There was a bit of a surreal atmosphere as we gathered for what was the last scheduled home league match of the season. After Tuesday night's disappointing draw against Shrewsbury Town, the Doombar deliberations were split between hoping former favourite Elias Kachunga, along with his Cambridge United teammates, could do us a favour and take points off Derby County, and the realisation that we are in the play-offs again.

We all know that anything can happen in football but first we had to make sure that we took care of our business by beating Port Vale and relegating them in the process.

Most of the crowd would be watching the match with one eye on their smartphones and the scores from Derby County and not forgetting Peterborough United, who could still gatecrash the party.

Another bumper crowd greeted the teams, with Josh Sheehan and Gethin Jones back from injury and yet another new combination up front of Dion Charles and Aaron Collins. It certainly looked like we were going for it, as we dominated from the start, shooting on sight but unable to get the important breakthrough through a combination of unbelievable misses and a mind-boggling referee decision as Randell Williams chipped in from outside the box.

Things calmed down a bit in the second half and normal service was resumed with Aaron Collins getting the opening goal and Cameron Jerome wrapping it up in the final minutes.

News came in from Cambridge and Bristol Rovers that Derby County and Peterborough United had both won their respective games, so nothing had changed, except that we were one match nearer to the climax of this season.

As the players and families did their customary lap of honour around the pitch to appreciative fans, we were left to work out the combination of results needed to snatch automatic promotion or our path through the play-offs. As they say, nothing is over until the physically challenged lady sings but realistically the play-offs look like our way forward.

Expecting bottom club Carlisle United to beat Derby County at Pride Park and for us to overcome a four-goal difference at promotion rivals, Peterborough United next weekend is unlikely to say the least. However, we cannot finish lower than fourth, which means that we play our second leg of the play-off semi-final at home.

I believe that we can still do this together.