In The Dark – 22/10/15

We have got the builders in at home at the moment and the last few weeks have been a living hell with constant and seemingly never ending banging and crashing as they remorselessly get on with their work.

Whilst I am not looking for any sympathy, life has been pretty stressful and difficult as we have been reduced to burrowing ourselves away upstairs with access only to two rooms downstairs, and cooking is a real challenge and adventure at the moment with no kitchen and a rickety microwave doing the honours in the front room.

Disposable plates are the order of the day and we have coped as well as possible and my wife’s ingenuity has been stretched to its limits given the restrictions we have faced.

Given the situation we decided to get away for part of half term week and now find ourselves ensconced in the sanctuary of Luton Hoo.

It is an absolutely beautiful old country house hotel tucked away in acres of rolling woodland and is an oasis of calm and tranquility and traditional old-English splendour despite being a mere ten minutes away from the cosmopolitan hustle and bustle of Luton town centre.

I was under strict orders and a three line whip last night – total relaxation and absolute concentration on the matters in hand rather than thinking and commenting about affairs taking place simultaneously at Molineux.

Normally in such circumstances I speak with forked tongue and am guilty of flagrant cheating and, worst of all, I was once caught red handed and shamefaced listening to a Bees match commentary on BBC Radio London during a wedding ceremony in a synagogue.

Not one of my proudest moments and one that took me years to live down and the embarrassment still lingers when I recall it!

Last night was totally different as the surroundings were calm and quiet and the light muted and soothing.

We passed a lovely evening relishing the sort of pleasant and wide ranging shorthand conversation of a long married couple who can generally read each other like a book but happily still take massive comfort, pride, enjoyment and support from each other’s company.

It was also so good to be able to luxuriate and make the most of good food, wine and a great companion.

As far as the football was concerned I had willed myself in a near trancelike state of calm and tranquility and was reconciled to the outcome, whatever it might turn out to be.

I have expressed my view many times that I believe that our improvement will be slow and gradual and I have limited expectations in the short term until we get the likes of Jota, McEachran, Colin and Macleod back in harness.

We had already achieved my minimum expectation of three points from our next two games by virtue of the win against Rotherham and anything gained against Wolves was therefore a bonus.

They had looked vulnerable defensively against Derby last Sunday but the partnership of Afobe and Le Fondre spelled danger for our back four.

I was fully reconciled to a defeat last night and had no expectations beyond our putting on a decent performance and remaining competitive and in the game for as long as possible.

I had recurring nightmares of our porous defence cracking and crumbling under pressure and that we might subside without much of a fight and so the prospect of an evening without going to the match, listening to the Bees Player commentary or even receiving any score flashes or updates, whilst alien and even unique in my recent experience, did not, in the circumstances, seem to be too much of an imposition.

And so it transpired. We enjoyed a lovely meal, my phone buzzed a couple of times but the texts remained unread and unanswered.

It was not until we had finished our post meal cup of tea that I finally cracked and checked my phone and did a doubletake as the unexpected good news of our comfortable victory was revealed to me.

I have now watched the highlights and spoken to some trusted and reliable sources who were present at the game and it is plainly evident that confidence is finally returning to the squad and the long awaited first clean sheet of the season will only help in this process.

We seemed far more comfortable and confident on the ball with Judge, Swift and Woods dovetailing perfectly to create the opportunities for Djuricin and, later, Hofmann.

Toumani and McCormack protected the back four who were largely untroubled throughout the entire evening.

Djuricin and Hofmann both scored excellent and well taken opportunist goals which will do their confidence no harm either.

Kerschbaumer also put in a good shift as a late substitute, which is even more encouraging given his recent series of poor performances.

Of course we are still a long way short of where we need to be and we would be totally deluding ourselves if we felt that we are completely out of the woods yet, but let’s give credit where it is due, and the situation is far, far rosier than it was five days and six points ago.

We have now gained some momentum which will hopefully be maintained over the coming weeks.

As for me, I proved that Brentford FC is not necessarily the only or most important thing in my life, although sometimes I am sure that I give the erroneous impression that that is indeed the case.

Nothing can beat family, love and a good relationship and we are looking forward to another couple of days of rest and recuperation and some more peace and quiet before we return to the madhouse that is our home at the moment.

Will I be at Charlton on Saturday though?

I certainly hope so as a week without my Brentford fix is quite long enough!