By Jamie Pitman OUR Carling Cup tie at Aston Villa really gives us something to look forward to.

When I was watching the draw, there were three numbers - 1, 9 and 12 - that I was very keen on and one of those, Villa's number one, came out for us.

It's a fantastic draw because it's so close to home as well, just an hourand- a-half's trip to Birmingham, and it will be a terrific occasion for everyone.

It looks as if we will have a really big following and we want those people to go and enjoy the game and then come and support us here at Edgar Street to improve our home gates.

For the players, it's a match to look forward to as well but we have tried to detach that from what we are trying to do in the league games because, of course, they are our bread and butter.

It's a game to go and enjoy, for the players to express themselves and compete against some very good players - whatever side Villa put out, it will be a good team.

It's a great chance to compete against top players, to go to a fantastic stadium and see what it's all about in that respect. It's an opportunity that we have not had for some time and something that everyone can enjoy.

I am continuing to work towards my UEFA A Licence.

The course started in the summer when I did a week away and now it's ongoing through the year. I also have a personal tutor who comes and assesses me in what I do in training and in my coaching.

It is occasionally a nice release and allows me to continue to improve myself, network and talk with people.

It's good to discuss the problems other people have at their clubs and a lot of us have the same issues.

It's interesting to find out how they cope with their problems - that improves you and gives you more experience as well as promoting different ideas of how to go about matters.

The A Licence course also gives you a bigger insight into things - we do a lot of analysis and you sit in lectures and look at and analyse situations. That is a huge part of the game now and players have to take that on board or else they, and we, will be left behind.

All the young players coming through now are brought up on that sort of analysis.

At our club, we analyse matches with the Prozone system and that allows us to work with individuals on every aspect of their game, showing them what they are and are not doing, taking constructive material from it.

It is not there to be negative - it is there to give players constructive feedback on their performances. If their performances improve, then it is obvious that we improve as a team.

You can highlight things for them and show them what they do well and what they do not do well. And we can analyse what we do as a team as well.

If as a coach, you think you know it all then you are never going to learn - you have to be open to criticism and to new ideas.

This year, at our club, I have tried to instil two things - increasing the analysis side of things when working with individuals and trying to improve our facilities at the training ground.