Allo, allo good to be back!

THE jokes were flying thick and fast in the Sunday newspaper newsroom where I work.
And I didn't mind one jot.
We had won a game after a miserable run of five straight losses, most of them by rather large margins.
Pride of the West Country 1, Birthplace of the first chip shop 0
Hallelujah, we were off the bottom of the league.
"Who got the goal then Rippers?" one of my colleagues inquired, only slightly disappointed that we had kept a clean sheet and deprived him of the chance to win one of his many bets.
"Rene Howe," I informed him.
"What? You can't have a footballer called Rene!" he exclaimed.
"Is it Rene, like that bloke who used to be in Allo, Allo?" another chimed in.
Now, for my younger reader, I had better explain.
Rene was the barman in a late 70s, early 80s sitcom called Allo Allo.
He gave shelter to English airmen shot down over France during the second World War.
"Leesen very carefully, I will score this only once," declared another comedian, in a parody of one of the characters from this rather dated TV show.
No matter, I couldn't have been happier.
It had been a completely nerve-wracking afternoon. I had one eye on the Sky Football Special afternoon programme, and another monitoring our progress on the drip-feed running commentary from BBC Sport, which tells you things like Will Hoskins crosses the ball and it is cleared. Byron Anthony gives away a free kick.
Hardly painting a picture, but when you can't be at the Mem you take what you can get.
At one stage I recall our visitors had managed five shots on target and we had none. They had 69 per cent of the possession and we had only 31 per cent.
But the longer our pourous defence went without conceding a goal, the more confident I became.
And when it flashed up on the screen that Rene had hit the target I jumped out of my seat and punched the air, provoking many a strange look from my colleagues.
"Roooovvvvers!" chimed in an enthusiastic Jonesy.
Admittedly one win just carries us ahead of Dagenham, who have three games in hand of us. But it does put us just three points (well, four when goal difference is taken into consideration) away from the magical safety mark.
From what I can gather two of our latest recruits, loanee goalkeeper Conrad Logan from Leicester and fullback Danny Senda, fighting back from horrendous injury problems, both performed commendably for the mighty Gas.
And suddenly everything in the garden looks a darn sight rosier.
When the final whistle blew I prized my crossed fingers apart and felt like doing a little jig of joy - but had to temper my enthusiasm because there was still plenty of work to be done.
Forget Chelsea being knocked out of the FA Cup by Everton and Manchester United squeezing past non-league Crawley Town 1-0 - to me it was the shock of the afternoon.
And I've been unable to take the smile off my face all weekend.
Well done Dave Penney, well done board of directors for allowing him to bolster the squad, and well done the players.
At last we are showing some fight to get us out of the hole which we have dug for ourselves.
And I have a whole week to wallow in this overwhelming feeling of relief, until Saturday when we go on our travels to Brentford.
There's still a long way to go, but there is life in the old dog yet.