NL: Weymouth v Torquay United 3pm 4 December 21

Grimsby lost again on Saturday and have now lost five out of their last six games, Still with an 11 point lead over us, their current form must be a concern to those at Blundell Park. Give it a few more defeats and there will definitely be the impression that something is rotten in the state of, er, Cleethorpes.

Maidenhead are the new favourites for third relegation place. Although they have two games in hand over us, one of those is at Southend tomorrow evening and the other is home to table-toppers and FA Cup giant-killers Chesterfield on 18th January. I confidently predict that 6 points from these two games is beyond The Magpies grasp and that they will still be below us in the table come the end of January. By then, we could be soaring high in mid-table mediocrity and laughing at those who predicted a relegation battle back in the dark days of November.

Or not, as the case may be. 

I’m not letting it go either. Watching in real time from very near, he consciously opted to leave it rather than step into it and smash it. But we won, so it doesn’t matter.

Nice to have a day out NOT spoiled by 90 minutes of football.

We really needed to take three points from this one and fully deserved to do so.

Was worried when we went more than an hour without turning our superiority into a goal. Was frustrated when we then immediately surrendered the hard-won lead with another soft free kick and then failure to defend it effectively.

The introduction of Armstrong seemed to sharpen our blunt front line and made us look far more likely to score. Should have won by more in the end.

A win is a win, but would have been nice to win more convincingly over poor opposition.

The 3-5-2 worked very well. It had worked very well in that easy win over Wealdstone.

What Wealdstone and Weymouth have in common is that they carry little attacking threat - which is why they both will be in the thick of the relegation battle we hope to, and should expect to, avoid.

That means you can push both wing backs up and leave three at the back to magically give you an extra man in midfield / attack. A second striker or a third central midfielder? With three at the back you can have both.

Chief beneficiary was Little. I have been critical of him in the middle 2 in a 4-4-2 as he has given away possession and silly free-kicks. In fairness to him, that was because he was battling to do what is not natural to him - the midfield donkey work. Against Halifax, I felt he should have got closer to the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1.

At Weymouth, he had the perfect platform to just go out and play. He had Hall and Lapslie behind him doing the donkey work and he had two in front of him. He took full advantage of the freedom he was given and produced a brilliant performance.

I always say the key to a good 3-5-2 (other than against poor opposition) is proper wingbacks who can defend and attack. I still don't think we have that. Martin had lots of space to play in and ran hard but his end product is disappointing. Don't rate O'Connell's end product either and even more sceptical of his defensive ability. Moore may very well be a decent wing back if fit. He was struggling from quite early on and I was surprised he was not taken off earlier. I cannot tell the difference between the kind of injury that needs immediate rest and one that you can run off. Assumed Moore's knock must have been of the latter type as he was left to hobble around for ages - but then he was taken off at half-time. Not sure what all that was about and hope we have not exacerbated the injury by making him play on.

Next up Stockport. That will be a real test and there will be no room for attacking wastefulness or defensive sloppiness. Will we stick with the 3-5-2 against a far more potent Stockport. If we do, will it work or will we find the wing backs pinned back and exposed?

Looking forward to the game. We will need to be at it to avoid defeat, but no reason why we cannot do so.