One down, seven to go

Finally, Gary Johnson has revealed what he thinks can secure promotion back to the top flight for the first time in 28 years. Last week, he stated publicly that City needed eight wins from their next 13 matches to win automatic promotion. On Saturday we faced struggling Colchester United and secured three precious points with a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Dele Adebola and Michael McIndoe. So we now need only seven wins from 12 games. Is this achievable?

Our form over the last 34 games suggests we are capable doing it and after seeing us go six points clear of West Brom who are sitting in fourth place, a team that until a couple of weeks ago were my tip for automatic promotion, anything is now possible. We may not be top of the league, with Stoke City leading the way, but we are only one point behind and in second place ahead of third placed Watford by one point.

The Championship is such a tight league, certainly the tightest in the football league and things can change quickly. Looking at Leagues 1 and 2, the top teams like Swansea have opened up big leaders on their opponents, but this has not happened in the Championship. It is a cliché but really, anyone can beat anyone. We’ve proved this on many occasions when we have lost to Ipswich 6-0 and then beaten them 2-0 only a few weeks later.

It is rare for any club in this league to put a run of more than two wins together and when a team does it they can really shoot up the league. Crystal Palace have done this in recent months despite languishing near the relegation zone in the early part of the season. Similarly, Plymouth have in the last few weeks started winning and now found themselves in fifth place when their fans believed their play-off dreams were all but over. So if things can change for the better so quickly, then they can also change for the bad quickly. Hopefully that won’t happen at City.

We are currently in a fantastic position that is still unbelievable to me, but do we have what it takes to stay there? On Monday night we had the chance to go top and didn’t take it, did nerves get the better of us? One thing in City’s favour is that the majority of our squad have experienced promotion and the pressures that come with it so we have every chance.

The result against Colchester is further confirmation to me that we have what it takes to stay amongst the leaders and hopefully all City fans agree. Colchester is always a hard place to go and win with their tiny stadium and small pitch but we battled and came away with the win. Our away form is picking up now with two wins in row so all the signs are looking good. Our home form this season has been one of the best in the league and I am sure this will continue. What has puzzled me this season is that although our average home attendance is up from around 13,000 to 15,000 supporters; shouldn’t we be selling out our stadium seeing as we are so close to the Premiership?

With only six home games remaining I hope we can attract a 19,000-plus crowd before the season is finished. On Saturday we face Hull City who beat West Brom this weekend 2-1 away, so it is going to be a tough game, but come 5pm on Saturday we might be three more points closer to where we all want to be.

ANDY DAVIES