away average in the top 5 of the team. Piotr and Tai should be averaging much more and will need to for us to get into top 4

[fish]

Can we make the play offs in a word No not with woffinden being so hit and miss.

[DJ]

What a fabulous win at Swindon. There is hope for the play offs yet. And what a star Pawlicki is

[DJ]

What a fabulous win at Swindon. There is hope for the play offs yet. And what a star Pawlicki is

[fish]

I must agree Pawlicki is some thing else he must be the first signing for next season.

[doctor]

not a chance with proctor and wells

[fish]

More Proctor than Wells

[DJ]

Tai looked every inch a world champion against Lynn but Pawlicki has his worst meeting of the season, Ty was poor and our reserves outclassed. On this showing Kings Lynn look hot favourites for the league, and Wolves looked well short of a play off team. But a normal score from Piotr would have made the final score very different

[doctor]

the problem at reserve is there are 4or 5 good riders ie kerr blackbird worrell the rest are just making up the numbers and against wolves they all have rode few times at monmore for or against dudley so ash and jacobs not mutch home advantage as for proctor his had is chance. i would like to see cvs and adams show how mutch they want to win buy replacing 1 or 2 how about fredie and pontus for proctor and wells

[fish]

Jun 24, 2014 12:26:48 GMT doctor said:

the problem at reserve is there are 4or 5 good riders ie kerr blackbird worrell the rest are just making up the numbers and against wolves they all have rode few times at monmore for or against dudley so ash and jacobs not mutch home advantage as for proctor his had is chance. i would like to see cvs and adams show how mutch they want to win buy replacing 1 or 2 how about fredie and pontus for proctor and wells

Yes please but not going to happen we all know what Adams is like to much like hard work to make changes.

[DJ]

I think the home defeat to Coventry confirmed what we have suspected all season, that we wont quite be good enough to finish in the top 4. But what the Cov meeting highlighted more than anything is that there are 3 or 4 of the young reserves that are on a different planet to the majority and under this race format, its often the match winning factor. Who knows what will happen to the Elite League in 2015 given Birmingham's demise and question marks over Coventry and Eastbourne, but I dont think many believe the current race format has been a success.