Steve: Now We May Begin

Steve Bywater insists that the long haul to the playoffs is history now - and the campaign in earnest really begins.

The 46-match marathon is, he reckons, not something to be looked back on and he says:

"We will be up for the job because this is the crucial part now.

"It doesn't matter any more what has happened in the league, whether we got beat at Millwall or whatever - these are like cup games and we just have to take them as they come.

"I was not bothered about who we got; we have just got to concentrate on ourselves and be ready on Saturday.

"It starts now - and that is it."

Steve says there were no glimpses of the worst happening at Wigan and four goals being conceded, though he made at least that many significant saves to keep the score to 1-0.

"We weren't even thinking about them getting a few goals; we just wanted to win," he stresses.

"They did really well in the first 20 minutes and came at us like it was a playoff game, but I thought we coped well, Deano got a chance at the far post and he has banged it in."

"It doesn't really matter to me; you play away, you play at home - you have just got to concentrate on playing our way."