It’s drinking at the Last Chance Saloon time tomorrow. The home defeat to Bristol Rovers, at any other time of the season, could have been put down to “one of those things”. One of those results you get every now and again when your strikers aren’t functioning well and the ref is a total wazack (to say the least), but it was all too late for that. We were in a position where we couldn’t afford to have “one of those nights”. The decision of, presumably, the Chairman not to invest at least some of the cash from the sale of Danny Fox in a proven goal scorer (either in fees or wages) looks to have cost us dearly, along with Michael Ricketts’s agent not realising that four months (albeit low) wages from us is better than nothing from anyone. Still, we aren’t completely out of it yet and Leeds do look vulnerable, having themselves lost on Tuesday and struggled to get three points last Saturday against Carlisle.

Ian Roper has a broken foot, courtesy of that appalling “tackle” from Gillespie at Cheltenham and Boertien is still absent with his broken toe. Both are now going to be out for the rest of the season.

The injury news gets worse than that, however.

Darren Wrack and Stefan Moore are both out with the calf problems they have been suffering from, Mark Bradley had a virus on Tuesday and is unlikely to be fit, while Alassane N’Dour has knee and hip injuries picked up against Bristol Rovers and is doubtful.

Just like mid week, it looks as if we will be fielding whoever is still standing. Expect something like:

Ince, Weston, Smith, Gerrard, Taundry or Sansara, Nicholls or Sonko, Sonko or Taundry, Dobson, Holmes, Mooney, Betsy.

As for Bournemouth, Danny Hollands is back in midfield after a calf injury and long-serving defender Neil Young has overcome an ankle problem, while midfielder Marvin Bartley is likely to be out with a knee injury.

They do have plenty of firepower, with top scorer Jo Kuffour, promising youngster Sam Vokes and former Saddlers loanee Lee Bradbury still doing a job.

Predictions?

Bournemouth go into the game in 22nd position in the table, six points from safety. The main reason for that, however, was the ten point deduction they suffered as a result of going into administration. Even that doesn’t tell the whole story, though, as they have taken a massive 15 points out of the last 18 available, winning at Swansea and beating Bristol Rovers at home in the process.

What with our injury problems and the lack of form of the strikers, I have some real fears about this one. Heart says a win and keeping the impossible dream going a little longer, head says a draw.

Leeds, by the way, are at Millwall, who are in a decent run of form at the moment including wins at Hartlepool and Swansea.