Exactly. And then it turned in the second half at Wigan. Completely turned.

So in the end, it wasn't 94/5 at all. It was 97/8. When a squad chronically lacking in real quality scraped and scratched their way to a solid mid-table spot around Xmas - before plummeting downhill and gradually sending everyone into a panic.

Into March, I started looking at what winnable home games we had left: who did we still have to face who were crap away, and/or on the beach? West Brom. But we only drew 1-1. Bradford. But we unbelievably went 0-3 down, lost 2-3, and looked in dire trouble. But then, at Bramall Lane, after being in the relegation zone at half time (and at half time on Tuesday night, only GD was keeping us out of it), a fantastic comeback gained us an enormous point... and suddenly everything changed.

We went straight in and won our next home game 5-0 - then added another 5-0 for good measure. It was as though the slide had all been a mirage. But it hadn't; it had got very, very hairy indeed, as it did again this season. Eventually, things turned our way. Thank God for that.

Posted By: thebigfeller, May 12, 20:07:03