I didn't expect a silky performance at Scunthorpe if I am totally honest. It is as tough a place to go as anywhere in this league, and our circumstances made it even tougher so to get the victory I thought was a fantastic result.

For me it is probably the result of the season. I know many people will regard the Wolves result and West Brom away win as our best so far, but for me there was a tremendous amount of character shown to get a valuable three points.

But it did come at a cost. Matty suffered a slight hamstring strain in the last few minutes of the game, and although it was only a slight strain it was vital he came off when he did to prevent any further damage.

And then things weren't helped when we lost Claude Davis with a sore groin on the morning of the Swansea game.

It meant that we had to put together a makeshift back four with two kids in at full backs. It was not the best preparation to take on a team with the quality of Swansea.

Just to put it into context, if you look at the Swansea team they could put their club record signing David Cotterill on the bench.  

When we were at Sheffield United I watched David a lot and I thought at the time that he had the ability to be a lower league Premiership player or certainly a very good Championship player - and they can bring him off the bench!

If you then look at who was on our bench we had a young schoolboy on there, which would never happen under proper circumstances; Alassane who is a rookie, James Comley who is a rookie and Sean Scannell, who is still learning the game and is just coming back from a lengthy injury, so it doesn't all equate really.

Although it has been a remarkable situation I do think we have given too many kids their debuts this season. It is not the the way to get success at the top level. If you look at a club like Swansea they have a good solid squad with a tiny sprinkling of maybe one or two teenagers.

I remember when we played Cardiff earlier this season, Dave Jones only had one teenager in his whole squad and the rest were fully fledged professionals.

Now I know it is always exciting to see a youngster given his chance but in my experience it all eventually catches up with kids in one way or another.

In the rare cases that it doesn't, such as Nathaniel Clyne, then you know you have a Premiership player on your hands. Any player under 21 or 22 years old and is holding down a regular starting spot in a Championship team will go to the very top, there is no doubt about that.

And even if they play half a season in the Championship they have a good shot at the Premiership, and if not they will definitely become Championship players.

But at the moment we have too many young kids who we are relying on to get us results, although it does make this run we are on even more remarkable.

Of course this is a situation outside of our control. When you lose players to other clubs like Jose and Victor, and then lose others to long term injuries you have no choice but to play the kids.

So, and I am not being flippant when I say this, I wasn't surprised by Tuesday night's result. I knew we were going to face a very good team who would have a lot of confidence after a good result on Saturday.

I also knew that Paulo would be able to change four or five players from that win and still have a side that were capable of winning football matches in this division.

Saying that though I didn't feel we deserved to lose. I thought we showed a lot of character especially in the second half. We needed one break in the penalty area and we nearly got it, but unfortunately it didn't happen for us.

After games like that I do try to look at it in a logical and sensible way, and for me I knew that we would have taken a point from the Scunthorpe and Swansea game last week and would have been happy. That would have given us two points and instead we have three massive points.

I know some people thought we looked tired out there in the opening 20 minutes, but I have said before in these blogs that I don't believe a footballer should ever be tired. If you are footballer you have days to prepare for a game and should always be ready.

But one thing I will concede is that the human body can be affected by non-physical stresses. Mentally you can become very drained, and whether you are footballer or someone in any other type of job, if you are mentally tired then you are physically tired.

And I think there were signs that as many as five players were off the pace on Tuesday night, and these were players who have been magnificent in the last three or four games.

I think it has all caught up with them, there is no doubt about that.

So I suppose there is the argument that some players may need to be rested. But when do we rest players? We have a very busy schedule at the moment and every game is as important as each other and we will need every player to get us through it.

Also, I know we have players in our squad that don't want to rest. Players like Neil Danns who is the type of player that takes it to heart if he is not picked to play. He wants to play in every game.

It is the same with players like Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard who actually get upset when they are told they are not playing, and that is a mark of respect to Neil that we can talk about him in the same manner.

His stamina levels are incredible, but it is the work he does away from training that is just as impressive. He rests well, he eats well and he has found a healthy balance to keep his levels where very high.

Even though I know Dannsy could push himself to the edge for us, I still can't wait to get Alassane back because he will give us more cover in that midfield. I am extremely wary every time the boys take to the field that we will suffer injuries because we just have no cover for it at the moment.

Normally we would go out and get three loan players in who would help us enormously, but that is not possible at the moment because of our current predicament. I am not bleating about it, I am just stating fact.

We have just got to continue working with what we have got and deal with the facts ahead of us. The Gaffer, myself and Keith talk daily now about the team for the next game and who would suit a certain game, who could do with a rest, who is looking a bit leggy - we discuss everything.

But as I have said, it is something we can either waste time crying about, or we can begin enjoying the fact that we can get a lot of satisfaction overcoming all adversity until such time the club gets sold.

With regards to the sale of the club I have heard a lot of positive stories and that keeps us all optimistic.

In fact all the staff received letters this week - although I am not sure when mine is. Somebody said that it meant I had been given the sack! But I know that is not true- so God knows where that has gone. The letters basically explained what the future holds and provided a greater deal of certainty while we are in administration.

Of course that could just be short term and they might sack everyone in two week's time, but nevertheless the administrator has done his best to assure everyone that their employment is secure for now.

And we have all appreciated that because the only people that can keep this club out of the mire now is us - the people that work here. Everybody is pulling together under difficult circumstances and it is so heartening to see it happen.

This week I have been approached about the topic of Stern John and why he hasn't been given his chance since his return from Ipswich.

The thing with Stern is that he could be one of the players who goes out on loan. We know that if a Championship club comes in for him then we are obliged to let him go.

The Gaffer has spoken to Stern about this and he totally understands the situation. Of course the same terms apply with any player at this club but with players like Ambrose, Danns, Derry and Speroni it would be soul destroying if they left.

Stern is a different case because he has not been getting regular football here, so it would be a easier option to let a player go who has not been in the side than a player who has been pivotal to our season's successes.

Ultimately though a move away from the club is Stern's choice. No matter what we want or what the administrator wants it is always the player's choice, but I think in Stern's case he would go out on loan.

I know that it would be another body leaving the squad but that is something we have got to face.

As for Tuesday night, I was sat in the stands thinking to myself: "Should I ring down to the bench and recommend putting Stern on to try and get us a goal?", but we were lacking pace in getting behind their defence so instead we put Kieran Djilali on.

And as you saw Djilali's pace had an almost instant effect, and on a couple of occasions he could have easily got us the equaliser. So I know some thought we could have brought Stern on but I think the decision to put Kieran on was the right one in the end.

At no point has Stern's comments about wanting to stay at Ipswich while being there had any influence on his lack of starts since his return.

He is such a nice lad and has never caused us any problems. He has not sulked about the situation and we know this will all take care of itself.

On one final note I would like to express my delight about the news that this blog has been nominated for the Best Digital Content Award in the 2010 Football League Awards.

When I started out doing it it was something that we thought would maybe be of interest to Crystal Palace supporters, but I never expected it to be as popular as it is, and for it now to be recognised by the Football League is just fantastic.

On Wednesday afternoon I was travelling up Villa Park to watch the Manchester United game and I was listening to the radio about the Portsmouth affair.

The point they were making, which I think was a really salient point, was that the most important people at any football club are the fans. The players play for the club, the coaches coach the club and the managers manage the club, but with the fans it is their club.

The only people who are going to suffer out of all of this are the fans. If Crystal Palace isn't sold the real suffering is had by the fans. The players are going to get paid, the staff will get paid as such time as the administrators tell them they are not - the only people who aren't guaranteed anything are the fans and without them there is no football.

They are the lifeblood of football and the ones who suffer the most. So if I can give a little bit back and an insight into how things work at this football club then for me it is a worthwhile exercise.

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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.