After a quite frankly guff few days, I was hoping (on my 40th birthday no less) that the team would serve up a present.
Sure enough, the result went the right way, and whilst it was a bang average gane between two out of form teams, there were moments of hope.
And when Ruffs put Madine through in the dying seconds...well...it was all set to be the icing on a particularly turdy cake.
But lo and behold...all the composure Madine showed in his first goal disappeared and he served up the gift.
Whilst the squad gets fitter, some improved (Long, Sykes) and some with work to do (Ruffs, Holland), but the result was more important. And listening to Zaki on Radox beforehand serve up a batch of absolute drivel suggests there are plenty of fundamental problems to fix.
Psychologically though, the win was vital. A loss today following the deadline day fails would have been tough to take.
Onwards and upwards.