One day to go till Wolves

I'm very excited, it’s like the countdown to Christmas all over again, except without the annoying Alan Hansen Morrisons adverts (seriously, who advised him to do those?).

Plenty of good news from the U's yesterday, what with the return of Carden and new contracts for Albrighton, Hoyte, and Wolly. While Carden is no Pele, he should help us retain the ball much more effectively than we have been of late. As I said earlier in the week, I don’t think Reed and Brown make an effective combination, and hopefully with a better balance to the midfield we won’t resort to the big hoof quite so often.

On the contract front, all three players have contributed to our successful first half of the season, and it’s good to have their futures sorted. Albrighton (pictured) is just a brilliant defender for this level, while if Wolleaston can maintain his form then he will undoubtedly have clubs from a higher level sniffing around before too long. The only worry I would have with him is that a two-year contract may see him return to his comfort zone – JQ will have to keep him on his toes.

Hoyte is developing all the time and obviously has a lot of talent. With him, I think half the battle is the mental side of things. If he makes one mistake it seems to really effect his game badly, but I imagine that’s something that will improve with experience.

Back to tomorrow’s match and, without wanting to stoop to well worn clichés, if we can defend well for the first 20-30 minutes then I think we’ve got a chance. They’re not in great form, and have a few players missing due to injury and suspension. It should be a good day out none the less, though hopefully the players won’t treat it as such. In true plucky non-league style, I’m off to paint my face, dust off my foam hand, and polish my tin foil FA Cup. Up the U's!

P.S: Those of you not going to Wolves tomorrow, be sure to tune into the Darts World Championship which starts on BBC. Much as I would like to see John 'Boy' Walton repeat his success of 2001, I have a sneaking feeling that dour Scot Gary Anderson will be triumphant. Having said that, my tip for the Grand Slam of Darts, Roland Scholten, didn't make it past round two, ho hum.