Cod Almighty | Diary

A bit nervous already

18 April 2014

Mardy Diary writes: well, here we are then - the arse end of the season and it seems that having come this far some Town fans are ready to throw in the towel. Some are saying we're not good enough to get promoted, some - laughably - arguing that even if we do go up we'd come straight back down. My God - what pits of human misery do these people inhabit?

Right now, how we're playing is irrelevant - it's too late to do anything about it even if we could. All that matters now are two things: getting in the play-offs followed by winning the play-offs. It would be nice to finish the season in style winning all our remaining games comfortably. However, there are no bonus points for doing that and anyway, it's not the Town way is it? No, we'll stutter, stumble, tumble over the finish line scraping points and goals here and there.

But that doesn't matter. As I said, once we're in the play-offs we just need to win them and how we win them is of no concern. Last season showed that the play-offs are tough to call. As for the title, well, Mansfield came from nowhere yet at no point did they look a championship-winning side. Direct, physical, resolute - yes - but there was little nice football there. They ground out results and had a little bit of luck here and there.

Kidderminster looked the opposite last season - an attacking football-playing side and everyone wrote Newport off in the play-offs (much in the same way we did with Cheltenham in 2006) and look how that turned out. It's slightly different this year in that Luton, once they got going, looked fairly unflappable. Other teams have had runs of form: Halifax currently, but Nuneaton and Barnet both looked handy at one point.

Personally I wouldn't want to call anything about the play-offs this year including who might be the other three teams to join Cambridge. Barnet and Forest Green aren't completely out of it yet, and a late Kiddie surge wouldn't surprise me either. All I'm certain of is that Town need a couple of good results to see them through, then it's anyone's game.

And do we need to be on form and playing fluidly to win the play-offs? No - we just need to win 'em, that's all. And if that means 90 minutes of eleven men defending for their lives and a single goal from a hotly disputed penalty, then fine. That's what it'll have to be.

Up the bleedin' Mariners. And if you're thinking of having a moan at the match, wait until we know for certain we're not going up, eh? You can moan as much as you like then.