Saints now haave the chance to take a big step forward before two tricky away games.
Saints need to get three points on Saturday, after only taking five points from the last four games, the promotion push has faltered and that means there is no room for error on Saturday, put bluntly anything less than a win and it is a disaster.
In fact even a win wont get us right back on track, that would still mean that out of the last six games we would have got 11 points and thats still short of the two points per game target that we need to set ourself.
If we do win then it will perhaps give us a chance to make up some ground, Charlton play host to Peterborough so points have to be lost by one or the other or indeed both, Bournemouth travel to Walsall who have had something of a revival of late, lets hope they keep it going, but Brighton V Hartlepol and Hudderfield V Oldham are two games where you cant see anything other than home wins Im afraid.
But we can only beat what is in front of us and then worry about the others later, Saints have to despatch Carlisle in the manner they did when the two clubs met at Wembley.
Including our defeat at Brunton Park wwe have played 12 games in the league and registered 21 points, to be blunt that is not even form good enough to get a play off spot and less than last seasons average total, the myth is that Saints recent poor form is a blip, the stats show that its been patchy for three months.
The good news is we are still in touch with the leaders so if we can get our act together on a regular basis then we can surge forwrd, but to do that Nigel Adkins has to get a settled back four and goalkeeper, I know that some will accuse me of agendas, but the only agenda i have is that in those 12 games, five have included poor play from the goalkeeper and Dan Harding, that is far too many errors and has cost us too many points, if Nigel Adkins doesnt address the situation then it will only continue im afraid.
Tommorrow he needs to get back to a settled back four, Dickson and Richardson have had one poor game and find themselves marginalised, yet they formed the basis of a strong back four that put in some good performances, Adkins has to stop tinkering and build a solid foundation, if he keeps faith with ceertain players and they continue to cost us goals and points then there are questions to ask of the manager.
Going forward we have plenty of options and we need to utilise those not just from the start but off the bench as well, we have a big squad and its a strong squad, if Bournemouth can lose so many good players to other clubs and indeed their manager and still keep above us, there is something not right somewhere.
I fully expect Saints to win tomorrow, the big test comes with yet another pair of away games, again if we can go into those on the back of three points then it takes pressure off, from this trio of games starting tomorrow, the minimum return has to be seven points, anything less and we should be very worried.