LOOKING at the four away fixtures remaining before last weekend, the games at Crewe and beleaguered Leyton Orient appeared the most winnable matches.

I suspect the games at Morecambe and Notts County will be tough and attritional.

In these circumstances, the 2-0 defeat at Crewe was a big blow and there has been no better example of how our crazy injury list is costing us League points.

Sammie Szmodics was the latest addition to the long list.

His initial X-ray showed a lower leg break which was confirmed as a fractured fibula with, fortunately, no displacement, meaning no operation will be necessary.

Nature will take many weeks to heal the fracture so hyperactive Sammie will cruelly be inactive for another spell!

Fingers crossed for him and all the recuperating casualties.

There is no point moaning about it, but Tony Flynn’s treatment room must have been like a hospital waiting room for the last few months.

It has been an unnatural sequence of long-term injuries, each one of which brings personal misery to the player as well as affecting the team.

It will now take a stupendous effort to get us up into the top seven, with a large number of our most important players in various stages of post-surgery rehabilitation.

It should be too much to ask, but we can still hope.

Luton Town visit us tomorrow and it could be a cracking game, with the Hatters gunning for promotion.

When we went toe-to-toe with them at Kenilworth Road on Boxing Day, we deservedly took the points in one of our best performances of the season. I found it our most satisfying win of the season.

Luton will be looking for revenge. I am hoping their style of fast raiding football out wide and down the middle is something we can get the better of.

It is so important that we do as Saturday is likely to set the tone for the remainder of the season.

A good win in front of a bumper crowd could put us right back on track.

As fans, we have every reason to look forward expectantly and enthusiastically to next season but the fact remains that we cannot look too far ahead, feel sorry for ourselves or think that the injury situation allows us to finish the season early. It doesn’t. I am sure the same message will be going out to the players.

When summer comes and we look back on this season there will be so many things to be pleased with.

The McGreal/Ball management team has bedded itself in and proved its capability.

Moving up internally brings its own problems and in some ways it puts you in a weaker position compared to coming in from outside, but John and Steve have made it work.

Some players have also made great progress this season. Too many to list, so I will mention just four whose careers have experienced a step change this season.

Kurtis Guthrie started the season as largely unproven at League level.

He will end it as quite a hot property and a player who is vital to our prospects.

We have missed him greatly since injury struck and we have looked light up front at times with no-one other than Sammie having the athleticism and skill set to fill the void he has left.

Tom Lapslie will end the season as another vital cog in the machine.

He is still very young and will be even stronger next year with the one year’s League Two experience behind him.

George Elokobi has resurrected his League career and is enjoying a marvellous Indian Summer which hopefully can continue for a few more seasons.

Finally, Brennan Dickenson who, like Guthrie, arrived with much to prove but ends the season with a vastly improved reputation.

At the end of the season the elephant in the room will undoubtedly be the injuries which have plagued and tormented us almost from the start.

If we can go into the final two games (Orient away and Yeovil at home) within reach of the play-off spots, then we might yet be bring the curtain down with some glory. That must be the immediate aim: to keep the season alive for as long as possible.