Unfortunately our game against Lancaster City got called off on Saturday so we were unable to put the late equaliser in the previous match behind us and get back to winning ways, which I know the lads were desperate to do.

Still, we know the importance of going into the next game this week at New Mills with the same hunger, which won't be a problem with the people we have at the club.

With our match being postponed, we had a very good training session on Saturday. Someone might need to ring Gary Brown and tell him it was a good session as he put his head in the way of a Terry Galbraith shot and I'm not sure he's come round yet. The session was very high-tempo which is also great for fitness when missing a game.

With having the day off a few of my ex-Shildon team-mates arranged a small reunion, which included current Darlo play Chris Hunter. We had a great team spirit at Shildon and came very close to winning the FA Vase, so it’s always good to catch up with the lads.

We bumped into the Spennymoor team, who were on their Christmas night out. Most of the lads were in fancy dress which was good crack, Nathan Fisher and Liam Henderson (Hendo) went as the Chuckle Brothers. Hendo was really keen to write his own column and was pestering me by the end of the night. I've told him I'll see what I can do, they're a good set of lads and we all had a good night.

This week is huge for my old club Blyth Spartans with them playing Hartlepool United live on BBC2 on Friday night. It's the second round and they are just one win away from potentially getting drawn against a Premier League side, equally it's just as big an opportunity for Hartlepool to progress so I'd imagine it's going to be a very high-tempo game with both sides leaving everything on the pitch.

I've spoke to a few of the Blyth lads and they seem relaxed about the game and aren't just turning up to make up the numbers, they have a huge chance of causing a major upset and I think they will do it. It's going to be very hard against a full-time outfit, but Blyth have some real quality in their side and in a one-off 90 minute game anything can happen.