We have seen the ups and downs of football in the space of a few days this week. Against AFC Bournemouth last Saturday, we were lucky to come away with a win and three points.

I scored the winning goal in the final moments but on another day we might have lost and been happy with a point. Then, on Tuesday night, we suffered our first home defeat of the season when Colchester United won 2-0.

There was one thing in common between the two games, though, and that was the effort that we put in. On Saturday, we were continuing to seek the winning goal until the last minute, as our goal illustrated. And on Tuesday, although we lost, no one could question that we threw everything at Colchester in search of a goal, although it was ultimately to no avail.

The statistics showed that they only had one chance – although they scored two goals! – so that shows just how much we were on top.

The reception we received from the fans after the midweek game showed that they saw this as well. You would understand if they were upset because we have got used to winning this season but there was some good applause.

The fans deserve a team in the Championship and we will do our best to make sure we are there next year.

I was happy to score the winning goal at Bournemouth last weekend and it helped that all the other results were good for us as well.

That continued on Tuesday night, when Sheffield United lost to Walsall and results such as those show that the league is harder than we have made it look at times this season.

It’s a hard league and it’s been tough to get to the position we have – 13 points clear at the top. We have been amazing this year away from home and sometimes it’s easier for us to win away because the team at home has to come out and win the game.

When teams come to The Valley, as Colchester did, it’s a lot tighter and more difficult to find the net against packed defences.

At around 15 minutes toward the end of the Bournemouth game, I spoke to one of their players and he said that the game would not finish 0-0. I said that I wasn’t sure if they would score or we would but luckily it was for us.

After Colchester defeat, we have to try to get back to winning ways against Notts County on Saturday.