More rain on our parade

It never rains but it pours - in both a literal and a metaphorical sense. While the elements continue to vent their fury on the country, fate is doing much the same to our squad. The latest casualty is Saylor, who picked a hamstring injury to match HBA's in Sunday's dismal defeat at St Mary's and who joins the queue for a bed in the treatment room. At least he'll be in good company for his two-month lay-off - Dreamboat's out of action until the start of February too...

Our consolation as regards Saylor's absence is that Sideshow Bob is now suspension-free and James Perch is also available again after injury. The question now is whether those hardy individuals who are actually fit can produce the goods on a literal wet Wednesday night in Stoke. We triumphed at the Britannia last season courtesy of a Demba Ba hat-trick, and so it's good to know that he's one of our very few in-form players. How we could do with a repeat - Villa's late win over Reading last night leaves us just three points clear of the relegation zone.