How Far Can We Go?

We're going about it quietly but we're getting the job done. In 11th place the team has shown enough quality to be able to be a surprise team this season. We rarely start seasons with a bang and we always end up ruing those dropped points from the start of the season.

This season is different though. It was a bad time and place to start the season at Selhurst. Under 100 degree's we were still trying to wear into the league again as Wimbledon smashed 3 unstoppable attempts past Ince. It was a unfortunate defeat and given the chance we would play that game again.

Ipswich and Millwall are two quality sides and to get 4 points of them is an excellent job done. Six points would have been nicer, had we not let Whelan have a goal, but that's life. On Monday we went about the job professionally and came out on top. We weren't exactly tested to the limit by Walsall but we showed quality and skill.

Of course it's not just the results. The performances in the last 3 games have all be magnificent if you were to compare them to the performances seen over the relegation season. The team is just on form. The defence is the best it's been for years. In Moses and Foster we have great partnership, Moses did get a fair share of criticism after the Wimbledon game but to say he has proved his critics wrong is an under statement. Wright and McCready will battle it out for the right back sport for the next 43 games whilst the new recruit Tonkin will certainly balance the team out. Behind them four we have, in my opinion, the best keeper in the division. He was good last season but this season Ince has come into the team refreshed and looking like he's done a vast amount of work on his kicking and positioning, this season he could, and already has, have the say on who takes maximum points in games.

The midfield is just too strong and the selection problem’s Dario faces is just frightening. Vaughan, Rix, Cochrane, Brammer and Lunt all deserve to be in the starting 11, but we can only have four of them. I’m not even going into the possibility of the line ups.

Upfront may just be the weak point. Ashton isn't the striker who's going to get us the 'easy' goals like Hulse would have got us. Jones isn't either, he will though get us goals and create just as many. Ashton also has the ability to change the game instantly and whilst easy goals aren't his cup of tea he will no doubt get 10-20 goals this season. Whilst saying that I would love Dario to bring in a Hulse replacement and see a rotation up front.

The team possesses all the quality to be a mid-table side and with every game going by I'm being convinced we'll finish in the 9th-13th spot. Dario has this week spoke in the press about the future of how the team could go on and become a 'good side'. Jones thinks the side has more to give.

Dario has always spoke of his ambition to make Crewe into one of the division one mid-table sides, whilst he knows that promotion, or even the play-offs, are way off the mark. Foster, Vaughan, Bell, Ashton & the likes of Jones have all committed long term to the Alex this year and with Hulse being sold the pressure is off to sell for a couple of years now. If we can build from this great, and promising, start. We can continue building and start to become a team to watch.

For this season the next few games are vital. We have to keep that winning mentality going and get the points on the board. Get the points now and confidence will turn into good performances which will turn into wins. I believe this can be our best season as we've oozed quality so far but the next few games are big - by the time we play Nottingham Forest on the 20th September then the table will be a lot clearer and why can't we still be in the space between 6th and 11th?

We're good enough, we've seen that. We've got strength in depth, and that's a problem at the moment. Best season yet? I think so. Will that lazy media once again turn into hypocrites and say how they always thought we were too good to go down, despite tipping us several times over? Of course they will!!!

Here's to the start of something big!