"WE can get a result today," I announced confidently at the Princess Louise in Holborn at about 1.45 p.m. on Saturday.

Several Aussie barstaff and Chinese tourists looked on blankly. The six Rovers fans in our group peered at me suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'a result'?" asked one, knowing full well that a 5-0 reverse is still a result, albeit an extremely bad one.

I think a 3-3 draw more than qualifies as said result following one of our most exciting games for years. It was also the very least we deserved given the performance and a blatant foul on Lucas Neill leading up Arsenal's second goal. But what are we putting in the half time tea?

For the third game in a row we looked vulnerable directly after half time, in this case careering from a fairly comfortable first half and 1-0 up to 2-1 down and rocking in the space of 10 second half minutes.

Something that needs to be ironed out.

Yet again in another sterling team effort there were several outstanding individual performances notably from Friedel, Tugay and Dunn. I can exclusively reveal for the first time tonight the secret behind Dunny's scintillating form.

I bet you all thought it was because Sven was watching. Not a bit of it. Nor the fact his family are now national TV stars. I reckon his success is actually down to my disastrous track record as a Fantasy Football manager. Three weeks into the season I had Sorenson (broken nose) Stam (transferred) and Dunny (knee ligament injury).

So I was forced into several changes, one of which was to substitute Dunn for Damien Duff (on fire at the time).

Cue a niggling hamstring injury for the Duffmeister. I am convinced if I now leave them both out it will be the signal for a further 20 goals apiece. Most weeks in this column I've been dishing out praise to various team members.

I think it is high time due recognition was given to the single most important factor in our revival over the last 18 months: Graeme Souness. I was far from convinced by his appointment at the time. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Souey has hardly made a wrong move on or off the pitch. As in his playing days he impresses as a man of immense stature who therefore reflects the club in the best possible way.

On the pitch, having inherited a largely overpaid undermotivated squad, the improvement in the club's fortunes over the period is scarcely believable.

The days of blowing extortionate sums on mediocre 'never have beens' seem to be well and truly over. The rubber dinghy men have been all but replaced by a lean, mean nucleus of talented hungry young players who if they can be kept together should bring great success to the club over the next 4 to 5 years.

Which leads to the next point. It has been highlighted by the recent speculation about the Scotland job that Souey only has two years left on his contract.

Surely the club should now be looking to reward him for his efforts by offering to extend the term for at least another three years. This would see most of our young players through to their peak and I certainly cannot think of anyone with whom the club would be in safer hands.

One final thought occurred to me after Saturday's game. That's now eight goals from midfield in two games. I can't wait for new striking coach Dean Saunders to get round to the forwards. Can you?