Too good, but not quite good enough

Things are so easy, Rovers can sit back and let it all hang out

With victories coming so easily that they're not worth writing about, Melchester have had a leisurely stroll towards the end of the season - yet Racey's men have only earned the right to call themselves "Best of the Rest". A dominant Karlsberg CF have topped the table for the entire campaign, and with MOP Brno hanging on to their coat tails - the only other team to do the double over Rovers this season - Melchester find themselves in a safe third, just one tantalising position away from a chance of promotion.

The chicks love a bad boy - Nawlins soccerguy CK9 revels in his reputation as Melchester's most banned player

Three Is The Magic Number

Let's be completely realistic here - apart from the top two teams (and a resurgent Palermo) the standard is pretty dire down here in Div 3, and Rovers can fully expect to take three points from at least three of their last four games to finish in the top three. So, in a desperate attempt to make the end of season run in sound vaguely exciting, here are three things to look out for:

Attack:

With 122 goals so far - and with Fenix and FCWC still waiting in the wings, Rovers must surely be favourites to end the season as the division's highest scoring team.

Defence:

Melchester have the third strongest back line in Div 3, but with MOP having conceded 7 fewer goals, some clean sheets and good results elsewhere will be needed if the old boys at the back are to finish on top.

The Norwegian:

As the table shows, part-time celebrity Norwegian Vergard Nordheim has been banging them in all season, on the pitch at least. And with potential goalfests in the next few games, there's a very strong chance of Nordheim being toppermost of the poppermost for Melchester.

Next up - Melchester slaughter Fenix at Srbska, Friday night. Come on, etc

There May Be Trouble Ahead...

Rovers faced up to league leader Karlsberg FC more in hope than expectation of 3 valuable points, and alas it was not to be. After three glaring misses in the opening overs, Rovers conceded first, yet managed to peg their opponents back throughout the first half, going in 2-2 at half time.

However, in the 2nd period Karlsberg showed just why they are Division 3's runaway leaders, breaking down the Melchester defence twice more to canter to a 4-2 victory.

Next up was Rovers rescheduled game against Palermo, which will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The game should have been played at the start of the season, but was postponed, which meant that any players who were suspended or hadn't yet signed were ineligible to play.

Unfortunately, nobody told Melchester about this rule - which meant Rovers mistakenly fielded an illegal player, which in turn brought the full wrath of the BSMK disciplinary committee - despite the match was being refereed by the league's own president, who was blissfully unaware of the situation. Resultant bans and fines are, as you read this, threatening to derail the remainder of Rover's season, as it looks likely that Roy Race won't even have a full team of players for tomorrow evening's tie against 3rd placed The Reds.

Thanks to the unique way the league is "run", Racey's men don't even care where they end up any more...