IT was great to get back in action for the reserves on Tuesday.

It's been a long time and was really good to get out there.

I had 45 minutes and did the sensible thing in coming off at half-time.

When you've been out for so long you try and get an hour or a full game in, and that's when you can pick up little niggles.

So I made sure that I came off at half-time even though I felt fine.

I scored our first goal and it's always good to score.

Nicho, Barry and now me have all scored on our return to action for the reserves, so it was nice to keep up that tradition.

It's a shame we couldn't go on to win the game, but it was a good run out for everyone involved.

Reserve games are very worthwhile. You've got a real mix in there of players coming back from injury, suspension and some young lads who you can have a look at in slightly more competitive action.

If kids want to be in the first team squad at 18 or 19, then they've got to start getting involved in the reserves a couple of years before at least.

I saw bits of the Champions League games on Tuesday, but it was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest.

Arsenal put out a changed side, and Man Utd were already through, so neither had anything to really play for.

From a neutral's point of view you would prefer to watch a game where there's something riding on it, like the Liverpool game last night.

There have been a lot of managerial comings and goings this week across the country.

Billy Davies has done a great job and taken Derby up to the Premiership, but it's a massive leap.

Can someone do a better job than him? Who knows?

But I would say it's Derby's last throw of the dice.

What Alex McLeish has done for Scotland is phenomenal.

He has pulled out some great results and made them into a side to be reckoned with.

I imagine the players and supporters up there will be devastated he's gone.

But maybe the lure of the Premiership and the day-to-day running of a club was too much to turn down.

Managers come and go all the time and in a month there will be three or four more who have gone.

Nothing surprises you in football.

10:30am Thursday 29th November 2007

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