Through the seasons before us..

I’m reliably informed that upon getting kitted up having signed for Forest, somebody had to sheepishly go and pick up some junior sized socks from the club shop for Alan Wright to wear! I know it’s childish to find such stories so amusing, but it’s still tickled me a bit. Maybe this is the true meaning of a “blow your socks off” signing? Or perhaps at least a “laugh your socks off” one!

Jokes aside though, small in stature or otherwise, Wrighty massively exceeded my expectations yesterday, and if he maintains that level of performance during the Cheltenham game then I can see Julian having a battle on his hands to win his place back in the side - maybe not a “blow your socks off” signing in the conventional sense, but certainly given the dissenting voices when it was announced, it seems that Smoulds knows better than some of us!

Nottingham Forest - 1
Gillingham - 0

Cor blimey it was hard work, but hard work that paid off in the end as a Lewis McGugan rocket propelled the Reds to a pretty much deserved three points against perennial bad thorns Gillingham.  It rises us back up to third place with Yeovil having lost, and keeps the gap to Bristol four points as they were scoring the only goal of the game away at Crewe almost at the same time as us!

Forest started quite brightly, lining up with loan signing Alan Wright in place of the suspended Bennett, and with Chambers replacing the injured Morgan.  I have seen Wright play a few times before but had forgotten how tiny he was - although he impressed me enough, particularly considering the winger he was dealing with was easily six foot plus!  Mini-me looks to be a decent loan move to cover for the problematic left-back spot.

The first “chance” of the game fell to Commons, who was set to have a game to forget really - Agogo won the ball and headed to Commons who shaped up to shoot, but missed the ball completely and fell over in comedic fashion, much to the amusement of the miscreants sat below us in the away end - who looked like they’d all been to a jumble sale to pick up some new clothes for the occasion - my favourite being a toothless old curmudgeon wearing a very old looking orange tracksuit top and his best black combat trousers! (unfortunately despite my best attempts, a good picture of the pikey following was beyond my camera phone).

The next chance was carved by Agogo, bursting forward from the halfway line into the right channel, he shot and the ball was parried by the Gills keeper, leaving Commons with a relatively simple task of drilling the ball into the gaping goal - unfortunately, as I noted, he was set to have a game to forget - and he put the chance wide, again, drawing groans from the Forest fans and derisory cheers from the amalgamated chavs and travelling people populating the away end.

To be fair to Kris, he did have a chance on target - Alan Wright played a decent lobbed ball to Jack on the D with his back to goal, he laid it off to Commons who fired a fairly decent right footted drive which Larrieu perhaps made look better than it was by his slightly over-dramatic dive to the right.  Larrieu was in action again after a series of chances were spurned or cleared, saving from Lester - with Perch unable to quite capitalise on the rebound.

Perch picked up a harsh booking when he did clip Bentley,  and the Gills had a rare foray forward when Leon Johnson had a chance from a corner, his shot deflected wide by Junior Agogo.  The first half was pretty much over from this point, with Forest certainly going in unfortunate to still be level - and the Gills clearly encamped to play for a draw but maybe pick up a chance on the break.

The second half saw the Gills more lively, Smith had a couple of simple saves to make - and again, a pass from Alan Wright saw us mount our first serious challenge - Wright played a cracking ball to Agogo who moved the ball on swiftly to Commons to his left, Commons’ powerful lob though unfortunately dipped too late, and dropped over the crossbar rather than in the net.

A Gills corner was whipped in from their left, and from my vantage point I’m convinced that Paul Smith bizarrely carried it over the line with no opposition at all (he got a shove later, but I reckon the ball was already over the line), but fortunately the referee deemed otherwise.  The referee, incidently, was a fussy bugger of this highest order - he and his assistants gave baffling and needless decisions for both side throughout the game.

Forest tried to reapply the pressure they’d done so in the first half, but final balls or shots were looking less ruthless than during the first half, so clear-cut chances were rather at a premium - Chambers had a chance from a corner where he headed into the ground bringing a cracking save from Larrieu.  Tyson was introduced - and had been chanted for for a while by the fans - who started booing because Lester was being withdrawn.  Presumably Lester must have been feeling the knock he was carrying, some fans should learn when to keep their mouths shut.

Junior Agogo continued to trouble the Gills defence, but couldn’t quite get the ball to Tyson.  Chambers had another chance with a header from a corner after Larrieu had missed the ball, but couldn’t get sufficient power behind it.  Grant replaced Agogo shortly after this, Agogo had certainly been our man of the match so far - he’d worked tirelessly and I’m not surprised he was probably knackered!

Tyson was fouled about four times on the edge of the box before Mr Fussy-bastard finally deigned to give us a free kick.  Commons and McGugan stood over it, we speculated whether Commons would (a) spank the ball into the wall, (b) spank the ball over or (c) actually hit a good freekick that the excellent Larrieu would confound.  As it turned out, Lewis McGugan stepped up and unleashed an absolute rocket into the top right hand corner to finally give us a breakthrough.

The stoppage time wasn’t particularly tense this time - previously unheard of Brendan Moloney replaced Kris Commons and nearly marked his debut in spectacular fashion, scrapping the ball clear from a Gills corner to Nathan Tyson, who burst forward only to find Moloney had kept up with him to his left, Tys fed the ball to Moloney who unfortunately was let down with his first touch!  Tyson had a couple of other half chances, and after a spell of timewasting by the corner flag the Gills final clearance was greeted by the full time whistle.

A tight game, I hadn’t mentioned the odd spate of missed defensive headers that both Chambers and Breckin perpetrated in the second half, whether it was the sun or the wind it was odd they both started missing them, nor Chambers oddly wrestling a Gills player to the ground in the penalty area - fortunately none of these slip ups cost us dearly and we obviously went on to get the win that, on balance, I think we deserved.

To say this game is pretty crucial is an understatement. I would go so far as to say that it is CRUCIAL. In big red letters and capitals and everything. The scary thing is, it’s no more crucial that all our remaining games, but nonetheless, we must follow the old adage and think not beyond the next game. Given Bristol City’s slip up midweek against Bradford, the pressure is on Forest to ensure that we keep up the pace as best we can with a win - and the problem word in that sentence is pressure, because so far Forest haven’t handled that all that well.

Even the normally cautious Forest website suggests that a return of six points from back-to-back home games against Gillingham and Cheltenham would represent a massive disappointment - and they’re right, it would - because of course, after these two home games we must travel to Ashton Gate for the game many see as a potential decider for automatic promotion. Of course, there are six more games after that one which could change everything, but it’s still pretty damn important.

The Gills beat Crewe in their last outing, although hadn’t won in four games prior to this - they have slight relegation worries but as they are now sitting eight points clear of the damned league places, they should feel relatively non-pressured. That said, ourselves and the Gills have been league companions for some time, and as such have built up an almost-rivalry that would see the Kent side very keen to register a result - be it Andy Hessenthaler’s flagrant rugby tackling of a clean-through Andy Reid, or Eugen Bopp relegating them along with us a couple of years ago - there’s a bit of history there, albeit quite poxy in the grand scheme of things.

Alan Wright is likely to go straight into the starting eleven in place of the suspended Bennett - personally I’m pleased as this would signify that Smoulds intends to stick with a back four which frankly, is better than a back three. If only he’d got us a right winger as well - then we’d have all the personnel we need! Prutton is likely to remain sidelined, and Jack Lester has a slight injury worry, although is thought to be fit enough to play a part in the fixture - which is good news as he’s been our creative outlet of late!

Matty Jarvis is apparently injured, although I’ve read conspiracists suggesting that even now a deal still may be struck for him (although not until summer), and Nicky Southall can’t play as part of the agreement letting him re-join the Gills. There is also likely to be a degree of dischord or doubt in the dressing room as Gills boss Ronnie Jepson is constantly being linked with the job vacancy at Huddersfield (as is our beloved former manager Gary Megson).

We’ve beaten the Gills twice this season already - within about a week in the league and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Our league win at Priestfield was thanks to a Nicky Southall goal from close range, which helped us bounce back from a 4-0 home mauling against Scunthorpe back in October. Nicky didn’t celebrate his goal, which even then aroused speculation that he would be returning to Pikeyville at some point - he later cleared a ball of the line to save us the three points. Jack and Grant scored in a 2-1 win four days later at the same ground in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy - so at least we still have two players who’ve found the net aginst them this season!

I hate the phrase must-win, and of course - must-win games are always clouded by the other results around the country - but since we’re only the masters of our own fixtures, then we really must be looking to get three points against a Gills side who will make it bloody difficult for us to get them. They won’t want to register a triple-defeat against us this season, and I imagine will come to frustrate and hit on the break. If they are missing Matty Jarvis this will be a boost, but the Reds will have to work hard to get a win the fans are expecting, and when our fans expect something, they’re not often patient about it - so an early breakthrough would be easiest all round - if you don’t mind, Reds!

Finally the news comes through we’ve made a loan signing, great, thinks me - what exciting mould of attacking midfielder have we picked up?  But no, I must confess a slight groan that we’d picked up Sheffield United’s Alan Wright on loan until the end of the season.  Not that this is a bad thing, Wright is a capable fullback and will at least provide cover for Bennett’s imminent suspension which begins with tomorrow’s clash with Gillingham.

Whilst I’ve really warmed to Bennett as the season has progressed, having cover for him is a welcome move in my book, and having somebody experienced who can further mentor him and hopefully help to iron out some of those annoying and childish traits he has could be a massive benefit to his development as a footballer.  Bennett has the raw materials to progress to at least Championship level, but so far hasn’t exactly exhibited the “head” for it - hopefully with a bit of pressure on his place, and an experienced player in his position this will bring out the best in him in the long term.

Smoulds has experience of Wright during his days at Villa - and whilst undoubtedly Wright is nearing the end of his playing career, a calm experienced head at the back is potentially no bad thing.  Admittedly, the signing won’t set the pulses racing as rumoured moves for Matty Jarvis, Neil Danns and even Leon Best had promised to, but the great man always used to say that you built a team from the back, and therefore filling a gap - even if it’s a gap in cover - is pretty important so I welcome this move.

I’m sure it can’t have escaped the attention of most football fans, that the ludicrous bureaucrats at the Football League are contemplating the proposal of scrapping draws in Football League matches - or rather - making drawn games end with a penalty shootout to ensure there is a final winner. An utterly ludicrous idea to further bastardise our beautiful game (well, in concept at least - it hasn’t been too beautiful at the City Ground this season!) for no good reason I can understand.

The details of the proposal are here courtesy of Sky Sports - the scheme could be in place as early as next season for the Championship, League One and League two, thanks to the machinations of Lord Brian Mawhinney. Although he does need to run this by chairmen and chief executives before any final decision is likely to be made, I would hope that a groundswell of opposition to this nonsense prospect from football league teams supporters might put a stop to it.

Effectively, if a game finishes as a draw then the worst you’ll get is the point you would get under the current system - if you go on to win the penalty shootout you would get a bonus point, ultimately ending up with two points for the fixture, whilst the team that loses the shootout gets one. This is certainly better than simply giving a “win” to the shootout winner, and a defeat to the loser - but nonetheless it’s fiddling around with a format that works perfectly well, quite frankly.

I can imagine that the buzz of picking up a bonus point from a lucky draw might be quite enticing, but equally it could go the other way - imagine if we’d played Blackpool, which ended - in many ways - a harsh draw (I say in many ways, because of the dodgy penalty decision - notwithstanding that Blackpool totally outplayed us and probably deserved a win!) but anyway, you concede a dodgy penalty, you lose a victory - and then the other side goes on to get a bonus point because they win the penalty shootout… and let’s face it, with our standard of penalty taking that’s likely to happen more often than not!

So, I would urge people to follow Gareth’s suit - who emailed me with the appropriate links and his own displeasure at the proposal. Get in touch with the Football League to let them know what you think, hopefully you won’t want the game tinkering with in this absurd manner either, but whatever your thoughts it would be valuable to give your feedback to the people making the decision. The contact details for the football league can be found by clicking this link. It might also be worth lobbying Forest since presumably our dear decision makers will have a say in this scheme too - try copying in any emails to enquiries@nottinghamforest.co.uk.

It came as some surprise to track the Bristol City vs. Bradford game tonight and see Bradford run out 3-2 winners. That’s Bristol’s game in hand gone, and us a mere (a mere?) four points adrift of them. Sure, still a lot of work to do - starting on Saturday, but should we do the do against Gillingham, and Bristol continue to drop points (they have Crewe away on saturday) then we could be within a point of them - before we play them at the end of the month. Yeovil have a tricky home game against Blackpool too - interesting.

Perhaps Smoulds was right and there is a twist in this season’s tale - certainly I still maintain his assertion of a title challenge is rather overly-optimistic, but well, I guess I’d be equally critical if he came out and said “Well, we’ve spunked it haven’t we? We’ll be lucky to make the playoffs!” - if not more critical. So I’m still convinced he found Big Fat Joe’s final stash of mushrooms when rooting through the youth team personnel files, but perhaps there is a glimmer of hope that second place isn’t quite so far out of sight as it could have been.

Now, it’s down to our players to capitalise - and this is what worries me, because they’ve let us down so many times before, not least in losing the lead we once commanded, but also when chasing other teams who are slipping up - so whilst I’m slightly heartened by the massive favour that Bradford have done for us this evening, I certainly won’t be quantifying any poultry any time soon - if results go our way on saturday then I may allow myself a few celebratory beers, though! So a huge thanks to Paynter, Ashikodi and Schumacher - the Bantams three goal-scoring heroes this fine evening!

The only bugger of the evening was Derby’s late equaliser against QPR - and the fact that their automatic promotion chasing rivals weren’t able to capitalise, with Wolves and Birmingham losing on the night, with Sunderland merely scraping a draw at home to Stoke - bah! Still, it’s our league that counts for now, and that went swimmingly! Thank you very much Bradford, and may Crewe be blessed with a sublime performance come saturday!

Thinking about the forthcoming fixtures, the proverbial mountain we have to climb - the incredible turnaround in form we require, Smoulds was sitting at his desk.  He toyed with formations, cast his eye over a few potential younger players who may warrant a chance.  He reached to the very back of the personnel files and found a small brown paper package, marked “my inspiration”, in handwriting akin to Joe Kinnear’s.  He opened the package, and sampled the contents - before speaking to the Evening Post, it seems.

Because, dear friends, it appears that we are still harbouring hopes of winning the title!  Smoulds has been absolutely adamant, since we fell from our lofty heights, that there was due to be a twist in the tale of this season - alas, rather than mounting a challenge for the title or just second place (which would do me!) we look more like dropping out of the playoffs (heaven forbid!).  One thing I do agree with though, is that six points from our next two games are critical - Smoulds reckons the gap would be smaller after that, chances are it may be - but we must also beat Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

But of course it’s easy to say that “Oh yeah, we’ll get six points from the next two games, then it’s plain sailing!” - one of those games is against Gillingham, who I’m sure still have rather vivid memories of the day we dragged them into League One with us thanks to an Eugen Bopp thunderbolt.  I’m sure that they remember the glee the by then joyless Forest fans took in that “achievement” of relegating the Kent side.  I’m almost certain they’ll be more than happy to throw a spanner in the works given half a chance - it won’t be an easy game.  Still, keep taking the peyote, Smoulds, if it makes you feel more confident!!

Scunthorpe United - 1
Nottingham Forest - 1

I wasn’t expecting anything but a convincing defeat - so it perhaps is illustrative of my fickleness that I’m left disappointed when the lads battled to a point infront of a record crowd at Glanford Park. As we did so, Yeovil won - overtaking us on goal difference - as did Bristol City, lengthening the gap between us and them by an extra couple of points. This result puts a seriously large dent in our hopes of automatic promotion - unless we start winning, and crucially, win against Bristol City at Ashton Gate at the end of the month.

Forest went for it, and didn’t quite have enough in the tank to prevent Billy Sharp (who else?) equalising and leaving the Iron the much happier side. The goal came from an excellent ball over the top by Luke Chambers - making his starting debut - to Lester, who bravely held his ground against Scunny keeper Joe Murphy, the ball eventually falling for Commons to stroke into the net relatively easily - whilst Jack was left prone on the ground in what looked to be a serious injury - fortunately it proved not to be.

Meanwhile the referee was starting to show signs of what was to come - ie, Billy Sharp falls over, Billy Sharp gets freekick. Certainly on their run, Scunny aren’t accustomed to being behind and showed it with niggliness and unsporting behaviour all over the place. Unfortunately, once again, the referee wasn’t strong enough to deal with it - and handed out fouls and bookings like candy for many incidents that didn’t even appear to be fouls.

Lewis McGugan - moved out to the right for this game - looked impressive despite picking up one of the aforementioned harsh bookings, and perhaps offered glimpses of developing into a solution to our lack of width on the right. Chambers too behind him looked impressive despite playing slightly out of position, and Jack was the other stand-out player of the half for us, always lively and looking for opportunities - certainly his resurgent has been as pleasing as it has been perhaps surprising.

Half time came and Forest would deservedly have gone in very happy indeed, keeping Scunthorpe at bay and looking lively, but it was perhaps always inevitable that the second half would prove to be tricky - and so it transpired almost immediately, with McGugan messing up at the back allowing Sparrow to cross to Sharp to score the inevitable goal against us that he always seems to muster. For once he actually managed to stay on his feet during the game!

The second half was to prove largely Scunthorpes - they had numerous good chances, most notably a header from close range by Sharp that missed. Although Forest too had chances, the best falling to Lewis McGugan who struck it sweetly and brought a good save from Joe Murphy in the Scunthorpe goal. Scunthorpe were playing with a very high defensive line, but Agogo - who was largely quiet - didn’t seem to be able to break the offside trap, so was withdrawn for Tyson.

Unfortunately we never seemed to take advantage, the hardworking Lester was withdrawn too for Grant Holt - but ultimately there was no real chance of us regaining the advantage in the fixture leaving us to settle for a point. As I said before, I didn’t even expect a point - so ought to be happy now - but watching the teams around us win does rather take the shine from what has been a largely good performance - and brings into stark highlight how costly the godawful performance against Doncaster in midweek was. If we’d beaten Donny and drawn at Scunthorpe it would have been an excellent week’s work. As it is, we didn’t - and ultimately it wasn’t.

So well done Reds, a good performance against certainly the best team in the league to date - this must be carried on though, and converted to wins. In my view, every game is now a must win - we must beat Gillingham, we must beat Cheltenham - and that will set us up for our trip to Bristol. Obviously Bristol and Yeovil have other games to play, but I would think that we need to beat Bristol too, who are picking up form. Win our next three games and I might consider a slight spark of optimism, until then, I’m left fearing the playoffs - which I hear will be hosted at Wembley. Not that we’d reach the final anyway!

There’s a good deal of (justifiable) dischord and ranting going on around the message boards; and as always it comes down to the old chestnut of “things aren’t as good as we are expecting, so who can we blame for it?!” - it’s of course, a pasttime that football fans enjoy in times good as well as bad - but particularly bad times.  Despite acknowledging the reality check that we are, in fact, 3rd in the league and still in with a vague chance of promotion - only a fool would suggest this season has been - to date - anything other than disappointing.  Even David Johnson didn’t argue this morning on the radio when Forest were described as “a bit rubbish.”

So, for what it’s worth, let’s run down the hierarchy…

Nigel Doughty - largely a hands-off investor, I certainly think you could look into his history of recruitment and question it, although perhaps you could also question the frequency of managers he gets through.  That said, if he recruited the right people, he wouldn’t need to change them.  People cite lack of investment or ambition, but to sink millions into a team suggests otherwise - certainly should shoulder a share of the blame, but not the lions share.

Mark Arthur - arrived at Forest from Notts Cricket Club, arguably having completely buggered up Notts Cricket Club.  Runs Forest on a day to day basis - and has done so to take us to our joint lowest ebb in our history, indeed, if we don’t go up this season - it WILL be the lowest ebb in our history.  Personally (and admittedly, without being in full possession of the ins and outs of what happens at Forest), I place a large chunk of blame at Mark Arthurs door.  If any other business in any other industry had performed as badly as Forest then the CEO would be the first head to roll.

Colin Smoulderwood - a tricky one.  Can we really blame a manager for not stopping a rot that is several years old?  I don’t think so - certainly not after less than a year in the job.  I think it’s fair to say his inexperience has showed numerous times this season, be it tactically - or more prominently - during the January transfer window.  Most of his dealings were sensible, but to allow Nicky Southall to leave without having a replacement signed and sealed was incredibly naive, especially when the replacement allegedly was Matty Jarvis - from Gillingham - we’ve had experience of their dubious transfer practices before.  Of course, could it have been Mark Arthur’s department to sort that out?  Possibly.  Smoulds certainly shoulders some of the blame, but not as much as Arthur.

The players - my expectation levels of our players was fairly minimal.  I was disappointed that Smoulds didn’t come in and clear out a huge swathe of them to be honest, we have seen how our current crop are capable, and easily good enough to excel at this level - but the fact is, frankly some of them can’t be arsed.  They buckle under pressure, they don’t operate as a team, and in the majority of games don’t work hard enough (this is as a collective, of course, within the rough there are a few diamonds, I think).  I definitely think they deserve a big portion of blame.

The fans - what? us? us long suffering fans? Surely it can’t be our fault?!  And no, I don’t think it really is - although I do think that the negativity that engulfs the City Ground so readily is a negative influence.  Booing the side off at half time when still level at 0-0 is shameful behaviour from so-called supporters.  Whilst I concede it’s a minority, it sounds loud enough when it happens.  From now until the end of the season, I would urge fans to unite behind the team - whether they deserve it or not - because at least then we can say we did our job to the best of our ability.

My sketchy calculations apportion the blame thusly:

• 60% to Mark Arthur - he is the man in control of the day to day runnings, clearly this isn’t working - if there was an “Arthur out” campaign then I would sign up for it. 
• 20% to the players - they’ve let us down numerous times before without the personnel changing dramatically, I fully expect them to do it again. 
• 10% goes to Doughty - he has to take some blame, he appointed a series of questionable managers - and more damningly he appointed Arthur and allows him to continue his shambolic era in charge of the club.  1
• 10% to split between Smoulds and the fans.  Smoulderwood hasn’t convinced me yet, but I have hope that he will still, just.  The fans do get a share because, frankly, if our job is to support the team - we don’t do it very well sometimes.  Other times we are brilliant though.

Of course, this is just my ramblings - other fans I know believe Nigel Doughty to be part of the axis of evil, many will blame Smoulds, others the players - and frankly, since very few of us fans will ever be in full possession of the facts we can only suppose and second-guess who really is responsible for our demise, but it’s no surprise to me that since Mark Arthur took over we’ve followed a pattern not dissimilar to the one that the Cricket club followed during his era there - how do these people maintain well paid positions?  Who knows.

I’d be interested in readers’ views via the comments system.

Forest go into this game at Glanford Park very much the underdog, in my opinion.  Scunny are on a run of seven consecutive wins which has unsurprisingly seen them cement themselves to the top of the table, and look pretty much unassailable in their quest for the title - they’re unbeaten in fourteen, having won ten of them - whereas well, the least said about our recent run of form the better!  Of course, all good runs must end - so there is always a glimmer of hope.

We have Jack Lester available again - and after the passionless display against Doncaster a couple of days ago, I would certainly have him straight back in the team, David Prutton however remains an injury doubt with a thigh problem.  Hopefully Jack can inject some enthusiasm, trickery and creativity into the side and continue the decent run of performances he had mustered before yet another suspension took him out of the first team.  Sammy Clingan obviously won’t feature given his broken ankle!

Scunny could welcome back former Sadpie Ian Baraclough who hasn’t played since January, but it’s unlikely they’ll be too concerned about changing things around given their recent run of form.  As ever with the Iron, the man to watch is likely to be Billy Sharp - now officially League One Player of the Year, he’s banged in 24 goals this season, and always seems to find the net against us too.  That’s not to say the rest of the Scunny team aren’t to be sniffed at.  Playing infront of the biggest ever crowd at Glanford Park, they’ll all be very fired up for the game.

For Forest, this is an interesting game for them, because it’s the first time I think we’ve overtly been underdogs.  How the players respond to this is interesting, a defeat would perhaps have been acceptable had we not capitulated so pathetically against Doncaster - but now suddenly getting a result, and indeed, a win looks pretty essential to our chances of automatic promotion, yet nobody expects them to achieve it.  With Bristol winning the first of their games in hand over us, we’re looking worryingly destined for a playoff finish.

Scunthorpes run of excellent form is even more impressive when you consider they lost former-Red Brian Laws to Sheffield Wednesday, and influential striker Andrew Keogh in the transfer window - Nigel Adkins has done a brilliant job initially as a caretaker manager, and now full time in the role - having formerly been the club physio under Brian Laws.  We’ve yet to beat them in a league game - ever.  I can’t see that changing any time soon, sadly - as next season I have very real fears we’ll be in different leagues.  We’ve played them three times in the league, and lost three.

Of course, few of us will forget the 4-0 humbling we endured at the City Ground in October - indeed, many neutrals might also remember it as the Sky cameras were recording.  Billy Sharp was inspiring as he assisted two goals, before inevitably scoring the final goal in the dying moments.  He made his debut for Scunthorpe last season, against us, at the City Ground, and scored the winning goal - the man is a complete menace!  Maybe we should see if Bennett can “do a McGammon” on him early in the game (joke!).

Alas, I can only foresee defeat in this fixture - Scunthorpe are rampant and high on confidence, they work hard, close down and play neat passing football backed up with deadly finishing.  I’ve all but lost faith in our side’s ability to play under pressure - and now we really need to rack up the points I think the pressure coupled with the quality of the opponents will prove too much and result in a comfortable win for Scunthorpe to further consolidate their position at the top.  With Bristol playing at home to Brentford, and Yeovil playing Cheltenham away, there’s a very realistic possibility we’ll be down to fourth place by saturday night.