Saturday was a strange day for us all; at one point I didn’t think there was going to be a game.

Two late calls, the first one was that I was starting the game due to Stefan Stam’s new member of the family.

Then the kick off changed to 4.30pm due to Ebbsfleet’s traffic nightmares.

I was apprehensive before the game, I knew I wasn’t right and I didn’t want to be a burden on the team.

Luckily enough I got through unscathed. We knew Ebbsfleet would be in a bad place and it was important we took advantage of it from the start. Everyone had a great first 45 minutes and it was a joy to watch at times.

The football was sublime and we should have scored more.

What made the day even better was my Mum, Dad and girlfriend coming up for the weekend.
We had planned it for my Mum’s birthday weeks ago and then injury struck. I had told them I had no chance of playing and told her to go shopping for the afternoon!

So it turned out to be a great day and even Chris Carruthers scored a two yard tap in!!

Having spent every day in the treatment room for two weeks, it made me realise how lucky I’ve been over the years.

You have to be positive to get over injuries and sometimes go through the pain barrier. The mental side can be just as important as the physical element of an injury.

I feel at around 90% now and will have full recovery in another two weeks. I haven’t enjoyed it one bit and I’m sure Dodge’s (physio) wife doesn’t enjoy his company either!!

The players were gutted to lose to Newport on Tuesday, we were desperate to go top of the league and play well in front of our 600 travelling fans.

I thought we gave it a real go first half and Tom Nichols gave their centre backs a torrid 45 minutes.

A bizarre incident did occur in front of our goal though! A short back pass by Andy Gallinagh (been superb for us otherwise) put their striker through on goal.

I reacted to it by running to the line yet at no point thought I could affect what appeared to be a certain goal. In my amazement, he runs into the post and I follow up by smashing him! He knew he had to stay down injured for a bit longer, as he milked my tackle for five minutes. Got to be one of the worst misses I’ve ever seen!

Yet we couldn’t get a goal and the tide turned in the second half.

We were defending resolutely and it was going to take something special to beat us.

They found it and it was a great strike from them. We have taken it on the chin and are raring to go on Saturday.

One thing that struck me was the experience in both sides, with Newport having one player under the age of 26 (my age) in their side.

A lot of teams in this league pay a lot of money to get experienced players in.

We had Dan Hanford, Sam Clucas, Marley Watkins, Tom Nichols and Harry Pell out there under 21! The gaffer has also managed to shop in Waitrose using Aldi wages (Me, Carruthers, Bittner, Gallinagh)!!

It shows how far we have come as a group and we need the younger lads to keeping playing without fear.

The older lads can always chuck them in the Lions’ den if they need taming and I’d rather it that way!