So near; yet so far. Just for a moment, as Curtis Davies wheeled away circling his arms in celebration, it looked like we could do it. The momentum was with us and there were 15 minutes left to find a goal to force extra-time. We did not deserve it, but we had belief.

However, the fact that we needed such a comeback was our own doing. We had only come alive for the final half hour of a 180-minute tie. The first ninety was a contender for our worst performance of the season and the second game did not start any better.

Well, I didn't have to wait long did I? I was beginning to sound a little too smug with all the wallowing in good news. I was expecting something to go wrong, we are Albion after all. Usually its problems of our own making but not this time. As much as it pains me to see Roy go, even our bad news is now something to be proud of. Little ole us having our manager poached for arguably the biggest football job in the world. Sad? Very. Proud? Even more so.

I came away from the game feeling utterly frustrated. We missed the opportunity to put them deep into trouble but that point may well be enough to keep them up. If we had played anywhere near like we can, we would have won comfortably. This is weakest Villa team I can ever remember. We played poorly for the most part but it was still enough not to lose.

The term 'cult hero' is one that is usually given to players who entertain fans and make them laugh - yet are not usually the best players on the pitch.

Ray Parlour was given this status by fans at Arsenal. The Charlie Dimmock lookalike was a rare Englishman during Arsene Wenger's early days with the Gunners and whilst he was not as technically able as Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg or Patrick Vieira, his work ethic endeared him to the fans. (Scoring an FA Cup final goal after being mocked live on air by Chelsea supporter Tim Lovejoy also helped his case.)

Every team has their own set of cult heroes past and present and Blues have unearthed a new one this season.

Its been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. To be honest, continually posting such positive things doesn't sit naturally with me. The unofficial Baggie supporter motto of Semper Te Fallant is always lurking there in the background. However, Albion under Hodgson continue to smash hoodoos and delight with results whilst around us our local rivals continue to delight us with their own results. Not since Wolves choked a 11 point lead has their been a better all round season.

He may have played for Atletico Madrid and started for his country at the 2006 World Cup - but Spanish international Pablo Ibanez will have to prove his quality all over again as Blues push for play-off glory.

Ibanez will start his first game in his favoured centre-back since the FA Cup replay with Chelsea in early March when he lines up next to Curtis Davies at The AMEX Stadium against Brighton on Saturday.

This Saturday sees the first return of Martin O'Neill to Villa Park since he left the club on the eve of last season much to the annoyance of the fans. Said annoyance has hardly wavered in many, who blame the Ulsterman for a number of, let's say, questionable financial outlays and a lack of loyalty.

The weekend's clash will see a stadium unite, in the majority at least, in their disdain for both managers perhaps like no other match this season. For what it's worth I'm not on the O'Neill hatred bus, as I don't really blame him for an admittedly fairly cowardly desire to keep his record unblemished with the foresight that he possessed.

With a plethora of injuries mounting up at just the wrong time of the season, even the majority who don't want the manager in place can notice that the gods seem to be against him right now.

The average age of Villa's outfield ten against Chelsea recently was just over 23 and a similar side has lined up since. The reality of the matter is that Villa will most likely field an inexperienced side until the end of the season, but can we get away with calling a number of our young stars youngsters anymore, and are the majority any better than alright?

Well, its been a great few days to be a Baggie with first the players, then the manager and finally the chairman giving us something to be happy about. At a time when its all doom and gloom elsewhere on the West Mids football scene, its a time for smiles all round for us Baggies.

Regardless of what division Blues find themselves in next season, the position of goalkeeper is likely to be one that is up for grabs.
Currently, we have three 'keepers registered to the club that are in and around the first-team set-up - yet only one of those seems to be preparing for a quiet summer with no transfer talk.

What a strange season this has turned out to be. Moments of unbridled joy mixed with complete and utter garbage. Looking at the table, we should still be happy. Anything higher than 17th is still an above par position. However, it's all a bit depressing at the moment. Instead of looking up at the clubs above us, we have started to count the points to those below us. How have we found ourselves in this position?

There is no other topic that could be discussed in this blog than the health and wellbeing of Stiliyan Petrov. It was announced on Friday 30th March that our captain had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia, paling any qualms around the club, of which there are many, into insignificance.

In a season of mere mediocrity rather than spectacular lows, and very few highs one should add, this is undoubtedly the saddest moment in what has been a whimpering campaign.

In London, if you drive through certain busy areas, you can be penalised for causing traffic and, as a deterrent, you are made to pay a fee for doing so. However, come to Small Heath in Birmingham and you are actually rewarded for causing a congestion. Unfortunately for drivers, this is not on the roads, but on the football pitch at Birmingham City Football Club.

Yet again this weekend, Blues struggled to overcome a team who came to St. Andrew's and set-up with a five-man midfield.

Perhaps the major talking point at Villa last week came after Charles N'Zogbia revealed in an interview with French magazine L'Equipe that he felt he was being asked to defend too much under McLeish, amongst other things. The club claimed that N'Zogbia's was misquoted, though N'Zogbia had earlier retweeted a fan's opinion that his statements in the piece were bang on the money via Twitter. Must have been a mis-retweet...

However, these are not the first signs that the Frenchman is disillusioned with life at Villa Park. So does N'Zogbia have a point?

How ironic Roy Hodgson's words were yesterday? He talked about the importance of Blues letting us know as early as possible about their intentions regarding Ben Foster's future. That's all well and good, he is vital to our future hopes, but Roy can't have failed to have spotted a little double standards here given his own cards being kept so close to his chest.

I wanted to start this experience on a positive note but after conceding 19 goals in five games and sitting rock bottom of Premier League, the plan has hit the buffers.

The 2011/12 campaign started so positively, Wolves came from behind to win at Blackburn in the opening fixture and then dispatched Fulham in emphatic fashion at Molineux. After scraping survival last season, things were looking up for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Hi to all and welcome to my first blog.

It's never nice to start anything on a sour note, but unfortunately, I think there is only one topic this blog can be about at the moment.

Saturday saw the horrific scenes at White Hart Lane as ex-Blues player Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during play. Fans are used to seeing players feigning injury and rolling around the turf apparently writhing in pain, but it was apparent immediately that this was not one of those cases. The faces of the players on both sides told the story for those watching via ESPN's coverage at home. To their credit, ESPN refused to show any replays of what had just occurred and kept their cameras focused on fans, players and sometimes just a view of the pitch. This was serious.

Welcome to my first Baggies blog.

A pretty good time to start doing one I feel, although bad times tend to produce more opinion.

It probably would have been a much darker read under Saunders, Buckley, Gould or Little.

Not now though. Can anyone remember a better time to be a Baggie post 1982?

While the long term injury to Richard Dunne may have struck fear into those of a superstitious nature, with Birmingham having gone on a terrible run in the league under McLeish following the injury of the almost identically named Dann last season, they needn't have worried with the reliable Carlos Cuellar in reserve.

Whether the Spaniard should be considered as more than just a reserve splits opinions amongst the fans, but more often than not, when played in his favoured centre-back position, he duly delivers. A firm favourite in and around the club, Cuellar is yet to be offered a new contract with his current deal set to expire this summer and failure to do so, in my opinion, would be a grave error on McLeish's part.