Survival in Division 2 - what it will take?

Do recent performances suggest we have "turned the corner" as manager McGlashan stated in recent interviews or as Neale Cooper put it - Arbroath have found their feet in this division'.?

For a team tipped for immediate relegation, 18 points from 18 games is a respectable tally, two-thirds of them coming in the recent 4 game winning streak. But we're stick in the thick of a relegation battle.

Stats don't lie - the past 10 seasons

Season	DANGER 9th Place	Pts	SAFETY 8th Place	Pts
2007-08	Cowden	37	Queens Park	44
2006-07	Stranraer	39	Peterhead	41
2005-06	Alloa	32	Forfar	40
2004-05	Arbroath	38	Ayr Utd	42
2003-04	East Fife	41	Arbroath	43
2002-03	Stranraer	44	Hamilton	47
2001-02	Stenny	36	Cowdenbeath	44
2000-01	Queens Pk	40	Forfar	40
1999-00	QoS	33	Stenny	38
1998-99	East Fife	42	Partick Thistle	43
Average		38.2		42.2

Over the past ten seasons in Div 2 only one team has ever survived with less than 40 points (though in a couple of seasons other factors such as the demise of Clydebank mean no relegation). And even 40 points is not always enough in 4 of these past 10 seasons.

So averaging a point per game will probably not save us from the playoffs - 6 wins, and 6 draws out of the last 18 should give us a more than fighting chance - but that means losing only 6, maybe a tall order.

Much depends on how our rivals fare in the mini-league of 4-5 clubs down the bottom. Let's keep winning the head-to-heads against the likes of Alloa, Queens, Stranraer and Stirling, or at least not lose to them

Onwards and upwards