In our first spell in the Premiership, we opened at home against local giants Liverpool, and the sam happened again this time around. That time, we shocked everyone with a 1-0 win, this time perhaps there was a little more expectation: we were no longer the unknowns who had risen from nowhere but an experienced Premiership side returning after a couple of years in exile. We started the game brimming with comfidence and attacking verve. Lee Martin, now 30 has not slowed down abit and he provided wave after wave of attack for Cables in the first half, eventually putting in the cross for Smith to give us the lead just before half time. After half time however, we collapsed, and Liverpool quickly went 2-1 up. My players struggled to find a way back into the game until very late on, when Fryatt nodded home an equaliser from a Vestergaard cross. Still, after our first half dominance I couldn't help but see it as two points dropped.
My aims going into the season were simply survival. We needed to build a strong foundation to build on in the Premiership. I thought I had achieved that last time only to have it taken away. This time I was determined to succeed, and I knew to do so it was imperative I keep the club afloat in the first season. After that, there would be more money to spend and I could focus on climbing the table, right now all that was important was getting enough points on the board to stay up.
In the early season, this was not going to plan. It took 5 games to get another point after the opening day point against Liverpool, as the team failed to achieve their potential. Certain players - Campos, D'Laryea, Hobbs, Smith - were performing well, but we were leaking goals, with new boy Bako proving more adept at attacking than defending, and Daniel Richards having a poor start to theseason, we were susceptible down the wings, and nobody managed to make the second centre back position their own, with Kuchar, Simeonov and Buncic all occupying it only to be dropped, which can only have disrupted the cohesiveness of the team.
We sat plum buttom of the league, and needed to improve fast if we were to avoid another relegation and the undoing of all our hard work.
| 
Linear Mode
