With a busy Easter weekend schedule I’ve decided to write this after the Norwich game, meaning I have three games to report on this week.
The first came against Southampton; as you could imagine we were disappointed to only gain a point after a fantastic last-minute free-kick denied us all three. But, in truth, after our first-half display we would probably have taken a point and, on balance, it was probably a fair result.
It was also very important that we did gain something out of the game considering the opposition - this was the proverbial six-pointer. I was pleased for young Sasha, who has been waiting patiently for his opportunity and grasped it with both hands. He has a fantastic left foot on him and can strike the ball harder than anyone else in the current squad. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of him in the coming games.
Saturday’s game was once again at home, this time the opposition being Barnsley. Another tough game and this time we were very thankful to a last-minute equaliser from Tommy taking us to 52 points and once again keeping Barnsley a reasonable margin behind us. It was Tom’s 16th goal which is his best return for a season and just backs up what a great season he has had from a personal point of view. I regularly give him stick that he only scores penalties but without him, it's obvious that this season would’ve been much more of a struggle.
Finally Easter Monday brought us up against Norwich. They were fired up for the game from the start and in truth fully deserved the points. We showed glimpses of what we are capable of but didn’t create anywhere near as many chances as Norwich.
It has meant we currently stand six points above the drop zone with three games remaining. We’ll be taking nothing for granted and know a win next week could be enough to make us mathematically safe and allow us to start preparing for a season at the other end of the table next year.
Elsewhere it's been a relatively quiet week and training has been very low-key due to the amount of games. We are well and truly in the final stretch and the finishing line is in sight; we can still achieve a total of 61 points so that will be our target.
Take care.