We enter the Autumn with momentum after a decent start to the season. With the usual tagline of relegation favourites firmly attached we were sitting comfortably in midtable.
We had also been involved in the League Cup 4th Round drawn at home to QPR.
October started with a positive result at home to Bristol Rovers. A 2-0 win at Adams park with the goals coming from Bowler and Jones.
A short trip into London to face Millwall was next, 2-0 down at half time thanks in part to a Jacobson own goal. We managed to leave The Den with a point thanks to two late goals. Jacobson from the penalty spot to make up for his earlier error and a Kashket breakaway goal.
A tough home game against Blackburn Rovers followed. Jacobson missed a penalty in the first half and we conceded in the 90th minute to really punish the missed chances.
Another home game followed this time against Rotherham. Points were shared after a 1-1 draw, both goals in the 1st half.
League Cup action up next and we welcome QPR to Adams Park. A 2-0 defeat after what was a tight game.
We just didn't take our chances and it has prompted me to I've start looking for different options up front as we are in need of a 20 goal a season striker.
Goals again were our issue as we shot another blank on the road, this time up at Huddersfield. 0-0.
We head into November without a win in 4 games and we were made to wait another as we lost three more games on the bounce to Brentford, Middlesbrough and Stoke, 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.
Obviously these are the teams that dominate this division but to ensure progression we are going to need to start beating them.
We end the month with a solid 1-0 win away at Barnsley, our first win in what felt like forever.
With only 1 win in November we were looking for a vast improvement in the always hectic December schedule.
We had a tough start with a visit from newly relegated West Ham which as expected we lost 2-0 quickly followed by an away trip to Bournemouth. This time a 3-0 loss.
We stopped the stream of defeats with a 2-2 draw at home to Bristol City. The
best performance in a while with Power and Fulton running the game from central midfield.
Sadly we were back against it again with a 3-0 defeat away at West Brom. The Gulf in class between us and these bigger sides is quite frightening.
Another draw, this time at home to Hull followed and a change of formation back to 4-1-4-1 to try and make us harder to beat was deployed.
Then finally, we got a solitary win over the festive season with a 1-0 win away at struggling Swindon Town.
This was a really really disappointing drop in form after such a smart start. The squad is still too small and when you have games on Tuesdays then Saturday then Tuesday as you do in the Championship it really starts to take its toll.
We move into January with a bit of cash at our disposal and will definitely attempting to strengthen all areas of the squad.
We currently sit in 13th position on 29 points.
Cheers
Panda