Play-offs or painfully close? National League North supercomputer predicts AFC Telford United's fate
A supercomputer has predicted that AFC Telford United will finish fifth in the National League North this season, putting the Bucks firmly in the play-off places.
The prediction comes from statistics website Football Web Pages, which uses an algorithm to simulate the remainder of the season based on current results, form and projected match outcomes.
According to its projected final table, Telford are forecast to finish fifth with 74 points, securing a place in the play-offs and setting up a home tie with Macclesfield in the quarter finals.
Should Kevin Wilkin's side progress through that game the supercomputer predicts that South Shields will finish second and host the winner of the fifth place vs sixth place quarter final in the semi final. Despite being predicted to pick up a stunning 106 points The Mariners are predicted to miss out on automatic promotion by one point to AFC Fylde.
Telford currently find themselves on 56 points with nine games remaining, meaning the prediction expects them to pick up a further 18 points between now and the end of the campaign.
Those points are expected to come from five wins and three draws, meaning Telford are predicted to lose just one more league game this season.
An away game at play-off hopefuls Scarborough Athletic this weekend looks like their most obvious risk of a defeat, while home matches against Kidderminster Harriers, Macclesfield, Marine and Darlington all pose threats given those side's play-off ambitions.
Elsewhere in the division, Kidderminster are predicted to stumble into third place with just 15 points from their remaining 11 games. Merthyr Town are predicted to finish fourth on 78 points, a return that would mean they are to pick up 12 points from their final eight games.
Macclesfield are another side predicted to stumble over the line with 16 points from 12 games, a return that would see them finish sixth according to the supercomputer, level on points with Telford but with an inferior goal difference. Scarborough complete the top seven and also expect to finish on 74 points, but should be well behind both Telford and Macclesfield on goal difference.
It suggests that the Bucks' trip to Scarborough this weekend could be even more important than it already feels. The prediction suggests that those two sides will head into the play-offs in the best form, with both tipped to average two points a game between now and the end of the season.
