Not being picked for the game against Blackburn Rovers presented me with the biggest challenge of my Manchester City career.

With Darren Huckerby out injured I had thought I would be given my first start in the Premiership this season, partnering Nicolas Anelka in Sunday's match at Maine Road.

However, the manager Kevin Keegan opted to play youngster Chris Shuker with Nicolas instead.

We have a team meeting about an hour and 15 minutes before the game and that's when he went through the team and tactics, etc.

When he read Chris' name out and not mine I must say I was shocked, but I just thought I have had challenges at this club before and this is certainly my biggest one.

But I am a team player and a team person and from my point of view the manager has made his decision and it's just a case of getting on with it after that.

I wished Chris all the best and I held absolutely nothing against him. All I knew was that when I did get my opportunity I had to take it.

The game couldn't have gone much worse with us going two goals down after strikes by David Thompson and former Manchester United striker Andy Cole.

And with 61 minutes gone the manager thought it was time for a change, bringing on myself and my Australian team-mate Danny Tiatto.

He just told us both to go out and give the team a lift. We weren't playing our best football and we felt we could go on and change things. But I did think that rather than salvaging the game it was going to be more about my own performance.

Within five minutes of coming on the situation appeared even bleaker when Danny was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Thompson.

Funnily enough, and although it sounds strange, it was that incident that gave us the lift we needed. We were a man short and it raised our game.

A lot has been made of the incident and the manager has already called Danny unprofessional for the tackle and promised to fine him as much as he is allowed.

But from my point of view I don't think there was any malice involved.

What you saw is Danny all over. He is a full-blooded player. He was probably frustrated because he has not been playing on a regular basis and has decided that the game needs someone to put their foot in and take control.

Unfortunately, he has allowed his passion to get the better of him and that has resulted in him committing the two-footed challenge.

I was just pleased that Thompson was not severely injured.

With Danny off we had to change things around a little bit, although word did not come from the bench. It was just a question of the experienced players saying 'we need one of the strikers to drop a bit deeper' to compensate for the loss of Danny.

Nicolas tends to drift a bit wide so he automatically becomes a midfielder when he does that, but when he went high as a lone striker I fell back to become the extra man in the middle of the park.

The rest of the players tried to keep their shape and keep things tight.

When Nicolas scored I hadn't really got into the game. I had had a couple of touches but I had not got in and around the box for the past ten or 15 minutes.

But I was still determined to prove my point and felt if someone delivered a ball into the area I could make something of it.

With a minute to go I saw Sylvain Distin making a run down the wing and when he reached the byline I had managed to get myself free.

He had been running at full speed and by the time he reached the line he was knackered, so it wasn't a case of him looking up and picking someone out, more of just putting the ball in the middle and hoping one of us would get on the end of it. That said he might tell you he spotted me all along!

I was just thinking just 'drift over' as everyone had gone in and when the ball came I was just glad to see it cross the line.

As I have been reminded on several occasions since, it was a typical Goater goal, not the sweetest strike and going in off a defender and the goalkeeper.

My team-mates reckoned there were eight deflections, but I told them that was fine as I won't score a goal unless there are at least five!

The joy of scoring took over me and I grabbed the badge on my shirt to show people just what this club means to me. It was my first goal of the season and it also gave the gaffer something to think about.

Hopefully, it will make it harder for him to leave me out for the next game. But if it still wasn't enough I just have to go back to the drawing board, train day-in, day-out and prove that I deserve to be given a chance.

We play West Ham on Saturday in our next game. They are bottom of the table and so on paper it is a game we should get something from.

That said we have a 100 percent record away from home this season - we have lost them all.

But this match gives us the opportunity to nip that in the bud before it becomes a run of games and a bad habit.

It is a good time to go there and get some points and all being well I'll have a part to play in achieving that aim.