So, do we really think Jimmy Bullard might start the game at Fulham on Monday night?
Right up until his scoring comeback in the reserves the other week, the best hope we harboured was that he would be on the bench at Craven Cottage and would be introduced in the second half to a mixture of raucous cheers from the travelling Tiger Nation and a cacophany of hissing noises from the Fulham fans. Presumably there will also be a few raises of indifferent eyebrows from the neutral section, but that doesn't make a noise..
But after scoring that terrific goal (let's not overstate it though, it was a stiffs game against Bolton Wanderers) the hope he may feature in some small capacity has grown into a nigh-on expectation that he will be in from the start. He completed a further 45 minutes at York City this week in a game closed to the public, and scored a penalty.
Half-paced games against players not considered good enough for Bolton's first team or, more pertinently, for York's main XI in the non-league pyramid cannot give anything like a full indication of Bullard's real condition. Only a steely eye on him from his manager and regular examinations and reports from the medical staff can take us to the correct decision. But, well, we've been without him for so long, and currently need that bit of class and guile in the midfield more than ever, it is understandable to be most impatient for his return to the team.
That it's Fulham also contributes to the clamour for Bullard's instant restoration. He left them for us, to many people's surprise, and the Fulham fans backed their club ahead of the player wholeheartedly over this bit of business. We also won at Fulham last season in what remains still our only away victory in the Premier League in 2009, and it completed our only double of last season too. It's also on the telly, as if those upstarts from ESPN had been tipped off back in August that Fulham was Bullard's targeted game and promptly took an eraser and pencil to the fixture list.
It really is impeccably poised to be one hell of a night at the Cottage. But let's not be upset, or worried, or angry, if Bullard doesn't make it, and is held back for a possibly more serene re-introduction against Portsmouth at the KC the following Saturday. But, well, it'd be just ace if he did play...
.jpg)
