Now that wasn't so difficult after all was it? What had seemed like the mother of all '12 pointers' to Stanley before this weekend's game with Charlton proved to be quite a timid affair.
A distinct lack of 'blood and thunder' for a contest which in the cold light of day may well condemn Charlton to relegation.
If they can't get themselves up for this type of clash then that now 14-game streak without a win is going to get longer and longer and you suspect their board may already be contemplating the best time to take the administration hit.
All this is naturally very sad news for Charlton but, most definitely, good news for City.
Surely we can't end the season below that 'shower'? One place in the relegation bottom three is now looking fairly 'nailed on' for the team once the shining example of how clubs of a size, stature and ambition such as ourselves should go about things.
As ever with City we are never at our best against the lesser lights and so Saturday proved.
But we won; that, in the context of this season, is all that counts. This was, if not a must win fixture, was most definitely a do not lose fixture.
No-one really shone out on a grey day, not even the ever impressive Clingan, but neither did anyone have a bad game, not even Fozzy when he came on briefly at the end.
A pretty solid, no frills, no thrills performance, just dare one say it, a professional one.
Not the kind of description associated with City in the last few seasons.
Frankly just what Stanley had wanted to see in the bleak mid-winter.
As Christmas presents go, not the big parcel containing Subbuteo, Scalectric, or, for our younger readers, Play-station, but the small parcel containing an encyclopaedia.
No instant gratification but definitely the kind of present which will make you a better man in later life. Oh, for a complementary late present of a dictionary on the 28th against Forest. Beat Forest and we really can begin to breathe more easily.
Of course, this is not to suggest that Stanley now thinks everything is fine and rosy in the 'house that Glenn built', far from it.
No corners have been turned, we will carry on at our Roeder pace of picking six or seven points every five games between now and the end of the season.
Never good enough to bag three wins on the spin and never bad enough to bag three defeats on the spin.
We will just carry on plodding on until we end the season in the bottom third, somewhere in the mid-50s points-wise, safe for another season.
What that all means regarding the prospects for next season and exactly how many people will be watching City play next season are two quite gloomy questions which Stanley is happy to put to one side whilst City go about taking advantage, hopefully, of these forthcoming home fixtures against relegation strugglers to put some clear daylight between us and the bottom three.
We can leave those questions until the spring. In the meantime we can all enjoy our turkey, mince pies and presents without the worry of an imminent drop in the bottom three spoiling the festive season. Even the sprouts will taste good.
Although Stanley should add, as his only reader is probably his Mum, his Mum's sprouts always taste good.
Merry Christmas, dear reader!
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