Is it starting to knit together?

[BillyStubbsTears]

10 points from the last 6 games. 5 of those games against sides in the current top 10. That's playoff form, although we woukd need better to make the playoffs, starting from here.

More importantly, there's a style of play starting to emerge. Westbrooke in particular is getting better every week, and looks like he has a bit more nous than the standard at this level. He also covered every blade of grass tonight.

Molyneux is starting to look like the player we expected last season.

And if Faal could turn in tonight's performance regularly, he'd really be something. MoM tonight in a strong field.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Ach. Wrong forum. Can a Mod shift this?

[belton rover]

When I read the title in Off Topic, I thought you were on about the Tory party conference.

[Bentley Bullet]

I thought it was about the Labour Party pulling the wool over people's eyes.

[pib]

I've kept my counsel on here over the last few weeks, as I've been banging the drum for patience since the horrific start to the season when there was a growing swell of pessimism. I'm not getting carried away but I'm cautiously optimistic that the overall direction of travel is becoming a positive one.

I think we've found a formula that is suiting us better with the 3 at the back and the balance of midfielders we've got in the team now. Keeping Westbrooke and Close on the pitch as much as possible seems key. Anderson is making a big difference IMO, and the combination of Faal and Ironside looks increasingly threatening.

We might still fall short this season. In fact I expect us to. But if we can carry on with the performances of the last month or so, we should hopefully end up closer to the play-offs than the bottom 2. We all want promotion, but a stronger campaign where it looks like we're making progress would give me confidence that things are turning even if we end up missing out on the top 7.

Other than the first 20 mins, I wasn't really worried last night and knew that if we could get the second goal we'd be OK. I thought we managed Crawley really well (as we did with Gillingham for the most part) by pressing them and stopping them doing what they're good at. It was a really professional performance and we had more than enough good chances to justify the result.

If (and it's a big if) we can keep the current crop fit and welcome Senior, Maxwell, Miller, Hurst, Sterry and Wood back into the fold over the coming weeks/months I'd hope we can only get stronger from here.

Really tough one Saturday but then we have Sutton, Tranmere, Salford and Grimsby. It'll be interesting to see how the table looks after those games if we can bring in a decent points haul.

[SydneyRover]

Nice summary pib, a bit of good luck with injuries as you suggest and we could do ok.

[andy didcott]

Only eight points off 7th place, that’s nowt.