The Imps P40 pts 67

Port Vale (A), Wycombe (H), Colchester (H), Coventry (A), Accrington (A), Yeovil (H) 

We have an incredibly tough run in, if we come through that with our good form intact, then I think we’re going to be alright. I can see a couple of defeats in there, a couple of draws and a couple of wins. I’ve taken my rose-tinted glasses off for this too, I’m often guilty of being wildly over-confident when looking at where we might pick up points.

Firstly, unless we 13 points or more, the automatic promotion spots are going to be very tough to reach. Even if we do beat Wycombe at our place, which I don’t think we will, we’d need to overturn a four-point deficit. It’s been a brave assault by our lads and a wonderful Easter has sparked hope, but if we’re going up it is the play off route. There’s something very poetic in that though, five-time losers under Keith, why not grab another first? It’s our first trip to Wembley, it was our first time beyond the FA Cup fourth round and in our first season back in the Football league, why not win our first ever play off final? I’ve said it before, I’d back us on any given day in a one-off game, but much depends on where we finish and who we’d be likely to face.

I’m going to have us down for a win at Port Vale, draw at home to Wycombe and a win against Colchester. Here’s the bit I’ll get shot down for, I’m plumping for back to back defeats at Coventry and Accrington before a final day win against Yeovil puts us on 77 points.

The Final Table

I’ve not predicted the top three because I don’t think it is likely to change. Through my predictions the highest points tally I have from the chasing teams is Exeter on 81, meaning Wycombe need only two wins and a draw to snatch that third place. As they’ve lost just two in fifteen, I think they’re good for that.

So the next four sides and those contesting the play off spots according to me are:

EXETER CITY                   81 PTS

COVENTRY CITY             77 PTS

LINCOLN CITY                77 PTS

NOTTS COUNTY             75 PTS

Just missing out are

MANSFIELD TOWN         74 PTS

SWINDON TOWN           73 PTS

CARLISLE UTD                 69 PTS

COLCHESTER UTD           68 PTS

I’m not saying someone such as Newport, Crawley or Cambridge won’t catch Colchester, but they shouldn’t trouble the top three.

We have a tough run in, aside from Colchester I think we have the toughest of all the play off chasing teams. That isn’t such a bad thing, firstly our fate is in our hands and secondly, it means we’ll be ready to face good sides in the play offs. I’m going to be gutted personally, my back operation is May 4th which means I’m definitely going to miss Yeovil and, unless I make a rapid recovery, I’m likely to miss the play off games too. I certainly wouldn’t be up for travelling to Coventry and I’m not sure if the home match would be possible. We’ll see.

By my calculations it’ll be Exeter beating Notts County in one play off semi final, with us and Coventry in the other. I wouldn’t want to call the latter, not before we’ve played them at the Ricoh.

Remember, this is all conjecture. Please, feel free to add your comments below, or on whichever social media outlet you’ve seen this. I do think we’re taking it to the wire and something tells me those not going to Wembley this weekend will be able to put that right at the end of my. I just hope I’ve recovered enough to take in those semi-finals because I didn’t miss a second of the Keith Alexander games and I’d be gutted to miss these.

Thanks, as always, to the incredibly talented Graham Burrell for all the match photos.