By CovSid67
August 25 2007

Well, Iain Dowie promised to sort out the goal scoring problem, and, so far so good! Six strikers off the mark already, no slip-up in the Cup, unbeaten .... yet still I'm slightly disappointed with our start! I'm sure Hull thought the same about us, but if we have serious designs on a Top 6 finish, they are the sort of side that we have to beat. I guess it shows our start to the season has been noticed if they were employing tactics which means the ball was out of play (Or the game was stopped), and less likely to do them damage, far more than it was in. Our record against them recently has been seven victories out of the last eight matches played, but sadly it was our 'second game of the season jinx' that reduced that to seven from nine. For the record, our third game of the season since relegation isn't much better, winning once in seven attempts - and last season we lost our third game of the season 1-0 away to Cardiff! Saturday's match showed up a couple of weaknesses in the side with our defensive errors creating Hull's main scoring chances. The return of McNamee (Who really would be classed as the cliched 'like having a new signing' if he could stay clear of injury for a season) and De Zeeuw should help turn us into a more solid looking unit, though we possibly still lack that creative spark in midfield. We obviously can't win every match, but the fact four points out of six isn't enough shows the faith I have in Iain Dowie and Tim Flowers leadership, and the potential of the squad! Tougher tests lie ahead in the coming weeks, and it would be a good idea to properly join in frm the first minute of matches, as the story of the season so far is that the half-time team talk seems to bring about much improved second 45 minutes! There are far to many of our bogey sides in the Championship, and this season we really have to set about ending some of our poor records against these teams, including: no wins in five against Crystal Palace; no wins in six against Preston; no wins in eight against Leicester; and no wins in far to many against Ipswich. They represent around a sixth of our seasons fixtures, and a potential 24 points. Carry on as we have over recent seasons, and 'Operation Premiership' will have to happen in its third season.... There's not long until the transfer window closes, and it will be interesting to see if anybody else comes in, or anybody leaves. We have been linked with Paul Dickov, but I think we seem to be OK in the striker department! Another right-back seems like a good idea, because unless McNamee's injury record massively improves, we will probably spend to much of the season playing square pegs in round holes - again.... More interesting are the suggestions that the potential takeover could be nearing its conclusion. It seems most clubs in the top couple of divisions have been through, or are going through, a takeover, but none seem to have taken as long as ours. By the time ours is (Hopefully) completed, Newcastle might have gone through their second since talk of our started! Once again the subject of the rail link is in the news, and I really hope those who are responsible for deciding matters such as whether a stadium that has inadequate parking and not enough buses should be given a station, use some common sense. There's no doubt it is needed, and can only help boost attendances on matchdays. The stadium is predominantly used for football, yet it's the Jehovah's Witness convention (Reported by the local papers as housing 30,000 people) that has come closest to filling the stadium!