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together and if we could only do the same we’d survive. It’s looking like a big ask, though, as despite some of the new signings looking promising, we continue to give daft goals away. The news of Ruiter’s lay-off was greeted with joy in some quarters but he’s better than Steele at any rate. Another member of the dwindling faithful told me I was mad to be going to the match today but I like a day out on the train and I can’t help but live in hope that we’ll get a few good results...one day. Actually the last four games I’ve attended we’ve had three draws and a win so let’s hope my luck continues. Burton and Hull have tough away games today while Barnsley are in a Yorkshire derby so even a draw today could move us in the right direction. Match prediction: 1-1.
I got into Bristol Temple Meads Station at 1.15 and as there was a heavy drizzle and Ashton Gate was a forty- minute walk away I jumped in a taxi. The driver dampened my spirits somewhat by informing me that Bristol City were in a play-off position. As my gaze has barely risen from the nether regions of the Championship table for a long long while I wasn’t aware of that. I arrived just as our team coach was pulling round the corner to enter the stadium complex and I gave them the double thumbs up but whether anyone behind the darkened glass noticed this I don’t know. I walked round to see the squad disembark and, apart from Catts who had a bit of a smirk on his face, what a miserable-looking bunch they were. They looked like they were skulking into an appearance at Teesside Crown Court and the Bristol City equivalent of myself, who was standing next to me, wondered
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