Jourdan

Warne and the players have 11-14 games to get things right. Clowes will be concerned about back to back losses but ultimately he will assess the situation at the end of the season when we know what division we’ll be in, so really so should we as a fanbase. It’s not going to be helpful to do it any sooner. It’s crunch time. We all need to be pulling in the same direction, not getting the knives out after every less than perfect result. People talk about the club being short termist, yet where the manager’s future is concerned, many of our fans are the same. Clearly Warne and the players are feeling the pressure, and need our support to get the job done. Instead, if last night is anything to go by, the players and the manager will be dragged over the coals. People believe we have the best squad in the division and should be achieving more, but it doesn’t really add up. This is a League 1 group of players with the kind of limitations that are rampant at this level. Players don’t make the mistakes ours do and switch off in the way ours do with the same regularity in the Championship and above. Portsmouth have set the pace and led the way since early on and look fully deserving of promotion. We need to step up and show we deserve it too. If we don’t, Barnsley, Bolton and Peterborough will definitely oblige. Last night was a worry but we have to believe while it’s still possible.

Managers and players make mistakes and have bad nights. Tonight Warne and the players were culpable of that. It’s part and parcel of football. Every team has a wobble. This is ours. The question is whether Warne and the players can recollect themselves and show their mettle. We can’t afford a repeat of last season’s run in where we tripped up horribly. Warne really needs to set on an XI and put some faith behind it. At the moment, he seems to be experimenting and seeing what sticks and that is a concern 35 games into the season, even considering all of the injuries. The players also need to stand up and be counted. They are making the kind of errors and missing quality and nerve, which backs up the thinking this is not a top two team. However I think tonight shows that it will be a long eight weeks for everyone in the mix. We won’t be the only ones to drop the ball and have off-nights. There are going to be twists, turns, trips and falls and the picture will change dramatically game after game. We need to see a big response and rebuild momentum. We can’t keep giving the teams around us lifelines. Barnsley and Peterborough will feel buoyed after tonight and Portsmouth are beginning to look out of sight. All that being said, I don’t get the calls for Warne to be sacked though. It’s plainly unrealistic and unachievable. Some simply have to buckle up and enjoy the ride because our fortunes are going to fluctuate from week to week and while everything is still up for grabs, Warne still has time to learn from mistakes and put things right. There is still so much life in the season and there’s ample opportunity for us to bounce back. Tonight was a setback but a big win v Port Vale gets us right back on track.

Derby 2-1 Charlton Gayle

This was always marked down as one of our toughest games remaining and so it proved. We have dug in and won some very tough away games recently where others have stumbled, so we were probably due a fall and again, the margins were fine. There is no shame in a narrow loss against a promotion rival. Barnsley, Bolton and Peterborough will push us all of the way and each game left will feel like a cup final as the pendulum swings. The important thing really is to just get back on the horse as quickly as possible. One loss isn’t fatal to our hopes if we bounce back quickly. Two home wins and a few Gayle goals this week and the belief will be right back.

Worrying that CBT is not fit enough to make the bench. Otherwise we are obviously trying to ease Gayle in and reward Bradley and Sibley for their contributions last week. Let’s see if it pays off.

Barnsley 1-2 Derby Méndez Laing

Travelling by train is soul-destroying. It’s a case of paying through the nose to be treated as an afterthought. If you compare pricing v service provided, the public are being massively shortchanged. The pricing system is farcical and illogical. You will encounter cancellations, delays, breakdowns, strikes, and overcrowded, dirty, uncomfortable trains on a very regular basis. As a daily commuter to and from work, not a week goes by without some kind of issue. Some weeks it will be an everyday occurrence. Now imagine being a football fan and let’s be honest, travelling by train doesn’t bear thinking about.

Wildsmith Nyambe - Nelson - Cashin - Elder Adams - Bird - Hourihane NML - Gayle - CBT -If fit, Gayle and CBT with a chance to impress -Sibley, Barkhuizen, and Wilson to come off the bench if needed -Bradley to come off the bench and change the shape if needed -Smith and Thompson to come on for Hourihane and Adams if needed

If he’s fit and confident, it’d be Gayle every time. Missing out on Smith and Gregory could have been a blessing in disguise.

Be interesting to see what our best XI will be with Gayle on board… I am guessing: Wildsmith Nyambe - Nelson - Cashin - Elder Adams - Bird - Hourihane NML - Gayle - CBT If Adams, Bird and NML can continue their form and Gayle and CBT can get into a rhythm, it could be a very fun end to the season!

I would imagine that it’s no surprise but I am feeling very positive about this. There are going to be a lot of tight, tense games over the next 3 months and someone like Gayle with his movement and instinct in the box could be the difference between 1 point and 3 points in many games. Let’s hope we get him fully fit and firing and he can lead us to promotion one way or another.

I get the thinking, but how often in football do things actually work out like that? You will see a team breeze through a challenging run in and another team make hard work of an easier run in, and vice versa. Sometimes teams produce results true to form, sometimes not. If it was so easy to gauge which games were easy and which were difficult, we’d all be raking it in at the bookies. Look at the last day of last season. Who would have expected Peterborough to go to Barnsley and win at our expense? February to May always throws up strange results. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of ‘Bolton have to play X, Y, Z. Advantage us!’ but very often there is no advantage at all.

Of course we can and I am sure we will. Personally though, especially after last season, I am taking it one game at a time because so much can change in one half, never mind across 90 minutes or 2-3, 4-5, 6-7 games. I look back to last season and we beat Exeter away and we all left the ground thinking it was job done. Soon after, we dropped out of the play-offs completely. I am of the mindset that Barnsley will be a very good test and it will be interesting to see how we measure up but I think it’s sensible to look no further than that.

The best thing we can do is take things one game at a time. There’s no use concerning ourselves with Bolton and Portsmouth. Bolton’s ‘tough’ run-in will be meaningless if we don’t do the business ourselves. Our only focus should be Barnsley away and grinding out another 3 points and taking one step closer to the magic 92 points mark.

It was the same at Exeter away in midweek. I guess people feel shielded by being in a crowd, but some of the chants and behaviour was just completely unnecessary and I am not sure what people get out of it. A bit of shock value, a bit of laughter, I guess. People were more interested in baiting a steward than watching the game. I just don’t get it.

In recent posts, you talk about problematic individuals, the division on the forum, bullying, and horrible stuff being said towards those with doubts about Warne. Yet in the past, you have called me an AI chatbot, a slick PR mastermind, a potential contestant on the Traitors, a fraud, a fictional character. And that’s only publicly. Maybe you should reflect on your own posting style too?

One thing that was particularly great about today’s win was the contribution of Smith, Bradley and Sibley. It’s great to see players who had been written off in some quarters play an important role in an important win. As we’ve seen with all of the injuries, we are going to need everyone to play their part.

In the here and now, you say? Yet the original conversation stemmed from your comment about Warne’s past in the Championship and how you ‘daren’t mention it’… OK, yes, in the here and now, we are 2nd and on a run where we have won more than 70% of our games. Is that not enough for you? What advantages do we have over the two other main contenders Portsmouth and Bolton? Do you think we should be finishing above them and if we don’t, is that a failure in your eyes?

I don’t think that this ‘extreme’ pro-Warne camp exists. I don’t think any blind faith exists either. People are daring to be optimistic, back the manager and hoping things work out. But most people can also call a situation as it is. Back in October we got well beaten by Stevenage and had won just six in 14. Most expected that Warne’s days were numbered short of an incredible turnaround. We’re 2nd. We’ve won 14 in 19. Is it surprising that people want to enjoy that?

What insane hype? The way I carry on is that I think we have a manager who can get us out of League 1 and I back him to do that. Any ‘hype’ is probably very much tongue in cheek. The derision however is not. Hand on heart, I honestly don’t know how we will do under him in the Championship. It’s a 50-50 case. We could fall into the same cycle as Rotherham, Peterborough and the likes or we could do better. There is no compelling case for either when the Championship is as unpredictable as it is and it has teams who overachieve, underachieve, surge and sink from nowhere almost every season. It’s a case of wait and see. But what I don’t want to do is write him off before the champagne bottles have even been popped and I certainly don’t want his experience at a different club in different circumstances with a different level of potential to muddy everything. For you, Warne is limited and won’t ever change. Now if Warne had failed in the Championship with various clubs of various sizes and in various states, your stance would make complete sense. The way I see it is if I go into a Ferrari showroom three times with £75,000, is it surprising that I come back with just a fridge magnet each time? Rotherham have perennially struggled and almost exclusively battled relegation in the Championship irrespective of the manager in charge. Derby have the potential to do more. Will Warne rise to that challenge? Why not wait and see?

You can mention his past all you want, but it’s just one experience at one club at the end of the day. Just because he couldn’t establish Rotherham in the Championship doesn’t necessarily mean he will automatically fail here. In the same way look at Chris Wilder and Nathan Jones. They had great success in the Championship at one club but couldn’t replicate it elsewhere. We’re not a replica of Rotherham. I think being in the Championship with a club with greater potential and backing could produce very different results for Warne but equally he could struggle. We have to wait and see. The way you carry on though, we might as well throw in the towel the moment we get promoted.

I am making the most of it because I enjoy my team winning football matches. The same will apply next season too.

Perhaps Warne anticipated exactly the kind of game that transpired? Stevenage have been in the top 6-10 for the majority of the season. They have made life difficult for many superior teams across this season. They are clearly well versed at stifling and limiting better teams. The only team to comfortably beat them so far is Blackpool and they have made Portsmouth, Bolton, Peterborough amongst others all work hard for wins. You say we have the best players in the league playing like underdogs? That’s your opinion. In others’ opinion, we have a good group of players and a good manager showing tactical flexibility and finding a way to get results.

You take home the embarrassment, the rest of us are taking home the three points (again).

Four wins in five and could have been five in five if we hadn’t lost concentration late on v Shrewsbury. A fantastic response since Reading away, especially with injuries mounting up. It also means it’s 14 wins in 19 games since the end of October. Yes, we’re giving Warne and the players credit for keeping their heads, digging in and finding different ways to win, which is what we struggled with last season. We know that you won’t say anything positive until we are top of the Championship in 12 months’ time. But why should that stop everyone else?