The task becomes clearer

Watford and Doncaster both won good home matches last night against Swansea and Bristol City respectively. Doncaster are an amazing 15 points clear of us now and are up to the giddy heights of 15th. Watford are now 8 points clear of us and have lifted themselves out of the drop zone to 21st with a game in hand on Forest (a point behind)  and two games on Plymouth (two points behind) who were beaten again last night, this time 3-1 at home to Palace.

Whilst the task for Charlton remains the same - to win an unfeasibly large number of points from a diminishing number of matches -  it's looks like our target might be narrowing to finishing above Southampton, Norwich and either Plymouth or Forest. Interestingly, the next side in our sights is Barnsley who are on 35 points but have two games in hand on us. Saturday really could be the day things slip from our grasp if we lose. With Swansea away to follow, we have to get something from both games if we are to set ourselves up for the sort of finish survival in this division demands. If we can do that, the winnable home games against Doncaster and Watford might give us some breathing space for the tough games at Reading and Wolves. If we fail in the next two games, Doncaster and Watford will gain the real incentive of knowing that a result at the Valley would almost certainly condemn us.

Derby are at home to Blackpool this evening and I guess we would like to see the Seasiders take the points to keep Derby involved. Having said that, Derby look too bouyant at the moment to get caught and the positivity from their F A Cup run and Nigel Clough's arrival will likley be enough to see them secure the points they need this year. Forest go to Ipswich this evening and obviously we will want to see them beaten. Town have been dropping points willy-nilly at home in recent games, turning wins into draws, so we have to hope they correct that.