IT'S Grand National weekend, and I couldn't think of a more appropriate time to set ourselves up to gallop over the finishing line.

Our lead at the top of the Conference stands at 12 points after Hereford failed to get the better of Morecambe the other night. The endless stream of mathematics continues, and -as most Stanley supporters will probably know by now - we need just four points to secure the title.

Obviously that means it's possible for us to be crowned champions on Saturday when we're not even playing.

But to be in with a chance of that happening, we need to pull our finger out to have a hope of recovering from last Saturday's defeat.

There aren't words to describe how disappointed we were with that performance.

And I'm at a complete loss to explain why we didn't turn up for the second half.

Grays are a very good team who are high on confidence at the minute. But I thought we matched them in the first half and, possibly, just shaded it in terms of possession and chances. To go in at half-time leading 1-0, I could only see us getting stronger and possibly going to win by two or three goals. But it proved to be a game of two halves and, collectively, we were very poor after the break.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that's as bad as I've seen us play all season.

We have got to be more consistent. People like to knock so-called champions down, and you can't lower your guard. We've taken a couple of knock-out blows against Southport and Grays when we shouldn't have.

But there's no reason why we can't drag ourselves up off the canvas, fight back and show our quality in the final five games.

I would like us to perform like champions elect, go out and entertain people.

As a management team, we wouldn't like to stutter over the line. We want to win every game and win in style.

Underdogs Forest Green are scrapping for their Conference lives and will make it hard for us tomorrow night.

But in a player like Ian Craney, we have someone who epitomises what we should be doing. The lad is a true winner and we should all follow his example.

Needing four points from five games shouldn't be a big ask. But having such a small target doesn't make me happy, I have to admit, because we would have liked to it have been all over by now.

But at least it looks like it's going to happen for us, and the sooner the better.