By the time you read this today, you'll know how alive our play-off hopes are.

If you're reading this the morning after our home meeting against Belle Vue Aces (Wednesday) and we've got seven points from our two meetings this week then we're definitely on course.

If you're looking at it, perhaps online, on Friday, after our clash at Peterborough (Thursday), and we've got eight points (from a possible 11 this week) then we're really in the hunt.

If we get anything more than a point away against the Panthers, which is going to be really tough, then I think we're right in the mix.

If you're reading this on Friday and we've claimed less than eight in total, or certainly fewer than seven, then we're in very big trouble. I'm not saying reaching the play-offs can't be done if that is the case, but it would be a very big ask.

I think we can still go and win at Birmingham next month, but we've got some really tough meetings at home against Swindon and Coventry – where it will be hard to claim all three league points – so some big results this week would ease a bit of pressure.

I'm actually writing this on Tuesday afternoon, hence the vagueness of it, after our fantastic win at the Aces where we got four points.

It was our second maximum win in Manchester this season (four-point haul) and it was a perfect performance in my eyes. We were all firing. The lads were jamming and in the mix in the pits. It was the best team spirit of the whole season. Hopefully that sort of form continued for the rest of the week.

The only thing I can write about without any degree of doubt is my dislike for the clamping down of riders' using Twitter or Facebook to air their thoughts.

It started last year when Sam Masters got a 28-day ban for writing something like 'stupid ref' after a meeting on Facebook. I think he got fined as well.

The BSPA (British Speedway Promoters' Association) and the SCB (Speedway Control Bureau) are trying to clamp down on riders giving their opinion because they think it can give bad publicity.

But while riders can get slagged off regularly by fans, or managers in the press, we've been given warnings about what we say. I don't think it's right.

I think you should be allowed to give your opinion. Twitter is a great forum for free speech – which as you can tell I'm a big fan of.

It's a great way to interact with supporters and even though I get loads of messages telling me I'm rubbish if we lose, I get plenty of nice ones wishing me luck and congratulating me.

If a rider says that a track, or a referee, isn't good enough then I don't see that as a bad thing. Honest opinions like that should help the sport improve shouldn't they?

It creates argument, debate and boosts speedway's profile on the internet – how can that harm the sport?

It's cool for the fans to know about riders' lives and where they are in the world. It gives supporters a closer relationship with us. And it allows us riders to keep in touch easily.

Plus, the other day I knew of our rain-off instantly because Jonathan Chapman had Tweeted about it. Everyone got the news in one go, rather than him having to ring seven different riders individually.

I think Twitter should be used more to help promote our sport – after all, as they say, any publicity is good publicity.

But it seems the BSPA and the SCB only want promotion when it suits them and that we're all meant to be quiet and just go along with it. I think they think they can tell us to jump and we'll ask how high?

If I wanted to stand and shout 'I hate the Stars' (which I don't) nobody could stop me. Twitter's a release, and while I do think about what I post, I'm not happy about being told what I can or can't say.

So here, in less than 140 characters, is a message for those in power to think about: 'I'll Tweet what I want to Tweet'.

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