With six games remaining in the season, it really is crunch time if we’re to make it into the play-offs this season.

The lack of consistency over the last few weeks has seen off any remote chance we had of automatic promotion.

To win away with a convincing performance at high-flying Oxford was impressive, but to follow it up with only four points from games against Morecambe, Accrington, Hartlepool and York has been disappointing.

Part of the problem has been the lack of goals over the last few months. Since Kevin Nolan’s appointment in January we have scored more than one goal in only three games and are yet to score more than two in a game since December.

Jay Simpson’s loss of form has been a concern recently, having scored only three goals since Nolan’s arrival.

A lot of his goals have come from him simply being in the right place at the right time but he seems to find himself in these goalscoring positions on a far more infrequent basis. He seems to drop back on a more frequent basis to get on the ball but really we need him in the box as that is where he has been most lethal this season.

We also seem to start games very slowly. Nolan has often said in his post-match interviews how the opposition team have started the better and it is something that needs to be addressed. We have scored just the one goal, at home to Crawley, before half-time since Nolan took over as player manager.

Many fans have called for Nolan to drop himself as he has been struggling for form. The difficulty for him is that throughout his career he has always played high up the pitch, playing off a striker.

In the current system he finds himself playing in a more conventional central midfield position and having to do a lot more work in the middle of the pitch.

He either needs to find a system which plays more to his strengths and allows him to play nearer the strikers or I feel he should drop to the bench and allow a more suited player to come in to fill that role.

One player who should appear more is Lloyd James. On the occasions he’s appeared since his return from injury he has shown all of his qualities, always looking for a cutting pass through the defence.

Without him in the side we lack this creative quality. The only similar player to him is Jack Payne who I feel has been unlucky to miss out as often as he does recently as he is very effective in breaking up attacks and then redistributing the ball quickly.

The run-in has been quite kind to us this season in that the only team in the top four we have to play is Plymouth at home. AFC Wimbledon will be tough as they are fighting for a play-off spot and it will be vital that we pick up three points in this game.

Although Dagenham and Redbridge still have a mathematical chance of staying up it is highly unlikely that they will do so, and Barnet, Mansfield and Yeovil will all have little to play for when we come up against them.

There’s still time to make the play-offs but even if we are unable to do this, with Nolan at the helm I still feel the future is bright.

We’ve got a confident young manager who engages with and always acknowledges the support from the fans and I feel that once he’s been able to put his own squad together, I have every confidence that he can carry this team forward.