Blog: Never in doubt
Game after game, week after week, with the Saddlers continuing to draw blanks we waited and waited for that slice of luck, that flukey deflection, for the ball to drop for us; and when does it finally happen? When it's the fourth goal in a 5-0 rout of a hapless opposition – typical!
Just as our Deano had predicted, Andy Taylor's long range effort happened as the floodgates had been well and truly kicked open...writes blogger Mark Jones
As well hit as it was I'm afraid it is languishing in sixth place in the April Goal of the Month awards behind the stunning second-half strikes from Jordy Hiwula and Kieron Morris, Jordy's earlier impressive opener and Jordan Cook's clever touch for the fifth (fifth!) – a goal which will do him absolutely no harm at all.
Having gone the best part of 13 games, almost 20 hours, where we'd found the net just four times Tom Bradshaw's late winner against Fleetwood will prove to be the most important of all six strikes in the back-to-back wins against the former Conference boys.
Eighty odd minutes in last Saturday and the tension was starting to overflow, the frustration of the winless/goalless run threatened to boil over. Super was genuinely the only player who was likely to be able to change things and he was the only player on the pitch who could have finished so clinically and cleverly. It is so obvious what a different side we are when he is around.
It has to be said that Fleetwood were the definition of ordinary - and they're a ridiculous eighth in the league. Meanwhile Crawley achieved something I didn't think was possible in usurping Notts County as the worst team I've seen all season (and I've seen Conference-bound Tranmere). They were so inept that at one point that our old mucker Izale even forgot how to dive properly.
It's no exaggeration to say that if it hadn't been for a couple of smart stops from The Beast and if we'd managed to get a referee who actually knew the laws of the game regarding penal offences, then the result could easily have been double figures.
I can't quite place who they were, but Dean Saunders' team reminded me of a bunch of losers from a couple of years ago. All that was missing was Relegation Roger.
So what now? While we're not completely safe on 54 points, a win at Crwho would guarantee trips to Blackpool and Wigan without having to look for results elsewhere. It will also put us back in touch with the clump of teams outside of the top six.
In truth this is roughly where we should be, but in a league where dross like mk and Sheff U can be contenders we have to think about what might have been. Take a look at the run we helped kick start for Chesterfield, fair play to them, but why couldn't that have been us?
However six points, six goals, two more clean sheets and the return of some much needed confidence, it was never in doubt … honest.
