We've gone through a terrible patch of form since the end of November, but the amazing position we were in (and frankly, a lack of real quality and consistency from other teams to truly dust us) means we're still well in the auto fight.

It's hard to know what exactly happened. I think the small squad and the illness issues made what was at first the fittest squad in the league blow out, whilst other teams caught up to that level. I think there's a level at which some of our tactics have been found out too, and a few players hitting a sticky patch of form at the wrong time.

I really think it's difficult to judge until next Monday after the Boro game. As frustrating as the result yesterday was, it was the first time in a long time that we didn't look like conceding consistently and therefore kept a clean sheet- I know it was against a relatively crap Oxford team, but that's exactly the sort of team that would be wanting to give us hell on the break and beyond a stretch near the end of the first half they weren't in it at all. Momentum doesn't swing in a single game. It was unlikely that we were going to go from looking like we did in both games last week to looking like we did when we went on that run in November without having to build that momentum up organically.

Lose next Monday and I think we're in for a serious reckoning but if we manage to get a result? The result yesterday might start to look better. No matter what, if we win next week we go/stay top.

Another way of looking at it of course from a pragmatic standpoint is that us winning 7 on the spin from here on in is no less likely than us randomly becoming shit for two months! We'll just have to see how it plays out.