WE'VE ALL GOT PLAY-OFF FEVER

Cup Fever is a well-documented ailment, but did you ever catch a dose of Play-off Fever? That is a different ball game. At least when you're knocked out of the Cup you can, as cliché dictates, concentrate on the league. If you're knocked out of the play-offs, that's it, season over, see you in August (unless you're still in the Cup).

- Steve HILL

It is this perilous tightrope that makes the play-offs such a compelling spectacle, albeit not for the faint of heart. I have had plenty of time to consider this recently, not least on the long drive from London to Chester FC's Deva Stadium for a Wednesday night Eliminator against Buxton. My son and perennial wingman was so stricken by the fever that he had to have a day off school, thus enabling us to negotiate the M1 before it fully ground to a halt. It was still a long, hot, niggly journey with the nerves intensifying by the hour. By the time we reached the ground a mild nausea had set in, and I was barely able to pour a couple of nerve-calmers down my neck.