I HAD the weirdest dream the other night. I dreamt that Wanderers were playing Aston Villa in the Carling Cup and we were thrashing them 3-1 at half time.

Then my beautiful dream turned into a nightmare as Villa smacked seven goals after the break to finally crush us 8-3.

When I woke up I realised it must have been a bad dream because Villa have a problem scoring eight goals in 90 days, let alone 90 minutes.

Then the strangest thing happened. I turned on breakfast television and they were playing my dream, all 11 goals. Then when I opened my morning paper there was a detailed goal by goal match report.

So, I finally had to admit that the match must have really happened and I had witnessed the ultimate game of two halves.

The first half was one of the best, if not the best, performances I've seen from a Wanderers side. They took Villa apart and scored three cracking goals and were unlucky not to get a fourth.

Unfortunately, David O'Leary must have given his side the mother of all ruckings at the interval. They came out and cut us to shreds time and time again and our Carling Cup dream was turned into a nightmare.

Still that magnificent first half proved Blues have the ability to play at a higher a level, and it's that level we must aim for when we take on Mansfield tomorrow.

Apart from playground and junior football, as well as the occasional Sunday morning beer match, I can only remember playing in or attending one other 11-goal match. That was back in October 1954 when I was in short trousers watching my boyhood team Chelsea going down 6-5 to Man United at Stamford Bridge.

That was the season Chelsea won the old First Division title for their first time. Could losing an 11-goal game be an omen for us to lift the Division Two title this season? We certainly have plenty of quality throughout and a strong squad.

Let's hope John Gorman can get the team to take the positives out of Tuesday evening and pick up three points at Mansfield, followed by a couple of home wins over Wrexham and Chester. If we take all nine points from these three, Wanderers could well be taking on Grimsby in a top-of-the-table clash in three weeks.