Blackburn home. What was the score? Lost 2-3 Surely in a long long list of cup disasters tonight's result must take the biscuit. 2-0 up and coasting thanks to two excellent finishes from players that the manager clearly thinks are not always worthy of a first team place. Then with 15 minutes left, a team that has conceded 8 goals in its past 3 games decides to defend a strong lead. The inspired and attacking substitutions made by Mark Hughes compared to the bizarre and negative ones made by Curbishley tell its own story.

How many times do we have to witness Kishishev make game-changing mistakes? He is a liability. He does somethings well but the critical things he does bad. My boss wouldn't stand for it and nor should Curbishley.

Why did we wait until the 89th minute to play two up front? In fact he played a striker but stuck him, oh wait for it, out of bloody position! Why change the goalkeeper? What about the back four, isn't this where our problems lie? El K and HH is not working but they remain while others have a quiet game and get dropped. It doesn't make sense but then I'm beginning to wonder if Curbishley makes any sense anymore. This quote stuns me:

"If I'm being honest I would have swapped a result tonight for a win on Sunday. Everyone talks about a cup run but I'm not sure how much the fans want it - it was a half-empty stadium out there. The league is what we're all about."

3 home wins in a year = a half empty stadium. Curbs, you do the math.

Reports from those that were there: cafc.co.uk; BBC Sport; The Times; Evening Sub-Standard.  ¶ 19:03