"This is a completely different Barnsley to the one we played last season - much, much more porous in defence. They've conceded 64(!) goals - nearly 1.5 per game, more than anyone else in the top half, almost twice as many as Derby, and only one fewer than Cheltenham who went down (and played the first two months like a works team at the World Cup). They almost always concede, and they did so again very late today. Only conceding one is actually a rare success for them; since we spiked their spokes by coming back from 2-0 down, they've conceded 5, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 3. The 0 was a home 0-0 against Cheltenham. If you were offered a play-off opponent whose last-12 form was W2 D4 L6 - only three teams in the division have a worse points return in that time, and they're all in the bottom five – you'd be mad not to accept it, right? It's possible they'll get Duff back. It's certainly a nightmare from the past. But per Nixon and plenty of others, they want an Austrian dude called Dominik Thalhammer and they're waiting to get his work permit sorted. Doesn't sound like Duff's their guy. Would also require some rapid fence-building between manager and fans considering the way he left last summer. Might happen but I think (as well as hope) it doesn't. Worth noting too that with Lincoln falling at the last, none of the four play-off contenders are what you'd call masterful defenders. Peterborough conceded 61, only three fewer than Barnsley (and hardly looked watertight today). Oxford conceded 56 – considerably more than Lincoln, Blackpool and Stevenage. We conceded 51, and all we fans know that we're capable of shipping more if we're not on it. Instead, the playoffs are between four teams who attack - the division's four highest-scoring teams. Posh bagged 89 - almost two per game. We're next on 86 – our second-best league return in nine decades. Barnsley, with some decent strikers for the level and a defence they clearly can't rely on, scored 82. Oxford's 79 is more than Pompey or Derby and they started April with back-to-back wins of 4-0, 4-0 and 5-0 – the latter against Peterborough, who they face in the semis and who will be reminded of last season's traumatic play-off semis in which they somehow bottled a 4-0 first-leg lead to lose. I don't know whether we'll be getting a story for the ages like that one, but it strikes me as foolish to expect a series of tight games between four teams who simply don't seem built for it." Can't argue with much of that. They'll be rightly confident.
It's actually a very fair and accurate summary of the situation with us, and I truly hope it gives Bolton an air of expectation of an easy passage to Wembley. For some reason we seem to play better as underdogs
