Wanderlust

That's better

Signs we're starting to get the ball down and play. Just need Santos to stop chipping it forward aimlessly.

Terrible start in general. The slick fast passing game has gone out of the window and replaced by hoofball. Really not at it.

Coming from the north side of Bolton, there's nothing more I'd like than to see Blackburn get relegated. Never forget them lording it over us at Burnden, the John Byrom Byrom Byrom days, battles outside Ewood and that tw@t Walker buying the title. Just too much to ever forgive.

Oxford v Posh is an important game today, not just for us but for Lincoln who should put Wigan to the sword - 100% behind Oxford today. ...and Orient of course.

Rooting for you amigo. If you survive, there's hope for us if we get promoted. So many teams in the mix so you've got a great chance. And at the top it seems nobody wants to win it.

It's the StrawbUry Duck named after Roger Duxbury (black sheep of the Yates Duxbury paper mill family near Bury) when he bought then renamed what was the Station Pub in Entwistle after himself. Locals had always called the Station "the Strawberry" as the workers in the cotton mill (now under Wayoh reservoir) grew strawbs in the field at the side. Roger wanted to call it the Strawbury and his missus wanted to call it the Duck so they compromised on the Strawbury Duck. Historically there were absolutely ZERO Blackburn fans in the Turton/Edworth/Chapeltown/Entwistle area despite the LGA of 1974 changing the boundaries to include a lot of it in Blackburn - it was always Bolton through and through with the Edgworth bus service based at Moor Lane, kids born in Townley's and folk shopping in Bolton. The Old Bolts ground in Chapeltown hosted Bolton v Blackburn matches as far back as the 1830s - often 20 a side before the league rules were adopted - and the Wanderers name is said in some quarters to have come from the team moving from there to Pike's Lane etc so that the fans didn't have as far to travel. Only when Rovers bought the Prem title in the 90s did the first Rovers fans start to appear in the area. I've always advocated folk supporting their home town team so I can't complain about the new generation supporting Rovers - even though the area was part of Bolton until the Government meddled.

I can only assume he's met Stinky John.

This is apparently how they are going to beat us tomorrow....

And this is the crux of the matter. There is likely to be very little difference between the team that played that day and the team we are likely to put out tomorrow. Collins for Dion, Ogbeta or Iredale for Williams and maybe Forrester for Jones. Whilst we were good in the first half and should have taken the lead, we didn't create too many chances apart from Dion's sitter - and at the other end, Yengi bullied Santos - the only striker I've seen all season who physically dominated him. Paris was hooked early second half and the rest of the team lost their heads and picked up 4 bookings so....we have to play better, we have to be more disciplined, we have to create more and we have to take our goddamn chances. Like what you did with the "strictly" and "dancing" thing BTW.

Two teams that like to dominate possession so I feel a midfield battle coming on. Whilst I love to see Paris try to beat players and create an extra man for us in congested areas, this may not be the game for him, and there is a case for Demps starting but I don't think Evatt will give him the nod. We're going to have to be at our sharpest and play our best game of the season - whilst keeping our discipline. Looking at you George. As i said to the Pompey fans whilst chatting just now - or "blowing smoke up their arses" as a certain stalker likes to call it - let's hope we turn up, have a fair ref and may the best team win. Which I believe is us.

That's going it a bit, but it was a great night, largely because I expected nowt after the mauling we got from a strong Wolves team in the first leg - I think they hit the woodwork 3 times before McDonald got himself sent off - and how we got away with 2 - 1 I'll never know. But 2 great goals that night put us through and set us up nicely for the Reading game which was a thriller. Weird to think that almost 30 years later the crowd at a regular League 1 game in an all-seater stadium is going to be 25 - 30% bigger than it was that night in a playoff semi final second leg with promotion to the Premiership on the line. Couldn't have even imagined it that night.

I'd be surprised if Evatt would be daft enough to give anything away prior to kick off.

I just had a look at this and they're still at it. How fucking thick is this Subscribe guy?

The goal was accredited to the WB we couldn't afford, Wilson, so it must have taken all of striker Waghorn's willpower not to claim it and run away celebrating. He usually claims anything that passes within 3 yards of him.

...as did the whingeing get who was too busy moaning about Maghoma's marking on the corner (hence the circles) - instead of looking at the bleedin' obvious. Reckon the ref and linesman were distracted by the circles?

If the ref had the balls to chalk off this "goal" that Waghorn handled into the net, we'd already be a point ahead of Derby and 5 points ahead of Posh, so fuck 'em.

It's no coincidence - and not because they are any better than us or that they outthink and outplay us - it's because we outthink ourselves, overcomplicate it and our passing and movement goes to shit. Way too much respect given IMO. If we don't win all 4 remaining games we won't deserve to get an automatic promotion spot. Everyone has to play every other team over the season so whoever gets most points at the end deserves it. We should have been 6 points ahead of Pompey and had promotion wrapped up by now but our "mixed" form since the end of January has seen us squander our massive advantage, so if we really are good enough it's time to prove it. Just need to get our heads and discipline right and the rest will follow because we have the talent. We are the home side for the next three games - our pitch, our fans, our stadium - and we should expect to win all three to set ourselves up for a cup final on the last day.

Can't believe we've been given another lifeline - especially after Blackett-Taylor's open goal miss early doors, but here we are with automatic promotion back in our own hands (again). I don't believe we can afford a draw and we certainly can't afford to lose any more games so IMO so there's nowt for it but for us to go and win all 4 starting on Saturday. No excuses now - we've simply got to be at our glorious best.

They have to play Lincoln - proper 6 pointer. Encouraging to see Carlisle winning - shows they haven't thrown in the towel despite being relegated so there's some hope they might give Derby a game.

Quality from Valverde.

Owls gifted two goals to Norwich but have somehow come back to 2 - 2. Definitely fighting for survival and still in the basement battle. REal back level

Superb strikes from Foden and Gvardiol put City ahead. 2 - 3. Real are going to have to attack more.

Has there been any definitive news about Santos and Sheehan yet?

Bristol City are comfortably mid table but all Rovers other fixtures are going to be battles. Even Wednesday showed a lot of fight when they won at QPR on Saturday to get back in the mix, just 4 points behind Rovers so it's not inconceivable that Rovers could end up in a match for survival on the final day - away at Leicester. Fail to win at Bristol and it will be panic stations. Realistically though, one more win should make them safe with so many teams scrapping for a limited number of points at the bottom, but you never know.