Well we did our bit. A 2 - 0 win was all that we required but what about the others?
Preston’s poor current form continued when they lost to a late Blackpool winner but Manchester City produced the result of the day with a two nil victory at the Priestfield Stadium. Preston currently look out of the automatic promotion chase but they will know that we are going there on Tuesday night and a home win would ease them back into the chase.
City are on fire though. One defeat in twenty one games and something like fifty points out of sixty three in that time. They also look pretty certain to win their last three games into the bargain and so the equation for us is all very simple. We require eight points from our last five games to achieve the impossible. Everyone’s favourites for relegation need three wins to pip everyone’s favourites for promotion.
Say it quickly and it sounds easy. Think about it for long and it becomes a rather tougher task.
Back to today’s game though.
The first half was incredibly tense and as word of Blackpool’s early kick off victory filtered through the home ranks the tension seemed to increase by another notch. The players looked almost as tight and basically scraped their way through a poor first half with the visitors looking the much brighter side.
Tension is a strange feeling though. As Rob Stiener converted a Rammell flick on and we took the lead the pressure release was incredible. You can’t smell, see, touch, hear or taste it but you know when it’s there and equally you know when it’s gone.
For the next twenty five minutes we dominated the game and in addition to a Rammell sidefooted goal we had a couple of efforts ruled out.
The last fifteen minutes was all about protecting three priceless points and ensuring we picked up no injuries before Tuesday night. City may have taken the result of the day but it’s a long way back from Kent when, following such a cracking result, you still can’t make inroads into the lead of your rivals.