League Two 2010/2011: The Story So Far – Goals, goals galore

With nearly half the campaign gone in English football’s fourth tier, League Two, we welcome a new contributor to Just Football. Simon Godfrey is here to take us through the season so far.

We’re approaching half-time in the 2010-2011 League 2 season and if the second half is going to be anything like the first half was then we’re going to be in for a highly entertaining affair. The first half of the season has, in fairness, gone with form but it’s also thrown up it’s fair share of goals, shocks and the standard of football in the division continues to improve season after season.

So, what’s happened so far?

August

Torquay set the early pace by winning their first four fixtures of the season to lead the table at the end of August whilst pre-season favourites, Bradford City, were sitting in 20th with just one win from their first four games, form which wasn’t going to improve. League 2 hasn’t been shy this season when it comes to teams scoring goals and Crewe Alexandra were the first of the big hitters as they put seven past Barnet on August 21st. More evidence that League 2 was going to be incredibly exciting was also on display that same day as Rotherham ran out 6-4 winners at home to Cheltenham.

Watch: Rotherham 6 – 4 Cheltenham

September

The league table, as with every season, began to take shape in September and Mickey Adam’s Port Vale started to stamp their authority on League 2 as Torquay’s early form wobbled and they ended the month in 6th place. Stevenage and Oxford, both promoted from the Conference in 09-10, were having steady starts to life in League 2 and found themselves in 7th and 12th respectively.

Hereford and Barnet were propping up the division, something which was going to become a familiar scene over the first half of the season whilst the goals continued to come as a 73rd minute Ryan Lowe goal gave Bury a 5-4 win at home to Gillingham. The Gills would go on to further extend their appalling away record before putting it right later in the season.

Finally in September, an excellent Northampton Town performance gave further evidence of the quality of League 2 as a penalty shoot-out victory over Liverpool at Anfield heaped further doom on new Anfield boss Roy Hodgson.

Watch: Bury 5 – 4 Gillingham

October

October started with the league’s two high-scoring teams going head to head and it didn’t disappoint as Chesterfield hosted Crewe. Three early Crewe goals saw them lead their hosts 3-0 after just 13 minutes and then, despite a spirited fight back from the Spireites, when a Clayton Donaldson goal put Crewe 5-3 up in the 80th minute the points seemed to be heading back with the Railwaymen but two goals in the final minute were to grab a point for Chesterfield and cap another exciting league 2 fixture. On the same day a frenetic blow-for-blow encounter between Accrington Stanley and Gillingham saw the hosts eventually run out 7-4 winners and Gillingham had once again scored four goals away from home without picking up a single point.

Northampton’s win at Liverpool clearly had a knock-on effect as the Cobblers went on to lose their next three games, a run only halted when they beat Gillingham at Sixfields on the last weekend of the month. Meanwhile, Southend and Stockport County, both relegated from League 1 in 2009-2010 were having wretched starts to the season where, having had to assemble squads at the last minute due to financial difficulties, they found themselves 15th and 19th respectively at the end of October.

Watch: Chesterfield 5 – 5 Crewe Alexandra

November

Stockport’s problems continued to mount as the season moved in to November and successive 5-0 defeats at home to bottom club Hereford and away at Morecambe meant they’d leaked 34 goals in 18 fixtures, a statistic which was clearly unsettling Hatters fans. At the other end of the table, Wycombe Wanderers were the only one of the three sides to come down from League 1 who were showing any signs of mounting a promotion push, getting stronger and ending November in 7th position.

The top of the table was now going with form, with only Bury (3rd) and Torquay (6th) the surprise packages. Bury and their young squad, however, were having an interesting season and were showing the kind of form which must both puzzle and delight a manager. At home, they’d only won 3 of their 9 games but away they’d won 7 of 9, a truly remarkable run. No other team had come anywhere near showing that kind of form away from home but Chesterfield, sitting in 2nd, were seemingly enjoying their new surroundings as they’d won 70% of games at their new B2net Stadium.

Finally, I must make reference to Gillingham who, on November 20th away at Oxford United, ended their 18 month wait for an away victory as a 40th minute Corey McDonald game gave them a 1-0 victory. As football would have it, Gillingham then went on to win their next two away games, 2-1 away at Barnet and 4-2 away at Macclesfield.

Watch: Lincoln City 0 – 5 Bury

December

And so to December, a month which unfortunately saw little football due to the snow. Wycombe continued their climb towards the automatic promotion spots with a 1-0 win at home to 3rd place Bury whilst Port Vale, in the top three since September, have started to show a little dip in form following defeats away at both Morecambe & Gillingham over the festive period. Bradford’s season of woe continues after a punishing 4-0 defeat at Cheltenham left them lurking in the lower mid-table whilst the Robins continued to surprise and ended the year in the playoff places, an excellent achievement given relative budgets.

Watch: Cheltenham 4 – 0 Bradford City

Summary

As an Oxford fan myself I’ve seen my fair share of League 2 games this season and I continue to be impressed by the quality of football on display at this level. Also (and it’s an old cliché) anyone can beat anyone in this division which means you won’t see many teams going away from home and “parking the bus” because every team believes they can go and get a result. Goals haven’t been hard to come by either with some fantastic encounters already, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of them.

As with any season I expect there to be a few twists to come yet but I can’t see the top 7 changing too much given what we’ve seen so far. The likes of Gillingham & Crewe may have something to say about this though as both have shown recent signs of being ready to challenge the top sides.

Rotherham, currently in 4th, may have a struggle to keep the league’s top scorer Adam le Fondre at the club given his continued prowess in front of goal and this may have an impact on their ambitions this season whilst Port Vale’s fortunes may also change now manager Micky Adams has taken over at Sheffield United.

At the foot of the table, Hereford & Barnet will have to wheel-and-deal in January if they’re to avoid the dreaded drop in to the non-league whilst the likes of Accrington, Morecambe and Stockport will also be looking nervously over their shoulder.

My predictions:

Promoted: Chesterfield (champions), Wycombe Wanderers (Runners-up), Rotherham United (3rd Place), Shrewsbury Town (playoffs).

Relegated: Barnet, Hereford.

Simon Godfrey is a new contributor to Just Football and can be found over at his compelling personal blog A coach’s journal.

Chesterfield, England, English League Two, Football League