It was great to get back on the pitch on Tuesday night – but the less said about the final result against Carlisle, the better.

So far, 2011 hasn’t been very good for me. It started off quite well when I scored against Colchester on New Year’s Day, but that day ended with my potential winning goal being disallowed and a red card, and it’s been downhill ever since.

The club’s appeal against my dismissal was rejected by the Football Association, and no sooner had my suspension ended than I picked up a frustrating injury that meant I missed a further four games.

The problem I had was initially with my back, but a lot of things in your body are connected, and that then affected a nerve in my hamstring.

At first, it was just a small problem and not really an issue, but it got worse over time and, when I woke up one morning, my back was really stiff.

I tried to warm up in training and get rid of it that way, but that wasn’t any help, and I just put it down to being inactive and not playing.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the new manager came in when I was suspended, and that and the injury have made it difficult to show him what I can do in games.

It’s strange how we won four games in a row and have now lost four in a row – but that’s an over-simplification of matters in my eyes.

Small margins are the difference between winning and losing matches.

Of course, it’s all in the past now and we have to look to the future and gaining three important points against Tranmere on Saturday. We’ve still got games in hand, but that’s no good if we don’t pick up points from them.

Talking of the future, I’ve recently started to watch a few non-league games to broaden my knowledge of the game.

I hate being at games when my team’s playing and I’m not involved, but I love watching football generally.

That said, I saw Aveley take on Hendon the other week and it was probably the worst game I’ve ever watched.

It doesn’t go down too well with my missus, though, especially because we’ve got a little two-year-old.

She thinks it’s an excuse for me to get out of the house, but I tell her it’s preparation for the future when I finish playing. She doesn’t see it that way!