S-Clarke

He should be given an assist for the save at the end, which was absolutely bloody ridiculous. He's not totally perfect, but he's capable of pulling off match defining saves at crucial moments - that makes all the difference.

I don't think that is a fair reflection of the Championship. It's one of the few leagues where anyone can actually have a crack at the playoffs minimum, regardless of budget. Hull (they have had a transfer embargo) and Millwall are two fine examples of that this year, and Leicester are an example at the other extreme. It's a really unpredictable league, and whilst money can give you an edge - it doesn't create the gulf you see in the PL. I hope the Championship doesn't get like that, as the beauty of the EFL are for teams like Lincoln etc to carry momentum and go again. I think our season has shown the league up for what it is all about, back in December we had no right to even be talking about Top 6 - but we've pulled ourselves to within touching distance of 2nd. The game is never done in this league, no matter how bad you start.

But then we'd have to play Archer as a lone 9, and that never works. At the most I can see 3 or 4 changes. Wellington for Bree, Edozie for Leo and Stewart for Larin. I don't think we'll change up either CB with Stephens still out.

I think that's fair, Flynn has a knack of filling in those holes between the CM's and CB's. 'Right place, right time' is often because he reads danger well, and I think he does. Jander and Charles are more 'all action' in the sense that they do leave their positions from time to time, Charles in particular should not be seen as a 'Downes' replacement or even a DM for me. I think Charles is someone you let free a little bit, play him a bit higher up where his on the ball ability (which I think is better than his positioning) can come into the fore.

He was immense tonight, carried on from the FA Cup game. He reads the game so well, and you wouldn't think it by looking at him, but he's so strong and so hard to get the ball off of. He protects it so well, anticipates well - but just watch him off the ball as well, he's got a very intelligent and mature above his age approach to his work rate and the positions he anticipates.

No wholesale changes, you'd probably have to consider giving Leo a rest - as he looked totally shot tonight, maybe Bree and Larin as well. I don't think I'd go further than that if I'm honest. Momentum is key, I'd hate us to throw that all away by chucking in the squad players in the final game.

What a game that was, 2nd half especially. I thought the first half was fairly even, both teams sussing themselves out and not really giving up a great deal. It sort of went from a spell for us, then a spell for Ipswich - fairly even half. 2nd half was epic, it was the sort of 'nothing to lose' approach and both teams took their foot of the brake. I think Wood has been an OK squad player, but I don't think he's a particularly bright centre back and he dawdles on decision making - as he did for their first goal. I feared a turn around would have been one too many for us tonight, but this team keeps proving us wrong and keeps increasing the level. Don't underestimate what an effort it took to bring that game back to 2-1, we were on our arses for most of that game - but we still have that belief and mentality to go for it. Larin's goal though - take a bow. From the pass from the back into an empty midfield, and then Manning's pass into Larin....and Larin's touch and and ridiculous balance on the ball...what a goal that was. I wasn't sure we'd hold on, as we were blowing even up to that point - at this point Ipswich literally ripped their brake off entirely, threw on a team of attackers and just went for it. We got stuck too deep as we had no energy to get out. I find it hard to really criticise anyone really because of the effort they've put in since January, and this evening - as our 2nd half effort was epic. There is a real grit, togetherness and a mentality in this team now - but there have certainly been signs in recent weeks that we are pretty fatigued, especially Leo, Bree and maybe THB to a degree with some of his passing. These guys have played a ridiculous amount of games in quick succession and still haven't lost a league game. It's intriguing in terms of how we approach the weekend, if I'm honest I'd try to keep it as 'same' as possible with maybe a rotation for Leo and Bree - I don't want us to lose momentum by throwing in wholesale changes with the likes of Long, Romeu, Bragg, Jelert, Archer, Quarshie etc. I think keeping momentum and potentially securing 4th is more important than resting a load. We'll have a full week before any first leg.

You've got to go all out for a win, the equation for us is as simple as it gets. Win both games, score a few goals (especially against Ipswich), and see what happens next weekend. It's a long shot, of course it is, but going into the last game on 79, 79, 80, 80 is a bit nuts. Even if we fail, I don't think everyone will feel deflated as if it's some glorious failure, we weren't even expected to be here a few months ago - so it's a bonus situation whatever way you think about it. We just need to give ourselves the best chance to partake in something incredibly nuts.

This isn't to discredit Pertez in any way, as I love the bloke, but we're not even talking about the difference between an average GK and a top quality goalkeeper here. It's simply the difference between having no goalkeeper and an actual goal keeper.

He was great, MOTM for me. All over the pitch, his stuff off the ball was just as important as his wins in transition. He certainly tired in the last 20, you could visibly see him looking a bit heavy on his legs, but he gave everything. He's a Top League CM now, that's for sure.

He was excellent yesterday, defensively more so than attacking as expected. I do like his little 'relationship' down the left with Leo, but as others have said...he's so injury prone, he can't seem to catch a break with his fitness so he never gets a chance to build a head of steam.

Proud is the only word which can sum it up really. The first half was excellent, although we were aided by a very slow Manchester City - they made it easy for us to get back into our shape and starve them of opportunities to break us down, and on the transition (which is all it was going to be about yesterday) we were excellent in that first half. We caused them all sorts of problems winning the 2nd ball, and we put so much into that first half. I didn't think we did enough to go in front per say, but we held our own and it was very much a stale-mate at that point. 2nd half they turned it up, as we all expected them to. I thought it was the introduction of Doku which really changed it, as they had someone who hugged the wide position and stretched us - they were playing too slow and too central in the first half, but once they stretched us they started getting in behind and causing all sorts of issues with their pace and movement, we were having to work overtime with the blocks and last ditch defending. Isn't it typical though, in the half where you are fundamentally camped and not in the game, you get a transition and score at the other end? That was a great goal. This wasn't the sort of game where you see Azaz dictating things or playing little cute balls all the time, however that goal is why you keep him on - he's one of those players who can be invisible and can then pop up with something extraordinary, you have to take the 'invisibleness' that these sorts of players can bring, because their moments are often a hell of a lot more valuable over the course of a season. The equaliser so soon afterwards was a real killer, had we held out till around 85/86 mins still on 1-0 they may have got a bit panicky, but they got back in immediately and that was that really. Great winning goal from them, we were physically fatigued at that point and we struggled to get out - which is why he had a bit too much space. Who'd have thought City would have been protecting the ball in their corner flag in the last moments of the game though, that's a credit to us - we gave them a game when no one expected us to. Player of the match for me was Jander, what a midfielder this kid is. So much energy, so much ability on the ball, always winning the turnovers. He had a little dip over Christmas, but he's back to that level now. He's almost certainly a Premier League/Top Division central midfielder. We gave it our all, we and that's all we can ask. Sure, it's another round of 'heroic' failure for us and another year of no trophy - but in the context of it all, you can't be anything by proud really. Amazingly we still have things to play for this season, and I hope this hasn't taken too much away from us. I'd be desperate to us build a team around THB, Jander, Leo, Charles, Pertez, because this lot could really grow with us.

I agree that you'd have certainly taken a playoff battle with Boro/Wrexham/Millwall at the start of the season, facing a Cov, Leicester or Ipswich would be more challenging (Well, Leicester on paper had they turned up this year). It would be a 'nicer' group than the last playoff round up we had. If Ipswich beat WBA at the weekend then any 2nd dream is dead, so how I'd see it panning out are 2 legs against a somewhat dispirited and out of steam Boro. I think Ipswich will finish on 85 by winning 2 of their last 3, which is all they need to do as their GD will never be overtaken by Millwall even if they win their last 2. From here it would take an almighty bottle for Ipswich to fail IMO. They can even afford to lose to us as long as they pickup a win at WBA and at home to a QPR side with their flip flops on.

It's worse than that actually, Winks is still contracted. He got an automatic 1 year added to his 3 year deal when they were promoted in 2024, so he's still there till 2027. Jannik will be sticking around too, he's on a decent chunk. But Skipp until 2029 is crazy, they'll have to move most of these on at cut price fees you'd have to think. I read something about their parachute payments too and apparently they've already 'used' next years final payment, believe it or not. They've rolled up all of their future income streams from transfer sales and next years parachute payments to fill in some loan payments/cover debt for 'now'. They are in an even worse situation than I thought, and it was already bad.

Our game at their place done it for them, that was a turning point for both of our seasons. I always felt that result would be season defining in a few directions. That was the first game after they'd had the points deduction, and they came out all guns blazing - you thought they'd get over the line, clamber up to mid-table and re-calibrate for next season. But the way they imploded in that second half with sheer panic and fear told you everything really, they were never coming back from that. And they didn't. Mentally that would have been crushing, demoralising and I get the impression a lot of the players think they're better than they are - so they were probably somewhat resentful of the 'punishments' and got sulky, had a 'we can't do any more than we're doing' attitude, rather than pulling together and fighting. The telling thing is at the end of the season they'd have gone down without any deduction anyway, so they can't even blame that. They just imploded after our game. The ultimate fall from grace really, they got a bit big billy bollocks under Rodgers and thought they'd become part of the 'Big 6'. It's another example of what happens when mid-sized clubs spend really badly over consecutive windows, it's really hard to recover because you lose that 'sell to buy' flexibility, are hampered by PSR, and are left with loads of rubbish on big money that you can't get rid of to give you PSR flexibility.

I personally thought he was a tiny bit lucky in the Swansea game, there were a few moments where he'd clearly lost his head. He had to be dragged away quite a few times. He'd have been sent off had he stayed on IMO, so on the face of it it feels a bit odd to retrospectively go back to it, but we were quite fortunate to play that game with 11 IMO. Gutting for Flynn missing the biggest game of his life - FA Cup Semi Final. He might never get there again. Feels mean in that sense.

More of a pen than the one against Boro, the biggest complaint I had with that is the Charlton GK diving over the ball. How bad were Charlton though? That game gave me PTSD of that Forest home game under Jones, constant aimless long balls with no real plan. Ipswich weren't amazing last night by any means, and WBA will put up more of a fight I think.

Even though Wednesday are sat down there with no wins in what feels like years, they've always put up a fight in every game I've seen them play. They don't really have a squad, but they've always given it a go. Definitely deserve credit, they've gone down with a bit more dignity that Leicester weirdly. I guess their target is a win in the next two, just so they don't finish the season on negatives.

They're not as strong as they were a few seasons ago, when they had peak KDB, Rodri and co. But they're still on a different level than us obviously, so it's going to be one of those games where we need to make the most of every sniff we get - we can't miss chances, and we also will need a fair bit of luck. Nothing is impossible though, and with the momentum we have I'd imagine City aren't thinking this is a comfortable game - it will probably be harder than the game at Burnley they just played. I just want the next two days to fast forward now.

I think there were a couple of chances in the end, sure - but on pattern of play, first half especially, Bristol City had full control over that game really. They didn't pepper our goal as much as they could have, but they were very smart in how they used the ball and blocked us off. We struggled to threaten them really. On the balance of play, their domination of the ball, I'd say we were fortunate to get a draw and that's credit to us for still having that bit of fight.

The bloke is an absolute catastrophe of a goalkeeper and really shouldn't be at such a high level. The fact we gave him so many chances in this league and the PL is such an embarrassment of the clubs judgement. I hope they see sense, but I do still get very vivid nightmares of him rocking up again in pre-season. I saw a funny comment regarding him on twitter. ''He's one of these annoying modern types of goalkeeper who is good at football, apart from goalkeeping''

It's now a toss up between Ipswich and Millwall, the game against us will probably decide it. I think Ipswich's goal difference will be what tips them ahead of Millwall at the end of the season, I reckon we'll play Boro in the semi's and Milwalll in the final if we get there.

It was just a step too far really when you think about it. What we've done, to even be in the conversation for Automatic Promotion with 4 games left was one heck of a rally, something none of us even had a thought of in January - sadly we just ran out of season as we started too late. I thought the entire team looked like they were walking in lead boots today, they were second off the ball, poor on the ball, not quite awake to picking up space or anticipating - it was a performance which screamed of running out of a bit of steam, guys like Azaz and Bree were just not there today - they couldn't do anything right. Those games happen sadly, but credit to us for getting the draw - as I don't think we even deserved that. Bristol City played well, they pressed us high and packed the middle of the pitch so it was harder for us to transition - there were still moments, but we always missed the 50/50 or had a poor touch on the ball. Every single player in that starting 11 had an off game in that sense. Of course it feels pretty deflating right now, I'd have loved that game next Tuesday to have meant something - but it wasn't to be. But the reality is we've secured playoffs with 3 games left, and I don't think anyone saw that coming! What we've done since January has been remarkable, I'm desperate for this run to actually mean something though - because otherwise it will be as pointless as the run under Martin. Onto the weekend, let's see what can happen.

I'm happy with a draw, at the end of the day Ipswich have dropped points in their penultimate home game. 3 aways on the spin for them now, if they get 9 points from that lot then fair do's. Even 'If' Boro had won, it didn't really change what we needed. At the end of the day we always needed to win all of our games, Ipswich and Millwall need to throw in 1 or 2 duff results. That wouldn't have changed no matter what result today, but dropped points for both is the better result imo. Keeps Boro a little bit away from us, so we've gained on Boro and Ipswich this weekend. If we do settle for the playoffs, 3rd or 4th will have the 2nd leg at home - so that's another advantage to play for.

I looked at Leicester and Spurs down there and thought, interesting to see....but no chance. But it could actually happen you know. Leicester are all but gone, but if the results go against Spurs this weekend then it's looking a bit squeaky for them too.