The Lower League Thread

http://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/article/retained-list-1520463.aspx

Our retained list. Jensen is a shock to me as he kept the most clean sheets in one season since Dean Kiely and has been a massive influence in our upturn in form. We have Shwan Jalal from Bournemouth on trial so you could see that we're looking at some options but I'm still unsure why we didn't offer Jensen just one more year.

Also Phil Picken retired from football because of his injury problems. Gutted for him

Was down the shay last to watch us beat Cambridge 1-0. atmosphere was unbelievable and I can genuinely say i've never celebrated a goal as much as I did last nights, god knows how i'll react if we keep plodding on

Rudy Gestede championship player of the month amazing buy!

Huh, suddenly a four goal swing in the favour of Blackburn Rovers and the continuing failure of Reading & Brighton to win gets them the play-offs. That'd be amazing.

Wow, two massive twists in extra time.

Birmingham 2-0 down, 2-2 in the 93rd minute.

Doncaster lose, so as long as Birmingham stay at 2-2 they're staying up on GD.

EDIT: FT. They're staying up, Doncaster down.

Being a Reading or Doncaster fan must absolutely hurt right now.

Bristol Rovers relegated after 94 years in the Football League while Chesterfield win the league.

Drew 0-0 at Morecambe today. A game we didn't really give a fuck about either as we started youth teamer Scott Burgess and subbed on two more youth team players with Marcus Proscha and Regan Walker. Could have asked for better entertainment on my birthday but at least there was no possible promotion/relegation stress like Doncaster or Reading fans had to endure.

On the other hand, we already secured a signing for next season. Our player of the season and loanee Danny Mayor signed a 3-year-deal and joins for an undisclosed fee from Sheffield Wednesday. Brilliant signing imo. He's too good for this division and I'm really happy we gave him a long contract as I can see him either go up the leagues with us or we're making profit with him. Good move all around

We've managed a thumping 4-1 win with a brilliant display down at Watford. Joe Lolley got his first Football League goal to set the ball rolling in the first minute of the second half after being a thorn in Watford's side in the first half, before Danny Ward hit a hat-trick (which was started by some very generous goalkeeping). Watford got one back with a last-minute penalty given after a really bizarre incident.

Watford got a set-piece on the right. Town made a hash of clearing it. The ref blew just as Watford rifled in a shot that cannoned off the underside of the bar and - going by the Watford fans' and players' reaction - over the line. The linesman didn't give the goal, and the ref indicated an indirect free-kick to Town. The Watford team went bonkers, the ref overturned the decision, and gave a drop-ball 6 yards out, which Town smuggled out for a corner. From the corner, the ref blew for a penalty that really wasn't apparent from our end (that isn't a criticism - he was on the spot, and might have seen a pull or a tug, but in context it did seem very much a charitable decision, and it was bloody annoying to lose the clean sheet).

Word on the mascot: cock. Nicked beach balls off the Town fans and threw them into the building site. All for banter, that that was ridiculous. Thieving bastard.

Thank f*ck Doncaster are coming down with us. Hopefully Rotherham fail in the play-offs and York win the League Two play-offs. Plenty of local games for us then!

Onto League One we go.

Fucking cracking 3-3 end of the season draw with Pompey in a sold out stadium, mental for an end of season nothing game in league two!

Waiting on our retained list to be announced on Tuesday now.

Cambridge into the Conference play-off final after beating Halifax 2-1 on aggregate. Halifax will be kicking themselves after failing to take advantage of sustained spells of pressure in both games. I suspect they'll struggle next time out unless more quality is brought in and Gregory stays.

Gateshead the other time isn't it? Really don't fancy that away game. Cambridge please.

Great 4-3 win shame the impossible didn't happen as at half time there was a small belief! But we did really well in a very attacking game! 12 games unbeaten bodes well for next season as long as we get a couple of defenders in! The attack and midfield is now excellent! Cairney got player of the yaer beating 25 goal Rhodes shows how great he has been!

We were done a kipper by the ref at Gateshead. Sent our lad off for a nothing challenge, the Heed lad goes down like he's been shot. We equalise with 10 men only for the ref to send our right back off too.

Hard enough 11 v 11, let alone 12 v 9.

GOLAZO

Shout for goal of the season there. Too good for a Steve Evans team.

Oscar Garcia's bottled it and resigned as manager of Brighton.

If they had a manager who could face failure they'd get promoted. But the last two to fail have both gone and bottled it almost immediately afterwards. Show some courage and leadership and the players would respond when the chips are down rather than go into a big game and instantly capitulate. The talent's there, the willpower isn't.

tbf Gus Poyet got sacked. Hardly bottling it.

Fair point. Genuinely thought he'd walked.

Derby v QPR in the play-off final.

I would much rather Derby won it.

Apparently Garcia was annoyed at selling Bridcutt and Barnes

You're not alone there. Would love to see media darling Redknapp fail (although coming 4th in itself was a failure to be honest).

Media seems to be speculating he wants to replace Allardyce at West Ham, so alas, he maybe coming back up anyway - and just in time to dodge the seemingly inevitable QPR financial implosion that failing to win promotion and spending stupid money would cause. Classic 'Arry.

4th is a failure. A wage bill bigger than two of the last four Champions League finalists should see them storming the division and winning it by 10 clear points and then going on to secure European football. Instead it's turned them into a team overly reliant on set-pieces and one very talented striker.

They did win the U21 Second Division play-off final with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Andy Johnson in the team though. Which is nice.

Nicky Adams re-joins the club on a three-year deal after we paid Rotherham an undisclosed fee.

I'm fairly happy with this. Nicky was a star in his first spell here and looked great whenever we played against him in League One. For League Two he should be different class. Welcome home Nicky!

Gateshead/Cambridge today. Howay the Heed

'mon Cambridge.

As I press submit they score a pearler of a free kick to make it 2-0! Happy days.

Ryan Lowe returns on a two-year deal!

Almost screamed when I read this at work because I'm actually buzzing!