In all honesty I've been sitting on this instalment for a fortnight, I didn't want to pen anything prior to the FA Cup Semi Final in case the powers that be read my optimism and decided to jinx me, as it turns out it probably wouldn't have made much difference but we'll cover that shortly. Then following the culmination of our Cup run I didn't want to come across overly emotional and negative about the remainder of our campaign, especially before, a jaunt down the M62 for an assumed annual whooping from Manchester United at Old Trafford. So I held off, instead aiming to refer to the previous 2 games but focussing mainly on the final possible point haul for this campaign.

What March promised to deliver following on from a decent January and February, eventually lived up to its potential with 10 points from a possible 18 pushing us up to 7th place in the Premier League and a FA Cup semi final date set with Liverpool on 14th April.

Everton's annual spring revival is in flow having now only been beaten twice since the turn of the year, in a dismal display at home to Bolton and the rescheduled trip to White Hart Lane following last summer's cancellation due to the North London riots, but since then we have managed an eight match run without tasting defeat.

February has started exceptionally cold with most of the UK seeing snowflakes falling heavily, but nothing could dampen the warmth that Evertonians felt at the close of the January transfer window. In a bizarre twist of unusual occurrences Everton were for once the buyer rather that the vendor and the month that recently has terrified us the most, actually became exciting.

Its been really hard to get excited about this season so far and despite seeing in the turn of the year we are still waiting for it to take off. My last instalment saw us starting to build momentum towards a decent run, which came crashing down following a lacklustre performance against a struggling Bolton Wanderers side.

The always torturous Christmas period has been relatively kind to the Toffees as Everton’s annual second half of the season resurgence appears to have started. Eight points from a possible 12 is a decent return for a team which has struggled to find consistency, four games undefeated going into a home encounter with Bolton Wanderers is surely the momentum we need to extend that run further, starting with the Trotters before a nice break in the league programme for the FA Cup.

Where do I start? This will be both the easiest and hardest thing I will write this year. On Sunday 27th November 2011, a wife lost a husband, children lost a father, football lost a gentleman and Evertonians lost a Blue. Even as I write this I’m still overwhelmed with emotion and welling up at the tragic passing of Gary Speed.

Apologies for the length of time since my last blog, I managed to fracture my wrist whist partaking in a spot of Togger. My father’s words of condolence were damning: "If you didn't have bad luck you'd have no luck at all". Which is also quite an apt summary of Everton so far this autumn.

We find ourselves halfway through the month of death in Everton’s Footballing calendar and the Toffees are yet to receive a single point for their efforts. In the same three fixtures last season against Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, a very respectable 7 points were acquired and I’m sure David Moyes would have liked to have picked up at least 1 from the possible 9 on offer.

Following an exhilarating and somewhat gut wrenching last 25 minutes of the120 played in the eventual victory against West Bromwich Albion last Wednesday, Everton's hopes of taking a buoyed squad and fan base down the M62 to Manchester City at the weekend were greatly enhanced.