Who do you want to go down from League One

Saints play a big part on the final day of the season in the relegation battle, as it stands Walsall sit on 48 points with a goal difference of - 17, whilst Dagenham sit only one point behind on 47 with a difference of -13, in terms of goals scored which might well come into play, Walsall have notched 55, whilst the Daggers have hit 52, it couldnt have been much closer.

The simple mathematics are that Walsall need to win and they stay up, a draw or a defeat could, but not neccesarily, put them down.

The nightmare for Walsall is a heavy defeat at St Mary's, this would destroy their goal difference and leave them susceptible to Dagenham jumping above them if they can snatch a draw at Peterborough.

On the face of it both games are fairly similar, a top four side at home to each relegation battler, but for Peterborough this is not their last game of the season and they have far more other things to worry about, with a play off semi against MK Dons they will have two worries, injuries and suspensions and it could be that they might prefer to rest certain players rather than risk them being injured or even sent off, whilst Saints not only dont have to worry about that, but aare in themselves aiming not only to preserve their unbeaten league home record in 2011, but hit the 90 point mark and close the gap on Brighton, Saints not only have it all to play for, but if Saints do decide to rest a player the standard of those coming in is still way above Peterborough's.

So at first view, although Walsall have the point advantage, you would put more money on Dagenham beating Peterborough than Walsall winning at St Mary's.

It is going to go down to the wire, I can see Daggers nicking a point at Posh and Walsall losing at SMS, this would send Walsall down given their goal differencee, playing at any other team in League one you wouldnt put too much on it, but remember this is Peterborough who have conceded more goals at home (40) than any other team and more shockingly more than Dagenham have conceded away from home themselves, so bearing in mind those records, could Dagenham stay up on the closest of margins a 4-4 draw sneaking them home, it would be well worth a punt, what the odds would be I wouldnt know, but a double of Saints to win 4-0 and Dagenham to get that 4-4 draw would surely be very very good.    

Who would Saints fans want to stay up, by default it would be Dagenham purely because we would want to beat Walsall as we would wantto beat any other visiting team, but those who visited Dagenham in January might just harbour a soft spot for Daggers keeper Tony Roberts, still playing at 41 and still possessing a sense of humour as he showed the visiting supporters in the second half.        

Photo: Action Images

ThereIn76 added 10:35 - May 6 Dean Smith has done incredibly well with Walsall as they looked to have no chance of staying up when he took over and if they add to the 3 points they've already taken off us then they'll deserve to stay up. However, if John Still keeps Daggers up that'll be just about the managerial achievement of the season - certainly in League One. So given the choice I'd slightly favour them, although I've always kept an eye out for Walsall since Chris Nicholl was there - I know they still think highly of him.

0

jacksk1 added 11:01 - May 6 As you have stated in your post the Daggers currently have a better GD than Walsall (-13 for the Daggers against -17 for Walsall) so if the Daggers were to get a draw at Peterborough and Walsall were to lose then the Daggers would be safe no matter what the margin of Walsall's defeat. Therefore, the only way that Walsall can be certain of staying up is if they win at SMS but unfortunately for them I can see this playing right into our hands and they could suffer a bit of a hiding. They would then be relying on Peterborough to beat the Daggers in order to save them and as you have said, with Peterborough's minds on the play-offs I have a sneaky feeling that the Daggers will get the combination of results that they need and Walsall will, unfortunately, be playing in League 2 next season.

0

BLEEDRED added 11:02 - May 6 Daggers, because as their fans sing "we are just a pub team from Essex". There supporters were also fun in the pubs when we visited in January . They deserve to stay another season.
0

bstokesaint added 13:08 - May 6 I can't see past the woeful away defeat at Walsall earlier in the season. I can see a 5-0 revenge and the Daggers staying up.
0

SeafordSaint added 16:37 - May 6 Firstly I'd like us to finish on 92 points and be as close to B&HAFC as possible. Secondly, I'd like to see the Daggers stay up. Walsall were woeful against Saints up at their place and, but for a combination of woeful finishing and lucky defending, were lucky not to be hammered. I hope that they get the tonking they ultimately deserve tomorrow at the St Mary's stadium. SfS.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls