CET Article 6

By CovSid67
February 2 2007

Just how big was the against win Luton? For a team so badly off form (Us and them!), and with confidence so low, this really was a six-pointer (Despite the fact Mickey Adams said there's no such thing!) - especially with the bottom three all winning on Tuesday too.

Our next four fixtures: Sunderland away; Cardiff at home, Leicester away; and Southampton at home, are all lose-able, so we've at least given ourselves a bit of breathing space.

Somebody once made ' I saw Harry (Brian Roberts) Score' badges, and, after Tuesday's result, I'm almost tempted to see if I can make a profit selling 'I Saw Luke Steele Keep A Clean Sheet' badges! He's conceded an average of three goals a game since re-signing. While the faults might not lay just at his door, I'll be disappointed if we don't bring in another keeper should Marshall not be back soon.

I bumped into somebody at half-time verus Luton that said: 'You got your wish then, with Adams going'. He was wrong. I would rather Adams had stayed and been a success, but I've been a football fan long enough to recognise when somebody has gone past the point of no return, and Adams had. The rumoured £300,000 pay-off isn't a bad reward for such a dismal season though, is it?

My only disappointment was that he didn't go a game earlier, as getting rid of him before the Bristol City replay might have added a few thousand to the attendance, and might have affected the result. That said, the team that faced Plymouth looked every inch a Mickey Adams side, so maybe we would have lost to Bristol anyway.

The lack of a cup run has probably cost us much needed funds for transfers, and with the window about to close, I can't see us bringing in a crowd pleaser, or anybody that will boost attendances. For that reason, it's imperative that we get Thornton fit, and ready to play for the first team from the start - he is as positive a player as we have at the club.

Hughes should be the inspirational player in the side, but for me he's still not. It will be interesting to see if the new boss can get the best out of him, or whether they will merely be added to the list of 'tried and faileds'. I still can't work out what he brings to the side!

As for out-going players, if we really did get £250,000 for Stern John, this is a superb piece of business. Add that to £500,000 we got for Scowcroft last summer, and you have to wonder how our club could possibly be in such debt, getting such decent amounts for players that seem to have little value!

SJ will almost certainty score on Saturday, but if it isn't him, it will be another Sunderland player. Apologies for sounding negative, but to get a result at the Stadium Of Light, we need to go full confidence, which I doubt we will on the back of a mere one win in seven weeks, and that against a poor Luton side.

Quite were our season goes from here is anybodies guess, with three of the first names on the team-sheet either gone or possibly going (Thanks to Doyle and Page's fall-out). Let's hope this is the making of us, not the breaking of us, as dropping into League One is unthinkable.