THE last two games have been absolute thrillers, and tomorrow’s fixture with Crewe could be the same.

We haven’t been playing like a relegation-threatened team, and that is the standard we need to maintain.

At the moment it’s looking like we can sweep up and out of the relegation zone on the back of the performances of young players who have come up through the Academy and recent recruits who have got on board. Too good to be true? Who knows. Stay tuned, as they say.

We can’t ask for more than we have seen against Orient and Bradford City, and such titanic struggles are steeling the youngsters for the challenge ahead.

At Bradford the team worked to the point of exhaustion, and this week will have been about recovering and preparing to do it all again. This will be the pattern for much of the remainder of the season.

There are 19 games left. Nineteen games for the likes of Szmodics, Lapslie, Briggs and Wynter to last the pace.

They have come into the side and had to hit the ground running, and they are holding nothing back because only 100 per cent commitment will do, and in any case it’s in their nature.

At last year’s supporters’ meeting, Tony Humes made the point that producing our own youngsters can guarantee that the right type of characters are coming through.

That’s what we have seen on the pitch – players running themselves into the ground, with no hint of heads dropping when things go against us. Real character.

The youthfulness of our substitutes bench at Bradford was jaw-dropping. Reserve goalkeeper Chris Lewington, 26, must have felt like Old Father Time as he sat alongside Macauley Bonne, Dion Sembie-Ferris, Kane Vincent-Young, Jack Marriot, Jamie Harney and Sanchez Watt.

On their bench Bradford City had knarled old professionals Alan Sheehan, Ben Williams, Billy Clarke, Francois Zoko and Mark Yeates. There was a staggering difference of 10 years per player in terms of age and experience.

Early February is our most daunting time, with a frightening Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday/ Tuesday/Saturday run of games, the most demanding sequence of the season.

The youngsters will have to be taken out of the firing line if they flag and be in no doubt that now is the time that maximum support is needed.

One of the very best of our young stars told me last week that against Walsall he felt the worst he has ever felt on a football pitch because of the bad reaction and booing of the crowd.

In total contrast he felt the best ever against Orient when the support was fantastic, and the pre-match talk on Twitter was about releasing balloons and so on. Do fans realise that good support makes that much difference?

The long-term injury list still includes Frankie Kent, Alex Gilbey, Magnus Okuonghae and Drey Wright. On top of that the loss of Kaspars Gorkss looked damaging, but we coped at Bradford thanks to an excellent display from Alex Wynter, who slotted in at centre half as if he and Tom Eastman had played together for years.

Chris Porter has also made a big difference to the team. In two games he has scored one goal and set up at least two chances. He gives us an attacking focal point, and his technique and intelligence have impressed.

We were the thoroughbred team against a very direct Bradford side, on a pitch which generally favoured them, although their midfield fulcrum Billy Knott got bogged down more than most.

Teams that are built to play direct football often get found out after Christmas as opponents are mentally better prepared the second time around, and we went into the Bradford game with our eyes open.

It won’t take much for the squad to be stretched, particularly defensively, and we might need to use the emergency loan market at short notice. But if we pull clear of relegation, the seasons ahead promise so much.