4 - 1, 4 - 1, 4 - 1, 4 - 1.

[nonsuchmike]

No, this is not a post about the last two thrashings we handed out to our county neighbours down the road to the west, if you ignore the two draws in between. Nor is it a reference to the number of Principal league titles and FA Cups won by ourselves against those won by the Adkins sackers on the Itchen.

It is not even a reference to their recent record in the last five matches of W1 L4, as this is not their record, of course.

It is, however, a reference to the fact that if (IF) Pompey win their last four matches by this score, then we will have a goal difference of zero, zilch, nix, the big 0. We will end up 61 - 61 which, when you consider the disarray we were in after losing 5 - 1, 4 - 0 and then 0 - 1 to both York AND Torquay at home (how we did this I shall never know!) as well as a zapping by 0 - 3 @ Rochdale, then a zero GD will be some achievement.

As it is, if our goal difference does not improve in this way, then we will need that "extra" point that teams with poor GDs nee

[nonsuchmike]

Well, we blew that, didn't we? Only just scraped a 3 - 2 win against the Pirates. They scrapped an' scrapped, but to no avail.

Northampton on Monday will be the same, except they have had an extra day's rest compared to our players; they are at home and not away, so that must give them the edge, even though we are on a roll of four wins from four.

A 2 - 2 draw would probably be a fair result - but nothing is fair in football, so go for SIX goals, Pompey.