Recently by Hermann Hreidarsson

THIS is my final column of the season and I have to say I'm very pleased to be ending with a positive.
Some people might say that there was very little riding on our trip to Anfield over the weekend for either club.
But even if Liverpool were not viewing it as an important match, we most certainly were. Of course, we had already been relegated before a ball was kicked, but there's nothing worse than ending a season tamely, especially if it's been an ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

THE mood has been sombre at the training ground this week. Monday night's home defeat against Tottenham Hotspur saw our seven-year stay in the Premiership come to an end, and it's obviously a very sad and disappointing time for everyone connected with the club.
I've been in this situation before, having experienced relegation with a few other clubs, but I have to say that it has not made it any easier.
We were faced with a very tall order having to beat both Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool to stand a chance of staying up, and while the players gave absolutely everything against a very good Spurs side we knew we had a mountain to climb.

REGULAR readers of this column will probably recall that last week, following our disappointing home draw against Sheffield United, I was talking at length about the fact that while it was a setback for us, nothing was decided.
I don't wish to sound like a broken record, to use a very English phrase, but that is pretty much the situation after our 4-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday as well.
Before I explain what I mean though, I want to extend a very sincere thank you to every one of the near 6,000 people that made the long trip to support us at Ewood Park.

THERE has been a bit of uncertainty after our 0-0 draw with Reading on Monday night about whether it was a good or bad result for us.
I'll say this: just look at the league table.
It was our aim over the Easter fixtures to get ourselves out of the

I'VE never been much of a facts and figures man, but what's been happening at The Valley recently has almost goaded me into doing a bit of research.
I'm sure a lot of supporters will have been aware of it, but our most recent win against our relegation rivals Wigan Athletic on Saturday was the first time we have secured back-to-back Premiership victories since September 2005. Amazing.
I'm always quite interested in the bookmakers' odds about things as well, and I know that in the middle of January we were as short as 1/8 to be relegated, compared to 4/6 to suffer the drop now.

THERE'S only one thing you want to do all the while you're playing well, and that's to keep on playing.
Of course the international fixtures over the weekend meant that we didn't have the opportunity to extend our recent run of results.
But the recent breaks in the fixture list, most of which have been due to FA Cup fixtures, haven't affected us in the slightest.

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.