SSD

I'll be celebrating but my emotions will be more relief that we're out of this absolute pit of a division.

Watching the Bolton game.

I'll take any win at this point. I was amazed at the 1st and 3rd goals. We put them away well but my goodness, the level of defending at corners was absolutely atrocious for professional football. Our lads didn't have to work to challenge for the ball. Funniest moment of the day was Orient fans sarcastically cheering when the keeper finally caught the ball from a cross. The back three is absolutely solid most weeks. This season has been built by mainly good defensive performances, particularly Cashin and Nelson. Swap Bradley out long term for a younger centre back and we've got a good Championship level defence. Player of the match definitely Liam Thompson. Gave Adams some help with the legs and energy to shut down their midfield. Underrated player, a shame we can't have him, Adams and bird in a 3 next season. I think that would work well if we go for the wing backs again next season (which I admit I got it wrong, we do play better in this system). Have to win those next 2 games. It'd be nice if Bolton drew again in the week and we beat Cambridge. That'd basically secure us promotion unless Carlisle scored 5/6 past us without reply. I can't see that happening, I think they'll apply maximum pressure until the final day.

Ultimate redemption. Silly sending off, comes up with a superb performance in both boxes. He's got the pace and agility of a lorry but he definitely suits a back three. This will give him bags of confidence.

The good news is every time we seem to raise posts on this thread when we play poorly, we tend to pick up again. I've said my piece on the manager many times, I don't think he's going to take us to another level. League One specialist, brilliant. But having watched the team play every week, his tactical standards have to improve because many people are barely putting up with what's on offer at the minute (which is strange as we're still 2nd). It's nothing to do with wanting "total football." When you're plodding on every match, just being slightly better than teams in the bottom half with much smaller wage budgets, where's the confidence to suggest we can compete in the Championship? One thing I'll give Paul Warner credit for is against our rivals, on the whole we have competed and played well by setting up on the counter attack. If we do gain promotion, I would look to bring in more pace and some creative midfielders. That could work better against teams who will want 800 passes every game.

"They're all difficult games in League One" Absolutely infuriating listening to that. If it's that difficult now, good luck playing Watford, West Brom etc every week. Christ.

Ridiculous all round tonight. Wycombe emotionally spent from their cup final. Clearly took their foot of the gas and played negative for the majority of the first half. We miss a sitter. And then had no confidence to create anything of note. Unnecessary pressure now for us to win all 3 remaining games. I'm fine at this point in the season with scrappy 1 nils, particularly away from home. They're really struggling to get shots on target and create anything, which is down to the management and how we set up. Really poor from everyone, the management and the players.

Playing in front of 5000 fans. Well done to our supporters today 👋 This is why we need to get the hell of this dump of a division. Shocking home support.

Arsenal was named after Arsene Wenger. Believed for years that he created his own football team in London.

Superb counter attacking football. Love this side of Warne ball.

Fox costing us the 3 points. What a bell.

Offside but beautiful touch, just like the wardrobe.

I still think 3 wins will do it. I think some of us forget it's really a 4 point gap because of our superior goal difference. I think Bolton will need 91 points to finish 2nd. They need 13 points out of 15 to reach it. I'll be amazed if they do it, they're lacking the consistency, even more than us. If we get 3 wins and a draw, Bolton would have to win every game to overtake us. The odds are massively in our favour. A defeat against Pompey wouldn't be a complete disaster but we really need to try and gain at least a point if possible.

I'm looking at the points target for 2nd being 90. Derby need 3 wins from 5. Bolton need 5 wins from 6. Peterborough and Barnsley need 6 wins from 7. Bolton playing Peterborough on the final day. Peterborough have got 8 matches due to their cup final. Barnsley have also got Portsmouth on their run in. I can't see how Derby can throw this one away. We'd have to go on a real stinker of a run. With the defensive resilience in the team, I think we'll fight over the line, 1-0 all the way 😎

I was watching Ice Age with my little one last night and thought of Waggy in this scene.

I'm not sure how much I can pin on Warne for Saturday. Surely he couldn't have instructed the players to hoof the ball up in those conditions? Did he tell Sonny Bradley to headbutt that player and rule him out for 3 games? I've never been a fan of Warne however I pin alot of Saturday on players. Missing ridiculous chances, lack of discipline, insane decisions on the ball. Okay, he should have made changes at half time however the players should take accountability. I can put my opinions aside of him for this season because we have got an unbelievable chance for automatic promotion. It's the next level where I am interested to see how he performs. Will he completely rebuild the squad as he's hinted at because I sincerely hope he does. Players like Sonny Bradley shouldn't be anywhere near the first team squad in the championship. Nothing personal, we don't need liabilities on high wages. More players like Adams and Nyambe is the way to go. They suit Warne football perfectly.

Put it this way, if we don't finish 2nd now then it'll be the worst bottling since last season.

What makes it worse for me is I'm fairly certain Paul Warne said something along the lines of "Sonny doesn't want to be playing league one football, he wants to be in the championship." Could you really see him playing championship football next season? He's got to be one of the worst technical footballers I've seen for a long time. At least the likes of Darren Moore and Curtis Davies would always win headers. I'd stick with Nelson and Cash for the foreseeable.

Channeling the powers of Emile Heskey, Mikel Beck and Michael Rickets. Can't hit a barn door today!

I'm assuming once they get relegated, they would have to sell alot of players to stay within FFP? I know they have those parachute payments but I would have thought the outgoings would be considerable in terms of their wages and the attendance dropping. Just shows, £250 million spent on transfers with no plan and look where they are now. I do raise a smile when Derby have come back from the abyss, yet in summer we may well be playing our neighbours who had it all and blew it because of their own poor planning and management.

Sore head today. Trying to digest the match, it was exactly how I thought it was going to be. 50/50 match. Okay, Bolton had more possession and looked more dangerous on the ball but ultimately they did not create anywhere near enough chances. Wildsmith with some unbelievable saves kept us in the game early on. Defensively our best game of the season. Nobody was getting past the back 3. They were collosal. Everybody got stuck in and threw their bodies on the line. It was an excellent display of discipline and solidity. We treated it like a cup final (that lovely clique) and we won. 4 points clear in 2nd. 5 wins out of the 7 remaining games should do it. We can afford to have a stinker of the match if for whatever reason the team have an off day. Looking at the remaining fixtures, this is a golden opportunity for the automatic spots. You never know, we might have the chance to celebrate our promotion on the final day. Have a great day out with no stress. After supporting Derby County for 30+ years, we might actually get over the line comfortably for a change! I'm glad to see the supporters put aside their opinions on the manager and really drive the team along. Everyone can sense it, we are close to getting out of this pit of a division. We can debate about how Warne will tackle the Championship in the summer when we're bored silly, waiting for England to start their Euros campaign. I've moaned about him enough this season but I can bury my feelings about him and focus on the team getting the points in the bag. Fingers crossed we can have a natural striker fit to get us to the end.

Luton.....

Tell me about it. Those blue noses pelted us in the South Stand with bottles, coins, ripped up seats and god knows what. Absolutely awful. Disgusting thugs. Many of them had no intention of watching the football. I'm all for a laugh and trading insults. Physically hurting people is definitely crossing the line. It's a shame because it will put off the club ever truly filling up the ground because of morons like them.

Different class today. Actually putting in proper crosses as well, pays off big time. Well done PW and team 🐏🐏