Rainy days and Mondays may well get some people down, but if you're a Sharks supporter I think you'll find Fridays are probably starting to feel worse.

After the fiasco at Bristol, nobody would seriously have believed that the side could ever under-perform as badly again.

Given the roasting the team must have received from the coaches, even John McCririck would have laid very long odds against a repeat performance.

Well thankfully I'm not a betting man. The only smiling faces after the game belonged to the few hearty Falcons fans that had bravely driven down, fully expecting to see their team receive a sound beating.

The few I spoke to honestly expected that to happen. So, I would've thought there would've been singing and dancing in the Beer Village after their understrength side beat the Sharks and laid their Edgeley Park hoodoo to rest.

Yet, there was no glorying in the victory, just surprise at the result and astonishment that the champions of England could play that badly.

That astonishment was shared by the rest of us who sat through the whole 80 minutes on a freezing, teeth-chatteringly cold Autumn night.

What we were unfortunate enough to witness was, in the words of the incomparable Stuart Hall, "a real cowpat of a game" - directionless, lacking in passion and belief and strewn with basic tactical and handling errors.

For Philippe Saint Andre to come out and publicly apologise to the fans for the performance really says it all.

You can't blame injuries and international call-ups for the display, we have a large squad and should have the strength in depth to deal with these eventualities.

The performance was poor - we know it, the coaches know it and by now, I'm sure the players know it!

Was there anything to be pleased about? Well, fortunately, yes there was.

Sean Cox established his credentials as a valuable member of the team. He carried the ball well, was good in the loose and tried to pull together and galvanise a pack that for most of the game was at sixes and sevens.

It's just a shame that he got injured. Hopefully though, it isn't too serious and I'm sure we all wish him well and hope his recovery is speedy.

I am, by nature an optimist, or so I keep telling myself, one has to look forward and focus on the positives.

There's no point worrying about the upcoming Quins game and the brother-in-law's reaction, yet!

Christmas is nearly upon us, I know this because I noticed the decorations starting to go up some time in August.

For those of a curmudgeonly disposition, like myself, this usually is the season of grumpiness, humbug and Christmas shopping - not a prospect to savour.

However, while visiting friends in our old stamping ground at the weekend, we made a small detour to Altrincham to do a bit of this Christmas shopping'.

I was, as ever, reluctant to go and endure this torture but, as a little bird had told us that a Shark would be switching on the lights, I felt there might be the prospect of a little Christmas cheer at least.

DJ Becky Want and a rather loud and raucous clown provided the entertainment' and at that point things did not look too promising.

I could've been watching England play South Africa - then again, that would've involved a clown too. So, best to stick with the devil you know!

Fortunately, before much more of this misery had to be endured, our very own Pop Idol appeared on stage, looking cheerful, cold and slightly embarrassed.

Rumours have abounded about those mythical Pop Idol auditions - did he? didn't he?

Well, I guess we'll never know, but boy, can the young lad sing! Well done Ben, a star performance.

Gareth Gates, eat your heart out.