Gabby'sThighs

I still think we'll finish 2nd, mainly because of what a weird season it has been. Something tells me we'll just scrape it on goal difference or something. I'll buy a £15 bottle of LIDL Champagne I'm so very, sort of, maybe, confident. Points will be dropped, and I think things will look very different come sleepy time on Good Friday evening: Derby v Blackpool Stevenage v Bolton Barnsley v Cambridge Peterborough v Carlisle Wycombe v Portsmouth Stevenage & Wycombe are sods, Cambridge & Carlisle have to get a win to survive.

Jeez, being Cambridge based I was hoping to get a couple on 2nd April, but I fear I'll have no chance!

It's beyond frustrating that those same players put in a never-say-die fight against Bolton then rolled over against Northampton. Not a total disaster but even a point would've made a huge difference. It's just got tighter but I'm pretty confident the rest of the top 4 are going to drop points. They've all got some tough games coming up against teams fighting for survival or promotion. Keep the faith!

it's his job to put crosses into good areas, it's up to his team mates to get onto them. I'm giving him credit because he managed to run around, tackle a bit, and cross the ball, rather than standing around looking lost, getting caught offside, or battering passes into the hoardings, which is what everyone else was doing.

More than zero

Bradley really is a useless lump. Ward looked good off the bench, tbf.

This is a game I can see us getting one chance and finishing it, then getting a 1-1 draw. It'd be a good result at this rate.

Bradley can't jump and, even when the ball is at eye-level, can't generate any power with his headers.

Well, sell him. For money. If, as suggested, he told the club in the summer he didn't want to stay, they should have got what they could for him.

Hopefully, we'll go up and persuade him to stay. I'd mainly be annoyed that another decent player with resale value has walked away for nothing. A Prem team can offer him the big bucks though. What's he gonna be on? £5k p/w? Even as a keeper, you get a short career in football. Can't blame him for wanting to earn as much as he can.

Never a red, not a penalty, made heavy weather of seeing out the game against 10 men. But 3 points on the board, can't wait for the Bolton game! COYR!

Pen! 4 subs! Yellow for the Reading analyst! this is such a weird second half...

Red!

Bradley can't jump

Bosh!

Only a matter of time til we score

🤦‍♂️

From what I've seen of them, I'd sign half the Peterborough team. Poku, Mason-Clarke, to back up Barks & NML, with an eye on eventually replacing them on the wings. Harrison Burrows at LB, Josh Knight at CB, and Kyprianou's decent at DM. That could shore us up for any departures. Let me be the very first to suggest Jonson Clarke-Harris (if he's a free agent) would be an upgrade on Washington/Waghorn/Collins. That's a good £10m-£15m of players so never going to happen! Arblaster on loan from Sheff Utd, but that'll be moot when we're both in the Championship next season... The obvious suggestion is to bust a gut to sign Ebou, and to get Sibley to extend his deal. Also, I'll be boring and repeat that we need to give some Academy players minutes.

Given how well Sibley has done at LWB, I'd absolutely want to keep him. Elder is a decent enough fullback but if that's the system, we'd have to look for a LWB in the absence of Sibley...

Derby 3 - 0 Reading NML, Sibley, Barks

“Black players in the defensive line often make these mistakes because they’re not concentrated,” said Eranio. “They are powerful physically, but when it is time to think … they often make this type of error.” Wow. Textbook crazy racist stereotyping. From a guy who played with Marcel Desailly. Derby legend, but seeing as he's been a coach at Milan for 20 years and he's currently 57, it would be an odd one for him to suddenly move back to England to become a manager.

Stevenage are an organised, physical team, i.e. cheating, fouling sods, so hopefully they do us a favour against Bolton & Barnsley.

Ah, well it's a results-driven sport, Jeff. At the end of the day, when all's said and done, let the chips fall where they may, I'll put my neck out and say...possibly?

I was going to say that Portsmouth have wobbled but won't drop enough points to finish below 1st, but they still have to play Derby, Peterborough, Barnsley, Bolton, Blackpool, and Wigan. Bolton have a terrible run-in too. Barnsley's form should see them go up, and they have some easy ones on paper - Lincoln (h), Carlisle (a), Cheltenham (h) in a row could see them put a run together before they play Pompey. They finish with Charlton, Stevenage, Reading, so could tail off. But then Cheltenham are in v. good form and Peterborough are on the slide... In conclusion, who the eff knows. I think we'll finish 2nd and this will be the weirdest, least convincing promotion in history.

Give Sibley a new contract