Doente como um papagaio, ou, sobre a lua?* - Read on ...

*Sick as a parrot, or, over the moon? (courtesy of an English/Portuguese web translation website)

I was well away from the action last weekend in South America, but checked the results as soon as the plane landed and two scores from League Tow definitely stood out.

Cheltenham’s win against the club with all of the dosh was a great one and just goes to prove that team spirit and hard work can out do a bank account stuffed with cash whoever has it and wherever it comes from.

I was particularly taken with Crawley manager Steve Evans ‘s quote on the BBC that: “The gulf in class was evident in the second half, but at the end of the day class never beats effort".

I can’t comment on the first part of the quote and I’d appreciate feedback on Cheltenham on how classy they thought Crawley were, but it was good to note the opposing manager making reference to the Cheltenham players’ effort.

To a lesser extent Hereford’s result at Bristol Rovers also caught the eye. Rovers have started well and – like Crawley – are pre-season favourites. The Bulls, on the other hand, haven’t exactly set the world alight in the early stages of the season, but as I mentioned in the post on Friday, Jamie Pitman knows his players and can get them to perform. I suspect he’ll need to keep using and honing his man management skills as the campaign progresses.

Paul Buckle will have been given some food for thought after this one. It’s not a disaster, but he’ll be expecting more for his team against sides that may not match his squads in terms of skill level, but are ready to battle for the shirt.

Oxford will see a draw at home to Aldershot as two points dropped and from what Chris Wilder has said (again on the Beeb) it sounds as if t was a similar performance to the one I witnessed against Bradford a couple of weeks back. He said: "We got the goal, but after that we tried to cruise over the finishing line. We didn't work hard enough to get the ball back and when we got it we didn't work hard enough to get forward quick enough.”

Aldershot went down to ten men fairly early on before Oxford scored and then once the Us had gone ahead, it looks like they thought it was done and dusted and took their collective feet of the pedal. Fair comment, Oxford fans?

Swindon have now lost four game straight in the league and, even though they did well to beat Bristol City at Ashton Gate in the League Cup, they need to sort out their bread and butter form because with the best will in the world they aren’t going to win the cups.

That’s now three points from the first five games for the Robins, but there’s still a long way to go.

Wycombe were undone by Huddersfield who many people believe will be up there at the business end of the season. I suspect very few teams will go to the Galpharm and come away with a result this season and wonder whether Chairboys manager Gary Waddock will tell his lads to erase this one from their memories and focus on the teams that they should be taking points from.

Bristol City got a good point up at Donny despite taking the lead and letting it slip. It was also Doncaster’s first point of the season in five attempts. Still, they were always going to get one against somebody.

It’s very hard to be objective from such a great distance and I know better than anyone that football reports don’t always tell the real story or describe what the fans felt they saw. Let me have your thoughts ... if only to give me something to do while I lie in the Brazilian sun!

Will City miss Maynard ‘when’ he moves to Leicester this week?

Will survival in League One be a good result for Wycombe come the end of May next year?

Have Paul Buckle and Chris Wilder built Rovers and Oxford squads capable of winning promotion?

Will Paolo di Canio get it right or are Swindon fans already starting to get nervous?

Can Cheltenham and/or Hereford surprise a few people this season and force their way into the mix?