The task should we choose to accept it is simple, beat Doncaster Rovers and hopefully beat them well then look to the scores elsewhere and hope they also go well, if they do then we could be two wins from the premiership at 5pm on Saturday.

When we travelled to The Keep Moat Stadium back in November we were in a similar position to the one we stand in now, of course there was a slight difference in that two weeks earlier we had lost to Bristol City, but that had been our only defeat in the last ten games, as Doncaster arrive at St Mary's that is the only word of caution, nothing is certain in this division and there will be a few ups and downs in the final weeks and we want to make sure we continue to be one of those ups.

On paper this is a home banker, we stand on the cusp of automatic promotion, by my reckoning three wins will do it, four will make it comfortable, so the sooner we get those under our belt, the sooner we can settle thenerves and make April a month of celebration and not one of biting our nails.

We have to tackle Doncaster in a professional manner and that means like the Barnsley game, keeping it tight at the back, not conceding and then imposing ourselves on the game and winning it, hopefully comfortably and increasing our already superior goal difference, the trick is to not show any rays of hope or chinks of light to Reading or West Ham, metaphorically speaking we now need to run the clock down on the league season, every won game is one less for the chasing two to catch up with us, lets keep it that way.

Nigel Adkins has some decisions to make due to injuries, up front both Lee and Guly are doubtful, so is it time to unleash Billy Sharp on his old club, the emergence of Lee has overshadowed the former onny man's arrival at SMS, but amid all the questions as to why Sharp hasnt got much game time, one of the big factors has been overlooked, when he has played Sharp has not been that bad, he scored against Burnley , his hustling at West Ham was part of the incident that changed the direction of the game and of course he provided the chance for Lambert at Millwall that meant he was brought down for the first penalty, the gist of it is, that when he has played he has influenced the game to some part, so certainly isnt the unfit out of form striker that some would portray him as, he scores goals and goals win games, time for him to be unleashed rather than someone be played out of position.

That aside Adkins has to [ponder on his midfield, in truth this has been a problem area and in every game there seems to be someone from it taken off at half time or shortly after for having a stinker, we have to start getting it right, there is no doubt that when its on form the midfield is devastating, but too often it doesnt perform in certain areas, this isnt Adkins fault, he cant help it when a player has an off day, but the midfield and especially the wide right position is a problem, although in the context of this game its mainly away from home. Too often though we have to bring on a sub to change the game, be it Steve De Ridder at home to Ipswich or Billy Sharp at Millwall

So as I say if we do what we usually do at home then we will take another big step towards promotion, its a big fortnight, three games that could see us with one foot in the Premier league, older fans usually have a pessimism in them that perhaps the younger fans dont have, we have seen Saints throw away opportunities in the past too many times, we dont want to see it happen again, thats why its important to win every game as it comes along, if we do this then it will be a very good Easter for us all.

Photo: Action Images

saintgus added 11:05 - Mar 23 Well said , Billy Sharpe deserves a start
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bendybob added 12:13 - Mar 23 A good balanced view Nick. I`m sure that if BS gets the nod that he will step up to the mark.
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tiptop added 15:15 - Mar 23 I think Guly will start wide right after Puncheon's performance. (Saying that NA could just play Puncheon again!) Midfield does go through certain changes. One cert is Schniedelin. Didn't really see Chaplow involved last week but he'll make bench if not start on the right instead of Guly. Schniedelin and Cork (or Hammond) Sharp and Lambert to start you would think..
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BlackRod added 16:28 - Mar 23 Just had a Tweet from Nigel. "Hi BlackRod. For Saturday it's Lambert and Sharpe up front. Chaplow, Schneiderlin, Lallana and Cork in the middle. Fox, Hooiveld, Fonte and Richardson at the back. Kelvin in goal. Puncheon, Hammond, Martin, DeRidder and Harding on the bench". He's asking when you're going to do a piece on 'Whatever happened to Yago Falque?'
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tiptop added 17:42 - Mar 23 A classic case of 'talented young player, looks good on the training ground who could be exceptional' With a months first team action might start to cut the mustard. He was thrown in at the deep end against Leicester which equaled a fail. Now is not the the time to experiment with potential. Why sign him? Put it down to a gamble that hasn't paid dividends. Maybe if we had gone on in the cups he would have gotten a chance to settle and push for a league stating spot. Didn't happen.

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