They do say that you learn more from a defeat than a victory.

From the two games against Birmingham, Billy Davies will have learnt a fair deal about his squad as a whole and also about some of the individuals within it.

He will have learnt that even against the ‘form team’ of The Premiership – the squad is capable of playing quick, attractive and penetrative football.

He will have learnt that there is some strength in depth in all areas of the squad to cover should an injury crisis appear.

These are all positives that Billy and his backroom team can take from these games. Further positives are: Moussi providing cover for McKenna. Perch for Gunter. Cohen for Shorey (but please sign him permanently!). Chambers for Wes/Wilson. He will have also seen a great positive that Adebola can still do an effective job at the higher level.

But it is the negatives that will have provided Billy with the greatest of learnings. He will now know for sure that at this stage of their careers, McGoldrick, McGugan and McCleary aren’t quite ready to be regular starters and have some way to go to realise their massive potentials.

He will have realised that Tyson will not ‘cut it’ as either a striker or winger at a higher level, and be nothing more than an impact player in The Championship. Also, don’t doubt that the failure to convert a plethora of chances will have taught Billy that he needs another quality striker at the club alongside Earnie and Dex.

These are key learnings at this stage of the season. I would hope that Messrs Doughty and Arthur have also learnt that the current squads depth and quality is not sufficient to compete at Premiership level, and that they allow Billy to strengthen accordingly both now, in the January Window and in the Summer – regardless of which league we are in.

Key lessons indeed.