Dancing With Wolves?

Just six games left now and even Pards admits that we need to win '4 or 5' to reach that fast disappearing Play-Off position. Bit of a tall order really after just 4 wins in the last 19 fizzies and 1 win in the last 9 and especially with the next two opponents having similar ideas in mind.

And after the excitement of playing West Brom for the fourth time this season, next up are their near neighbours Wolves, currently enjoying a good run that has taken them past us into ninth place with a game in hand.

A rather strange team, Wolves, full of caution, that contest the title of 'draw specialists' with the likes of Leicester and Palarse, and only seem to come out of their shell after their half-time tea. In fact they've scored more goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half than the entire first 45 so be prepared for a boring first half before the fireworks.

Unfortunately, as mentioned, they are on a bit of a roll and looking at away games only, have the best record in the fizzies over their last 5 games with 3 wins and only 1 defeat - 0-3 at Watford, back at the beginning of February - and are now unbeaten in 4 on their travels. And over the last 8 games home and away, they've got the third best record in the Division with 4 wins and only a single defeat.

In line with their cautionary attitude, they'd had more clean sheets than anybody else with 16 (the Addicks have 12), but have failed to score 13 times, more than anyone else above us in the table which clearly emphasizes their favorite result, a 0-0 draw, of which they've had no less than 7 (the Addicks have only had one!).

There's more good news in looking at their games against the top half teams. While Wolves have picked up 3 doubles and 18 points from the bottom three teams, against the Addicks disgraceful total of 6 points, we have secured a massive 26 points against the cream of the Division. McCarthy's boys meanwhile have picked up a meagre 14 points in their games against the top 12. And the bad news for them is that apart from the Addicks, they face 4 of the racing pack in their last 7 games with a visit to Bristol City and home games against West Brom, Plymouth and Ipswich. And looking at their home record, the only team they've beaten in the top 14 in the table is, yes you've guessed it, Charlton...

But one positive for them is their success during the January sales. In marked contrast to our own sorry story regarding strikers, they have obviously done their homework and splashed out 1.5M on someone called Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. Unlike Andy Gray or Leroy Lita he does appear to know where the net is and has scored 7 times already since the move from Plymouth. His style of play has been termed 'aggressive' and apparently there's a night club bouncer in Plymouth that can verify that after an incident in November concerning a bottle. Ebanks-Blake is currently on bail pending another visit to the courtroom in April and is presumably enjoying his dancing somewhere else now.