When we played the second leg of the Charlton Play-off game, we had little hope of qualifying, having lost the home leg and not looked very good, so there was no real tension there. When we went to Cheltenham in the hope of securing the second automatic promotion place it did not seem as intense as it feels now because I suppose losing wasn’t the end of the route to promotion.
Incidentally we bettered Peterborough by a single point into 6th place in 2019 with Coventry next 8 points adrift.
There was anxiety in the Play-offs for the Championship, but perhaps because we were confident we were the best of the 4 back then, the worry factor was not the predominant emotion. What makes this tension greater is that the nature of an unbroken sequence of success of this sort is such that it becomes more vulnerable the longer it continues.
Col U have been in the position in which they find themselves now fairly frequently before and have escaped, so you might say that each time it happens the less likely they are to survive. And obviously that contrasts with our situation. I suppose we can think of the Brentford, but it was not long-lived. If my memory is right, we were also at the wrong end of a ,tense situation when Birmingham City came back from losing at Bolton to winning whilst we were hanging on to a goalless draw at Champions Leicester City when they scored a penalty. And we were relegated.
So we might say that we have not exhausted our ration of good fortune.
Looking at recent performances, Colchester have been relatively good at home recently. They have only lost by a single goal to Wrexham and Stockport at home and by a single goal to Notts County away and beaten Grimsby 2-0 who are not in bad form. They are half way up the form table which, given these recent tough fixtures, makes them a force to be reckoned with.
The momentum should carry us through and I hope that we will succeed. comfortably to enhance our Goal Difference which could give us the cushion we need to not need the extra point from the last match.
5-0 Molyneux/Adelukan.
DPL v Colchester United
posted on 22/4/24
Colchester only need a point to survive so I'd expect they'd set the team up to defend and catch Rovers on the break. We have the players to counter this but I don't expect a high scoring game. I'll go 2-1 Ironside ,Adelakun
posted on 23/4/24
Donaldo was correct with the number of goals against Barrow and so I hope he is correct for today's game. Sadly I cannot be that optimistic and was going to say 2-1 to the Rovers but will up it to 3-1 to the Rovers although I realise Colchester are playing well and only need the one point. Molyneux to bag the first, and if for some reason he does not start, Ironside.
posted on 23/4/24
I'll also keep the faith and say 2-1 to Rovers. Adelakun with with the first, Ironside with the second (or 1st if Adelakun doesn't start)
posted on 23/4/24
Just listened to manager Cowley and an interview with a young player just back from loan at Hartlepool. Both optimistic, but in the manager’s case perhaps realistically so. Perhaps the emphasis is on finding the point they need in the two remaining games
posted on 23/4/24
Looks like our best starting 11 plus a strong bench too. Fingers crossed. Id settle for any win but by more than by 2 goals would be great.
posted on 23/4/24
I thought Colchester had a good deal of strength and skill in their attack, but they tended to fail with the final ball. Rovers were clearly playing on the counter and the movement was good. The value of confidence was strongly in evidence. Despite the score it was not as comfortable as 4-1 suggests.
posted on 23/4/24
And up to 5th, but with another point still needed to guarantee the Play-offs.
posted on 23/4/24
Gave me the jitters at times, especially when their wide players were getting in crosses far too easily. At times , as Donaldo says, the movement was good on counter-attacks such as that which resulted in the fourth goal.
However, so different from earlier in the season when heads would drop, whereas here it looked as though they knew they would win. I agree the game was not as comfortable as 4-1 would indicate.
This was the banana skin game that worried me, and I'm now reasonably confident about at least a point on Saturday - with our goal difference, we need it if Crawley win.
At 3-1 I was wishing another goal for comfort even though 3-1 would have given me bonus points!
posted on 24/4/24
I was looking at League 2 final hospitallity packages yesterday but at around £500 per person I thought twice. Just might visit the site selling them again today. Even though we're on a 10 run winning streak the basic ( not bookmaker) odds of us winning or drawing the next game are the same as if we had lost the last 10 i.e. 2:3 or 66% chance. What a manager GM is. I'm sure he's already getting offers to move. Can't see him jumping ship this time though. But then you never know. If Rovers make the playoffs I'm sure they'll be confident of winning it. Confidence does give you a 1 or 2 goal start.
posted on 24/4/24
I agree with all this and I have wondered about McCann’s loyalty in the face of temptation. Saunders too, could not resist the money, so I suppose Rovers will have to up the financial rewards if things continue to roll.
The other factor in our success is the impact of the 3 significant loanees. McCann will want to hang on to them and to Molyneux which means a further drain on the the Bramall bank account, but that’s the way of the world.
I think we probably need to win the Play-offs now for a number of reasons!