Keeping an Eye on the Ball

I was at Barnet this afternoon, having made extra sure that I would not be inconvenienced by the later stages of the £250 Rebuy in Luton. 3,400 squeezed into Underhill's crapshack of a ground - nothing succeeds like success eh ? And most of us went home happy after a tense 1-0 defeat of Exeter City. Sometimes in football you really have a sense that one particular game has broken the back of the task you're trying to achieve, and it felt like that today. The Bees are now 17 points clear of Carlisle. Underhill might be held together with string and sellotape but at least it's not under 4 feet of water . Paul Fairclough has done a tremendous job at Barnet, building on Martin Allen's good work, it's just unbelievable he's never had a League gig when you consider how many 6-figure payoffs the likes of Peter Reid have trousered for basically being useless.

Meanwhile two very welcome wins for QPR have sent the Hoops back up to 9th and we can still think about sneaking up through the playoffs and being whopped every week in the Premiership. The stuff of dreams indeed.

Having said that though, you have to wonder about the overall standard of The Greatest League In The World (TM) sometimes. Everton still have a 7 point cushion in 4th. Losing Gravesen was a blow, but it gives me an excuse if it all goes wrong, and I'm not sure about Beattie either. Nonetheless, Liverpool suck, Middlesboro blew a 4-1 lead at Norwich today and while Charlton are a tidy outfit, if they're all we have to worry about I'm still confident that the excellent David Moyes can keep his team in 4th and help me win what is a sizeable bet for me, I must have been feeling unwell that day I think :-). If you don't fancy the Blues, Charlton are available at 15-1 (to finish top betting without Chelsea, United and Arsenal). Level on points with Liverpool, they represent slightly better value than the hapless Scousers at 7-4.