Good hello to you! It’s Sunday and we’re back for more Cowdenfun. Last week, we tried to get ourselves set up for life in the top tier. The results were fairly mixed, goals aren’t a problem but keeping them out is tricky. Celtic and Rangers are streets ahead of everybody, is basically what I have learned not just last week but over the previous 7 episodes. Let’s try and close the gap.

When we’re good, we’re excellent. 3-0 up in 28 minutes, Rod Wallace running wild. This is what I dreamed of in this save. It finishes 4-1.

What’s better than 4-1? 5-1. A very quickfire double settles us in and the lads run amock at McDiamid Park. Fry is the Mark Hughes regen who will only continue to improve with game time.

Nothing can stop us in this form…except this. Don’t take our talent away.

Without him, it’s a sorry affair against Dunfermline. We’ve lost our creativity.

It’s apparent again at Pittodrie where only a late cameo from Micker gives us some respectability.

It’s always a sign that you’re doing well if you are getting offered jobs without applying. Birmingham want me to move south. The answer is no.

£40k for an ageing Bjorn? Well why not.

HIs debut sees us get hammered by Rangers. Denilson and Tommy…that’s not fair.

Off goes the regen I can’t remember. That £150k will come in handy.

It’s a return to winning ways at Easter Road. I guess we’re going to have some ups and downs.

Bit of a dull draw against Dundee Utd. They’re leading the way to be best of the rest at the minute.

Partick Thistle are the home of talented youth but they’ve all been pinched by this stage. They’ve obviously invested the funds all the way to the Premier League (so, one division) but they can’t handle Francis Jeffers. Not many can.

Let’s see if we can get closer to the Old Firm…short answer is absolutely not. We do take the lead, which is a nice change but 7 minutes later we are behind. Batistuta brutalises us. I don’t know how we’re going to get close to this lot.

Losing at home to Hearts will not help.

But this might. We’ve been waiting for the right deal to blow our cash and Father Phil is up for it. Lovely Phil. £700k is a huge outlay by our standards but we know he made us a better side.

He marks his second debut with a goal but it’s soon cancelled out. Try as we might, it’s only a point.

Sigh. The forwards let us down here.

We just about edge the points at Dunfermline. A satisfying 1-0 away win.

Oh for goodness sake! We will be exiting the cup at the first hurdle.

Ian Rush’s regen has been fairly reliable. This is his 14th of the season and a vital winner against Aberdeen. Bjorn is pushed into playing centre half and gets a 9 and man of the match. That’s useful.

The vultures are circling for father Phil already. That’d be a £300k loss unless the courts are feeling friendly. Might as well go into administration.

We’ll finish this week with a double header against Rangers. The league game at Ibrox is absolutely brutal. We can’t compete with players of his calibre. Yet.

The cup game at Central Park starts badly and goes downhill from there. I forgot they also have Jay-Jay Okocha, he reminds me after a minute. From 4-0 down we do manage to pull a few back but the damage is done. The stats actually have us ahead 51% to 49% on the overall but somehow I take no consolation from that.

I suppose if we’re going to clutch at straws, we are currently the best of the rest. 20 points behind Celtic but they’ve conceded 22 between them which is still less than everybody else. In better news, our goals for tally is pretty healthy.

With the cup exited, there’s nothing left for us to say this week. The remaining 14 league games will take place next week and that’ll be a wrap for the time being as we take a break for the World Cup (and also to give me a chance to write up the next set to be published in January whilst I am welcoming baby number two). This save may have some years to run yet, on this evidence, so let’s try and secure European football and then see where we end up. Bye for now!