Was it a false dawn we witnessed in the second half at Barnsley or the beginning of a mini-revival? Only time will tell but having seen what the Blues can do when they find some form is certainly room for encouragement.

It was of course a game of two halves last Saturday in front of the Sky cameras. Town's first half display was as bad as anything we have seen all season and yet after the break they excelled beyond all expectations and probably produced their best football to date.

Having lost their last seven games on the bounce, one has to ask, but where did that performance come from? Was it something in the half-time cuppa that made the difference or Paul Jewell's implied letter of resignation?

Whatever it was, Town came out with all guns firing and an early goal after the interval certainly helped. But that was not all. The team gelled for the first time in a long time and everyone played their part.

The quality of the passing and the nature of the goals had us all scratching our heads in amazement and for good reason. It showed us that when everything clicks into place we can do the business and in such an emphatic way!

The reality of course is that we are probably clutching at straws. Our defence is as vulnerable as ever and with the impending departures of Danny Collins and Keith Andrews we will probably have to start all over again.

What makes it even more frustrating is that once more so many contracts are up for renewal and although Paul Jewell has suggested that it is not always a bad thing to keep players on their toes, there is a real risk of déjà vu here. We are still suffering to some extent from last season's play-aways Norris and McAuley leaving the scene on free transfers and we must ensure this does not occur again.

That said some of the players whose contracts are almost up are perhaps not worth keeping. Some would argue that Carlos Edwards,Ivar Ingimarsson, Tamas Priskin and Grant Leadbitter are not up to it anyway and we need to find fresh blood to rejuvenate our team. Simon Clegg must address this situation in earnest though. He has to finally prove his worth.

Whether there is light at the end of the tunnel or even a tunnel to dig ourselves out of, is still very much open to debate but at least Sky Televison must have been impressed with last week's epic encounter! They may even be thinking of featuring Town game more often because in just three games this term they have witnessed a staggering 19 goals!

Not always so good for Town supporters though as more than half of them have been scored against us, which says everything you need to know about our leaky defence I suppose.

Let us hope and I do mean HOPE that this is the beginning of a new dawn. If Town beat Derby at home on Saturday, then we could go on a bit of a run again. This season is one of massive transition and acquiring so many new faces and loanees has just added to our woes. Only time will tell if the tide has turned but turn it must if Paul Jewell wants to stay at the helm for long.

On a personal note I genuinely want this to happen but football can be very cruel and there is sadly no room for sentiment in the modern game. Let me end by taking this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and if Town can gain some inspiration from that second half display at Barnsley then it could turn out to be more memorable than ever before!

sonian_blue added 09:58 - Dec 14 I share your HOPE 'pessimistic' but am not optimistic. One swallow does not a summer make and in this case 45 minutes of football wont get us very far. We have had 6 weeks worth of 'easier' and certainley winnable fixtures yet contrived to lose almost all of them. With tougher assignments on the horizon and without probably the better loanees we have, I fear this season will be a relegation battle. Unless of course...........Jewell Out Now Happy Festive period Pessimistic.

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salforduniblue added 10:15 - Dec 14 Don't think we've ever recovered from McAuley leaving. Despite his lack of pace the fact that he's now doing an (occasional) job in the prem shows just how good he was for us at this level. Him and Collins would have been one mean partnership
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tractorboy2434 added 10:52 - Dec 14 Far, far too early to say if things have improved, let's take stock after Sat, another defeat and the vultures will be circling.
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irishtim added 12:20 - Dec 14 Bring mcauley back on loan
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Jewell_do added 15:45 - Dec 14 The contract situation is mental. Once was bad enough but twice is unforgiveable. Clegg and Evans really need football men upstairs to guide them. If we somehow stay up it is yet another summer of 7 in, 7 out. We have been doing this since 2009 and this why I'm certain we are down.
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saffronblue added 16:22 - Dec 14 To be fair, pretty much all of those whose contracts are up are not really worth keeping, possibly with the exception of Scotland. I agree it's frustrating having to rely on loan players who then go back but that is a reality of life in the Championship especially as funds appear to be tight and we did sign a few decent players in the summer. Hopefully PJ has another couple of targets in mind come January.

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Jewell_do added 16:42 - Dec 14 Scotland, Sonko, Carson and Hyam worth keeping. Currently lining up in August will be.... ALB Cresswell Whight Delaney ??? Martin Bullard ??? ??? JET Chopra A complete mess we haven't even got 11 pros to start the new season right now. This club cannot go on like this.
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llewej_tuo added 17:48 - Dec 14 " Was it a false dawn we witnessed " --- YES 45 mins of good football after 630 mins of miserable rubbish. At least clowno jewell has another new club record of the clubs worst run since 1994 !!! JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT
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Jewell_do added 19:20 - Dec 14 I dont want Jewell out. We need to give him at least 100 games to show what he can do (K**ne had 88) A lot of people forget just what a mess Keane left. Klug was sacked (disgusting) refused to offer contracts. Worst football ever played at PR. Spunked £10m. Etc etc etc. I admit Jewell has had some howlers but two reasons why we should keep him....we score plenty and he still has a 43% win record so far. The likes of Bullard and Leadbitter buck their ideas up and we might do well. The window coming up is the most important in the history of this club. Get it wrong and we're down. 2 x CB, RB and a LW please.

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Jesney_Havoc added 22:15 - Dec 14 No
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llewej_tuo added 07:58 - Dec 15 " I admit Jewell has had some howlers " --- some !!he has a 43% win stat from the 22 he didnt loose, thats rubbish Keanes record --- 88 games, lost 28 Jewells record so far --- 45 games, lost 23 now work out those loss stats, does not look good does it
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Pessimistic added 09:00 - Dec 15 You are of course right IIewej tuo but perhaps you could enlighten us further because I would also be interested to know of the 88 games under Keane and 45 under Jewell, how many did we actually win? Lots and lots of draws under the Irishman I seem to recall so are we being a little economical with the truth here? Remember that with the three points for a win system a draw is almost as bad as a defeat and if you drew all you games in the Championship you still would not get into the play-offs. With the old system when it was only two points for a win and one for a draw, you probably would have done.

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Tractorboy24 added 10:41 - Dec 15 Pessimistic, never mind the playoffs, if you drew every game in the championship you would be down. Generally 50 pts isn't enough to stay up, but agree with the sentiment, whilst keane didn't lose as many games, this was because keane set up not to lose! At least under jewell we've gone into games trying to win, albeit we've not had as much success. We had a club record number of draws in a season in his first season, under jewell I don't think we've had 5!

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Jewell_do added 11:19 - Dec 15 Anyone trying to defend Keane is an absolute clown and must get a kick out of seeing blokes kill this club. Jewell never had Norris, Wickham and McAuley, was given only £3m to replace them and has now been told by Clegg and co not to offer contracts again. He also didnt spunk £10m on the likes of Leadbitter, Priskin, Edwards.... Keane set this club back 4 years. Its disgusting that people can't see that.

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Kropotkin123 added 22:12 - Dec 15 Yeah, it is a false dawn, I think we will have a few more false dawns... that said I don't think we will go on runs of defeats as long as we have done this time. This run has been a wake up call to many. January will be interesting. Whilst I don't think we should 'buy our way out of our situation' I think we do still need to invest in some players. A decent CB and RB would go some way to improving our situation I'd like to see these players form the basis of our first team, playing week in week out, allowing them to form decent partnerships. Wright Creswell Sonko Collins (Replace by a defensive leader, someone you would want to make the captain) Edwards (replaced by young RB like Hunt) Martin Bullard/Bowyer Andrews Carson Scotland Chopra

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llewej_tuo added 16:14 - Dec 16 "At least under jewell we've gone into games trying to win" So enlighten me, is it better to setup to win and get humiliating defeats week in week out OR setup to be hard to beat and maybe suffer draws instead .. Keane was unlucky with the draw run, what he didnt do was try to play nice football with mediocre players that cant. The reault of that is what we are seeing now, heavey defeats and lots of them !! JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT JEWELL OUT

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