A season review so far…

Lee reviews how the season has gone so far for Wanderers

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A Highlight

The 1-0 win over Blackpool at home was hard fought and a real satisfying moment when the full-time whistle blew. George Thomason’s rasping strike that won it, against the side that released him 4 years ago, topped off a great day.

Also the biggest win at the Reebok/Macron/UniBol/TSCS in a 7-0 romping of Exeter City was amazing to see.

A low point

Has to be the now customary capitulation to Wigan. It really could have derailed our season but we seem to be made of sterner stuff these days. The less said about it, the better.

Most Improved player

Despite Eoin Toal continuing to impress, for me it has to really be the aforementioned Thomason.

Despite being pretty much a walking yellow card (13 in 28 games in all competitions) he has been a real driving presence in midfield and has cemented a first team place, whereas the rest of the midfield three get rotated. His physicality has improved no end and while his passing range and quality was always one of his best assets, it is really standing out now.

The next step would be to add a bigger goal threat to his game and cut out the daft yellows. But I’m definitely now of the mind of being pleased he turned down Bristol City in the summer, despite what seemed like a really good fee of a reported £1m. I’d wager he’s worth a fair bit more now.

Biggest disappointment

Probably Carlos Mendes-Gomes so far, though not through any real fault of his own. Niggly injuries, not quite fitting into the starting line-up when he has been fit and now his call-up to the Guinea-Bissau AFCON squad mean that he just hasn’t got going, barring some nice cameos and a couple of goals in the cup competitions.

With him being reportedly the highest earner in the squad, it’s important that he returns with some game time behind him and can contribute in the advanced 8/no.10 role for the rest of the campaign.

Expectations

I’d say 95% of the fan base expects us to be automatically promoted. Whether that’s completely fair or not is irrelevant. It could negatively affect a potential play-off campaign if we were to miss out, as it is absolutely the stated aim for us this season and if we were to fall short of this, the atmosphere may well turn sour.

I really hope that wouldn’t be the case, but our fans, though firmly behind Evatt in the vast majority, have expectations that we should be a Championship club at least. If he was to fail to deliver on this then I’d worry for us.

My hope for the rest of the season

That the automatic promotion battle doesn’t go down to the final day at Peterborough, I don’t think my nerves could take what could be a promotion shoot out. The last time we got out of League One it was by beating an on-the-beach Posh 3-0 at home but it would be a considerably tougher task if we had to go there and get something.

I thought they were terrific at the ToughSheet, the best side I’ve seen, and, weirdly, I think they’d have beaten us without our sending off as they were finding so much space on the counter.

Overall Grade

B