Firstly I hope you all had a happy Christmas and a good New Year. For me, although I love Christmas and the New Year, I always have done and always will, I don't think I have had one off in 40 odd years of football, but football is a main part of the holidays and a decisive part of the season.

Every year points are vitally important over the Christmas period, whether that is three points, four points or six. Overall I think that we have done exceptionally well and got some good results under our belt, especially that Ipswich result and for that we should recognise Mark Perrin and his staff for getting the game on in the first place.

It was doen to his and his team's dedication and hard work that we were able to play the game, put in the performance and get the three points. And as I understand it they have been working even harder this week in trying to get the weekend's game on, so again I would like to express mine and the entire playing staff's gratitude to him and his team.

Looking back at the Ipswich game it was a great performance, and obviously three goals against them and the double made for a great platform for the Swansea game. We were actually disappointed that we left the Liberty Stadium with only one point, but that is how we are at the moment as a club.

And that led on to the Sheffield Wednesday game and a place in the next round of the FA Cup, which was fantastic for the club.

So those three matches have made for an enjoyable time around the club, which has been important when you consider the negative press surrounding the club at the moment.

Everyone at the training ground is aware of what is going on. The players have been kept informed the entire time and there has been no negativity from the players.

They know what is expected from them and they, like myself and the rest of the management staff, will be doing everything we can to lift everybody the best way we know how and that is on the field.

I have often been asked my opinion on the financial news coming out of the club, but it is not for me to get involved in the politics or finances of the club. As long as we are all kept informed then I don't foresee any problems from the players. We all know how difficult the situation is here and we do not want to make things even more difficult.

Since I have been here Simon has been nothing more than honest with us. I remember sitting with him, Neil and Curley after the Scunthorpe game and he said to us: "If I didn't know you three better I would have sacked you tonight", and that is how honest he was because it was a sackable game, even Neil said that.

But obviously he knows us well enough to know that we would spring back from it, which we did and in true fashion as well.

So he knows what we are about and we are definitely pulling together. There are no fractures in the camp.

In fact we had to go up the Dome this week for the first time this winter and I was looking on while Neil, Jim and Keith were working with everybody, and I just looked at them and I thought that there was not one person in that room that I wouldn't want alongside me if I was in the trenches.

It was a fantastic training session. The players were enthusiastic and wanted to work and that is all we can do. We can't get involved in the politics or the finances of the club, the only way we can respond is in our attitude.

Indeed it is at these times when management staff are able to see the true sides of the players and how they react to their backs against the wall. And that is also the case for the staff as well because I have seen staff in the past influence players in two ways, the negative way and the positive.

We had a staff meeting on Friday night at the hotel and I said to the staff to not say anything negative around the players because they don't want to see the staff with any negativity around them.

It was actually quite easy for me to instruct that because the staff are positive anyway. They all know that all we can do is perform to the best of our ability so that it doesn't give any player an excuse to perform any less than us, and so far the players have responded magnificently, no less than Sheffield Wednesday away.

And that got us into the hat for the next round of the FA Cup. In one of my previous entries I went on record to say that the Sheffield Wednesday draw was a terrible draw and that any Championship or lower league club would be a terrible draw for us; and it is the same with Wolves - it is not a great draw.

Now that is because when I was watching the draw I knew Man Utd were out, so I was looking for who was left and there was Arsenal and Chelsea, who are the sort of clubs you want.

But when we got down to the final clubs in it there was only Tottenham still there for us, so that is the one we wanted. 

To be honest I never clocked that Wolves were there, all I could see was Tranmere and thought 'not Tranmere away, surely." Of course they were knocked out and fortunately for us it is Wolves.

Looking at it I think both managers will be thinking they have a realistic chance of going through to the next round.

People have already pointed out Mick McCarthy's recent decision for fielding weakened sides in past Cup games and he might do that against us, we don't know. But what I do know is that we will not be putting out a weakened side because, quite simply, we can't.

As Neil said to the players before the Wednesday game - some managers have been accused of fielding an under strength team but we certainly can't be accused of that because this is what we have got.

We only had four substitutes against Wednesday and I am still amazed that no one has made more of that. Matt Lawrence and Danny Butterfield both failed fitness tests and what we had left was three youngsters and Alex Wynter, who was making his debut for the club, and again I am amazed that there wasn't much more made of that as well.

We were never worried about Alex because we had seen at home in the FA Youth Cup, and let me tell you he is one of the new future stars of Crystal Palace.

He might have only got two or three minutes on the pitch but the idea was to give him all the experience he will need to develop as a pro.

He got a taste of what it is like travelling with the first team players on the bus, staying in hotels, eating the food, all the things that top pros do he is going to learn as a school boy and that is going to put him streets ahead of many players.

This experience for him is invaluable.

The decision to then bring him on was that it was purely for experience. At that stage of the game we felt comfortable because we felt we had won the game, and we knew that he was capable having watched him over the past few weeks.

For him though he will never forget it as long as he lives because he made his debut just turned 16 at Hillsborough, which is one of the major stadiums in football. I personally have great memories of playing there having scored there and trust me it is one of the big stadiums he will never forget.

One player that didn't travel with us was Victor, which was a shame because he is on fire at the moment and would have been a valuable resource.

Now I know that many sceptics will be presuming that his absence was a precaution taken to ensure he wasn't cup tied, but I can honestly say he was injured.  

I understand why people would have thought that but this week I have had lots of agents ringing me wanting to know if he was playing, and they all received the same answer - he was injured.

In any case I don't think the chairman cares one iota about that, either people want to buy him or not irrespective of being cup tied. He came off against Swansea because he got one of those tackles on the top of his foot and we were initially fearful that it was the metatarsal because if it had of been he would have been out for months and that would have ruined things for us and him.

As it turned out we had x-rays and scans taken and they showed bruising of the bone, so he was never going to be fit for Sheffield Wednesday. When a bone is bruised it is very painful, but it does heal very quickly as well so we are very hopeful he will play at Bristol City.

All of our preparations this week have included Victor, which have been a little more awkward than usual because this terrible weather has meant we have been unable to train on the grass. We are fortunate to have the Dome up at Crystal Palace and it is a good venue for us. 

W had a great session up there on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we have actually booked it all the way through because if the game is called off on Saturday then we will train on Saturday morning. We are planning for the worst and the best.

Since my last blog we have unfortunately seen Freddie Sears recalled to West Ham. 

I saw him on tele coming on for them just as Arsenal equalised, so he must be thinking his life is a jinx at the moment. There is no doubt in my mind that we never saw the best of Freddie.

He had been in and out of the team, he had two injuries at the end which made life for him difficult. But he loved it here and he wanted to stay with us because he felt he was only going back there to be an occasional sub, whereas here he had a realistic chance of playing 90 minutes.

It is a shame that things didn't work our for him here but looking back at it the Bristol City decision really affected him. If that had stood and won the game for us I believe he would have gone on to better things, but the fact it was ruled out meant that it affected his confidence, which is the most important thing for strikers - they strive on it and when one goal comes more usually follow.

Another moment was when he missed that penalty. Of course we had long since lost the game but, against everyone's wishes including the manager's, he decided to take it.

At the time I remember thinking that choosing to take it over Neil Danns and Darren Ambrose, who are our main penalty takers, was a major decision and when he missed it it seemed to knock him even further.

But I know Freddie will come out of the back of this a stronger player and I am confident he will find his form soon - it is just a shame that won't be with us.

Another player who has left us is Simon Thomas. I know it was officially announced on Tuesday that he had left, but in actual case he had left the club the day he signed for Darlington because contracts cannot be terminated until January, so it was down to a technicality as to why it happened this week.

In Simon's case I just think he didn't reach the level we thought he would. We must remember Boreham Wood is five leagues down from our level so it was always going to be a big step for him, but unfortunately it was too big and it was best for him to move on.

But while we have one striker leaving the club it is almost like we have signed a new one with Calvin Andrew coming back to fitness. His goal against Sheffield Wednesday was a cracker and it was great to see him get it.

For him to get the winner after what he has been through was just a pleasure to see. I have actually watched, and don't ask me why, a DVD of his operation and I tell you what - that is a scary operation!

I sat through it and I couldn't believe how refined this surgery is when it is so brutal, it was honestly the most gory thing I have ever seen. At the end of it I thought to myself: "How could anyone recover from the sort of surgery?" It was actually three operations in one because the surgeon was working on three different areas of the knee and he basically rebuilt the whole knee.

Years ago an injury like that would have meant almost certain resignation, but the quality of the surgery plus Calvin's dedication to getting himself back has been unbelievable.

So the dressing room after the Sheffield Wednesday game was buzzing because everyone was so happy for Calv.

Just a final look at this weekend's game and the effects of events from previous encounters are going to make it a spicy game. 

These things are always built up by the media and rightfully so because we want to sell the game more than anybody. I also think it is right that it is built up because it makes it more of an interesting game than it might have been.

The managers will be in the limelight, the players will be in the limelight all because of those infamous decisions. As a player I remember when someone tried to do me and I spent a long time trying to get my own back, so these things last long in football and now every game between us and Bristol City will be very spicy.

For me I think Bristol's main threat are their two boys upfront. The new lad, David Clarkson, is a good player and we have to be really aware of his sharpness.

But we have got people like Darren Ambrose, Neil Danns - who was fantastic at Wednesday last Saturday - Victor, who is on fire, and I would not like to mark Alan Lee with two men at the moment, he is taking the whole world on.

So with these assets we look now, and we didn't earlier in the season, like scoring goals. Unfortunately we still know how to concede goals so if we can get that sorted out and keep things tight then who knows, by the start of Easter we could be a very good position.

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Mick's blog will continue throughout the season right here on cpfc.co.uk. To read his earlier entries click here.