John Smith's PNE Fans' Panel verdict: Keep this up and this time next year we’ll be millionaires!

​​Before the game, our former favourite Gareth Ainsworth's side had only won two out of their last 24 league and cup games and were dropping down the table like a stone in the direction of the division’s basement.
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The heart of Ainsworth, nicknamed "Wild Thing", was not singing after this game either, but Tom Cannon's two goals in our 10th away win of the season certainly made me sing and make everything feel groovy for me.

After our crash to Middlesbrough I was questioning whether we had the resources in our locker to compete with teams at the top end of this level.

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If anyone had suggested that we had a good chance of making the play-offs after that defeat they would have been likely to be rebuffed in a way similar to what Captain Mainwaring would say to his fellow Dad’s Army member, Corporal Jones, and been told "Now Jones you’re moving into the realms of fantasy now".

North End's Jordan Storey heads towards goal at QPRNorth End's Jordan Storey heads towards goal at QPR
North End's Jordan Storey heads towards goal at QPR

However two games and two wins later in this bat-craziest of divisions we amazingly now sit just two points and two places away from the play-off positions.

I personally don't know how half-time came with the game being goalless and thought it could have quite easily have ended up with us going into the interval with a 3-2 lead. There were decent chances at either end including in one particular minute of it when after we unluckily hit the post the home side broke and missed a great opportunity to score with a one on one.

The game was won by two goals in a pulsating spell beginning just before the hour mark from my man of the match Tom Cannon.

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Cannon, who I think is quickly developing into becoming a very capable player at this level, blasted two explosive shells into the back of the net in the space of five minutes which took out the Londoners’ spirit.

From then on it was mainly plain sailing as we eased to our fourth win in our last five matches.

Our sequence of just one loss in our last 10 games is more remarkable given the amount of long-term injuries we have had since the turn of the y ear, starting from when striker Emil Riis limped off the field at Stoke.

In Shepherd's Bush on Friday, Alan Browne limped off the field and was replaced by Josh Onomah. Prior to this appearance by the ex England Under-21s international I had thought that he had looked very unfit in his brief appearances to date. However, on the strength of this longer outing and his noticable leaner appearance, he showed some promising signs that maybe there just might be a player of quality in there.

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We now return to the land of Del Boy for a second successive weekend for a crunch game with Millwall.

Although things are definitely looking cushty for us at the moment it could be more than luve ly jubbly if we could get a result there which could propel us into the lottery of the end of season knock-out competition . Then who knows maybe "this time next year we could be millionaires ".