THE Easter weekend fixtures will have a huge bearing on whether City will stay in The Championship for another season.

Firstly, on Good Friday City travel to face Derby County at Pride Park (7.45pm) and then on Easter Monday host fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday in front of a capacity Ashton Gate crowd (3pm).

Our home and away form under O’Driscoll has been like chalk and cheese. Of his six home games in charge we’ve won five and drawn one, compared to his six away games in charge drawing one and losing five. If we are to stay up then as well as winning our home games, we need to start picking up more points on the road. Four points off safety we are in a precarious position, and after the disappointing loss at Wolves two weeks ago, we really need to gain at least a point at Derby and follow it up with a win against relegation rivals Wednesday.

Derby’s home record is respectable having only lost three games at Pride Park this season. In an incredibly tight Championship table, despite being in 13th position the Rams only lie six points off the relegation zone. Therefore, this is certainly a game the home side will be up for as well as us.

Wednesday meanwhile are not in great form having lost three of their last four matches. City also won a dramatic game up at Hillsborough earlier in the season. Monday’s game really is as close as you can get to being ‘must win’ for City. Wednesday lie just above the relegation zone and have to be a team we target to finish above.

Come next week we will have a better idea of City’s chances of staying up. Prior to the Wolves game it was revealed that influential forward Jon Stead would be out for five to six weeks and this is a big blow to our survival chances. Stead plays with great passion for the club and will particularly be missed away from home where he can play up front on his own and hold the ball up for the team. Now is the time for the players, management and fans to stand up and be counted as we enter the last eight games of the season.

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