I’d been so depressed by that late miss at Aldershot.

It was going over and over in my mind all the way back home. The whole four-hour coach trip was spent feeling sorry for myself.

But then I heard about Keith Alexander and that terrible news put everything into perspective.

It is such a loss to lower-league football. Keith was a top man who was always so positive.

He was always so happy every day doing the job he loved and would never ever criticise his players.

I spent a couple of months under him when I was on loan at Bury but I knew him well from playing against his teams.

They were always hard to beat because Keith knew how to get the best out of League Two players. He wasn’t at clubs with big money to spend but he just made the most of what he had.

I’m mates with Ben Futcher at Bury and Keith took him everywhere. I know Ben loved him to bits.

It must be so difficult for Evo, who had a good couple of years playing for him at Macclesfield.

Keith’s players were so loyal to him and he’d get his team playing on top of their game. He will be a big loss.

The number of tributes for him has shown the size of the football community. You only hear about the Premier League but the lower divisions have got a massive following.

It just goes to show you’ve got to live for the day and can’t let things get you too down.

On our front, it was disappointing to get nothing from Tuesday. The manager wanted us to keep it tight and frustrate them and we did that.

They only had one chance but stuck it away. Unfortunately we couldn’t take ours.

The pitch was great, which probably took us by surprise. But I know the surface at the Don Valley on Saturday is terrible.

I missed out last year because of injury but the lads say it’s a weird experience. The crowd is so far away because of the running track round it.