Positive Weekend For Railwaymen

Crewe may have succumbed to the weather yesterday but other results couldn’t have gone much better. The postponement of the Carlisle game was seen as a bit of a sickener with the form the Alex are currently showing, and Carlisle seemed a good chance to build on that. However, every cloud has a silver lining.

Fans sat watching Soccer Saturday with interest as all the teams around us played. With Luton, Bournemouth and Vale all seemingly down and out already, the results that were of most interest were those of Millwall, Cheltenham and Gillingham. All three are battling with the Alex to stay away from the fourth relegation spot as only 3 points separates us.

Saving the best till last, the ‘worst’ result of our weekend was probably Cheltenham’s draw, the only team to nip above us this weekend. The Robins were probably unlucky not to take all three points when Lindegaard put them ahead on the 40th minute but a crazy goal from Hartlepool’s Joel Porter on the 53rd minute stole a point.

Millwall, who sit 1 point and 1 place behind us, meanwhile were easily undone by a strong Tranmere side. Two first half goals were enough for Tranmere, and former Alex loanee Andy Taylor opened the scoring for the Birkenhead team.

Finally, Gillingham were battered by a rampant Northampton side. Two goals from new signing Adebayo Akinfenwa helped the Cobblers to a comprehensive 4-0 win. Meanwhile, Port Vale, Luton and Bournemouth all had their League Two status all but secured. Vale lost 2-0 to Swansea and now sit 11 points behind safety with 13 games to play and Bournemouth are in exactly the same situation after a 2-1 defeat at Southend, in which Lee Barnard scored. Luton meanwhile will feel they still have an outside chance despite a 1-0 defeat against Orient. Luton have an extra two games to play over Vale and Bournemouth to help make up their 9 point gap.

The games left the table looking a bit more comfortable, and although we could still be in the relegation zone if the two teams immediately below us win their games in hand it does look like both of those have hit real bad form.

With five of our six relegation rivals still to play before the end of the season, this season is far from over. You look at the remain games and do feel that 50 points is quite achievable. If we continue to pick up unexpected points like we have done against Swansea and Orient, then there should be enough to get enough wins to reach the magical 50 mark. Right?

Don’t ask me where I found this optimism…