THE BATTLE TO BEAT THE DROP IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE 

ALTERNATE TABLE - BOTTOM EIGHT TEAMS ONLY

POINTS	TEAM (GAMES PLAYED)
36	HARTLEPOOL UNITED (28)
35	MAIDENHEAD UNITED (30)
34
33	DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (30)
32	WREXHAM (30)
31
30	AFC FYLDE (28), CHESTERFIELD (30)
29
28
27
26
25	EBBSFLEET UNITED (29)
24	CHORLEY (30)

The race to beat the drop from non-league's top division has seen Dagenham & Redbridge, Hartlepool United, Wrexham, AFC Fylde, Chesterfield and Ebbsfleet United change their management teams since the start of the season.

Hartlepool United parted company with Craig Hignett and appoints former AFC Fylde boss Dave Challinor in November. Challinor had left The Coasters in October - he had taken them to the 2019 play-off final and won the 2019 FA Trophy final but a decision was made following their poor start to this season - he had joined the club in 2011 when they were member of the Northern Premier League Division One (North). 

Taking over at Fylde was Jim Bentley who drops down from the football league after a eight year spell with Morecambe which saw him keep the club in League Two despite one of the believed lowest budgets. 

Peter Taylor has recently left Dagenham and Redbridge after a poor run of form to be replaced by former Ebbsfleet United boss Darryl McMahon who had been in charge of financially troubled League Two side Macclesfield Town since August. 

Dean Keates was re-appointed as Wrexham boss in October - he replaced Bryan Hughes who left the Welsh club after a run of eight games without a win. Keates left The Racecourse Ground in March 2018 for Walsall but was dismessed by the football league side in April 2019.  

Chesterfield were expected to do much better than their current league position under the management of John Sheridan but he left the club prior to yesterday's game with Sutton United with John Pemberton taking caretaker charge. 

For The Spireites their fall down the divisions can be indicated in the fact that in 2016/17 there were playing in League One with Sheffield United. Their final game of that season was at Brammal Lane which saw The Blades, who were champions, win 3-2 in front of 31,003 people. Chesterfield finished bottom and were relegated - then in 2017/18 they finished bottom of League Two and dropped out of the football league they had been members of since 1921. Last season they finished 14th in their first season in The National League - they club had been in the drop zone in January and genuine relegation candidates when John Sheridan took over for a second spell in charge following Martin Allen leaving. 

The Spireites last game was an all important 1-0 win at home to Sutton United in front of 3,283 people - Sheffield United's last two Premier League games have been at Manchester City (54,512) and Liverpool (53,321) with Chris Wilder having the luxury of spending £20,000,000 on Oli McBurnie in the summer. 

Gary Hill left Ebbsfleet United in early October to be replaced by former Bishop's Strortford boss Kevin Watson. 

Just Chorley and Maidenhead United have stuck with their managers. Alan Devonshire has been in charge of The Magpies since May 2015 (following a first spell with the club from 1996 to 2003). Chorley, promoted via the North division play-offs last season, have Jamie Vermiglio in charge who took over in June 2018 following the departure of Matt Jansen - he had been involved in the backroom set-up since he retirement from playing in 2014. 

48 POINTS COULD BE THE MAGIC TOTAL

The average total of the teams who have finished 21st over the past 9 seasons is 47 points (lowest was Hayes & Yeading in 11/12 on 41 points - highest being Chester in 13/14 who got 51 points) meaning clubs should be aiming to get around 48 points to finish in 20th place and stay up. 

To get to this points total Chorley would need to up their points per game (PPG) total from 0.80 in their first 30 games played to 1.50 in their last 16 games. They would need to win around 7 of those 16 games, draw 3 and afford to lose 6 of them. As the below shows Chorley have one of the best records of the current bottom eight in respect of points per game with The Daggers the worst on 0.60 which is down from 1.35 over their first 20 games. 

POINTS PER GAME TABLE COMPARISION 
LAST 10 GAMES COMPARED TO PREVIOUS GAMES PLAYED
RED TEAMS ARE CURRENTLY IN RELEGATION ZONE

TEAM	PREVIOUS GAMES	LAST 10
WREXHAM	1.10	1.30
CHORLEY	0.65	1.10
HARTLEPOOL UNITED	1.44	1.00
AFC FYLDE	1.11	1.00
MAIDENHEAD UNITED	1.39	1.00
EBBSFLEET UNITED	0.84	0.90
CHESTERFIELD	1.35	0.80
DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE	1.35	0.60

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES 

With most teams in FA Trophy action this weekend there is only one league fixtures on Saturday when Hartlepool United make the long trip down to Kent to play Dover Athletic. 

Tuesday 7th January
Hartlepool United v Eastleigh 

Saturday 11th January 
Dover Athletic v Hartlepool United 

Tuesday 14th January 
AFC Fylde v Notts County 

Saturday 18th January 
AFC Fylde v Torquay United 
Aldershot Town v Chorley 
Barnet v Dagenham & Redbridge 
Barrow v Bromley (5.20pm Live on BT Sport)
Eastleigh v Chesterfield
Ebbsfleet United v Harrogate Town 
FC Halifax Town v Maidenhead United 
Notts County v Dover Athletic 
Solihull Moors v Boreham Wood 
Stockport County v Sutton United 
Wrexham v Woking 
Yeovil Town v Hartlepool United