Villa spark

And suddenly everything can change...
A 6-1 win over Totton, a club three division below us, in the FA Cup second round,followed by a nice little home draw against Premier League opposition Aston Villa, and suddenly things are buzzing around the Mem again.
It's amazing what a good cup draw can do to lift spirits. Not to mention scoring a few goals.
I admit I was viewing last Sunday's match with pure terror.
Driving in to work in London I had the radio on and was listening to Radio 5's afternoon sports coverage, hoping the traffic would ease enough for me to reach work in time for the kick off.
No such luck.
And after just a few minutes there was a quick scoreflash.
Presenter Mark Chapman said: "And already we have news from the Testwood Stadium..."
Aargh! My heart was in my mouth until he said those beautiful words "... and first blood has gone to the League side."
I was just turning into the car park.
By the time I had taken the elevator up four floors to the office, things had changed again.
My mate said as I entered: "...You're three up - and they've all been cracking goals." Damn and blast or, looking at it another way, it probably wouldn't have happened if I had been watching live.
Anyway, it all ended pretty comfortably, apart from an extremely stupid sending off for our substitute Ben Swallow who had only been on the field a handful of minutes.
Mind you, I bet it was a pretty amusing moment for some fellow Gasheads in the local pub. They overheard one elderly lady say to another as they glimpsed the score... "Gosh, that Tottenham HAVE gone downhill in recent years."
To be fair to our manager Paul Buckle, this was a banana skin of epic proportions.
Had he failed to get the players up for it (and we were missing some key players it must be said) then things could have been a whole lot different, and he might have found himself in the unemployment office this week.
As it is the Villa draw will have lifted everyone.
More important to my mind, though, is the buzz it may have given the players because what we REALLY need is a revival in League fortunes... and they won't come any tougher than a home game against our west country rivals Swindon, now managed by the colourful Paolo Di Canio, tomorrow.