Don`t raise the white flag

I did warn you. I told you not to look. We`re bottom of the pile now, I`m reliably informed. You cannot say I didn`t warn you. I did say not to look until April.

Today`s match marks the start of our three match run – hopefully a run of wins but certainly of home games.

Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff and then H*ll all winnable games, although with our current form you could be forgiven for holding back on your optimism.

Someone at Layer Road has run over a black cat, whilst walking under a ladder holding an upside-down horseshoe. I know you can only blame bad luck for so much but our recent fortunes have summed things up.

Geraint must have thought he`d turned the corner as he finally gets his hands on a £1m+ striker. Izale McLeod (iMac to his friends) comes over from Charlton to link-up with his old mate Clive Platt.

Two sub appearances later and his knee implodes. The fact that his current recovery date is around the same as Eduardo`s tells you all you need to know about the seriousness of the injury.

We`re back as we were. So what do we do, give up? If you didn`t do as you`re told (you never do) and have been sneaking peaks at the table the cause does look a little hopeless.

Great expectations

It all comes down to what you expect from your team.

Your team`s 3-0 down and the cause looks lost. Despite that tiny voice, deep (deep) down saying ‘We could still win this.` you`re expecting to lose but with, at the very least, some fight from your team.

That`s the English way, right? Which do you want? Liverpool-esque: “How many? 3-0 down to AC Milan? Pah?” or Roma style “How many? 3-0 down at Old Trafford. What`s the point? May as well lose 7-1..” Ok, we don`t have Steven Gerrard but the point remains the same.

I`m tempted to say: Until we`re mathematically down I expect us to fight for every point. The truth is I expect more than that. Even if we`re condemned in April I expect us to fight until the last game. For the sake of pride, if nothing else.

But until that time I`m still a long, long way from giving up.

Three games in a row at home. Nine points. If we can get all of them things will look very different. Plus we`d only be two games away from the end of March and by then I`d permit you to look at the table again!

It could go one of two ways: even my rose-tinted specs may be knocked skewif or we could still be in there, fighting like bulldogs with that flame of hope, flickering but not yet extinguished.

You`re a fan right? Fan the flame of hope! We`re Col U! We never surrender! Show the lads we`ve not given up, so nor should they. Cheer the team on to that miraculous recovery we all hope for. Maybe it could just be another great chapter in the U`s story.

Don`t raise the white flag – raise the blue and white one!