On Saturday, the Football Supporters’ Federation are bringing their Safe Standing roadshow to Hull. We support their efforts to reintroduce the option to stand at professional football in this country, and hope it will one day become an option for City fans at the Circle.

It comes down to choice, and the freedom to choose for yourself. Some prefer to stand at football, others prefer to sit. It is surely only right that appropriate facilities be offered for both groups, yet at present one section of the country’s football supporters are being denied the right to watch games in the way they wish.

This has numerous adverse effects. At most games within all-seated stadia there areas in which everyone stands. This is often the away end. Many clubs, including City, have travelling support that frequently engages in mass standing. Yet even the majority of home areas will have sections that wish to stand – we have E1-E3 where the majority are not seated for the entire game.

It could be argued that with the Circle now in its tenth year of service, we all know where de facto standing will occur and can buy tickets or season tickets accordingly. Unless you know virtually nothing about City’s supporting culture and almost never attend games, you wouldn’t buy a ticket for E1 then expect everyone to be seated throughout the game.

But those areas aren’t enough. How many others would stand if they could? It’s unknowable, but must run into the thousands. After all, at Boothferry Park the option was there for both standing and sitting with spare capacity in either, and the split was roughly 50-50.

There’s also a safety consideration. With standing areas provided, this’ll reduce its occurrence in seated areas. Surely it’s safer to be upright in a properly designed standing area than in one intended for sitting?

The exact solution can be argued over. We’d make a case for ripping every single seat out of the East Stand and having upwards of 6,000 places for standing supporters. That definitely isn’t excessive – Borussia Dortmund’s incredible Westfalenstadion contains the impressive Südtribüne stand, an all-terraced area housing as many people as our entire ground accommodates. It’d be great. This may be a generalisation, but it’s probably fair to say that there’s a link between those who prefer to stand and the vocal support offered. Goodness knows the atmosphere at home games needs all the help it can get – letting the noisiest gather together in a proper standing area can only make things better.

Whatever configuration is agreed upon is fine, however. The details can be discussed at a later time, and will inevitably include such considerations as capacity, cost, exists, crowd control and so on. Let’s just establish the principle for now.

After all, this issue isn’t going to go away. All-seated grounds have been around for a long time, yet the issue remains. Inside stadia, a quiet, sullen conflict remains between those who want to stand and those who want everyone to be seated. It’s time for a resolution to it.

Let’s firmly reiterate that there is no safety issue whatsoever. If there was, every club in the country with terraces would have them shut, yet they remain open outside the top two tiers – and most of them are far more open and unregulated than the proposed safe standing areas would be. It’s absurd to suggest that standing suddenly becomes unsafe if your club achieves promotion from League One to the Championship. And that’s before we get onto other events – if it’s acceptable for rugby fans to be on their feet or for tens of thousands of music fans to stand at a gig, why should football fans be different?

The straightforward answer is that we shouldn’t. This is a solution whose time has come. It’s more than two decades since Hillsborough, and since that tragedy we’ve learnt that overcrowding, fences and inept authorities are many times deadlier than whether fans are stood or seated. More so than ever, football supporters are a respectable and well-behaved demographic whose colossal financial investment in the game deserves to be rewarded with a greater say on how things are run.

We say bring back safe standing, and urge Hull City, the SMC, Hull City Council, the police and every authority with anything to do with the operation of our stadium to back this initiative.

We recommend everyone with the time and inclination has a look at the FSF’s standing prototype, even if you’re presently sceptical. It’ll be outside the Sports Bar between 12pm-2.45pm on Saturday. If you’re canvassed before, during or after the game, please indicate a preference to introduce the choice, even if you personally prefer not to. If you don’t much care, say yes anyway, because plenty do. It’s time we were allowed to choose for ourselves.

The game was postponed on Saturday due to the freezing weather and will now occur at the end of what was already a gruelling month for Nick Barmby’s squad, and those who follow it around the country.

It means that City have a game on EVERY Tuesday evening in March, following games against Leeds United, Cardiff City and Southampton, the second of which is also a rearranged long-distance trip away.

City also have away games in March at Blackpool, Crystal Palace and Leicester City, putting strains as much on transport budgets for fans as it does on energy levels for players. There are also Saturday games against Ipswich Town and Coventry City at the Circle.

Still, there were few options for the Tigers, with an equally awkward midweek period in the first week of April, or a politically difficult final midweek of the season, the only other options available. There are only three games remaining in a comparatively quiet February, and one hopes that the Tigers will at least go into the mad March period on a bit of form, starting with three points against Bristol City this weekend.

1. Most City fans travelling from Hull were well south of Leicester when the Portsmouth match was postponed. To be allowed to travel more than halfway for a game that had no prospect of being played is a complete disgrace.

2. Quite who’s culpable is presently unclear. The rumours about Portsmouth not even troubling to print a programme, such was their certainty of a postponement have been debunked – yet finding a Portsmouth fan who didnt know the game wouldn’t be played is a difficult task. It seems to have been common knowledge in that part of the world. So why were we allowed to set off?

3. Some Portsmouth supporters identify the officials as the guilty party for not holding an inspection until after we’d all left. So why did Bournemouth, just 50 miles away, manage to declare their pitch unplayable 24 hours before kick-off? The answer may lie in Portsmouth’s desperate financial state – so keen were they to get the cash from a home match they were willing to let us waste a journey in the hope that the weather forecast ended up being totally wrong.

4. These may seem minor trifles grievances comparison to what the Portsmouth fans are going through, to which we can of course relate. But the fact remains that time and money has been unnecessarily wasted. Not much of either, but more than was necessary given even a moment’s consideration. That’s not good enough. It contrasts starkly with City’s own conduct – from 10.15am the club began calling people whom they knew had bought tickets to advise them to turn around. Well done City, that’s classy stuff.

5. Also not good enough is the fact the game wasn’t on anyway. The technology has existed for many  years that allows pitches to be rendered playable even in the depths of winter – and this is a club on the southern coast of a country with a stable and moderate climate. Extreme weather just doesn’t happen in England. That technology, which is admittedly not cheap, nonetheless costs a fraction of the money Portsmouth recouped from their Premier League years, Cup win and European adventure. The FA needs to adopt a tougher stance: from 2014, any club in the top two tiers that cannot prepare a football pitch should be deducted three points. This’d focus a few minds and prevent a repeat of Saturday’s farce.

6. That postponement does little for City’s hopes of making the top six. While Saturday’s results weren’t unhelpful, the appalling fixture backlog we’ll have in March and April is going to be a severe test of a young side and a thin squad – while having three of our four longest away trips of 2011/12 on Tuesday nights is a severe test of supporters’ stamina and holiday entitlement.

7. Booing the team off the pitch for a goalless draw against a Doncaster side so much on the bones of its arse it was prepared to resort to ultra-desperate defensive tactics to quell a run of six straight away defeats, was an act of outrageous stupidity and ingratitude. Where do we find these cretins?

8. What is the problem with our set-pieces? It’s not as if we keep coming close to scoring from them; either the delivery is poor or the attempt to make contact with a better effort is inept. Robert Koren and Andy Dawson can put in wicked centres and Jack Hobbs and James Chester are hardly difficult to see in a crowd of bodies, but it just isn’t happening. Nick Barmby clumsily and naively expressed his preference to score from open play as a way of defending our awfulness from dead balls, but he must see the problem. One hopes more and more priority is being given to them, especially as a starkly obvious aerial threat in Seyi Olofinjana has now returned to the squad. All good sides have a reasonable success rate from free kicks and corners and just because we aim for a pretty, flowing, open game it doesn’t mean our ineptitude from set-pieces should be labelled as unimportant.

9. Against Crawley and particularly Doncaster, the KC greensward looked in poor condition. It’s a difficult time of year to keep football pitches in pristine condition, but it’s no coincidence that its sudden deterioration has begun at the time when eggchasing has recommenced. Now, we appreciate that both sports cause damage and sadly it’s not possible to evict the rugby franchise or stop them playing “Super” League games, but it really isn’t acceptable for friendlies to be played on the pitch in January, as has happened twice in recent weeks.

10. Nor is it acceptable for Hull KR to be allowed to play at the Circle, as recently mooted.

According to the Portsmouth Twitter feed, the referee had an issue with the frozen south side of the Fratton Park pitch in particular, and decided that a second inspection at 10.30am was worthless, declaring the surface unplayable at just before 10am.

While nobody can control the weather, Portsmouth can certainly control the timing of their pitch inspections and to undertake it at a time when many visiting fans would be at least midway through a very, very long journey does not seem either considerate or wise.

It also means that City have yet another game to re-arrange for a midweek, as Portsmouth don’t have a free Saturday on the 18th or 25th of February. Only four midweek periods remain available and at first glance, the match seems most likely now to take place in either the final week of March or the first week of April.

Portsmouth, a solid five hour drive from Hull, have therefore planned their inspection for…five hours before kick-off. Far be it from us to be so cynical as to suggest they’re so desperate for money they’re willing to risk wasted journeys aplenty in the north in search of every penny possible – instead, we’ll attribute the ludicrous timing of it to good old fashioned stupidity.

There is always heartache associated with a game between Portsmouth and Hull City. One, or possibly both, of the two teams are embroiled in some kind of strife when either Fratton Park or the KC Stadium plays host to them.

Both clubs fell from grace simultaneously, of course, courtesy of Premier League relegation in 2010. At the time, Portsmouth were in trouble so ridiculously deep that they looked like becoming the first top tier club to go out of business. That in the end they “only” became the first top tier club to enter administration, thereby guaranteeing a demotion that already looked likely, was of little consolation. When the two sides first reconvened in the npower Championship, it was earmarked as Portsmouth’s last ever game, such was the seemingly irretrievable mess their finances had become.

They survived that, of course, and here we now, preparing for another clash between the two while a new and apparently even more serious internal implosion threatens Pompey once more. Although their manager Michael Appleton has claimed a good January for the business of playing football, with just one departure during the transfer window, the club as a whole has to cope with chronic ownership issues that have extended to pleas for political intervention during Prime Minister’s Questions. On top of that, their name is being dragged through the mud at Southwark Crown Court as two of their old hierarchical icons play the blame game before a judge. With some, if not all of Portsmouth’s current woes, we can at least partially say we’ve been there and so empathy is not too expensive a commodity to offer their supporters. That said, of course, we want to give them a different, new reason to be miserable this weekend.

Trips to Fratton Park bring back quite a few memories. There was a storming 4-1 win there in 1969-70, with the holy trinity of Chris Chilton, Ken Wagstaff and Ken Houghton each bagging a goal. There was a rather less auspicious 5-1 defeat on New Years Day 1991, which led to the sacking of the devilish Stan Ternent and, a month later, the appointment of  the deep blue sea-esque Terry Dolan.

Then, in recent times, we had in 2008-9 the only Premier League goal Dean Windass ever scored for the Tigers (which he didn’t, really; and we all know it); the mad, dramatic, soul-destroying 3-2 defeat in 2009-10 in Iain Dowie’s first game as Temporary Football Management Consultant, a job title on a silliness level that even the BBC would struggle to match; and last season, back in tier two, the tremendous 3-2 win on the New Year bank holiday that featured four goals in the second half, the crucial one put away by one Nick Barmby.

This weekend, the Tigers go to coastal Hampshire looking for a fourth npower Championship game without defeat. The midweek draw against Doncaster Rovers, caused by iffy finishing and merciless opposition defending, was a disappointment without being a calamity, but Barmby may force himself into some fresh thinking with both the midfield and the attack.

There is a strong claim floating through cyberspace and via newspaper vendors that Seyi Olofinjana, who played his first League match for City in 650 days when he ventured on as a sub against Doncaster, will be in the starting XI. That, unless the tactical focus of a 4-5-1 switches, might be at the expense of Corry Evans, who was absent in contribution, if not in person, on Tuesday evening. If there is a switch in the 4-5-1′s role, and Olofinjana becomes one of a tight three-man central midfield, then Cameron Stewart, also blowing colder than hot, might find himself in danger.

As for the attack, much depends on whether Robbie Brady’s banged bonce is no longer an issue, as his last promotion to the starting line-up in the Championship led to his scoring the only goal of an excellent win at Reading. Matt Fryatt, who played better on Tuesday but still can’t re-discover his finishing skills, knew he needed to grab his sudden return to the starting XI with gusto against Doncaster, but in the absence of a goal he must now feel at risk.

The defence isn’t a problem – City now have the best defensive record in the division courtesy of Tuesday’s clean sheet – although you’d like to think that alleged aerial threats from James Chester and especially Jack Hobbs would be able to be more effective when venturing up for set-pieces, a part of City’s game that has become so desperate, people in the crowd are making jokes about it.

Appleton, whose side are in the bottom half but remain ten points clear of the drop, has had to call up a few youngsters to fill his squad due to illness affecting Ricardo Rocha and Dave Kitson, and various injuries that have forced Luke Varney, Tal Ben Haim, Joel Ward, Jason Pearce and Aaron Mokoena to miss training. Their form is inconsistent, but they did win 3-0 at Peterborough in midweek and their side still contains Greg Halford and the loathsome Liam Lawrence, players who have a habit of doing well against the Tigers.

The game is the first of a quiet February for City, who have just three further matches during the month courtesy of scheduled opponents having the gall to enjoy making progress in the two domestic Cup competitions.

Bookies have City at 2/1 for the win, with Portsmouth rated at 13/10. The draw is a 9/4 shot. Please gamble responsibly, natch, and be careful of that wiry fence behind the away end. One day it will have someone’s eye out. Oh, and c’mon City.

City legend Ian Ashbee has had his contract cancelled by League One side Preston North End.

The 35 year old midfielder, who skippered the Tigers to three promotions and spent eight and a half years with the club, leaves Deepdale after 13 months.

He had only made four starts this season, plus a handful of substitute appearances, after suffering a knee injury, and has come to an agreement with new manager Graham Westley and chairman Peter Ridsdale to be released from his deal, which was due to expire this summer.

Ashbee joined City in 2002 on a free transfer and became City’s leader and talisman, flourishing in Peter Taylor’s progressive side that rose through two divisions, and then shaking off a season-long injury to lead Phil Brown’s gifted team to promotion to the Premier League in 2008. He is one of only four players to represent the club in all four divisions, and is unique as City’s only goalscorer in the four tiers, although he missed all of the Tigers’ second campaign in the top flight due to another injury setback.

Nigel Pearson’s arrival after relegation in 2010 saw Ashbee not guaranteed a starting place in the side for the first time ever, though he still appeared semi-regularly. However, he asked to leave the club in January last year when Brown, now in charge at Preston, made an approach for him. Brown, assistant Brian Horton and Ashbee couldn’t prevent Preston’s relegation from the Championship, however, and the management team were sacked earlier this season.

Ashbee is 36 in August and one questions whether the combination of his age and his injury record means he may now choose to retire from playing. Clearly as he considers his next step, the Tiger Nation wishes him all the good cheer there is.

One of these nights. One of these crazy old nights. They occur in football. At least once a season, a runaway favourite in a match will find themselves frustrated and shut out by a team in freefall. What we can be grateful for, after a truly exasperating stalemate at the Circle, is that it wasn’t worse than two points dropped.

It’s not as if Doncaster Rovers played the game of their season by keeping their sheet clean. They were negative and cynical all evening. And, on a run of six straight defeats on the road, they had every reason to be. Their recent delve into the free agents’ market to sign a couple of crazy, radical footballing names of yore hasn’t stopped them seeing the wood for the trees. They are a team in trouble and their way of clawing their way out of it is to defend, scrap, be unattractive and shameless, use gamesmanship and big wide banks of players, and only attack on the break.

City didn’t have enough of a response to this. Yes, the Tigers dominated the game wholly; the possession percentages must have read like a swot’s exam results, with only a misspelling of ‘lugubrious’ or something taking a tiny bit away from academic perfection. In terms of keeping the ball and making progress up the bumpy KC pitch with it, City were almost flawless. But in terms of doing something tangible with it, creating proper chances and – hey, here’s one for you – scoring goals, the Tigers were heavily marked down. That was the misspelling. And it wasn’t greeted with understanding by many of the examiners at the final whistle.

So, after the diabolical debagging by Crawley Town at the weekend, Nick Barmby reverted to standard. Everyone expected to play duly did, so it was back to Mannone; Rosenior, Chester, Hobbs, Dawson; Stewart, Evans, McKenna, Koren; Mclean, Fryatt.

Matt Fryatt was back in the team for a Championship encounter because of Robbie Brady’s bang on the head, and as a consequence the bench was also free of Brady. Josh King, his fellow loanee from Old Trafford, got a sub’s kit, as did Seyi Olofinjana. Picking the starting XI is a bit too easy for Barmby at the moment; picking the four outfield inhabitants of the bench is proving somewhat harder.

It was unforgivably cold at the Circle but there was no other symptom of winter – it wasn’t icy, frosty or snowing and the night remained clear in East Yorkshire. City created the first chance quickly when Paul McKenna chipped forward delightfully on to the head of Aaron Mclean, and his nod was met by Robert Koren who – and let me assure you, this wasn’t for the last time – took a shot. David Button, a Tottenham loanee whose name looks a bit like Buffon from this author’s viewing angle of the scoreboard (and therefore ought to be good in goal), held the ball well to his chest.

And so it went on through the half. Doncaster kept a bit of the ball but progressed rarely beyond the 25 yard point outside City’s box. City kept the rest of the ball and often took a potshot – and almost always through Koren – from the 25 yard point. Set-pieces were forced, but we try not to acknowledge those any more. We’ve been useless at them for nearly a year now. Despite Jack Hobbs having the physical presence of a giant redwood, he either can’t time his jumps in attack properly or the aim of the taker is shambolic. Peter Skipper, Rob Dewhurst, Mike Edwards, Leon Cort and Michael Turner used to get half a dozen goals or so a season from set-pieces; even last year Anthony Gerrard, a meagre loanee, weighed in with an acceptable number. Our last goal from a set-piece was, from memory, scored by Gerrard himself, who last played for the Tigers in May. It’s something close to a professional scandal that City are so poor in an area of the game regarded by many teams, irrespective of their other principles, as absolutely paramount to getting a few extra points and being of noticeable and maybe ultimately crucial benefit to the goals column.

City carved out a chance from a long ball down the inside right channel which Fryatt chased down admirably and still managed to turn into a shot from a narrow angle which was initially blocked and then deflected harrowingly right across goal with nobody following up. Then Koren was given room by the immaculate McKenna for a run at goal and shot from a typical range which ricocheted wide for – yes – a corner! And goodness me, we had the temerity to try one of those short corner routines.

I’ve always hated short corners. Good execution of a set-piece is essentially a free assist at goal; generally there is far more pressure on the defending team to keep the ball out of the net than there is for the attacking team to put it in. Short corners should never be seen as a better alternative to this, and their only genuine benefit comes from when a defending side hasn’t quickly noticed two players heading for the flag at haste. But we are Hull City, and we are unreservedly, cavernously bad at traditional set-pieces. So, dash it, try a short corner then. Koren played it to Cameron Stewart, who in a scarcely-seen moment of self-awareness used just the one stepover to make some room and then fired his shot high over the bar.

Can we write to FIFA and ask them to remove corners from the game altogether?

Unsightly set-pieces aside, City were way on top as the half progressed and the chances kept on coming. Mclean, a player again showing his spirit and dedication to team football, set Liam Rosenior free on the overlap and the right back laid on a chance to Fryatt, hanging back, who sized up the chance and aimed it fractionally wide. It looked in. It really did.

Lots of people have been banging on about City needing a goalscorer. But we have one. He’s called Matt Fryatt and he’s very, very good at goalscoring. Like any other good finisher, he is having a barren spell. But unlike in previous matches, against Doncaster he was actually getting the chances. There certainly seemed to be some subtle alteration to the way City spread bodies around the park when on the offensive as Fryatt rarely did his shtick of dropping deep to collect the ball and play a part in the build-up. In this game, he was a centre forward. He didn’t score, but he finally looked like he was regaining some sharpness, the kind which saw him briefly in the goalscoring table for the division earlier this season. We need to keep faith with Fryatt because he is a good player and will again be a fine, prolific marksman for the Tigers.

City kept going as half time approached. McKenna, reading the game with his usual precision, won the ball in the centre and sent Stewart charging down the flank. Fryatt aimed his run for the six yard box and Koren arrived late to fill the gap behind him, and it was he whom Stewart fed. The shot was zapped just wide, again.

There were, it might be advisable to point out at this juncture, two teams taking part in this game. But we had reached nearly the halfway point and Doncaster had still to make a contribution in attack. Still, they arrived at the bunfight just in time when El-Hadji Diouf, as fine a player as he is as unspeakable a man, clipped in a cross that James Chester could only marginally clear, and Martin Woods fired the follow-up just over the bar.

City were desperate to score before the break. The chances kept coming. A trip on Koren led to a tight-angled free kick – yes, a set-piece, but in very much Andy Dawson range, this one – and the left back aimed his delivery – could have been a shot or cross, to be truthful – to the far post where Mclean got a head on it but could see virtually nothing of the gap between the posts, such was his view, and hit the side netting. A failed set-piece, but this time quite unlucky.

Stewart then hit a volley which Button pushed out for a corner – you can fill in the rest – then Dawson made a stirring run on his ageing bones to force another corner, and again, your assumption would be correct. The half time whistle duly shrilled.

Set-pieces aside, this wasn’t unimpressive stuff from the Tigers. Ample moaning could be heard about the lack of a proper goalscorer, but this remains unfair on Fryatt. Strikers have bad spells, it’s part of their make-up, and currently ours is on a bad run. Let’s not forget that Fryatt had been dropped at Reading ten days ago and was only back in the team because of Brady’s bruised bonce. And judging by his appetite for the ball in the correct areas, those traditional for a chap paid to find the net frequently, he had learned from that removal from the team.

One question perhaps that needs posing about strikers, however, concerns Jay Simpson. He hasn’t been exactly a tree-puller at the Circle, but he did get a few towards the back end of last season and seemed to get a shot in the arm at Millwall. Is his attitude bad? Did he want to stay in London? Hasn’t he got the appetite to fight for a place with his parent club? Or does the manager simply not rate him? Simpson isn’t exactly proven, but he must have looked at the centre forward that did make the bench and, eventually, get on to the pitch against Doncaster and wonder exactly what the attraction was. More on that later.

The second half got underway and the first notable act came, shockingly, from Doncaster. However, don’t start blubbing or anything, as it wasn’t an attempt at scoring. It was an attempt at cheating.

This was a classic, this. Habib Bamogo, right in front of the East Stand and near the halfway line, tried to turn inside McKenna. He succeeded, actually, and quite a smart turn it was too – McKenna’s attempted block made no contact with the ball. However, it made no contact with the man either, it was an air tackle and the gap between tackling leg in black sock and dribbling leg in red sock was vast. It was clearly visible from an East Stand angle and if Bamogo had actually chosen to keep possession of the ball and continue his effort, he’d have succeeded in both impressing with his skill and making a grizzled pro like McKenna look a rare fool.

Instead, he threw himself to the ground, rolling backwards and forwards and clutching his ankle as if he’d just been stabbed with a poisoned umbrella on a train. Briefly this was worrying, as all eyes turned to the referee to see if he had been hoodwinked. Once it was clear that play was continuing, the East Stand turned on Bamogo as one. This was deep, deep vitriol. Mclean went over to use soothing medicinal prose on Bamogo to help him be cured of his injury. It worked a treat too, as immediately the Doncaster conman had forgotten the pain and had leapt to his feet to start an argument with Mclean, proving that the case against McKenna was a non-starter. For his part, McKenna had done the professional thing and played to the whistle, but as soon as the ref stopped the game to break up the quarrel, the City midfielder sprinted back to have his say. No cards were shown and Bamogo was castigated for the rest of the game – or, at least, until his manager hauled him off for being ineffective and dishonest. Footballers who do this kind of thing should have their ankles kicked out for real.

Beyond this, it was a quiet opening spell to the second half. City were still in command but Doncaster seemed to wising up, getting stronger and more ruthless at the back. They had the hang of Stewart before long while Rosenior’s faux-winger stuff in possession, which often works, didn’t deliver at all this time. Largely the Tigers were still reliant on potshots from Koren – he had two after the hour mark which were both well saved – and, gulp, forcing set-pieces which came to the inevitable nought.

Barmby made a double change, taking off the entirely missing Corry Evans and re-introducing Olofinjana for his first League game for the Tigers outside the top flight, which is quite something. Also removed was Stewart and on came Josh King for his League debut. Now for some fun and games.

City forced a free kick – don’t worry, it was from a very long way out – and Koren clipped it to the edge of the area whereupon Chester headed goalwards and nobody saw fit to challenge Button as he opted, oddly but not ineffectually, to punch clear. By this time, we’d seen King’s first touch of the ball, and it brought to mind a well-thumbed but still amusing yarn from Ron Atkinson, who reckoned that “Carlton Palmer can trap a ball further than I can kick it.”

Boy does this lad seem to need some work on his touch. Let’s assume. to be charitable, there were nerves at play here too, though. It was a big night for him, allegedly. He was joining a team full of loads of old Manchester United chums, all of whom seemed to have settled and succeeded. He didn’t want to be the odd one out (forget Brady for the moment, he wasn’t playing) and so he was eager to impress. Over eager though. We know the feeling – try too hard and it can go pear-shaped, in any job. But at times it was agonising to see King try to control a football. He’s a big, awkward, clumsy-looking lad, and we’ve had a few of those – Billy Whitehurst, Colin Alcide, Jon Parkin – but footballers who make the grade tend to be able to control the ball when it’s given to them. King will come good, I’m sure. When one thinks of the weapons-grade rawness that Whitehurst initially had, or the reaction to Parkin’s arrival on the evidence of his previous appearances against City, there is hope in Tigers history for King. Let’s give the lad the time he deserves.

Meanwhile, as we tried with all our might to get to grips with King’s shortcomings, Doncaster nearly scored. It was their second chance of the game, and it prompts us, for the first time, to mention Vito Mannone’s name in full. It looked in, too – Diouf saw a cross fall just behind him on the edge of the box and swept a sudden, spontaneous and, most importantly of all, goalbound lob above Mannone’s head, but the freezing cold keeper was still alert enough to tip it over the bar. Diouf looked crestfallen, and well he might. He wasn’t the only one who thought that his shot was going in.

A massive let-off, and with it Doncaster decided – as if they somehow hadn’t already – that they’d be content with a point. So the rest of the game was about City trying, trying, trying to win it. King had a shot blocked inside the box and a corner was forced – no, please read on, as this one so nearly worked. Koren took it, Mclean headed towards goal and Fryatt hooked a close range shot on the turn but was defeated by Button’s brilliant positioning at the near post, with the ball hitting his chest on the line before safely catching it.

We then saw King manage a 25 yard run to the penalty area without ever having the ball under control at all. It was remarkable to watch, with initial indignation at his calamitous touch becoming a vocal surge of encouragement, mixed with real hilarity, as he stumbled and hobbled and lolloped his way to the area. Eventually he was closed out but still managed to find Rosenior in support, and the curling cross was brought down and scuffed wide at the far post by Koren.

Three minutes were added, City played in a panic and Doncaster managed to force a corner in the last seconds, which James Hayter headed straight at Mannone. As soon as the Italian released the ball, the final whistle sounded and, crushingly, the boos rang out.

Booing? Really? Yes it was a disappointing night, but booing? We really do have some spoilt, backward-thinking, unappreciative, unrealistic simpletons watching our team. We’re in the play-off positions, in February, having lost a high-calibre manager almost three months before. Doncaster are chronic and will probably go down, but anyone who thinks that beating a side short on ambition but high on workrate and cynicism should be child’s play has never learned a thing about football. And, given that Button was the busier keeper but Mannone had to make the best save, we should feel an element of relief that the night wasn’t worse.

There are no blinkers on here, and City do have an issue or two to sort out, but they aren’t going to either relegate or bankrupt our club. This performance was fine as a footballing spectacle but just lacked a mixture of luck and confidence in front of goal. Koren had pushing ten shots from distance and most weeks one of those would go in. Fryatt was at the most dangerous he’d been for some time, having altered his game to curtail his habit of dropping deep and partake in the team’s build-up play. The defence now, thanks to this clean sheet, is the most effective in the division. Yes we need goals, we need better service from the wings, we need to sort out the quite freakish ineptitude from set-pieces, but most of all, we need to believe in a starting XI that is settled, happy and is going places and offer short prayers for their continued health until the end of April. A shoddy goalless draw isn’t going to bring off one wheel, let alone all four.

It’s a smart bit of swift rescheduling by the Tigers, as this midweek window was the only one available between February 18th – the original fixture date – and the final week of the season, due to a need to keep FA Cup replay dates free in the event of the Seagulls progressing in the competition.

It also means that what looked like a 17-day period of inactivity has now been pierced, as City can now have a more manageable eight days’ rest between the Valentines Day trip to Birmingham City and Brighton’s visit to the Circle. Afterwards, there will be a nine days before City travel to Blackpool on Friday March 2nd, the first of seven games in a gruelling 22-day period.

Robert Koren had a number of opportunities from his usual range but these all ended up missing the target or being pawed away by Doncaster keeper David Button, who had a good night.

Matt Fryatt and Cameron Stewart also went close for the Tigers, while Doncaster’s only real opportunity came when El Hadji Diouf’s curling lob was brilliantly tipped over by Vito Mannone.

City are fifth in the Championship table, with a trip to Portsmouth this weekend coming next. This was also the Tigers’ first draw at home all season. Match report later.