[BaggieSteve]

Our last match before a cup-enforced fortnight's break sees us paying our first visit to the Taxpayers Stadium to play Hackney Wick United.  Life hasn't been entirely kind to Hackney Wick since they relocated from their former home to a soulless, public-funded monstrosity which is unfit to be used as a football venue.  Indeed, you could be forgiven for thinking that the famous gypsy curse of St Andrews has followed Messrs Gold and Sullivan of late, bearing in mind the horrendous stewarding problems at the new stadium which led to multiple incidents of violence inside the ground (though granted, no one could ever have predicted that the club formerly known as West Ham might pose any kind of risk of football hooliganism), along with a run of awful league form in the autumn, two recent hammerings by Man City and the departure of star player Dimitri Payet, who for some unfathomable reason didn't fancy the idea of spending every Saturday running around a glorified Legoland castle which is about as lively as a librarian's grave.

Of course, none of this is in any way hilarious.  So stop laughing.  No, really: stop it now.

Still, things have picked up a bit for Hackney Wick in the league, and since we very kindly beat Stoke for them last week, they've moved up right behind us into ninth place.  Hopefully this will serve to remind our boys that we're still fighting to keep our current position; however, as our usual tradition on visits to East London is to come away with a point, I suspect that may well be the likely outcome here.

Of course, it'd be nice to think there's a chance of bringing back all three, though.  You have to get your money's worth somehow, don't you?

That's a great write up, Ska'd