JUST when you think there’s reason for optimism, the events of Saturday bring you crashing back down to earth.

Sunderland’s eventually comfortable win was bad enough, but add to that Ricardo’s injury and Etherington’s red card and it really was disastrous.

Fuller has not been everyone’s cup of tea recently having slapped his skipper and been grumpy at various points during games, but his sheer presence lifts supporters and players alike.

He really has no luck at this level of football, having been deprived of the chance to prove himself in the top flight by injury.

But whereas we are at least able to play another pacy striker, Henri Camara, in Fuller’s absence, Matty’s mad moment could be doubly costly.

Stoke apparently will consider appealing against the red card dished out by Rob Styles, hoping to reduce it to a yellow.

If that fails, we face the glorious prospect (not) of putting Cresswell back on the left side of midfield for three matches. Not an enticing prospect.

To some extent City were victims of circumstance yesterday, having been forced to make all their substitutions in the first half because of injuries to Shawcross, Wilkinson and Fuller.

The only good news from that day was the failure of four other relegation threated clubs to register a win. West Brom, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Portsmouth all look like they will be fighting it out with us to beat the drop.

Bolton, Spurs and Newcastle remain too close to the relegation zone for comfort and for all their early season heroics, Hull could still be dragged into it. Any team that has only won three of its 12 home matches cannot feel secure in such a tight league.

In short, it’s all to play for.

Forthcoming home matches against Portsmouth and Bolton could have a decisive impact on whether we stay up or go down.