Going to the dogs

No I’m not talking about Fulham’s season but Robert Tickler’s dog, who won four on the trot before he acquired him, has yet to win for his new master. Last night at Hove he finished third. When I met Ted Dexter in Nice I asked him about greyhounds of which he owned several  and he said stamina and endurance were more important than the speed out of the trap. The dog starts well but runs out of puff. Maybe he should run a shorter distance. Still we had a good evening with Bob backing winners in the final races when everyone lost the first four. It’s a fun evening of good craic and Bob said that that is why he acquired the dog in the first place.

There is no faulting Brighton’s stamina. Middlesbrough and Burnley narrowly won but meet each other on Tuesday when Brighton face QPR at the Amex. The Seagulls then go to Charlton, expect more protests from their fans as they may well be relegated, but we then have 2 crucial matches against Derby at home and the final game at Middlesbrough. We have hit a rich vein of form, have only the long term injuries to Huhnemeier and March, Hemed is scoring freely, the defence is tight and on Friday night Kayal and Stephens bossed the midfield as they have done in every game this season.  When Chris Hughton dropped Kayal against Cardiff we suffered our worst defeat of the season.

Today is the Brighton marathon, an event that paralyses transport. I was rather hoping to go to Sussex v Essex but the route will be tortuous. Polly runs in it and says the worst bit is the stretch out to Shoreham Power station. The motivating crowd has disappeared and you are faced with the bleakness of a power station and still half of the course to complete. Endurance and stamina once again.