That hurt too much to post before now. A poor clearance and a player not followed cost us what should have been a 0-0 draw. Shame there was no Ohashi to have given the Dingles a hurry up at the back.

Toth, JRC, Buckley, Leonard and McFadzean are must starts in this one. Sadly the game comes at a time when the squad depth is tested by injuries so other players ordinarily we'd want to see given a run out are either already filling first team slots or in the treatment room.

Seems this Farsi loan with a view to permanent move has legs. It might mean the rumour a PL club is tracking Britain is true.

Eustace isn't the Yes man many feared he would be but equally I don't think he is JDT style bucket kicker either. So when every interview he gives currently includes JE talking about two or three signings to strengthen the squad, I am pretty certain the headless 8 in the Recruitment Department are working their socks off to deliver. Issues are budget for wages and fees and typical January non-availability. Almost certainly we will be in a chain or two of "you can't sign him until we have a replacement" and "let's see what injuries and suspensions we have on 30 January before deciding who can be loaned out"

Confident that despite 9 out of contention we have the best chance of beating the dingles since the last time we beat them 10/10. Confident we will have beaten them come the final whistle in the 100th minute... 5/10 Confident that Papa Gueye becomes a derby pantomime villain 10/10 - for us 5/10, for the dingles 5/10

Swag is reported as saying he is keen to follow the Brentford model. As a Championship side Brentford sold Watkins for 20m then bought Toney for 12m from Peterborough. Go on then... Oh and Brentford built a new stadium while they were about it.

Magnificent organisation by John Eustace carried out nearly flawlessly by the lads. It was poetry in motion watching Rovers move in unison holding our lines. A very proud point gained.

Ok so the posts elsewhere about Callum Britain being sold and BBD arriving on loan are wind ups. The Burnley signing from Denmark is apparently suspended for the game against us.

Donis certainly could shift. In that 5-0 debacle at Coventry he flew past everyone when we were only 1 down and Sutton only needed a simple lay-off and he was in. Unfortunately, Sutty was caught completely by surprise and didn't pass. Donis was crestfallen.

Whatever, he is very steadily improving in each game from what I am seeing of him.

If Hull hadn't had a problem with banjoes and bovine rear ends, they would have given PNE a real tonking on Boxing Day. New manager syndrome means the replacements for injured Tigers players will be seeing OPPORTUNITY when they step out at Ewood. Anything less than a fully motivated Rovers team will be courting problems. But a well set-up Eustace outfit deploying any 11 from the 18 or so fully fit first team squad should have too much for Hull if we maintain our normal chances to goals ratio. So a one or two goal margin the likeliest outcome but no foregone conclusion.

On a side note, that dingles win at Sheffield United looks ominous.

Excellent game against a team which is clearly one of the Championship best and Le Bris who really knows how to turn a losing side around at half time. Dolan was close to unplayable in the first half and his disallowed goal was hugely debatable. Enormous character to get that equaliser when on 80 minutes we looked a completely beaten team. Pears last minute save was as sensational as the Buckley air shot which set Sunderland up for that one on one was horrendous. The injury to Rigg looked bad and that could hamper Sunderland for many weeks. The near 25,000 crowd also gives grounds for hope that the playing side of Rovers will get the support it deserves in the second half of the season.

Looking at City, the difference this season is that they are playing Pep ball too slowly. Passes are not zipped around in the way which made them so potent. Fractions of time simply give opponents to be in position anticipating Pep stylled attacks. And whether he is a luxury or not, Haaland is now well enough known that he is being neutralised by opponents. Then their great players have aged together. Walker, de Bruyne, Bernardo, Gundogan have all gone sharly past their best.

Having just watched some Sunderland highlights they are very mobile up front and unlike us strike on sight. We will have to defend from the front much better than we did at Millwall. At the other end, their defence is not particularly secure. If we play Baker, I hope both he and Tronstad are encouraged to use their powerful shooting abilities.

Going to have to open the Darwen End Upper to Rovers supporters...

Huge test with the winning run punctured and key absences (that we know of- there may be more after the bruiser at the Den). Sunderland have that little matter of the 5-1 thumping at the Stadium of Light to exorcise before their noisy support. All three results a 33% chance by my reckoning with the 1% left over going on a postponement...

Millwall are extremely fit, knew exactly what to do to nullify us and have two extremely tricky and gifted forward players whom we couldn't take any liberties with. Cantwell had his most ineffective game since signing, ACD panicked when clean through and Eustace messed up his subs. Was particularly disappointed by what he must have failed to say at half time. Things needed changing but instead we got a repeat of the first half. Weather conditions and a ref who had forgotten his cards didn't help. Even so, it was very nearly an avoidable defeat. Now we face Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley with a crippled squad. There will be a lot of hurt bodies after that clash quite apart from missing Pickering and Travis.

This scrolls on as long as some Christmas songs

This great. Any incoming transfers are going to be a total surprise. Anyway back to the Ryan Hedges thread. I say give him a new contract to encourage the others...

Nobody seems to have clocked that a Hedges contract renewal creates a saleable asset. He might not be good enough for us but he's better than 50% of equivalent players in the Championship. If we sign the two players Swag will now be vilified for if we don't get, I expect Dolan will be sold at the end of the window.

The number of places available to the current front line players will be reduced by two sometime in January if JE and Swag are to be believed. That should focus minds in front of goal...

Mindset has to be we know what it takes to get the win. Now we have to go on the pitch and earn that win. It won't get easier because every club we face has all the technology and experienced brains working out how to stop the Eustace machine.

Maxwell Cornet and who else has been seriously linked?

Produce the performances which are now rolling off the production line and Millwall will have to pull a season best to beat us. Do what we did at Coventry.... First of 11 games in 41 days so let's keep yellows to a minimum, no red and hope all bodies and limbs are in one piece after a predictably bruising Championship encounter. Unlike Luton, Millwall are average sized so I am half expecting to see Dolan starting but providing there are no more midweek sniffles or training ground mishaps, Eustace has a very welcome selection dilemma in several positions. The bench should look awesomely strong.