Dare to dream? But don't bother with predictions

You can tell it’s that time of the season. I wasn’t able to attend Plymouth Argyle’s 1-1 draw with Watford on Saturday – Easter weekend holiday with family and other half – but even in the days before the game I could feel a creeping sense of fevered anticipation, significantly greater than for an average game.

Going into the tie Argyle were sixth, a point clear of the chasing pack, although those behind had games in hand. Following it, our lead is now only on goal difference from Ipswich, who have played a game fewer, and looking at the remaining fixtures I believe the likeliest outcome will be a straight fight between ourselves and the Tractor Boys for the final play-off spot.

For several weeks I have been resisting the self-conscious inanities of constructing a fantasy Championship future on the BBC Sport website’s Predictor. However, with Argyle’s ‘Played’ column now sporting a heroic big four-o, and reasoning that some quickfire stabs in the dark would not be an utterly ridiculous waste of time, I took the plunge.

And it reminded me of one of the reasons I stopped gambling on football – even though, on a basic level, your own team is the sporting area you are most knowledgeable about, it really is impossible to be entirely honest about their fortunes, whether occurred or anticipated. When you’ve invested so many years and pounds in something, the strong possibility of having your greatest ever success snatched away seems too horrible to acknowledge, yet expecting your dreams to be fulfilled seems like self-delusion.

Coupled with the dizzying unpredictability of this season’s Championship, guessing scorelines seems largely pointless.

But I did it anyway, and supposedly Argyle will win four of six remaining games, drawing the other two and finishing on 73 points, sixth on goal difference from Ipswich.

Looking at it now, this seems very optimistic. But the pivotal half-dozen, on paper at least, are hardly frightening. On Saturday we travel to Coventry, mired in a relegation battle which I think could be ultimately unsuccessful, and coming off the back of two goal-less bore draws with other strugglers. Our other games on the road – where an impressive eight wins have been racked up this season – are a televised trip to Paul Sturrock’s old club Sheffield Wednesday, on decent form but still in the bottom three and with manager Brian Laws on shaky ground, and the final day tussle with Wolverhampton Wanderers. This is surely the trickiest one left, and nightmares of an Ebanks-Blake winner to send his new club into the top six at our expense are already surfacing amongst the Green Army.

At home we have Charlton, winless in five and seemingly fading from view, and Lancashire sides Preston and Blackpool. The historic clubs of Finney and Matthews have pulled themselves away from worries of demotion through good form, but are better on their own patches and will not fancy the long trips south, especially considering their safety should be pretty much assured by then.

But for now, perhaps it’s better to glory in Jermaine Easter’s crushing finish to give Argyle the lead on Saturday. Not only did the Welsh international bury his one-on-one hoodoo against Hornets keeper Richard Lee, but he kept the Pilgrims in the play-off hunt. And what a weekend to do it - a headline writer's soggy slumber.

It was also great to see a decent crowd at Home Park at last - more than 17,500, and hopefully this will be repeated for the remaining home fixtures.

The injury to and sending off of Peter Halmosi, still by far our most important player, was a blow. But at least the Hungarian might have got all his bad luck for the season out of the way in one game, and missing the Magyars' midweek friendly with Slovenia (which Kristian Timar should feature in) could provide him with a well-earnt rest. If Halmosi's back for the Charlton home game on April 5, expect a re-energised magician tearing through the Addicks' defence.

The Coventry match really is a must-win, even with Peter – we can’t keep relying on our rivals slipping up, as has been the case in the last few weeks. As the 2007-8 season reaches its conclusion, the pressure on sides at top and bottom will become greatest, and it will be character as much as technique which breeds success. Argyle under Luggy have rarely been short of character.

RICH PARTINGTON