The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy gets a lot of criticism in some quarters but you won’t find anyone at our club questioning its merits after we reached the regional semi-finals on Tuesday.

Our 1-0 win against Southend United was just the sort of solid display we required. We didn’t play brilliantly and the game was a bit scrappy at times but Therry Racon scored a great winner and now we’re only two wins away from Wembley.

We’ve made no secret of the fact that the league, and gaining promotion to the Championship, is of paramount importance this season but the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy has been important.

In both our previous rounds, we had just been beaten by Huddersfield Town and Brentford respectively and needed to get back to winning ways quickly, regardless of the nature of our opponents or the competition.

We’re currently on a decent run of results and it was essential on Tuesday to keep that going. I earned a fourth consecutive clean sheet at Roots Hall and was told after the game that I’ve now gone six hours and 13 minutes without conceding a goal, which is great.

The manager said some nice things about me to the press afterwards and that was good to hear but I know I can’t afford to rest on my laurels. Football is always about the next game rather than the one just gone.

Our progress in the JPT and the FA Cup replay against Barnet next midweek means November is turning into a busy month for us but extra games can be a good thing.

No player minds playing extra games if we win those matches and it could help us.

We’re a relatively new team of players who came together this season, so the more games we play, the better we are able to gel together.

Obviously, I can’t take all the credit for the clean sheets. I didn’t make many saves against Southend and that’s testimony to the hard work of the defenders and the other players, who all have a job to do.

More attentive fans will have noticed that the run of clean sheets has come after I changed the colour of my goalkeeper shirt from pink to yellow.

I like the pink top but I let in seven goals in two games wearing it and thought a change might do me good.

It’s strange how things work. It doesn’t mean anything because it’s the person who wears the kit who has to do the business but it’s sometimes psychological and gives you the feeling of a fresh start. The pink kit isn’t going to come back for a while now.