ALL the pre-match hype was about how a victory over Crewe would secure our Championship safety for another year.

But, in true Gillingham style, they weren't about to let us get away that easily! At times it was a nervous performance from the lads, and when we fell behind to David Vaughan's superb strike you couldn't help but fear the worst.

However, both the doubters and Crewe reckoned without the goalscoring prowess of Nicky Southall, who picked the perfect moment to score his first of the season.

It was such an unexpected strike that it even managed to fox the cameraman in the Gordon Road Stand. But, that said, you can't really blame him - I was expecting Southall's effort to sail off-target myself.

It's been frustrating that Southall hasn't found the net more regularly in recent times. After all, this is a man who possesses a fantastic shot on him, as proved many times in the promotion season of 1999/2000, when he didn't just score goals, he scored great goals.

But that's not for us to dwell on now. His first strike of the season could turn out to be even more important than any of those he got in that glorious campaign of five years ago.

Despite our draw, it was a good weekend really, with only Watford out of our relegation rivals recording three points. But only Cardiff lost, so it's really a case of "as you were" at the bottom, with Brighton still sitting in the dreaded third relegation spot and second-from-bottom Nottingham Forest still clinging onto the hope that they might stay up.

But the important thing is that it is still in our own hands.

We have a difficult task at Derby on Saturday, but even if we are beaten me must retain the belief that we can stay up.

The efforts of both the fans and the players has been top drawer in the last five months and, with the finishing post in sight, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.

Those of us making the trip to the East Midlands have still got to give our all and get behind the lads as we look to make it 10 games unbeaten against the play-off chasing Rams, and hopefully take another massive step towards making sure that we stay in the Championship for at least one more year.

* If you're not travelling to Derby, you can keep up to date with all the action on kmfm Sportswatch this Saturday from 2pm.

Hear regular live updates from the ground with kmfm sports editor Simon Watts.

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