Best Of

Short answer is that I haven’t got a clue. I have been watching football long enough to know that there are many unexpected results at this stage of the season and the picture can change in a couple of games. Do I think that we deserve to finish second? Absolutely. We have been in the top two for most of the season and despite dropping points recently we are still in there. I see no reason for pessimism.

100%.

Good poster and always pretty balanced and polite.

Can tell the recent debate has got to him a bit though, so a little bit of time away won't hurt. Just hope there's something for him to come back to as would be a shame to lose contact.

#savethegasroom. No place for slanging matches here, leave them to our world leaders.

That group was in the row directly behind us. One man in particular behaved appallingly, and we all agreed that he was most likely coked up. I couldn't believe they left so early when it was clear that there'd be lots of added time and we were threatening an equaliser.

They spent the whole game moaning about being asked to sit down, and shouting abuse at other fans around them. Most of their conversation consisted of how many beers they were going to drink afterwards

So having had some sleep and less beer I thought I give my summary/thoughts on yesterday.

Got the 9.02 "Football Special" and easily able to get a seat and enjoyed the trip in the sunshine watching the flooded countryside of Oxfordshire whizz by. A few folks we know were worried about the 9.02 potentially being too crowded and so took the standard 8.36 to Brum and ended up standing the whole way.....we laughed.

Got to Brum and found the Dragon pub, think it was a spoons, ok but a little annoyed at the lack of ale choice (Grrrr) but had a couple of pints of the guest ale before getting an uber to the ground for the massive fair of £3.21....

Through security and into the ground no problem, hadn't been to St Andrews before, nice ground even if the away concourse felt a little like a prison of sorts and was pretty dark.

I was sat about five rows from the front and as one poster remarked the acoustics were weird as our lot didn't seem that loud from where I was. Having fun and banter with the Brum fans nearest us and did laugh at the idiot Wycombe lad getting ejected really early doors....need to grow up and calm down a bit fella.

First half we were shocking, either set up wrong or overawed (?) but credit to Brum they had the high press spot on. As for the red, I said to my mate as I saw Simons going full pelt towards Laird "if he doesn't get the ball and catches him at all he's off" and unfortunately my words were prophetic. Have seen those given as yellow but not when you have 25k Brum supporters in their home stad shouting red, was inevitable I'm afraid..

Second half MUCH better, even though I still cringe when 3 at the back gets mentioned due to the early days of Blooms but it worked well and thought Bradley did a great job of steadying things and allowed us to move forward more. I want to see more of Reach as thought he was excellent when coming on and depending on how bad Harvie's knock is I guess he'll start Tuesday.

Walked back to Moor Street post game in the sunshine and chatted to a few Brum who I found to be friendly and pretty complimentary about Wycombe, which was nice. Got the "Football Special" back to Wycombe and then into the Flint for a few, although they too had no ales (grrrr) and watched the blue lights of the many police cars at the train station as I guess the next train down from Brum had some sort of fighting between fans incident when on approach to Wycombe...oh and watching Plymouth go 1 up again cittah (missed the rest of the game as 1. no interest and 2. got a kebab and went home).

No major crisis for me, but we MUST win Tuesday and Saturday to tee the Wrexham game up nicely, shame about potential loss of Simons and Harvie though....and (another all caps incoming) MUST start Kone, get a good lead and then take him off to rest.

Apologies for the massive post but we're still second so onwards and upwards and 3 points Tuesday.

COYB

I think yes, for various reasons:

1. Our defence looks imperious, and all teams will struggle to score more than one against us. We've conceded just 4 goals in the last 8 games, all of which were from outside the box
2. We have the league's top scorer, who is often unplayable
3. Despite the general sense of doom and gloom on here, we haven't actually played badly recently. We've had some inopportune red cards (Blackpool, Cambridge, Birmingham) which have probably cost 4-5 points, and we've struggled to break down low blocks (which every team does) at AP. We've also been without the aforementioned top scorer. But in many cases we've also been quite unfortunate too, facing inspired goalkeepers or lacking that bounce of the ball needed
4. The squad is the deepest I've ever seen, and can deal well with injuries. As evidence by our Danish problem, Rav on the bench despite having a very good season, Reach's excellent performance in place of Harvey yesterday, and Udoh's creditable performances with Kone out injured
5. The squad still has loads of character and spirit, as evidenced by the likes of Mansfield away and the impressive second half with 10 men yesterday. Experienced players like McCleary, Scowen and Bradley will ensure that drive remains
6. The form of our promotion rivals (Wrexham, Huddersfield, Stockport) has been patchy at best, just like ours. And our closest rivals (Wrexham) arguably have an even tougher run in, with 8/13 games away

I genuinely think its 60:40 that we get promoted automatically, and probably 1:3 if we end up in the playoffs (they're a lottery). So I give us a 70% chance of promotion right now

After a run of nine league wins out of ten, the Firsts are now well placed for a second place finish. They may have to win their remaining five games to ensure that, although Portchester still have to play at Ascot.

Firsts - Southern Regional Premier: https://bit.ly/4e6RRDC

U23s - Southern Regional Division One North: https://bit.ly/4dUOQ9F

U18s - JPL Warriors League: https://bit.ly/4e7M7c2

A fantastic result to bounce back after last week. Two goals each for Potter and Watkins, one for Lynch.

I think the answer may in part be that we didn't think Taylor was coming back hence needed another central defender.

I also think having spent many years picking up freebies and begging bigger clubs for loanees, we as supporters have yet to become accustomed to the real financial world of football. The two Danes didn't cost a fortune when compared to what other top level League 1 clubs have paid. Didn't Huddersfield pay £3m for 1 player in the recent window and Wrexham and Birmingham have spent real money. The current market values of Low and Taylor would, I suspect, far exceed what we paid for the Danes.

The fact that we can turn down a £7m offer for a player that has only played 18 months at this level, highlights the real world we are now entering.