Ricky Ravenhill column

I’ve been involved in a few penalty shoot-outs in my career before but never three before Christmas.

But it’s a crazy season at the moment and it’s a fantastic achievement to still be going strong in every competition approaching December.

To be in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, second round of the FA Cup and still going in the JP Trophy is something to be proud of and we don’t want to stop there.

Some might think it would do us a favour to go out of one of the competitions to save our legs but we want to keep that winning mentality going. Nothing beats that winning feeling.

Penalties is a hard way to lose but it’s a great buzz when you come out on top and I think we deserved it against Northampton on our overall performance.

I was disappointed we didn’t see the game out in normal time. Then when Mez went off and we were down to ten, it was real ‘backs to the wall’ time.

But it just shows the spirit in the squad that we didn’t give up and Carl produced that header right at the end.

Everyone has their role to play in the team. We’re getting different scorers on the sheet, Will’s chipped in with a few goals and now Carl’s got in on the act.

When it comes down to it, we’ve just got that mentality to keep going right to the end.

You looked at their team at the final whistle and they were all on the floor. We knew then that if we stayed big and stayed strong, we would come through.

Even when Nahki missed the first penalty, I turned round to Gary Jones and said ‘we’ll still win this’. I couldn’t see us losing after getting that far.

Stepping up to take the last penalty, I knew which way I was going from the start. My only concern was that every one before mine went the other way and maybe the keeper would change his mind.

But you can’t let the situation change anything. Just step up and be confident and don’t let any worries get in your head.