After going almost three months without a match, I was fairly tired when I finished my third game in seven days last Friday night.

You do all you can during pre-season, all the running and the legwork but it never quite prepares you for actually playing matches. And going down to 10 men in two of those three games wasn’t exactly ideal, either.

Akpo Sodje did the lion’s share of the lone frontman role in the opening game against AFC Bournemouth but it was my turn against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.

When you’re up front by yourself, it’s a difficult job. You’re always outnumbered by defenders but you need to hold the ball up as much as possible to give your team-mates some respite and also close players down to prevent them from having time and space on the ball to launch attacks.

On top of all that, you have to stay alert and try to grab a goal if you can.

I thought we did brilliantly against Orient in the circumstances. The only thing I was unhappy about at the end was the fact that I wasn’t on the pitch when Scott Wagstaff put that great ball across the goal in the closing seconds.

Having said that, with the speed he’s [Wagstaff’s] got, I probably would have been somewhere on the halfway line!

That certainly made things a bit better after our midweek Carling Cup defeat to Shrewsbury, when I was pleased to score my first goals for the club and this weekend we can look forward to a top-of-the-table clash with Oldham.

Of course, it’s a bit early in the season for over-the-top descriptions like that but whichever side wins will definitely be at the summit of League 1 at the end of the day, so there is all to play for.

Playing against Oldham, my former club, has come around pretty quickly. After all, it was only three months ago I was playing for Oldham against Charlton, so it will be nice to see the boys again.

Oldham will be good strong opposition but any friendships will stay off the pitch.