Cabrone

Brighton were in a good position to get back into the playoffs with a win so there's no way they'd be taking their foot off the gas. It was just one of those inept performances that come about every once in a while, also don't forget that they had just given Reading a battering and had come away with nothing - probably affected their morale. They were simply rubbish, not that they have done us any favours atall.

I won't deny they have a decent history but at the moment they are up a cul-de-sac and going nowhere IMO. Deadly dull stuff. Cov would be a good shout for most depressing club to support but at the moment I'd imagine being a Cov fan would be far from dull, even if it's a completely negative experience. Put it this way, if you put a Villa fan to sleep for the next 4 months he would know that when he woke up his team would be in the prem and it would be groundhog day all over again. If you put a Cov fan to sleep for 4 months he wouldn't have a clue what division his team would be playing in when he woke up. That makes supporting Cov more interesting - albeit more fraught - at the moment.

Reading so many anxious posts on here about our current situation made me wonder who would be the best team for those of a nervous disposition, the type of club that trundles on in mid table obscurity for years on end, ignored by all but their own and sending everyone to sleep. My nomination would be Aston Villa, one of those zombie premiership clubs that isn't quite good enough to ever challenge for anything but at the same time is just too good to ever get sucked into the relegation zone. Result = season after season of safe nothingness. If that wasn't dull enough they now have McLeish, a manager that is guaranteed to lower your pulse rate so much that a trip to the hospital may be needed. Who would be your nomination for dullest club in the UK?

I'm really enjoying this, the uncertainty is what makes sport so great and makes the winning all the more sweeter. Posh is the pivotal fixture now, a decent win there, say 3-0 and we'll do it IMO regardless of the result at Boro (as long as we're not slaughtered and that isn't going to happen). Can't see Wham scoring a tonne at Brizzle and Leicester so beat Posh and the best Wham can do is go into the final game level on points with us with a similar GD. That means at worst it will be a shoot out and they will have Hull whilst we have Cov. My money would be on us hammering Cov a lot more than they can hammer Hull (just don't remind me of how that BHA shower performed there yesterday - embarrassing). Job done...........and that assumes Wham will get 3 wins which is far from certain. I guess it helps that I don't give a monkey's about being in the prem anyway so I'm pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

Yes he did, twice. The second was a peach and should have been snapped up. I voyed for him because he was the only player that got to the byline and put a ball in, just about every other cross was slung in from deep and dealt with by the twin towers of the Reading defence. I'm not his biggest fan but he was always looking to go direct - not square.

Bang on Alpine. Reading are the best team I've seen in this division and will be worthy champions. We will be worthy runners up. Their defence was superb and just soaked us up and their attack was like a rapier, ready to pierce us whenever they had the chance. Congrats to them, it was no fluke that they beat us last night. Saints on the other hand were slow and laboured. Every time we got possession we played a flurry of square balls giving the Reading defence ages to get organised. If we get to the prem (and I'm confident we will) we badly need pace and we need a midfield that knows how to exploit pace with piercing balls in a faster, more direct approach. We also need to cross properly, don't just sling in balls from deep positions that do very little against a good defence - cross from the byline.. We also need a new GK, not because KD has been bad (far from it) but if we want to give ourselves a chance we need the best we can get between the sticks to stem the goals against. Reading were a class outfit and will do very well in the prem. They gave us an early taste of the ruthless finishing we can expect week in week out if we get promoted. I hope Nige has learnt a few things from last night. SDR was my MOM - the only player who tried to really 'get at' Reading and put in a few decent crosses from the byline.

We can and we will win this one 2-1. Let Reading sweat it out if Wham beat Brighton. They base their game on being a tough nut to crack at one end and a smash and grab outfit at the other so I don't think we'll get more than 2 goals + our defence has to be very weary for the whole 90 mins - esp from set pieces. Wouldn't it be nice to be here at 10pm on Friday knowing that if Wham drop a single point over their next 4 games that we will be up (assuming a win against a **** poor Cov team)

No because I'm confident that they will win their last 3 but I'm not sure that we will. They have Forest and Palace at home and Brum U16's away on the last day. 3 wins for them. We must beat them and we will.

Really fancy a win for this one. We always seem to up our game when we face a decent test. 2-1 Saints and a promotion party at Posh???

Apart from the obvious Saints angle it would be an amazing feat if both teams promoted from lge 1 managed to get promoted to the prem in 2 years.

Massive result - maximum pressure on Wham\Reading now. If results go our way we could be up on Saturday. SRL take a bow.

Exactly, and if you had to bet on whether we'd beat Palace or 'can't win at home' Wham will beat Brum I think most would bet on us. Even if Wham managed a draw as long as we win we'd still have a 6 point gap with 4 to go, a superior GD and a final game at home to a **** poor Cov team. Despite the nervous ninnies on here we are still very much in the driving seat, absolutely no doubt about it. Wham - Brum is absolutely pivotal, more so than our game at Palace. Another Wham home loss\draw will shatter them IMO.

The Wham-Brum game is pivotal as another home loss could fatally injure their resolve to get top 2. However if they beat Brum and we lose to Palace then it's serious brown trousers time. Come on Brum!

I still like Neil Danns, not 'hard' but a great driving midfielder with an eye for goal who could compete with RC for a place in the team.

Totally agree with the OP. Today we played a derby against a team that were playing for pride and were always going to give it their all. Derbies are notorious for unexpected results and this one was no exception. Wham's next game is against Brum at home. Brum have picked up form recently and Wham haven't won at home for over 2 months. They really have a mental block at the Boleyn and when you are under pressure like they are one of the last teams you would want to be playing is Brum. We on the other hand will be playing against a Palace team that has nothing to play for. We should be well capable of a win PROVIDED we get our heads right. If we could win and Wham lose then we would only need 6 (and quite possibly 5) points from Reading (h), Posh (a), Boro (a), Cov (h) - totally do-able. Calm down everyone, we are still very much in the driving seat.

I think we'll get top 2 BUT I'm starting to think that it might need more than 85 points.....87 should deffo do it.

What a load of embarrassing carp. Well done to Blackpool, they wanted it more and gave our gutless team a good spanking. This isn't the first time we have been limp away from SMS but it is the first time we have met a team that knows how to punish us. A decent prem league outfit would have put 6 or more past us today. Away performances really need to be improved, at no point in that game did we look like we wanted it. Pitch was like a ploughed field but that still doesn't excuse the lack of heart. Only players who came out of it looking OK were Kelv and Morgan. Sharp has never looked right to me since he's arrived, far too static and appears to be lacking in confidence. Is he up to it?

That's a good result for us IMO. West Ham's next 2 games include Brighton and Brum at home. They look out of it now. Let's just beat Blackpool and keep on hammering in those nails on their coffin.

Apparently Michael Fialka has just been seen going into his mum's bedroom and smashing her piggy bank open.....

The club has received the cash and existing shareholders have taken the hit by being diluted and thus the sp would have dropped. If the Leibherrs own the lot then it's just a paper exercise however if anyone else owns shares then they will have seen their value drop. That said being as we look to be on the verge of the premiership I'd guess that the shares would be worth much more now than then so everyone would be happy.

Now that Wham! have beaten Posh the perfect set of results for top 2 are a Wham! win against Reading and then we beat Reading. Target for certain autos would then be 11 points from 6 games but could in all probability be only 10 points with our GD. If you want the title it's a draw for Wham! v Reading and 12 points needed for mathematical certainty but likely to be 11 points (if we beat Reading).

Arsenal and Spuds as they are only take 30 mins to get to for me. Always enjoy a trip to Norwich too, my old uni town. SMS too! Missed out on all the fun for the last couple of seasons due to financial constraints.

Whilst IMO this is our toughest remaining game (really fancy a win vs Reading at St Marys) they aren't world beaters. Hull was a tougher looking fixture and we got the 3 points so a similarly professional performance and we should be quite capable of getting at least a point.

He's just stating the current situation. It can't be particularly motivating to his players though, especially as if Wham were to win their next 2 and we slipped up at Blackpool they could get right back in it (highly unlikely IMO). From my perspective I'm delighted to have as negative a manager SA managing one of our rivals. If they get to the prem he would be a good manager to have to fight against but when it comes to having the attacking instincts to get promotion he isn't up to it. You just have to look at their one-up-front timid home form vs their defensive smash and grab away form. SA is only happy when he has to defend something rather than get something. He's a bunker manager, NA is an attacking manager.

A new top class GK would be my no 1 priority if we get to the prem. KD has been superb for us and his performance at Leeds was something else but sentimentality won't keep you up. The main difference between PL and the champ is finishing. Sorry Kelv, you've been brilliant for us but we are going to need a top class GK to give us a chance of staying up.