This season has been a little tense and to be honest, despite the Championship drawing all the praise for its keenly fought contest, the football has been generally average. From an outsider's viewpoint it is marvellous to see eight teams fighting for the riches that await on Sky's Boulevard of Bonus Dreams. There are a couple of others trying to gatecrash the end of season shake up and the way the top group are performing it shouldn't be too difficult a task.
The football is poor though. Isn't it? I know the jockeying for positions and the importance of the result etc but the general standard of games has been quite low and I fear for the following season for whoever gets promoted. Ok I know there will be new signings and a potful of cash and a lot of the players now will remain behind at this standard but, as we proved, simply bringing in more talented players on a huge wage does not guarantee survival.
It seems that no one wants to win the title and then everyone wants to win it. If only the Blues had done the time honoured tradition of beating the teams in the lower half of the table, there because they are amongst the worst teams in the division, then we would be almost safe by now. As it is this damn league is going to the wire and whilst the neutrals will love the drama unfolding before them I'm not too sure how long our hearts can hold out.
A lot of us will have experienced these end of season dramas before but normally they are at the other end of the table! We don't have much knowledge of the top end and this is manifesting itself in our nervousness. It's ok Steve Bruce telling us that everything is copacetic, but I could do without the aggravation.
Hands up who expected Julian Gray to start against the Baggies? Clearly he is an obvious candidate to replace McSheffrey on the left wing and Lord knows we have demanded round pegs in round holes but his performances always leave you feeling that he has so much more to give. We have all heard the motivational speeches with the General urging his troops to come off the field of battle having given everything and to have no regrets. I think Julian Gray wears his iPod when the words are spoken.
One nil down and a man down though I guess a draw was more than we could have expected. Hands up who would have bet on Captain DJ to get the equaliser?
Probably in our current melancholy state we expected the usual strange kick off time against Coventry (not so abnormal these days!) to produce the customary pitiful Blues performance especially after the other big contenders had won on Saturday. Cunningly though, in a game scheduled perfectly for television, the match was not shown live. This beautiful piece of chicanery fooled everyone and enabled the boys to spank the Sky Blues from down the M6 by a handsome three goals.
Jaidi scored with a header that went further than most of us can kick a ball. From a corner as well. We have actually scored more goals this season from corners than in the last twenty campaigns. Fact. Probably.
At one nil in this year of scoring in ones and nils (if it is possible to score in nils!) it seemed that the scoring was finished from our point of view especially with the profligate Jerome being unable to hit the entrance of a large farm building from a short distance. The only fear was that Coventry would have their obligatory late chance and we would curse the loss of two points. Brucie, bless him, suddenly spotted DJC warming up and remembered he had an alternative. DJC, entered stage left, and then promptly scored within minutes to settle the match. Just to ensure that everyone remembered him he volleyed home his second and our third from Nafti's cross.
Happy days and the promotion pack shuffled round again. We still have some tough games ahead and need to beat the teams at the wrong end of the table. We must win. It would be terrifying to have to go to Preston and need some points. My poor heart.
Keep right on. All the way to the cardiac unit.