To Infinity and Beyond...

A third of the way through the season and with a last 8 tie in sight, let us take a moment to reflect on who has done what this term and some of the statistics behind the story... but even the most well-formulated spreadsheets crop up an invalid value or 2 - the value of Infinity has occurred more than once.

In our box of toys we have individuals that like wearing hats, boots & chaps, characters with a range of false disguises to get out of the house on a Saturday, fierce old creatures with little arms but a big heart and little creatures with funny heads and googly eyes. There is a cast of many more - all that are increasingly familiar and funny.

The Gaffer has compared the 2018/9 squad with the current 2019/20 outing, both in terms of team and player progression for points, goals scored and conceded.

Our very own Wood(s)y has played in 68% of games pro-rata compared to last season, missing 3 through injury... but he has scored this time round where as he fired blanks before and is on track for netting 3 times if he carries on his goals per game ratio. When you look at the improvement column, his impact on results is immeasurable - or Infinity. By a quirk of fate, the figures are the same for Cyril.

Other notable achievements involve Dean's younger brother Dom Boom. He is on course to play in 50% more games this year, whilst scoring nearly half a goal per game more than previous and should make double figures in the race for the Golden Boat. Tony B, Dave D, Gary, Mark & Dan are playing more than twice as frequently as they did 12 months ago. Steve Mills' figures are even higher than Buzz has ever soared.

Of course not every player has managed to play more minutes or score more goals than 2018/19 as the competition for places heats up, formations reformatted and age takes its toll on our bodies, but as a team we have used 17 fewer players, whilst upped the scoring rate by 20%, conceded nearly 60% fewer goals and will acquire almost twice as many points even if we lose the remaining games from now until May. The figures are kept up-to-date with every passing result and available should anyone be interested, but only in 5 months' time will we be able to look back to see if we get beyond Infinity. For now The Gaffer uses the statistics to see how he turn the toy chest characters into a story that lasts longer than 90 mins and the odd sequel.