Good God it's Jedward

It was a sad week for two things: the passing away of two old stars, Billy Gray and Doug Newlands. They go into the history books with honour. Both were good players. My father saw them both and talked about them a lot. You see them in old Football Monthly's and there's an iconic full page picture of Gray and what you look at eventually are his old boots. It's a colour picture, one of those that were taken in black and white and then I think hand coloured. I have the same feelings of nostalgia when I see a very old film in Technicolour. It takes me back to how things were and my childhood. You could get quite maudlin.

We missed a trick at the Book Launch. The players trained on the pitch in the morning. If we'd done the launch at 11 we could have watched them. Poor Clarke Carlisle had been sent home ill, so the book launch gremlins were out early as Clarke was going to be there. Stan T had also sent his apologies as he was away scouting somewhere. The books that were delivered 2 weeks before the launch in plenty of time were promptly sent back to be pulped because of print problems on the picture pages. "It's the computer programme," said the printers. Fancy that, blaming the computer.

So with the launch on the 14th, the books were then promised for the 13th. At times like this you wonder why you do this. Anyway they arrived. Then it's usually the case that a mistake jumps off a page as soon as you open the book. I'll own up. There's a real goof on page 197. The other typos are irritating but they happen. All I can do is shrug it off and say that the books with the mistake are £12.99 and the ones without are £15.99. At least I came home with a bag of sausage rolls and two young lads had a day to remember when Paul Fletcher took them down to the players dining area for some extra grub and to meet the players. After the players had finished training (Mrs T and me got the back end of it just before 1pm) a solitary groundsman walked up and down the pitch with a small lawnmower… up and down… up and down… up and down… He was still out there as we left. I do hope he got home for his tea.

And so next up was Swansea; talk centred on would Alexander start the game to mark his 1000th appearance. I wanted him to start the game and play a full 90 minutes. Just sometimes sentiment should overule anything else. Recently he'd just had 5 minute spells at the end of a game some would carp making a mockery of the process. But if these cameo appearances had been 20 years ago at the beginning of his career nobody would even mention it. The way things have been going I'd have had him in the team anyway in his old role.

The football fan is a resilient soul. I think I'm typical - down one minute and up the next, alternating between gloom and cheer, hope and despair on a weekly basis. Our moods match the way our team performs. We can be forgiven for that. So after all these recent defeats we could be forgiven for being a little bit glass half empty and a bit despondent. But then when we win like we did against Swansea AND show a whole lot of fire, determination and grit; and every player raises his game a couple of levels, boy do we feel better. And then we even talk about "well if we win on Tuesday night we're only 2 points behind 6th place and we really are back in the mix." I'll be the first to admit after the Forest defeat on a scale of 10 my optimism level was round about 3 and I was looking at holiday brochures and the summer couldn't come quick enough.

Make no mistake. This was a damned good game, almost the classic football match where one team controls the first but then things turn round so that the other team slowly takes the second and eventually wins the game. Swansea hit the woodwork twice in the first half and looked in total charge, organised with a clear formation. They took the lead in the second half and we thought oh gawd here we go again. But then miracle of miracles a stroke of luck then appears for the first time in weeks; a free kick from Eagles and a defender glances the ball with his head and scores an own goal to give Burnley the equaliser. From that point on Burnley while not quite roaring back did take control and deservedly got the winner from a penalty. Rodriguez was gently pushed over in the box; it really did seem quite innocuous but the ref in his wisdom pointed to the spot. It was justice served bearing in mind the number of times Iwelumo had been wrestled to the floor several times in recent weeks in front of referees who seemed to think this was OK.

From that point on Swansea had plenty of possession but showed little threat and Burnley comfortably played out the game. What made it special was the superb, sustained, standing ovation given to Alexander when he came on with ten minutes to go to play his 1000th game. What made it almost marvellous was his free kick from 20 yards with a minute to go that was heading for the top corner until the goalkeeper got a hand to it. Even then it might have gone in as the keeper fumbled but the ball bounced away instead of in. He left the field as his team and management made a guard of honour at the players' tunnel. It was a special, special moment and this was only the fifth time that this had happened so not many people have witnessed such a thing. We were truly priveleged. It's only the fifth time it's happened and we were there to see it.

Priveleged too to see what the hairdressers at CREW had done with the players' hair in the programme, page 66. I stared at the picture of Wade Elliott and wondered if they'd simply stuck his finger in an electric socket to make his hair stand on end. I showed it to Mrs T. She burst out laughing and nearly rolled off the chair. "Good God it's Jedward," she said.

Middlesbrough: a beautiful, unseasonally warm, blue sky day. Football blogs abounded with the way in which Burnley were now seen as the team that could decide the outcome of the top six places with three home games, and games against Cardiff and a stuttering Leeds yet to come. All were agreed, beat Middlesbrough and we were back in the mix and there was still all to play for. Bikey was the next to come out in print and say the season was well and truly alive.

Bacon sandwiches in the car park, the shirt-sleeves evening balmy and mild, a soft hazy sky and a gently fading sun; the pitch like green velvet and a return to a simple 4 - 4 - 2 with (at last) Elliott out wide right and Eagles wide left. And in the first 45 minutes Middlesbrough were absolutely shredded. You had to ask: why has it taken so long to set up this formation and get these players in their best positions? Both Elliott and Eagles had their best games for weeks. It begged the question why had Elliott been left on the bench for so many games? Elliott and Eagles are both matchwinners.

Rodrigues in the middle was superb. Iwelumo won ball after ball. Cork was back on form. Marney was everywhere and one lung bursting run into the box was exceptional.

So: for the first 45 minutes this was the old pass-and-move Burnley with long balls mixed in as well. It was mostly though get it wide instead of playing down the middle and floundering. Bikey sprayed it wide left and right with emperor-like power. It's a wonder his headed clearances don't burst the ball. Duff was sharp and first to most things. Fox was outstanding. Jensen was - well just Jensen. It's a personal opinion but his presence seems to fill those goals.

Three goals up by half-time; when did that last happen? The second was superb fashioned in a move up the left by Eagles, and then cross-field at terrific pace from Rodriguez to Elliott, who takes the ball into the penalty area, deftly sidesteps his man, and slams the ball home. It was almost the perfect goal. The first was surely a training ground move; the flat on-the-ground corner diagonally precision drilled. Player one steps over it and there's Rodders steaming in from round the penalty spot to drill it home. Surely by now he must be player of the season. The third from another corner, this time the ball slung to the far post and Duff racing in is unmarked to head home. What an incredibly brave header as well; he finished up in the advertising hoardings in a crumpled heap. I think if I tried anything like that I'd be in traction for a fortnight. Middlesbrough by now were in shock (come to think of it so were we) and to think they'd just been on a seven game unbeaten run. Manager Mowbray at the best of times looks like he's just lost his wallet, by now he looked like he'd lost his wallet, watch, car, and house.

The only downside: the chance to ram another three goals in and improve the goal difference was passed up. Slowly the Burnley foot was taken off the gas. One by one three injuries damaged the flow - Bikey, Eagles and then Marney. The tempo decreased as faffing about increased in direct proportion. Yet still there were more breakthroughs and great play but damn, it was Boro who sneaked a goal.

At 9.45 then, the season was still well and truly alive, the ground hummed and it was not rocket science to see why; the return to form of key players, their selection in their best positions. When did they last play as well as this? You could get quite hyperbolic.

What a night for my young pal James Macnamara from Ormskirk, at Burnley for his birthday treat with his grandad Joe. And tell you what: if we carry on like this and we get to Wembley, and CREW will do it for nowt (Don't forget I'm a Yorkshirman) I'll have a Jedward haircut.

Wednesday we met an email pen pal in Skipton who'd come over from Japan for a couple of games before he retires to Tasmania. Skipton was filled with claret and blue shirts; the Italian lunch was al fresco at tables in the sun. Sometimes life feels so good and the future is claret once again.