Guest Blog: Charlton revisited and Carlisle by Ash Thompson

The Galpharm always comes alive when top of the league comes to town and the visit of Charlton Athletic was no exception. I will not give a blow by blow account of the game, but all I can say is WHY DO TOWN ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME?! 
 
 8 games left and after that defensive display, they give us a glimmer of confidence that they are the best team in League 1. On Saturday we proved that we CAN be a solid defensive unit. Hunt was his usual solid self, Clarke put his body on the line as usual. Sean Morrison was an absolute revelation and fully deserved his MOTM award. Dealt with the aerial threat of Hayes well. One other name worth a mention is Diego Arismendi. A very impressive debut in my eyes. He did the simple things well, was tidy on the ball, and most of all, gave Roberts and Ward the ball to attack down the wings. Overall it was a very professional performance against a good side. If we can perform like that we will finish 2nd, no doubt.
 
 A quick mention of Simon Grayson's start to his reign now. Unbeaten yes, but ask a certain Lee Clark what that stands for! The first game I saw was the Rochdale and I think he will be the first to admit that he got it wrong. However, a decent win away to Chesterfield, a crazy game away at Colchester and now a win vs Charlton seems to me like he is getting used to the Bluer and Better side of West Yorkshire.
 
 On to this weekends fixture and a trip to the notoriously tricky Carlisle United. One of the form teams in the league at this point and it's fair to say that they will not fear Towns visit. They are currently in 6th place and look a pretty good bet that they will be there come the end of the season. They got a very handy 2-1 win away at MK Dons last weekend and will be a tough nut to crack thanks to their imperious home form. Currently 15 games unbeaten at Brunton Park which is a decent record by anyones standards. Another fact worth mentioning (especially with our record of throwing leads away) is that Carlisle have won 24 points from losing positions this season. I think we can go up there and win, but it will take a hell of an effort. Elsewhere, I fully expect Wednesday to pick up 3 points at home to preston. United face a potential banana skin in an away trip to Hartlepool. We can only hope that Jeff Stellings beloved Pool can turn them over but I wouldn't be surprised to see both Sheffield clubs pick up 3 points.
 
 On Tuesday we travel to the capital to face Leyton Orient for our game in hand. Brisbane Road is never a nice place to go and we've had our fair share of poor results there over the seasons. However, they are currently in very shabby form themselves are sliding slowly towards the dreaded dotted line. 
 
 Let's finish on a bright note and say that we could be in the automatic promotion places on Wednesday morning!
 




Follow Ash on twitter, @AJT1892

The Wonder of Lee

Hello to you all on a very much more upbeat Terrier blog than the previous one. The reason for this? We're currently celebrating a clean sheet coupled with 3 points, and invaluable points gained on Sheffield United. The blog today will look back on the game against Hartlepool, but will also be focusing on the run-in.

Hartlepool


This was a hugely important game following a week when we imploded in two consecutive away games, the stakes were high and the team were looking to bounce back. However straight forward a home tie may have looked against Hartlepool it was clear that there was a high level of trepidation amongst Town fans. Large numbers of fans had swarmed to social networking sites and DATM to air their discontent at the manager and the team, and Hartlepool was that chance to respond.
The team could easily have displayed that same mental fragility against the monkey hangers on Tuesday night and folded under the pressure, but this time they stood up to the task. Hartlepool approached the game in much the way that many visiting teams at the Galpharm do, with their eye on a point or a tight smash and grab victory. Football under these circumstances can be particularly tough, as we know all too well. The match in itself was fairly uninspiring, there were few chances for Hartlepool and occasional forays into the Town penalty area. The match facts themselves tell a story, 60% possesion, 7 more shots than the opposition, and hilariously Alan Lee topped the fouling charts after just over half an hours play. As the manager and players have said following the game, promotion is the most important thing, how we play isn't. I for one wouldn't care one bit if we won every game from now until the end of the season 1-0 and went up, now isn't the time for entertainers it's a time for bottle, determination and results.
It was brilliant to see the team respond positively following the disappointing week we had just endured, the clean sheet was perhaps most pleasing considering we had shipped 5 goals in 2 away games. Even more impressive was the goal, a fantastic raking ball played over the top by Joey Gudjonsson, immaculate control off the chest by Alan Lee and a pinpoint finish. Remarkable! The ball by Gudjonsson highlights to me his importance to the team, his creativity is in my opinion much greater than anything on offer from the other central midfielders. The control and finish by Alan Lee was fantastic and somewhat shocking, for some time now I have viewed Alan Lee as a player devoid of any technique and simply a big lad that tries hard. With this goal he showed me and others who see him as a figure of derision that he is actually a competent footballer, who needs Jordan ey!?
The game seemed to last an eternity, and although I didn't think so at the time those five minutes at the end of the game may have been a blessing in disguise. That we had to face 5 minutes of stoppage times and hold onto a slender lead was a frightful experience, and it no doubt played on the minds of the Town players. However we held on for the victory and hopefully the players have banished that monkey on their backs, and they may be able to hold onto leads between now and the end of the season.
So the game finished 1-0 to Town and we kept a clean sheet, just the tonic and hopefully we can kick on now starting with Rochdale at home. It's clear that drawing too many games at home in the past has been a problem for us, and if we can win two in quick succession then we may have well turned a corner.
As the players left the pitch on Tuesday night the glorious news of Sheffield Uniteds demise at the Bescot was reaching us, making our result even more important. We're now within two points of the blades with 12 games to go, which isn't an unattainable gap. Besides that Charlton lost, and though it is highly improbable there is still a slight chance that we could catch them, but it is slight. So onto Rochdale at home, a game which was marred by the injury of Anthony Pilkington last season, but hopefully this season it will be remembered solely for a Town victory.

The run-in


At the moment the top of league 1 is a very congested place, barring perhaps Charlton Athletic who have forged a gap at the summit. The table as it stands is below;

No movement1	Charlton	35	39	78
No movement2	Sheff Utd	34	27	65
No movement3	Sheff Wed	35	17	64
No movement4	Huddersfield	34	30	63
No movement5	MK Dons	34	26	59

The gap between us and Charlton is 15 points now and our ambitions of top-spot seem out of reach, which is also true of the chairmans ambition of one hundred points which is now mathematically impossible, although I'd be happy with 99! The threat at the moment for the second spot is clearly coming from the two Sheffield clubs, I think it may just be out of reach for MK Dons, as they would be relying on a huge implosion from the three clubs directly above them. Below are the run-ins for us, Sheffield United and Wednesday;
Huddersfield Town

Sat 10	15:00	H	Rochdale	FL1
Sat 17	15:00	A	Colchester	FL1
Tue 20	19:45	A	Chesterfield	FL1
Sat 24	15:00	H	Charlton	FL1
Sat 31	15:00	A	Carlisle	FL1
April
Tue 3	19:45	A	Leyton Orient	FL1
Sat 7	12:30	H	Sheffield Wed	FL1
Mon 9	15:00	A	Bournemouth	FL1
Sat 14	15:00	A	Preston	FL1
Sat 21	15:00	H	Scunthorpe	FL1
Sat 28	15:00	A	Walsall	FL1
May
Sat 5	15:00	H	Yeovil Town	FL1

Sheffield United

Sat 10	15:00	A	Brentford	FL1
Tue 13	19:45	A	Colchester	FL1
Sat 17	15:00	H	Tranmere	FL1
Tue 20	19:45	A	Notts County	FL1
Wed 28	19:45	H	Chesterfield	FL1
Sat 31	15:00	A	Hartlepool	FL1
April
Sat 7	15:00	H	Bournemouth	FL1
Tue 10	19:45	A	Rochdale	FL1
Sat 14	15:00	H	Leyton Orient	FL1
Sat 21	15:00	A	MK Dons	FL1
Sat 28	15:00	H	Stevenage	FL1
May
Sat 5	15:00	A	Exeter City	FL1

Sheffield Wednesday

Sat 10	15:00	H	Bournemouth	FL1
Sat 17	15:00	A	Notts County	FL1
Tue 20	19:45	H	Walsall	FL1
Sat 24	15:00	A	Leyton Orient	FL1
Sat 31	12:45	H	Preston	FL1
April
Sat 7	12:30	A	Huddersfield	FL1
Mon 9	12:45	H	Oldham	FL1
Sat 14	15:00	A	Colchester	FL1
Sat 21	15:00	H	Carlisle	FL1
Sat 28	15:00	A	Brentford	FL1
May
Sat 5	15:00	H	Wycombe	FL1

Out of all of the run-ins I think ours looks the toughest, we have three very difficult home games to contend with ( Charlton, Wednesday and Scunthorpe), further to that we have extremely difficult away games to contend with at the likes of Preston, Bournemouth and Leyton Orient. The game against Sheffield Wednesday at home will undoubtedly be a big game in the promotion race, however how we fair overall in April will perhaps decide whether we finish 2nd or not. April could prove to be a tricky month for the other two clubs as well, but if we can emerge at the end of the month undefeated then it will certainly give us an edge.
Looking at the fixtures for us and the Sheffield clubs does not fill me with confidence, but I'm of the opinion that we haven't seen the best of this Town team yet, and if they can realise their potential in the next 12 games then we will be celebrating promotion on May 5th.
Believe





Tables and fixtures courtesy of;
http://www.swfc.co.uk/page/Fixtures/0,,10304,00.html
http://www.htafc.com/page/Fixtures/0,,10312,00.html
http://www.sufc.co.uk/page/Fixtures/0,,10418,00.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/league-one



Thanks to Callum Wrigglesworth for match report contribution