Oh wait, not that Morecambe…
I can’t help thinking that this past week has been a bit pivotal in our season so far.
We’re not doing badly, in fact W1L1D1 is a perfectly respectable run of form. It’s just that if you’re going for the playoffs it’s a bit, well…
I’m sure many will look at yesterday and think it was two points dropped, and it probably was.
I didn’t write up anything on t’Stanley last week, but we were missing something that very evening up in Lancashire.
If truth be told, I’m not sure what to think at the moment. We’re all right, nowhere near a relegation scrap and good enough to be higher mid table at the end.
We’ve won twice (I think) in 2024 which isn’t really good enough for a genuine playoff push, although we’ve only lost three times in the same period (league games that is).
And we have had the spine of the team taken out for one reason or another.
Losing AAH was obviously a blow** and we’ve had to readjust up front. Any team would struggle with that.
** – I know the Iraqi Scouser meant a lot to some of our fans, but it’s quite embarrassing when a few of our supporters go on Twatter and beg Ipswich to start him.
Josh Kelly has done everything but score right now, and one suspects when he finally finds the net he’ll net a few.
He might be somebody signed for next season, IYSWIM.
Curtis is too proving he’s probably too good for L2, although he’s got to deal with players who aren’t as good as he’s used to.
Bugiel is thankfully finding the net as well, though he’s clearly upset a referee or three with his non-penalties.
But we’ve missed Lewis, and we’ve definitely missed Reeves too. Don’t underestimate how important those two have been.
I suppose when you look at it in those terms, we’ve done well dealing with such setbacks. There’s still a lot of games to go, and plenty of time still to click into form again.
It’s obscenely tight around us in the table right now, and you really can’t be dropping more points like we have been.
And it could well help us that we’ve got Crawley and Doncaster this next seven days. Find a bit of form and actually win them, and…?
We’re in a kind-of odd place right now. It’s too soon for a final push towards the playoffs, ditto writing the rest of the campaign off and wallow in mid-table obscurity.
I guess that’s why JJ is talking about winning the next game and going from there. And I don’t doubt the stat that it’s the first time we’ve let a winning position slip since September.
If that doesn’t prove how far we’ve come in the space of a season, then nothing does.
As for what happens between now and May, I’m just going to stick with my belief that we’ll know if we’re definitely out of them by Easter.
That’s about five weeks and eight games away, and that’s not a bad measurement to use.
Even against Accrington, we played okay enough and were undone by two very good goals. Yesterday was just not getting that second, and providing you keep playing well – you’ll do all right.
And somehow, doing all right may be the biggest achievement of all this season…