Happy new year!

There were a number of reasons why I didn't travel to Palace yesterday, most of them to do with my hatred of the place and the journey you have to make to get there. I hate the stadium, the area, a lot of their fans, their new manager. The train journey to get to Selhurst Park can be a drag at the best of times, but when I saw that there were engineering works yesterday that interrupted the first part of the journey to Liverpool Street (see the local news today to find out how 'successful' the works were) I decided immediately to give it a miss. My last train journey to London on an 'engineering works' day (just a month ago) resulted in me and fellow passengers being stranded at Ipswich station on a sunday night while the morons who ran the place tried to find a bus to get us back to Norwich. If anyone from 'One' railways happens to read this - and happens to give a sh*t - I still haven't had a reply to my letter asking for a refund. Hopefully nobody who reads this had similar problems yesterday, though it seems a bit much to ask.

Anyway, to those who did go (and hopefully you all got there......) it seems that you saw another encouraging performance and a positive start to the new year. Another away point, another goal from midifeld. Seven games unbeaten, now - how many of us saw that coming a couple of months ago? Not many of us, though it's funny how a lot of people are now saying different. ("Oh, I always thought he'd turn it around like this etc etc". No, you didn't. None of us did.) Of course, it's a bit frustrating that a couple of the draws couldn't have been turned into wins, particularly after the way we played against Charlton and the fact that we were ahead at half-time yesterday. But, I think we would have taken draws before the games, especially yesterday. Palace has not been a happy hunting ground for us in recent times and I'd personally take a point and run. Our chances of keeping Evans and Pattison look pretty good. I can't imagine that Sven has young Ched in mind to be a first team regular (yet) and he would surely be happy for him to stay here until the end of the season to get some more games under his belt. Pattison, meanwhile, wants to come and here's hoping that the deal can be done quickly. Keeping these players who have done so well for us and keeping the momentum going is the key now. Camara is not so clear cut - it depends on whether Derby's new boss considers him part of his plans. With Drury out, and with Camara having overall done very well for us, let us hope there are no complications or let-downs on this one. The last thing we need is for Roeder to have to start looking for another left-back, or having to rely on Lappin in that position again. I have nothing against Lappin, however he is more suited to an attacking role - at full-back, he has looked decidedly vulnerable.

So, overall, the prospects for the new year are a lot better than we thought they would be in early November. There's a lot still to do and we're still in a perilous position in the table. But whereas, just a few weeks ago, relegation looked a certainty and we didn't know where the hell our next win was coming from, there are now reasons to be cheerful. Happy new year to anybody who reads this.