Where did Bristol get their points?

So it's Bristol City in the playoffs, a club with an unbeaten league run against City that has reached 22 games. Bristol City finish with 83 points, two more than the Bluebirds. And just where did they come up with their edge on City? Well, it didn't come from matches against top six clubs. Here's a look at the table for Division Two matches involving only promoted and playoff clubs:

Wigan 7-3-0 15-4 +11 24 pts
Cardiff 3-4-3 13-12 +1 13 pts
QPR 3-3-4 8-12 -4 12 pts
B City 3-2-5 10-11 -1 11 pts
Oldham 3-2-5 9-15 -6 11 pts
Crewe 2-4-4 11-12 -l 10 pts

Interesting, isn't it, that as bad and boring as City have been this year, they still managed to do reasonably well against the division's best. Scored the second most goals, finishing with a plus in the goal difference column. Finished with more points in such matches than all of the other three playoff clubs and Crewe besides.

It's a different story, though, when you look at how the top six clubs fared in matches against the four relegated clubs. Here's where Bristol City did the business and City didn't. In fact, Bristol City couldn't have done any better. Check this:

B City 8-0-0 24-11 +13 24 pts
Crewe 6-2-0 18-5 +13 20 pts
Wigan 6-2-0 11-3 +8 20 pts
Oldham 5-3-0 19-3 +16 18 pts
City 5-1-2 11-5 +6 16 pts
QPR 4-3-1 18-6 +12 15 pts

In this table, Bristol City have the most goals and the most points, while City have less than half as many goals and the most losses. Note that, in this table, Bristol City have an edge of at least six points on each of the other playoff clubs. It's how they've got to where they are today.

John Heyda