March sees us unbeaten.

First up was a visit to Loftus Road by West Brom. It didn't take long before we appeared to be totally mesmerised by a high floating cross, which was put away by Teixeira. We responded well and eventually got our equaliser via a kick up field by Jason Steele, which Angelo Balanta ran onto and dispatched it in superb fashion. We continued to dominate until the last 10 minutes, when the Baggies pressed hard for a winner, until they had Rhys Williams sent off for persistant fouling. Both teams had excellent opportunities to win the match. Even though this is 2 points lost, this draw is still good for us, as it stopped West Brom from gaining on us.

Sheffield United awaited us at Bramall Lane, another team from the chasing pack, so a tricky encounter. Things started well with Angelo Balanta running on a well timed throughball and danced by the keeper to slot home from point blank range. We were holding on to the lead with a solid performance until we gave away a free kick just outside the area. Jason Steele produced an excellent save from a curling shot that looked destined for the top corner, but only succeeded in palming it straight to Ched Evans who had an easy put away to score the equaliser in the last minute of the match. Before the match I'd have been happy with a draw, but under the circumstances quite annoyed to only come away the draw

Our visit to the Madejski Stadium to take on Reading was another match where before kick off I would have considered a draw a good result and a win fantastic. We started the match well putting pressure on Reading without really creating any chances, and we were nearly caught on the break a couple of times. On the stroke of half time, Routledge played an early cross through into space which was latched onto by Simpson, who delivered a wonderfully flighted cross to his strike partner Balanta to volley into the net. Was one of the few times we'd managed to find any space and both strikers were completely free of their markers. Reading started to apply pressure, which allowed a swift counter-attack with Lee Cook running up the left side of the pitch and delivering a perfect cross that even Balanta, with his poor heading skills, put away. However within minutes Reading managed to break our back line to pull a goal back. This was to make the last 25 minutes of the match fairly nervy as Reading applied more pressure. Everytime we conceded a free kick I got nervous, but they all went flying through for a goal kick without anyone managing to get on the end. Most of the last 10 minutes we managed to retain possession and stop an equaliser going in. The centre-backs played well in keeping the opposition out. A gritty battling performance in which we only made two really good chances and hit the back of the net with both. I'm delighted with this, and Reading will feel extremely hard done by.

Swansea arrived at Loftus Road, a team we should be able to get a win against with relative ease. We dominated the match with Swansea only managing to take 2 shots. This was a poor match overall and very frustrating, as we failed to convert any of our chances, with the Swans defence standing firm despite creating many opportunities. This is a definite disappointment.

Derby provided our next challenge, again at Loftus Road. This time we really showed up with some style, playing some great free flowing football, didn't have to wait too long for Routledge to play a superb cross that even Simpson's poor heading skills, he couldn't miss. We continued to dominate with Derby seeming to have no answer at all. At the start of the second half the passing was sublime and maintained possession for most of the first 10 minutes. With twenty minutes to go I put Martin Rowlands on as a fresh pair of legs, and was delighted to see his first touch of the ball was to slot home our second goal after a stunning run by Simpson up the middle and providing a perfect layoff pass to set up the goal. This second goal seemed to finally sting Derby into action and with their first real dangerous attack took advantage of our poor defending to high crossed balls. The remainder of the match was a nervy affair with Derby pushing hard to try and sneak the equaliser. I'm pleased to say we held firm for a well deserved victory in a match where we dominated for all but 10 minutes.

The last match of the month sees us travel northwards to Deepdale to take on the draw kings of the division, having drawn 20 of the 39 games so far, and only 2 wins, meaning they are now bottom. I hope this is not an omen, given the last time we visited the bottom team of the division. They are however on a 16 match run without a win. The match was a rollercoaster of emotions, with dispair as went a goal behind, making another complete mess of a corner. We took until the second half for Simpson to put away a marvellous cross from Balanta. As we started to take more control Simpson then turned provider setting up Faurlin in the box to smash home what I hoped would be the winner. Sadly in injury time we let ourselves down, totally failing to deal with yet another high ball cross into the box. The draw kings add to their tally, and I go away in mixed emotions, with a largely good performance, that deserved more than this draw. We have thrown away far too many winning positions right at the end of a match for my liking.

Newcastle are now guaranteed a place in the playoffs with a run of 10 wins. I feel it would now take a miracle from their position not to claim the title, let alone fail to get automatic promotion. Cardiff have been on a run of 7 victories and are now our nearest challengers, trailing us by 7 points. The worst thing is, we have to play both Cardiff and Newcastle, however these matches are at Loftus Road, which I hope will just give us the advantage and allow us to maintain our position in second spot. I'm pleased that we managed to remain upbeaten during the month, though two of the draws were extremely annoying and 4 points thrown away that we should have gained.