Our relentless march toward the Fourth Division continues, despite scraping a point from Saturday’s clash with Wycombe. The adventurous play to win, cautious play not to lose. We chose caution. Fortunately for us, so did Wycombe —a surprise, really, because when they did release the handbrake, they looked capable of utterly overwhelming us. It almost felt like they took pity on us.

Their No. 44, out on the right, gave Connor Hall a torrid afternoon. From the stands, it was painful to watch, he roasted him – showed him no mercy whatsoever. Pace to burn, tricks up his sleeve. It was cruel. Wycombe created the best chances, crashed the ball against the post twice, and only some poor finishing spared us.

Some weeks ago, the question was whispered: What happens if Devante Cole stops scoring? His last league goal came at Wimbledon on 11th October. That was also our last league goal. Four games without scoring. Just eleven goals scored from the sixteen league matches we’ve played. Three wins. Five draws. Eight defeats. No wins in from the last six gigs. Twenty-second place. Anyone not seeing relegation has left the planet entirely. Leave the monkey dust be. There’s no hiding from this mess.

Back to goal-scoring. Ruari Paton had two or three reasonably presentable chances in the opening 20 minutes, none on target. They weren’t gilt-edged, but he still needs to give the keeper something to do. Other aspects of his game are positive: hard-working, head never drops, always trying to make things happen. But let’s be honest, Ruari will not get us enough goals. He could play every minute for the rest of the season and still struggle to reach five in the league. Happy to eat humble pie if wrong, but I doubt I’ll need to. Filling your boots in cup games, with part-time amateurs and academy lads as your opponents is one thing, doing it in league 1 is another.

Remember Rigino Cicilia? Big Reggie? Four league goals from 29 appearances in that horrific 2016–17 relegation season. JJ Hooper managed five from 23 the same season. Ruari’s end-of-season stats will tell their own bleak story come May. It’ll be interesting to see how they compare.

Dajaune Brown came on second half and offered nothing. We were spared Mo Faal. Cole looks increasingly forlorn up there – poor service and a lack of drive to make anything happen himself at the root of his issues. It’s troubling, deeply troubling.

And the squad? Thirty-plus players. How many are genuine League One standard? How many of our match-day eighteen would start anywhere else in this league? Who else chased Gabriel Jordan, Cameron Humphreys, Liam Gordon, Jordan Shipley, Ben Waine? We call Cam a decent defender because we compare him to the mediocrity around him. And yet, this squad is better than last season’s. They should survive. The problem lies elsewhere, deeper, and it’s dragging us down.

Darren Moore remains in post—for now. Monday morning, 17th November. Nothing short of a win on Saturday and the axe must fall. But even that feels like theatre. The ending is written. The credits are rolling. We’re just watching the last scenes play out. It’s inevitable.