Assorted facts and stats from the 2nd tier playoffs

[Pollingtonblade]

Not even the second half of the season - we were never really in with a shout of the title, but when we played Bolton away on 22 Mar the table looked like this:

View attachment 210219

We then had the following results to the end of the season:

View attachment 210220

I have no recollection of the home games against Reading and Swindon. I do remember Blake missed a sitter at Bolton, and we probably deserved a point at Sunderland. We were awful at Portsmouth and Barnsley.

Weirdly 1995 passed me by, think it coincided with me discovering alcohol.

That form carried on into the start of the following season, think Bassett said in his book the players had enough of him.

 

[Selly]

Another drop of stats.

1 - In 72 Tier 2 playoff 1st legs (before this year), Home teams have won on 28 occasions, Away teams on 19 occasions, with 25 draws

- in 18/19 of the occasions where an Away team won the first leg - that team has made the final
- the one exception is the hilarious Leeds United crumble against Derby in 2019
- on 8 of those occasions the team that won the away first leg won the playoffs (with 7 being promoted, Swindon in 1990 being the exception)

2 - our 3-0 away win is the equal 2nd best away win in 2nd tier playoff history

- The best result was Barnsley spanking Birmingham in 2000, 4-0 - they lost the final
- 2 other sides have won 3-0 away in the first leg, Watford in 2006 (promoted) and Hull in 2016 (promoted)

3 - Teams scoring 3 or more goals in the first leg (Home or away) have made the final on 100% of occasions

- This has occurred 5/5 times for away teams
- This has occurred 6/6 times for home teams
- on only one occasion in all the above 11 cases has the team scoring 3+ in the first leg required penalties - Palace in 2004 (Won 3-2 in the first leg, lost 2-1 in the second leg