For any Football League club with aspirations of promotion, one of the unwritten rules is that, first, you have to win your home matches and then try to get at least a draw on your travels. 

However, this season's Coca-Cola League 2 is turning convention on its head and re-writing The League's record books in the process.

For the first time in The League's 120-year history a single division is set to record a higher number of away wins than home wins.  To date, the 2007/08 Coca-Cola League 2 season has seen clubs rack-up a total of 167 victories on their travels compared to only 149 wins on home turf.

Football League Head of Communications, John Nagle, said: "It really is quite remarkable that after so many seasons and so many matches that this should suddenly happen in the current League 2 campaign.  There's no obvious explanation as to why it has occurred now, but it does certainly demonstrate how competitive the Division is."

In more than 167,000 matches played in The Football League since the competition began on September 8, 1888 the number of home wins is more than double the number of away wins.  In total 87,656 matches have been won by the home team compared to 39,051 by the away team. The exact ratio of home wins compared to away wins is 2.24.

In the early days of league football this ratio peaked at three and a half home wins to every away win, with the lowest recorded figure for The League as a whole being 2002/03's one and half wins.  The previous lowest figure for a single division was the 1.34 home wins for each away win recorded in Division Three in 1993/4 - a record sure to be smashed this year.

The astonishing away form of League 2 clubs has also produced some remarkable sets of results.  Already, this season's League 2 fixture programme has seen nine away wins on a single day once (Feb 2) and eight away wins on three other occasions (Aug 25, Dec 29 and Feb 23).  Prior to the beginning of this season eight or more away wins in a single Division on a single day had only occurred 9 times in the entire history of The League.

One club that has made a significant contribution to these figures is Rochdale.  In their centenary season Dale have recorded ten away victories compared to just four at Spotland.  Manager Keith Hill, believes that the way his side prepares has been an important factor in their away-day success.

"We don't look at things too deeply with respect to whether there is less pressure playing away from home," commented Hill. "But what we do is play with an attacking formation and without fear.  We have got a game plan and that is to be positive and for the players to express themselves in an attacking manner.

"I have always said that unless you are prepared to go away and win there is no point getting on the coach; you may as well let the Pools Panel decide the outcome of the fixture. There is an equal opportunity to win any game be it home or away."

Barnet manager Paul Fairclough has seen his side record five away wins so far this season.  He feels that one explanation for the figures is the effort made by travelling fans to get behind their team.  "Our supporters act as a 12th man away from home - usually outsinging and outchanting the home fans" he said.

The Bees' boss also questioned whether financial factors might be having an influence.  "It is most likely that clubs at our level are trying harder to entertain at home because of the need to attract supporters. Teams become attack minded and maybe open up a bit more" he added.

This article issued by The Football League