The valley view

By Hermann Hreidarsson on March 15, 2007 12:00 AM |

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It was very disappointing not to have a game over the weekend as right now we feel that of all the bottom clubs we are in the ascendancy.
However, as I said in my column last week it was probably a blessing in disguise as the blank weekend has given our injured players a bit of extra time to get fit for Sunday's huge game against Newcastle United.
The players have also realised that any breaks in the fixture list that might crop up are going to be utilised to the full by our manager Alan Pardew.

The last time there was a break for cup fixtures the squad flew out to Spain for an intensive training camp and for team bonding purposes.
Of course last weekend was reserved for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and once again rather than merely having a couple of days off, the gaffer organised a day's paintballing for the players. I think it has been clear to see in our recent performances how much spirit there is in the camp right now, as our fight back against Watford underlined, and it is such outings that really bring the players together.
In the situation we're in it is absolutely vital that everyone is pulling in the same direction and we are certainly doing that right now.
The six-point gap between ourselves and Manchester City might look big and I noticed recently that the bookmakers have us pencilled in as odds-on shots to go down, but I can assure you nobody in the camp is thinking anything like along those lines. The way we see it, there are fully 27 points up for grabs between now and the end of the season - and that is a whole lot of points.
It probably won't happen, but we are setting our sights on going into each game with the intention of winning it and we feel that with the fixtures we have left we have a great chance of picking up four or five victories.
After Newcastle United on Sunday, we have to play all three of our relegation rivals - Wigan Athletic, Manchester City and Sheffield United - and that is a potentially massive points swing. If you consider that all three of those are genuine six pointers, a couple of wins from those games will make the bottom of the Premiership table look very different indeed to how it does now.
Even though we are aware of the importance of those three matches, we realise that this weekend's game against the Magpies carries equal magnitude.
Newcastle have plenty of talent in their squad but we feel very confident right now, especially at home, and I know we can take all three points.
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