Reminding ourselves how far we've come and the run in

[GlossopLatic]

I am feeling in a reflective mood this Friday evening, so I have been reminding myself how far we've come. 

 

 Salford Home April 22

 

Notts County Away Boxing day 22

 

Bromley away 16th sept 23

 

Now this isn't necessarily suggesting we should be eternally grateful for being 5th in the National League but when you consider these low points Salford at home when over a century of league football was tossed away and we had no idea if the club had any future whatsoever never mind if we could rebuild it felt dark but we recovered. The away game at Notts County where we were battered out of sight and were staring down the barrel of the real prospect of regional football, but we recovered. Bromley away where we started the season abysmally and it looked like the season was over but again, we recovered. Whichever way you look at it from those moments to where we are now represents progress.

 

It’s pretty clear that there is room for improvement and we are still trying to rid ourselves of typical Latics, the performance against Kidderminster being the most recent example of hopes being crushed in an all too predictable moment, the club made a big day of it putting on a carnival atmosphere and the clowns on the pitch proceeded to ruin the carnival  

 

The home form has of course been a massive issue this season and not being able to really press home, home advantage has cost us. Perhaps this is phycological and we aren't as comfortable when being expected to take control of the game and dominate, however our away form has been our strength, and that has propelled us into a position where we are likely to be in the play-off come the end of the season. Our away form was our strength in Iain Dowie's season in 02-03 and what people forget is we had a run of home fixtures between the beginning of November right through to the beginning of March where we only won 1 game at home out of 10 fixtures we struggled to break teams down at home, its often forgotten due to the fact that we had so many good away days including many big local away days such as Crewe away Tranmere away, and Stockport away where we took sizeable followings and got victories. Remember the scenes when Eyrseie fire that late free kick into the top corner against Stockport maybe not having those moments to really celebrate to really get the fans lifted to believing that we can really go up I'm hoping we can have some big results wins in the next couple of weeks particularly at home which would really ignite the enthusiasm of the fans to convince some of the nay sayers that we really can go up this season. We are now entering the run in and I'm hoping that it’s going to build some excitement, 2 big games this week one down at a Aldershot and one at Halifax I'm expecting 4 points from them before we set up the clash with Chesterfield next week, a win against a promotion rival away, followed by a win in a local away fixture in front of a big following and following it up with a victory against the champions elect will get people to believe that promotion is well and truly on. People are already talking up fixtures as must wins so a little bit of excitement is starting to build,  

 

How we do in the play offs will depend on a number of things but the fact that we are in gives us a fighting chance of promotion we'd only be at most 3 wins away from getting back into the football league which after 2 seasons would be a real achievement considering the absence that the likes of Stockport and Wrexham had to endure. It could all turn sour I've supported this club long enough to expect disappointment but the fact we are in March and looking up and thinking about possible promotion at this time of year rather than looking at the table and trying to see how far we are away from 50 points is something to be happy about. 

 

If you were to ask me honestly how I think this season will turn out, I'd put my hand on heart and say it will end with us missing out in the play offs We might just be another step away from getting promoted. We are well placed to rebuild in the summer the majority of the squad and pretty much all the key players are contracted beyond the summer, and with a few minor tweaks will be well positioned to challenge for promotion next season, we are still early in the journey I believe of getting back to where we want to be the Rothwell’s I don't believe will suddenly turn the taps off this summer they show no signs of pulling the plug and do appear to be in it for the long term. even if we do not go up this year, I feel the experience of us going down the track as a club chasing promotion will be a good learning curve and will help us to be in a better position next season.

 

We've made progress there is still alot to do but we can get there have faith we have the right people who can get us there.

Edited March 8 by GlossopLatic