Runaround was what I needed!
6:14pm Thursday 13th March 2008
Nobody likes getting beaten 4-0 but today's reserve game at Nottingham Forest was probably just what I needed.
Forest have a very good young side who play under-21s every week and their young lads gave us the runaround.
We had to do a lot of defending and I was up against quick lads who were really keen at running the channels. It was hard work but the sort of thing I need.
You can do all the training in the world but there is no substitute for playing games.
I've played only four games in going on for four months and, while I feel I'm getting there, I know there is still a gap to where I want to be if I'm going to be seriously back in contention for the first team.
Playing 70 minutes in a game like today's was a big step in the right direction.
I did manage to come on for the last couple of minutes at Stockport but didn't get a kick. The only touch I got was collecting the ball after it went out of play and retrieving it for a goal kick!
There was a real contrast between the two league games we've played this week.
Stockport have been together for a couple of years and they looked really impressive in difficult conditions.
They are a side heading in the right direction and making a late run to get into the play-offs.
Chester, though, seem to be going the other way and are really struggling.
They were going so well when they came to us earlier in the season but that shows how things can change. You lose one or two players and it all turns round.
Look at us last season when we were flying in September and what happened after that.
But it could have been a tricky game because Chester had just changed their manager and were smarting from a big derby defeat. We were expecting a backlash but it didn't really pan out like that.
I thought we dealt with them comfortably and had the chances to have won by a lot more. We could have put the game to bed a lot earlier but a win's a win and now we can look to build again.