Blues three clear at the top

A brilliant 3-1 home win for Blues against second-placed Preston today (and I see Colchester translated their exceptional home form into a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace too). The performance wasn't the best - Steve Bruce was fair and accurate in his post-match assessment to Tom Ross just now - but the key fact is they won, and Gary McSheffrey scored a brilliant hat trick, our first in the league since Tommy Mooney netted a fabulous treble against Norwich back in 2001, just a few weeks before Bruce took charge (which is why he doesn't remember it, Tom!).

McSheffrey has been the buy of the season for Blues - he didn't score in his opening few games, but since then has netted 11 times in something like 14 or 15 games. And we only paid £2.3m up front for him - I believe Coventry police have been called into the Ricoh Arena to investigate reports of a daylight robbery taking place at their ground at the end of August. Bruce was adamant he wanted McSheffrey, and bullied Coventry into selling him and our board into pursuing him. It's a decision that has paid off in spades, so fair play to him. Eight wins in ten matches now - you won't hear me complaining!