Confused? You soon will be

Which is why the last ten days or so have been mightily confusing for us Saddlers fans.

On Saturday, November 21 we went to Brentford in the league, failed to get out of the starting blocks and found ourselves a goal down and chasing the game. Fortunately we managed to get out of jail with another goal from Jona.

Tuesday, November 24 we produce what should have been a morale boosting performance with a 3-0 win against Oldham, while the Bees continued their struggle for form with another defeat at Wycombe.

Saturday, November 28 back at Griffin Park for a massive game in the cup. Having had a sighter a week earlier and with Brentford having to drop many of their numerous loanees, they should've been there for the taking.

You'd have thought that the boys would have indeed learned from their mistakes of seven days previously but sadly no. After a truly shocking first half, the damage was done and this time there was no comeback. Yet another unsatisfactory cup exit, further watering down of our once proud cup reputation and yet another kick in the teeth for the fans.

Usually I try to give players and management the benefit of the doubt. Generally they are an honest bunch of lads who try and do their best and have definitely progressed as a group this season.

Chris and Mart work under extremely limited conditions and there is a world of difference between where we are now and where we were this time last year in the dying embers of the Mullen regime.

However on Saturday, for the first time in a long time, I felt let down by the players and questioned the management. Commitment, attitude, desire, preparation all seemed to be lacking, and even a bitter cynic like me can't lay the blame at the board for that.

In fairness I could see why the more experienced Dwayne Mattis was preferred to Josh O'Keefe despite the latter's impressive debut against Oldham, but not why Josh didn't get a run out for at least the last 20 minutes as our central midfield had been so anonymous.

Also I couldn't work out why it took over 75 minutes to make any sort of change in personnel, especially as things were clearly not working for the starting eleven.

Equally perplexing, was the decision to only use one of the three permitted subs for tactical reasons; as was the call to swop an in-form striker for a guy without a goal in open play all season while overlooking the obvious talents of another striker who has done the business when called upon. (Thankfully at least Chris didn't come out with any 'I was trying to give him another game' nonsense to explain the Byfield substitution, thus avoiding any turnip comparisons.)

Judging by the post-match comments Hutch shared my disappointment with his players and we heard all the right noises about making amends against Yeovil.

Fast forward to 8.05 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1, 2-0 up at rainswept Huish Park (to give it its proper name) and clearly we had learned from our mistakes.

Yeovil have done ok recently, have a decent record at the Aquarium and should have benefitted from a free Saturday, so the 3-1 victory shouldn't be underestimated.

It was a mighty fine result, complete with Daza notching again, the obligatory Steve Jones contribution and a welcome goal for Big Sam, but the whole team deserve credit for lifting us to one point and one place off the Play-offs.

Well done boys.

But right now that's all it is – a place just outside the top six - and possibly for just a few days only. December's fixture list looks mighty tough to say the least.

There's the first Walsall-Southampton fixture since Stanley Matthews was a nipper, and you can forget their league position, they'll be in the shake up come May and with Ricky Lambert around we'll need to score at least twice to get anything at all out of Saturday.

We have difficult trips to fellow top eight sides Millwall and Bristol Roverrrs; before we entertain genuine promotion challengers Norwich and Charlton to end 2009 and then kick off the New Year.

Even the seemingly less daunting challenge of Orient at home isn't exactly a gimme when you bear in mind that the last time we beat the O's at home was the in last week of the Miners Strike.

And after all that January brings the twin challenge of Leeds away and getting through to the end of the month without the squad being decimated by greed, short-sightedness and a lack of ambition.

If certain people could try learning from their monumental mistakes of January 2008, then just maybe the season that looked dead and buried last Saturday teatime might at least end up on a life support machine.

The black tie's on standby just in case.