Hey, Ciril, you forgot the bit where you say "I tipped Airdrie to finish last, how wrong i was!"

Just in case there' s anything going for May Ramblings thought id have a quick say,

STE hit crisis this month in the eyes of many and although my aims and intentions changed shortly after my predictions i am still hoping for a finish outside the bottome 6... possible?? im not sure but ill give it a damn good go!!

as for my toher predictions at the start of the seaosn...

GM to win - this wont be happening but there playing well and promotion still on the cards
QOS 2nd - SPOT ON AS WE STAND
FAL 3rd - Currently top of the lague doing very well as i imagined they would
BRE 4th - 15th now and a total disaster for the season! relegation now a near certainty!!
STE 5th - 16th at the moment - but you know how i feel about this.
NAI 6th - 14th another under performer and looks to be heading back to the 3rd division
ALO 7th - Struggling as usual but Currently 11th and heading up
HAM 8th - 4th having a really good season - a new boss but a fool proof squad!!
FOR 9th - 6th - there or there abouts
HEA 10th - 5th pushing as hard as they can but may struggle later in the seaosn
PET 11th - 3rd, over performing due to some excellent management
AI 12th - 10th there or there abouts
DUM 13 - 12th there or there abouts
BUC 14th - 9th pushing up but may be dragged in to relelagtion problems yet!!
PT 15th - 8th overperforming but look set to keep it that way!
ARB 16th - 13th struggling as expected...

lets see what its like in 14 games time!

Seems that things are clearing up at the top of Division 2. Falkirk, Peterhead, Queen of the South and Hamilton Accies are clearly the most serious candidates for promotion this Season. There is already 4 points gap between 4th and 5th place and if we take into account that first four clubs have very strong rosters, it is obvious that Hearts, Forfar Athletic, Greenock Morton and Buckie Thistle will have to satisfy themselfes for play-off battle. Next matches will decide if Partick Thistle will join this group or maybe they will join Airdrie United, Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Dumbarton, Brechin City, Stenhousemuir and Nairn County for a battle against relegation.

With mid-season ageing upon us, it's time to have a look at the promotion contenders. Starting with the current top 8:

FALKIRK slipped up this time, but they were presumably saving themselves for the CECIL Cup final. They still have the best squad, the best Top17, the best Top11 (with Hamilton), good OTF, good SET and 13 players on SL20 or more. At least they are running out of TP and CP, but they should still stay top until the end of the season.

PETERHEAD no longer have 4 SL29 forwards, but they remain a strong side and have loads and loads of CP to spend. They are eight points ahead of Hearts in fifth and should be able to stay in the top four.

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH are doing about as well as I had expected. We are third in Top17, fifth in top11, have a decent forward line, two good keepers, reasonable defence and improving midfield, as well as more CPs and TPs than the other top teams bar Peterhead and Forfar. Maybe my initial prediction of a top four finish is going to come off.

HAMILTON still have the best Top11 and the second best Top17, along with 12 SL20+ players including that SL32 sweeper. It's hard to bet against them getting promotion, as they can beat anybody if they try and their squad is much deeper than it was at the start of the season.

HEARTS weren't even in my predicted top eight, but they are on a downward slide at the moment with only six points from the last eight games. Admittedly, three of those points came when they beat QOS last time! They have a very deep squad with no less than four decent MAs, but the keepers are both poor and their Top11 is in the bottom half of the division. I can't see them breaking back into the promotion spots.

FORFAR were my dark horse at the start of the season, and they have done pretty well. They still have lots of cash and the most TP and CP in the division, but they are running out of time to spend this. Their main weakness is a lack of firepower up front, with only Nevster (SL24) and Buttery (WG SL25) to score the goals. Could still get promotion, but will need to improve rapidly.

GREENOCK MORTON were many people's bet for first place. It hasn't really worked for them this season, and I'm not sure why. The squad still looks good, with decent keepers and shooters, but the Top17 and Top11 are worse than all of the top four and Greenock don't have many CP or TP to improve the situation.

BUCKIE THISTLE are another team with poor keepers. There are no weaknesses elsewhere and the shooters are good, but they have already let in far more goals than anybody above them and this is only going to get worse.

At the start of the season, I predicted that STENHOUSEMUIR and NAIRN COUNTY could do well this season. At fifteenth and sixteenth respectively, they have hardly supported my predictions! NAIRN didn't age well and now have one of the weakest squads in the division, so things don't look good. STENNY, on the other hand, have nine players at SL24 or higher and their first team is actually stronger than everybody apart from Falkirk and Hamilton, but the rest of the squad is not as impressive. They could stay up, or they could mount a challenge for the SESL cup.

In summary, it seems likely that the current top four will stay there and be promoted, with the main threat coming from Forfar. If pushed, I would expect the top four to finish in the order Falkirk, Hamilton, Peterhead, QOS. Of course, this could all be confused by the SESL cup. With the top teams in division 1 fighting it out in a ridiculously tight league, they may not want to concentrate on the SESL Cup, so the lower division sides could do well. Falkirk for the treble, anybody!

This was Les, so i'll let him off!

That is all. Nuff said!

Ah, the joy of making predictions.....

..... and then people casting it back up in hindsight!


Well done Airdrie United though for staying up in Div 2.