Scraping through

Blackpool v Watford

Sunday 4^th May

It was via the non-drama of BBC live text that I half-watched the drama unfold. Watford were one down within a couple of minutes at Bloomfield Road and still losing at half-time. Quarter of an hour into the second half and Darius Henderson received a second yellow leaving ten men to search for an equaliser. As it happens, at this stage of the afternoon even defeat would have left us in sixth but within ten minutes Tommy Smith, our player of the season, had equalised. Later Ipswich and Wolves both scored, which meant that the draw was what we required to see us into the play-offs on goal difference.

What can a fair-weather-fan say? I’ve used all the clichés about punching above our weight and have pointed out that the other relegated teams are still (and have now finished) below us. Nevertheless, with expectations so high after such a fantastic start to the season, how can the Yellow Army be less than disappointed with the performances of the last six months and the results over the last two? We can’t score, we don’t pass well and worse than that, we can’t beat even the lowest-placed sides in this division.

Home to third-placed Hull on Sunday 11^th and away on Wednesday 14^th must surely bring our season to an end. West Bromwich Albion finished champions and Stoke took second place. Bristol City (4^th) meet Crystal Palace in the other play-off final so I’d guess a Hull-Palace final at Wembley. Somehow, though, despite the narrow margin by which our season has been allowed to continue, there remains that fan’s hope that favouritism will triumph over realism.