That’ll do us

[Filo]

League 1 secured I reckon

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

You'd think so, it would have to be a run worse than under Dickov now. McCann will be eyeing that top half spot.

[phil o sophical]

A very welcome 3 points but it was a hard watch. A real lack of quality and cutting edge up front, thankfully we seem to have sorted the defence and made us harder to beat

[donnievic]

Not yet for me still only 8 points in front still think we need another 2 or 3 points but those tonight go along way towards it

[Jimmydee]

Let’s be positive, we’re 10 points off the play off’s.

[karldew]

Let’s be positive, we’re 10 points off the play off’s.

…said the exact same to my mate!

[dknward2]

21 still to play for let's get all 21

[drfchound]

A very welcome 3 points but it was a hard watch. A real lack of quality and cutting edge up front, thankfully we seem to have sorted the defence and made us harder to beat

The weather conditions tonight have to be taken into consideration.
With that strong wind and the rain it was never going to be a nice football classic.

[andyst79]

Our pitch is shocking, not helping either

[Filo]

Our pitch is shocking, not helping either

Well I thought it looked greener and better than the previous game

[Alan Southstand]

Awful game to watch and seemingly 2 poor sides. That said, we had more than enough chances to win 3 matches. But, yet again, we were absolutely dreadful at putting the finishing touch away.

[Scooter]

Im happy with the 3 points in crap conditions. No way are we going down. The teams in the bottom 5 are dreadful

‘We’re off to Leicester, you’re off to York’

[scawsby steve]

Three clean sheets on the trot is impressive.

We're becoming hard to score against.

[danumdon]

I thought we played fluently and with menace first half, could and should have had more than the 1 goal to show for it. Made the second half much more of a slog with then getting desperate, when they made the 4 subs it gave them fresh momentum and they started to put some fluent passages of lay together, looked a far better side and set up.

In the past this was the point where we would keep backing of, dropping deeper and eventually conceding, which would of made the last 20mins a real lottery, but we seem to be made of far sterner stuff now, we dug in and saw the game out. I wasn't sure why Byrne came off, possibly to get some fresh legs into centre mid by allowing Bailey to go CH and then shut them down which we did competently, another clean sheet demonstrating our new found resilience.

Good workman like win which will do at this time of year, that should be just about it for safety, good job lads.

[StocksArmy]

From where we were after Boxing Days defeat at Blackpool, you would be crazy to not breathe a sigh of relief tonight. Well done to the club, staff and players.

[Lesonthewest]

As good as there for me, Port Vale, Northampton or Rotherham aren't catching us, leaving both Exeter & Blackpool both having to win 3 from 7 just to make 51 without us picking up another point.

[Dagenham Rover]

Pushing our luck again with the backing off towards the end at 1 0 but I'll take it thank you

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bookies have got it right tonight. You can get:

150/1 against us  going down
150/1 against us going up.

[Pliskin]

I think we still need another 2 or 3 points to make sure.

Nevertheless, huge credit to McCann and the players. At the start of the year we had 22 points from 23 games and couldn't buy a win.

I thought we were doomed, personally, and 50 points seemed like a million miles away. It hasn't been pretty, but 16 games later here we are on 50 points. I'd have ripped your arm off to be in this position 2 months ago.

Definitely proven me wrong with how they've turned this around.

[Usher wide.]

I thought the ref was shocking.

I thought Senior was excellent.

We need much better players coming into the club for next season.

We have no recognisable centre forward. Let’s be honest, we haven’t had all season. That needs to be addressed.

We’ll stayup in fact I wouldn’t discount a top half finish, but in order to get into the top six we need a good a clear out of the deadwood……& there’s plenty of it.

[StocksArmy]

I thought the ref was shocking.

I thought Senior was excellent.

We need much better players coming into the club for next season.

We have no recognisable centre forward. Let’s be honest, we haven’t had all season. That needs to be addressed.

We’ll stayup in fact I wouldn’t discount a top half finish, but in order to get into the top six we need a good a clear out of the deadwood……& there’s plenty of it.

Offer Clifton and Senior a new deal and say goodbye to the rest.

[les@donr]

Blackpool and Exeter still to play one another. Both can’t get 3 points. The loser will most likely be the one going down.

[les@donr]

Plus we play both Exeter and Northampton away, win both those, we’re good.

[ncRover]

Our last 7 games could be against the top 7 away from home and we’d still stay up.

[andyst79]

Our pitch is shocking, not helping either

Well I thought it looked greener and better than the previous game

The ball was bobbling all over still. Gritty performance in terrible conditions. I thought bringing Byrne off was absolute madness. We got over the line though so no complaints.

[Alan Southstand]

Byrne was cramping up in his calf. Gave the signal he was ‘fine’, but GM didn’t risk it.

Crying out for a clinical finisher!

[GazLaz]

Byrne was cramping up in his calf. Gave the signal he was ‘fine’, but GM didn’t risk it.

Crying out for a clinical finisher!

We didn’t create enough last night to warrant more than one goal.

[Northants Nomad]

Not yet for me still only 8 points in front still think we need another 2 or 3 points but those tonight go along way towards it

Understand the caution, but in addition to the points, consideration also has to be given to the number of teams below us - there are 9. If we assume Port Vale, Cobblers and Rotherham have got 3 of the relegation spots (11,7 and 6 points from safety and 19, 15 and 14 off us), that leaves just 1 spot up for grabs that we could feasibly get pulled into, with 6 teams (plus us) in any real danger. Even Blackpool are 8 points from us, which means they need 3 wins from their remaining 7 fixtures - they've only got 11 wins from 39. Statistics, averages and performance over these 38-39 games suggests that not all those teams below us are going to hit enough form to all go above us.

Looking another way, if we're not safe in 15th, neither are Peterborough, Barnsley or Wimbledon, i.e. right up to 12th, as they are on exactly the same points as us - it's not realistic to consider them in any real danger so therefore not us either.

I think we're safe. Let's see how many of those 21 points we can grab and get momentum for next season, which will help us attract better players in the summer - they all want to join teams with positive outlooks.

EDIT - One point I forgot to mention - with 9 teams beneath you, there's also certainty that they have games against each other so they can't all get maximum points, further removing the chance of them ALL going past us.

[Barmby Rover]

Hanlan was MOM! He must be the clinical finisher!

[Northants Nomad]

Hanlan was MOM! He must be the clinical finisher!

He played well last night in terrible conditions. Not sure he was my MOTM but solid delivery and can be very pleased with his performance. Doesn't need him to be clinical in that role. If he's going to act as the hold-up player, we need others to be the clinical finishers/people running through.