Iwelumo, Survival & Twelve Points Clear

Twelve points clear of them Villa twats in second and thirteen clear of third. Twenty-two clear of seventh and forty-three points clear of relegation meaning we’re not quite safe yet, however, if we win away at Preston this week, our survival will be ensured. What a result. Anyway, we played Holloway’s QPR at the weekend and to say it was a bizarre match would be an understatement; we clicked in parts and deserved our two-goal lead at the break, although, QPR had chances of their own in the opening exchanges and again even more in the second half. We nearly dropped a couple of points, but, Ruddy showed why he is our number one and why our defence is also the best in the division.

9-0 on the cards?

Two first-half goals in quick succession set the tone for the first half as Neves played a free kick short to Boly, who in-turn, played a delightful lofted through ball to Cavaleiro who cut back inside before putting a ball along the floor into the box which was converted by the onrushing N’Diaye. It was the most sublime of finishes as the ball seemingly just hit him, nevertheless, it put us in the lead and that was all that mattered in the grand scheme of things. Nine minutes later, it was a goal of beauty which started from Boly, once more. The Frenchman won the ball in the air and it found itself to Cavaleiro again, who played a neat one-two with Jota before bearing down on goal. He could have done it alone, although, there wouldn’t have been a guarantee he would’ve scored; he unselfishly squared to his fellow countryman Helder Costa who put it in the empty net. 2-0 after twenty minutes, maybe my 9-0 prediction that I made to someone wasn’t that outlandish after all.

QPR got a goal back just after the interval through Conor Washington after Ruddy pulled off an absolutely blinding save to keep a header out, not too dissimilar to Seaman’s against Sheffield United in the FA Cup all those years ago. Washington put the rebound away with a fantastic bicycle kick as Bennett couldn’t reach it on the line; there is the question whether or not Washington was offside, but all in all, it didn’t make any difference as we continued our charge to the Premier League.

Catch Us If You Can

At this moment in time, we need 31 points for promotion which shouldn’t be any drama as that is based on the teams around us winning all of their remaining games and someone is going to hiccup soon and plus, Villa have got Fulham this weekend so it’ll be nice to see potato head come back down to earth. It’s weird though, isn’t it? Albert Adomah came out after they beat Blues on the weekend saying “let’s catch Wolves” yet they are closer to ninth place than they are to us. I hope they mess it up, I’d love nothing more than for them to disappear into mediocrity after failing to win promotion this season as I believe FFP will come calling next season. Be a shame wouldn’t it?

There’s not an awful lot else for me to write about because it’s all going rather well. I could write about how hilarious it is that Albion are now seven points from safety and Paul Lambert has done nothing to improve Stoke as they sit 19th, it’s going well. I just hope it stays like that. Admittedly, I’d love us to play Albion off the park next season, but I’d rather do that in the cup as they fall down the divisions. That’s enough about them pair.

Let’s Make It Ten Years

This weekend sees us travel to Deepdale to face a Preston side who aren’t to be taken lightly as they are no slouches. They’re knocking on the door of the playoffs and we’ll have to be at our very best to beat them much like we had to be at Molineux as we switched off every so slightly after going 3-0 up. We managed to win 3-2 in the end so it wasn’t all bad, but the signs were there from North End. We haven’t lost there in nearly ten years, so this will no doubt be the final nail in the coffin, however, the season we went up, Iwelumo got a hattrick before getting sent off, so an afternoon like that will be exactly what the doctor ordered.

All things considered, if I was a betting man, I’d be backing us to have another successful afternoon in Preston @ 11/10.

Until the next time.