Barnsley, and optimism…
Evening all. What a bizarre feeling it is, supporting a football club that has won three in a row. I have this sudden overinflated perception of the team, thinking we can beat anyone we face. I like it. I didn`t make it into Yorkshire this weekend, and I didn`t get much from the Beeb apart from the goals. We went two up, got scared, they pulled it back, and Craig Dawson tapped in a winner. This concludes the match report aspect of this match report.
What I do know is that we have dragged ourselves into the top half of the league, and have eleven games left to go. I just hope we haven`t left our push too late. The required points needed to reach the Championship playoffs in the last five seasons have been 75, 75, 70, 74 and 70. If we carry on as we’ve done in last 6, we’ll finish on 76. All we do is hope that the team continues in the same vein of rich form, that the other teams around fall flat, or we step it up a gear further and win every bleeding game. No chance of that last bit.
We could, however, carry on as we have done in our last six. If you look at the fixture list, it isn`t crazy to think that we could win most of our home game and get something in all our away matches. We have a strong backline, an engine room that suffocates the other team of possession, a creative spark and plenty of goals. Not to mention a goalkeeper that receives far less credit than due. If you need any more convincing that things may have changed, then Aussie Mike`s positive comments of late say it all!
There are, however, lots of games in a short space of time. I`m writing a report about Barnsley today, and tomorrow we face Blackburn. As the games continue to come thick and fast, it is inevitable that some players are going to get a little jaded. This will lead to rotation, and I imagine could be detrimental to the momentum that we have been building. My hope is that when players come into the side, they play at their best and don`t look rusty. I heard Eagles looked like the Eagles of old at the weekend, so that`s a massive boost after the news that Mark Davies wouldn`t be fit until the new year. Considering I think this year is pretty new, that`s a very long time before we see Sparky/Mavies in action.
I know I said that I had said everything I had to say about Saturday, but I lied. One thing that has wound me up in the last couple of weeks is the presence of flares in our stands at away games. My mate went to the Barnsley game and was near to the numpties who set it off. It messed with his eyes and he couldn`t see properly until well past full time. It`s not big, and it`s not clever; so if anyone knows anyone who wants to set off a big pink light, tell them to do it in their living rooms and leave the normal football fans to the football.