So, here we are yet again, waiting for the last game of the season to decide our fate. Chances are that we will grab one of the final play-off spots as we could even lose and succeed as long as other results go our way.
How well I remember being at Goodison Park in 1977 with nobody around me showing any interest in the match being played before us and everyone focused on two blokes with transistor radios standing far apart and disputing what the actual score in the Coventry v Bristol City match was. Something similar may happen this afternoon, just the technology will be different. We gave Morecambe a good hiding at the SoL but they'll be battling this afternoon to avoid relegation and we'll have to give as good as we get. If I was a Wycombe fan, I wouldn't fancy playing Burton away and I reckon MK Dons will get a result at Plymouth. Wednesday are at home to Portsmouth, who are never a pushover. I think we're going to win and if we get an early goal, we might win fairly comfortably. I'm glad McGeady is close to a return but I'd rather we saved him for the play-offs. I'll be listening to the match on SAFSEE and my prediction is a 3-1 win for us.
When I got the team-news and saw that Broadhead, Pritchard, Embleton and Roberts were all starting, I felt even more confident that we'd win. McGeady was on the bench and it seemed likely that we'd see him come on in the later stages. Doyle was nowhere to be seen and perhaps he was injured. He certainly looked out of sorts against Rotherham.
I got SAFSEE on and the sun was shining so I wondered how long this buoyant mood would last. We gave away a couple of free-kicks in the opening minutes so we were clearly going to mix it. Next thing Morecambe won a corner but we got a free-kick for offside. Portsmouth took an early lead against Wednesday which was great news but we were definitely on the back-foot in our game as Morecambe won another corner. The small crowd was making a great racket.
We took the lead in the tenth minute when Evans fed Broadhead and he slotted into the corner past Carson in goal. We promptly made another good break that resulted in a yellow card for Phillips and a free-kick for us. Pritchard took it and his effort was only narrowly wide. By the quarter-hour mark the overall picture was looking rosy but we were giving away too many free-kicks. Morecambe were doing most of the pressing but we were defending well. We certainly weren't getting the rub of the green from referee Gavin Ward e.g. Pritchard hit the deck and a free-kick was awarded to Morecambe. MK Dons took the lead against Plymouth and Wednesday equalised against Portsmouth. I'd rather Rotherham went up automatically as I don't fancy us having to play them again.
Evans was down with an injury for a short while but thankfully was able to continue but the very next thing Broadhead was struggling. This didn't go down well with the home fans who knew rivals Fleetwood were winning and wanted to get on with things. Anyway, Broadhead had to go off and he was replaced by Clarke. By the half-hour mark things were still looking good and we were temporarily in fourth spot. Rotherham took the lead against Gillingham and that suited me and then Wednesday went 2-1 up. The Morecambe fans were singing, “We are staying up. We are staying up” as favourable results had filtered through to them. We could well end up with both teams doing a bit of a lap of honour at this rate.
MK Dons went 2-0 up and I couldn't see Plymouth coming back from that while Wednesday went 3-1 ahead so that was looking very much like a win for them. Meanwhile in our match not a great deal had happened and most importantly Patterson hadn't been troubled. There were four minutes of stoppage-time and it remained 0-1 as the whistle went. So, at the break MK Dons were 3-0 up, Wednesday were 3-1 up and Wycombe were 1-0 up while Plymouth were of course 3-0 down. That meant we were in fifth position, four points ahead of seventh placed Plymouth, and could even afford to lose our match as long as Plymouth didn't stage a miraculous revival in the second-half.
Of course I still wanted us to win and with just one goal in it we needed to get another and the sooner the better. Morecambe started brightly and we conceded a corner early on but eventually cleared it. It was the same story for the first ten minutes of the half and we needed to do something to perk our side up. Plymouth hadn't started a fight back and that's all that really mattered. We won our first corner not long before the hour-mark and the ball finally came to Evans whose shot went straight to Carson. That was a bit more like it anyway and there was further good news when MK Dons went 4-0 ahead. Carson made a very good block from a Roberts effort and we'd managed to raise our game without making any further changes. The time was going fast and with twenty minutes left I wondered if we'd make one or two more changes to give some players a rest.
There'd been no changes in the scores of our immediate rivals' matches so we remained in fifth spot. Matete replaced Stewart in the seventy-third minute and the game continued to go pretty much end to end without any serious chances being created by either side. Neil came on for Pritchard with eight minutes remaining so we'd have to wait for the return of Geads. Meanwhile Burton had equalised against Wycombe and MK Dons had gone 5-0 ahead. The attendance of 5,831 was announced and it was a record. We entered the final five minutes and there was a a lot of singing going on, no doubt from our fans. The home fans joined in as other latest scores were making it very likely that they'd stay in League 1.
Morecambe coach Derek Adams still got himself worked up enough to get a yellow card right near the end. Four minutes of stoppage-time were announced and both sides were still going for it but it ended in a 1-0 win for us. There was a lot of applause at the end from both sets of fans.
So, we've achieved what we needed to do and we've finished in fifth position. That means we play Sheffield Wednesday in the first part of the play-offs while MK Dons face Wycombe. As I said, I'm glad we don't have to face Rotherham, who looked like the best side in the league to me. Well done to Alex Neil for getting us there with an impressive unbeaten run.
