Keeping up with the Joneses

I’VE stressed so often this season that we need to put in good performances against the smaller clubs that I’m fed up of saying it now. Thankfully we put in an impressive shift at Upton Park on Sunday afternoon. Sadly, it still counted for nothing.

There’s an argument that, having had the better of Blackburn at the Stadium of Light and now West Ham in London, but losing both games, we’ve fared no better than our now famous gut-busting performances against the better sides. Ultimately, the signs are that we can fight it out with those at the bottom now, which is encouraging.

The worry, however, is that we’re still struggling to pick up points. The honeymoon period is almost certainly over and there’s no doubting now that in the short term at least we’re in for a dogfight.