Why can't we hold a lead?

Stockport at home, January 28th, 2023. I think that was the last time we held onto a lead. Now before you shout "Ah eff off dickhead!" at your phone (don't do it, particularly on the tube, people will think you're mental) let me explain. I KNOW we've won games since then, but that was the last time we "held on".

In the other games we've won, we haven't really held on. We've been at least two goals to the good. More importantly, (because as we know, being two goals up is no guarantee of success) in all of the league games we've won since Stockport on January 28th, we've scored a goal to kill the game. To save you checking, we've won three league games since January 28th, they are as follows.

Walsall (H) 2-0 March 28th. We dominated this game. We scored two second half goals, the second of which on 75 minutes (Ali) killed the game, we cruised home.

Colchester (A) 2-0 15th August. Once again we were utterly dominant, Tills got the first on 54 minutes, then killed the game stone dead with the second on 84.

Sutton (A) 3-0 August 19th. In a tight match, Ryan Johnson put us in front of 64 minutes. Crucially Harry Pell got the second on 80, while Tills killed it completely on 86.

Aside from those games, we've drawn when we've been ahead by one, drawn when we've been ahead by two, and lost games when it looked impossible. As much as I can gather though, these are the only three games since Stockport where we have got the "goodnight" goal, the "that one puts it to bed" strike, the "thanks for coming and don't let the door hit you up the arse on the way out" score.

Now it's easy, as we all do, to blame the defence, the goalkeeper (as I somewhat controversially did after Saturday), the "mentality", the manager, the referee or whatever. I wonder sometimes though if we are barking up the wrong tree. I'm not saying we should "blame" the attack, but perhaps a slight shift on our focus as a team might be in order.

When you get in front, the opposition is going to try and get back into it. They'll change systems, make some subs, but crucially at some point they will chuck men forward. Crewe had everyone bar the goalie trying to score on Saturday, what choice did they have?

For our part, I'd just like to see us focus not totally on the desperation of not conceding, I'd like to see us be cold and calculating enough to ping them on the counter, put the game to bed more often. It helps if you have players with pace (we do) but you also need to be brave enough. Brave enough to bring those players on, brave enough to leave players up when defending a corner, brave enough to encourage others to get up and support.

I've a hunch that if we can DO that, we'll win lots more football matches.