The final day of a league season brings a mix of emotions. There could be the heady excitement of promotion or even a league title, or a comfortable mid-table finish. There might be the chance to relax on the final day, having escaped from a tense season, or the disappointment of a season that hasn’t quite finished in the way that supporters would have liked. Dagger’s Diary’s Brian Parish tells us of the story at Victoria Road, where relegation back to the non leagues was very much on the agenda.
Of course, you could be in our position, of going into the final day with the chance of being relegated. Last weekends defeat at Aldershot has prolonged the agony, and also meant that, combined with other results, that two teams will lose their league status on the final day. With nothing yet decided, the last week has not been great, and although work has been there to take the mind off of the impeding agony of the last day, the nerves have been slowing building.
Simply put, Aldershot’s win, coupled with other results meant that, as we head towards 3pm on the last day of the campaign, there are still seven teams that could fill the two relegation places. While our visitors today, York City, are still in with a chance of going down (along with Torquay and Plymouth), it’s generally reckoned that any two from four will be the most likely to go.
Aldershot start the day in last place, and with forty eight points, need to win at Rotherham to have a chance of staying up. Wimbledon, just above them with fifty, are at home to Fleetwood, whose chances of the play offs disappeared last week. Then we get to Barnet. Having won their last game at Underhill (saving a last minute penalty, which darkened the mood on our coach ride home from Aldershot last weekend just that little bit more), they travel to Wycombe. Continue reading
Defeat for Aldershot will mean relegation back to the Conference, five years after promotion with a points tally in three figures. A draw might be enough, although that would mean that they would need results to go their way in other games involving teams at the bottom of the table. A win, and they could go into their last game of the season with a chance of staying up.
In the run up to Easter, the club went nuts with the loan signings, making five in the last few desperate hours before the time for last minute reinforcements run out. Not only was there another goalkeeper signed, but a couple of wingers, a left back and another centre back, which meant that when the team took to the field in Barnet, there was two debutants, plus another on the bench.
The weather this last week obviously hasn’t been good, and is more like the middle of December, than the middle of March. Leaving Dagenham at half past seven in the morning, the snow has been falling, but luckily it is not settling. However, as we get closer to the appointed pit stop at Norton Caines, the snow is much deeper, and there are several inches of the stuff in the car park at the services. Everyone heads straight inside, while the snow continues to fall, and we all only venture out once the coach is opened up again, as we prepare to depart. 
On Tuesday, it was announced that John Still had left the club, to take over at Luton Town. In charge for just under nine years, Still has left the club in a much better position league wise than when he arrived. While some would have not quite admired some of the football played in that spell, it has undeniably been successful. And to regard the teams that we have had in that time as purely playing long ball team is not quite right. We had players like Craig Mackail Smith in that time, who has certainly gone on to bigger and better things. There have also been some decent central midfield players who have been here, such as Glen Southam, Matt Saunders, and Luke Howell, who may not have been so influential if that area of the field had been completely bypassed. 
Today is an away game, and we venture to the most southerly and westerly ground in the football league; Plymouth Argyle. During my early formative years watching football, I can remember Plymouth reaching the semi finals of the FA Cup, with the nation’s media eager that the plucky underdogs from Division Three produce an upset against top flight Watford. In the end, a goal from George Reilly sent Watford to their first FA Cup final, while Plymouth had to try and secure their future in the third division, which they did, although nineteenth place doesn’t immediately suggest a team reaching the last four of the cup.
It seems like only yesterday that the team were making their way up to Morecambe for the rearranged league game, although it was actually eighteen. Morecambe, like us haven’t had great attendances this season, and made the game a freebie, attracting a crowd in excess of over four thousand on the night. It will be interesting to see if a proportion of those who attended that night will be tempted back on a more regular basis.