As a part-time follower of AC Siena's fortunes, I was delighted when they were promoted to Italy's Serie B two years ago.

Especially since it had taken them 54 years to get there.

There had obviously been huge celebrations on promotion, but when I returned to Siena just before the start of the new season, the city's wall was plastered with a series of rather salutary posters reminding the team, as much as the supporters, that promotion alone wouldn't guarantee success in a higher league.

The posters showed a picture of a schoolroom with the team seated at little desks while the manager, in full academic gown and mortar board regalia, addressed the class. On the blackboard was chalked the words: "We must not forget how much we still have to learn."

This was all brought back to me during the dismal interlude that passed for half time on Tuesday evening when another "H Blocker" compared Martin Hinshelwood to a geography teacher who has been brought in to cover the absence of the PE teacher.

A comparison that set off a whole range of unfair, unkind but inevitable suggestions that Petterson and Butters were the Albion equivalents of those fat speccy lads that nobody wanted in their team at school and who only got picked by an elimination process combined with the PE teacher turning vicious and threatening the class with a cross country run.

It isn't reasonable to single out any one, or even two, players to bear the blame for seven consecutive defeats, but these two haven't helped their case.

Against Stoke on Tuesday, Petterson had the chance to redeem himself after Saturday's peculiar Long John Silver impersonation which allowed Gillingham to slot in their fourth goal.

That he failed to save the highly questionable Stoke penalty could be overlooked but nobody could overlook the comedy capers with Butters that resulted in a second goal.

Had the outcome not been so bad, the crowd could have marvelled at the prowess of these two slapstick performers.

In complete contrast to the Chuckle Brothers, and despite getting buffeted by Butters in the same incident, Danny Cullip was going all out to keep the class from detention.

That his style of captaincy has a touch of the School Bully about it - his exhortations to Pethick being perversely enjoyed by all of us in earshot - matters little all the time he puts 110 per cent into keeping the team on the ball.

He's got a great rapport with the crowd who will do their utmost to sing up for Danny and who appreciate his acknowledgement of their support at the end of the game.

As the crowd slid dispiritedly out of Withdean on Tuesday, there were plenty of calls for Hinsh's bowed head on a plate and while this is a fairly constant state of affairs when the run of luck runs out, there's been no sign of any luck to run out of yet.

The reasons for this are many and varied but people are questioning why the manager can't overcome the injury problems, suspensions and whatever else is on his "Very Difficult List" by coaching the team to play a game that brings results, not excuses.

The front cover of Tuesday's match programme added its own touch of surrealism featuring, as it did, a head and shoulders shot of Hinsh in thoughtful pose under which the words "Onwards and Upwards" were writ in large, white letters.

This puzzling statement left me to conclude that it was a coded instruction for Hinsh to report to the headmaster's study.

Although if the headmaster sees fit to hand out a modest reward rather than a severe caning, Hinsh might just get the chance to turn things round before a new PE teacher gets appointed.