The weird vagaries of the fixture computer see us off to play our first game of the season against Yeovil tomorrow night, despite us having played some teams twice already!

The problems that a Cup run can cause you when you have a small squad are certainly being amply demonstrated at the moment. With Tommy Mooney missing on Saturday for the Millwall game and Michael Ricketts going off early with an injury, we ended up with two teenagers up front for the majority of the game. Despite all of the pressure we exerted and the chances we created, we just couldn’t take any of them.

With Peter Sweeney now looking to have been snapped up by Leeds United, not even the return of Anthony Gerrard for the re-arranged game at Yeovil makes the prospect that enticing, as we try to extend the unbeaten run and consolidate that top six position, and Richard Money will be desperately hoping for the return of some of the injured players.

There is no advance news as yet as to the fitness or otherwise of Boertien, Dobson, Ricketts and Mooney, but, if we expect the worse, I’d be looking for a 4 4 2 of:

Ince, Weston, Gerrard, Dann, Taundry or Fox, Brittain, Wrack, Bradley, Fox or Demontagnac, Deeney, Nicholls.

If any of the four are fit, then Ricketts and Mooney both would come straight in and I would also expect Boertien to fill the left back berth if he’s fit enough to play, with Fox moving into midfield.

As for Yeovil, one player who should be missing is their influential midfielder Darren Way, who has returned to Swansea following the end of his loan spell, but they should have a reasonably clean bill of health, having had a free weekend.

Predictions?

Yeovil Town are in a reasonable run of form at home, having won four and lost two of the last six, scoring 10 and conceding 7. It was that run of form that put manager Russell Slade in with a chance of the December Manager of the Month, along with Richard Money, of course.

The Saddlers, broke their sequence of win, draw, win, draw, with the Cup Tie against Millwall, but that was at the end of a 15 match unbeaten run. Although the Saddlers have found goals hard to come by at times , they just haven’t been letting them in at the other end.

Yeovil are just outside the playoff positions, with 35 points from their 24 games so far, while Walsall’s total of 37 points from their 24 games sees them sitting in the playoff places.

All in all, this one just looks too close to call.

I was getting sick and tired of the misplaced sympathy being dished out to Leeds at the beginning of the season over their 15 point deduction.

Football always has this tendency to look after its own – even when they have proved themselves unworthy and Leeds are just a case in point.

What that fifteen point deduction did was just engender a “siege mentality” which enabled them to go on that long winning run at the start of the season. What it meant, in terms of a punishment, was precisely nothing.

You see, what you have in Yorkshire at the moment are a lot of small to medium sized businesses who have received a paltry sum in recompense for what they were owed, while football looks after itself, by making sure that football debts are honoured in full.

So, what happens as soon as the January transfer window opens? This football club, despite that fact that, in its previous incarnation, it still owes millions to people who can ill afford to lose the money, goes out and acquires or makes bids for no fewer than six players in the first six days of the month. They are:

Peter Sweeney, Daniel Fox, Hull defender Damien Delaney, Finnish winger Sebastian Sorsa, Birmingham midfielder Neil Kilkenny and Northampton midfielder Bradley Johnson.

When Leicester City managed to get promotion after going into administration, the ten point deduction was introduced, supposedly to stop it happening again. It’s obvious now that the strategy is something of a busted flush, which leaves only one option as far as I’m concerned. The League should either act now to change the rules to immediate relegation for teams in this position, or end the bias in favour of footballing debts.

I suppose the one consolation from all of this is that Leed’s form since Gus Poyet has left suggests that they might not go up yet!

STOP PRESS: Make that seven as Luton Town forward Dean Morgan has announced he’s signed a deal with Leeds, after scoring twice as a loanee for Southend on Saturday.

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