Trips are tough but I'm glad to be back

By mbeardmore

Not for the first time this season it has been an up-and-down week for us with the great win against Leeds United followed by the defeat to Leicester City.

I thought the lads were outstanding against Leeds on Saturday and the result was thoroughly deserved.

And I don't think the lads should really beat themselves up too much about the Leicester result.

It was disappointing but they are top of the league for a reason.

A club like Leicester have a big squad and can rotate players – we haven't got that luxury and maybe a few of the lads were a bit tired, particularly after Saturday's efforts.

On a personal note I have trained the last few days so I'll be travelling with the squad up to Hartlepool on Saturday and will hopefully play some part.

I've been out a long time, about seven or eight weeks and I'm just itching to get back in the team and play some football, although I know I need to get a bit of sharpness back.

It's just my luck that I missed the two big games against and come back for the long away trips!

But you have to be honest and professional and I knew I wasn't ready for last week's games.

Both trips will involve a few hours on the coach and different players like to do different things.

Some will sleep, some will read the papers, some will watch a film but generally you just want to make sure you sit next to someone you can have a bit of banter with.

We're not like England teams of old with card schools and all that – and even if we were, most of us could only manage a pound a game!

We're getting to know Chris Hutchings and Martin O'Connor better too.

It's been a difficult time for them to come in because they haven't had the chance to implement everything they want to during training.

That's because we have been playing a lot of games so we are learning about each other as we go along.

With another two games this week, we need to pick up a few points – I know a lot of people like to look at the table at this time of the season but I won't be looking any further ahead than that.