Cautious optimism is sweeping around Sixfields at the moment as momentum begins to build ahead of this weekend’s visit of Crewe. The Cobblers remain six points off a playoff spot and a win over the Railwaymen would be a massive step in signalling our intentions for the final furlong of the season.
Hartlepool away on a Friday night is not the most attractive of fixtures on the list to say the least and not many of the hardy 200 or so souls that travelled north on Friday would have expected all three points. But another super sub appearance from Giles Coke and a fine save at the end from Bunny gave us a vital win up north.
The optimism has set in amongst the claret faithful and with Oldham and Swindon handily drawing one of their games in hand against each other last night we remain in tenth place and with an outside shout of, yes, the playoffs.
To even be in this position is a massive credit to Stuart Gray and the team who have quietly built up a road of recovery following the mid-season blues. After Town went on a run of seven without a win in November and early December we had to look down the table and expect another nervy second half of the season.
But the return to fitness of Coke, the superb free signing of Bayo and the genius switch to midfield for Danny Jackman have all contributed to us being in a strong position despite those games in hand that others have on us. If we can go to fifth placed Walsall next week within earshot of them it will make for an exciting afternoon at the Bescott.
But before that, we must overturn Crewe, a tricky opposition despite their position in the bottom four at present. Nicky Maynard will cause problems if he’s on form but if we’re anywhere near the standard of the last home game- the thumping of Gillingham- we will stand a very good chance of what would arguably be our most important victory of the campaign so far. It may “only be Crewe” but the possible meaning of victory that could take us into nosebleed territory is tantalising!
We must learn from the past and really get at Crewe. There’s been so many times in previous seasons where we’ve shown glimpses of pushing on but suffered a silly defeat that let us down. A win on Saturday would show a lot of the Cobblers faithful that the momentum we’re building quietly could bring some unbelievable excitement come May.
Looking at it realistically we will be hard pushed to make the top six. Plenty of teams have games in hand around us and it’s still going to take a massive points haul over the final couple of months to get there. It remains to be seen whether we can surprise people some more and actually knock on that playoff door. There may be no answer this time around but if we can give it a real go then there will be real hope for 08/09.
If everyone starts to believe we can make it, from players to fans, we all know that we can pull together to create a superb atmosphere about the club. Let’s start with Crewe on Saturday and really get this bandwagon going!
Up The Cobblers!
Danny
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