Review of the month - March brings more hope
30/03/04 | by Adam Gray

March has been an interesting month for the Reds. Despite the shambolic display against Derby, we have looked good enough to remain in the First Division, and the very encouraging home wins against Crystal Palace and Crewe have added fuel to our claims for a place in this league next year.

Joe Kinnear is obviously confident that our objective can be achieved, and whatever he has been saying to the squad (with the obvious exception of the Derby game, where you don’t need me to tell you how pathetic we were) has been getting into the players’ heads. There have been times where the football has not been pretty, but for the most part it has been effective, and after all, it’s results that count, especially when you’re down at the bottom at this stage of the season. 

I had been saying for about two or three months before the Derby clash that whoever lost it would be going down. Although I was obviously gutted at the result, I no longer believe my earlier statement, especially now Kinnear has managed to bring in two more loan signings on deadline day - Everton keeper Paul Gerrard, and Paul Evans, the Bradford midfielder. Both made very impressive debuts on Saturday against Crewe and proved that they are up for the challenge. 

They say all you have to do is win your home games, so to extend our unbeaten home run to five games is an encouraging sign of things to come. If we can keep that going for the rest of the season then we should be fine – just six defeats from twenty all season - but I would like us to start putting in some better performances away from the City Ground. Four wins from nineteen this season is part of the reason why we are in trouble in the first place.

I will now take this opportunity to give out my usual awards:

Player of the Month
I am going to give this to Gareth Williams this month. Basically this is because I have been pleased by the way in which he has adapted to his new role in Kinnear’s team. He has also scored three goals which made him joint top scorer for the month with Gareth Taylor. 

Goal of the Month
I will give this one to Andy Reid for the second goal against Crystal Palace. Lovely build-up play from the right, which led to Reid putting it away in the corner with ease.

Performance of the Month
I certainly know which game won’t win this, but the less said about that the better.
It goes to the victory against Crewe. It was a vitally important game for us after the previous Saturday, and we proved that we were still up for the fight with a comfortable win.

Idiot of the Month
This month’s winner is the linesman who cost Johnno - who we are all delighted to see back by the way - a perfectly good goal against Burnley, and two more valuable points in our fight to stay up.


What does April bring? Big games against Sheffield United, Preston and Ipswich away, and Stoke and Millwall at home. None of those away games are particularly easy, so it is vital that we can take the pressure off them somewhat with the sort of home performances that will send signals out to our relegation rivals. 

We end March in 16th place, on 45 points, and I am confident that this total, as well as the points from these five games, will be enough to secure safety at the end of the season. But don’t expect it to be straightforward!

E-mail me with any comments at adamgray50@hotmail.com