Every Friday, Town Assistant Peter Shirtliff keeps you up to date with the week's goings on in and around The County Ground.

This week, he reflects on three more crucial points and numerous transfer 'base-touching'.......

This week obviously centred a lot around the match at Stockport, and what turned out to be another great result for us.

We had a good morning's training on MONDAY especially after their win on Saturday.

It was great to get back on the training pitch after the disrupted training program we had last week with the snow as it was a little bit concerning last week.

But it's nice to get back a little bit of normality and a routine where we're training on the grass every day rather than having to worry about sorting out somewhere else to prepare.

The lads looked very sharp as we prepared for the Stockport game the following evening and as it turned out it paid off.

It was a great win from the game on TUESDAY and it keeps us right in the mix for those play-off places which is great.

On a difficult evening I thought we deserved the win, and I thought the lads equipped themselves in a game that was never going to be easy.

It was an awkward fixture in many ways, as they had five new players all making their debuts which will always bring its own problems for the opposition.

Obviously the pitch was the biggest problem, as it was difficult to turn, and difficult to pass the ball but I thought we adapted well and the defence played superbly well which has to happen away from home.

Although we didn't control the game as we can, we had moments where we looked like we were going to score and we looked a solid unit.

They said...

We looked assured and didn't really give them an opportunity to come back into the game which was pleasing....

Shirtliff on closing Stockport out

We were nice and controlled after we scored which was particularly pleasing. We looked assured and didn't really give them an opportunity to come back into the game.

We gave the team WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY off as it was a very, very taxing evening at Stockport because it was like running on a sand pit for 90 minutes, which as I'm sure you know, really takes it out of you!

So we wanted to keep the players nice and fresh which is why we gave them two days off as opposed to the normal one.

Danny and I were making a few more calls around clubs, just getting a feel for who's available and who isn't.

As I've said before, it's an ongoing process so we just have to be patient with sorts of things and hopefully something will come to fruition before long.

We'll be up at the training ground on FRIDAY preparing for the match against Leeds. The training ground is completely cleared of snow now so we'll be getting some good work down ahead of the game on Tuesday.

There are still certain aspects of our play that we can improve on, so we'll be working on them today in training, as well as tomorrow when we don't have a game.

As for Danny and I, we'll be going to a couple of different games to have a little look at teams that are coming up in the near future - which is one of the advantages of having a free weekend I suppose!

Enjoy your weekend,

Peter Shirtliff

.............and one more from you..........

What do you make of the controversy surrounding William Gallas' tackle on Mark Davies on Wednesday, and the confusion about when the ball should be put out to allow treatment?

Gareth Tyndall, Swindon

PS - "There has been a lot said about it, but the directives are that unless the referee deems it a dangerous situation then the ball stays in play.

"But it is getting very confusing I have to admit. How does one interpret what is a dangerous situation and what isn't?

"It is a big issue but I think the criticism Arsenal got was a little bit unfair to be honest."