I was training on Friday ready for Saturday?s game when I realised I just wasn?t going to make it.

The previous weekend I was defending and there was a ball played through and I was about to jump for it when I was pushed in the back.

My arms were already up and the guy I was jumping with also went up and he used his elbow for leverage and caught me right in the ribs.

It was sore all last week and was hurting when I coughed or sneezed and gave me sharp pains when I took deep breaths. I trained most of the week but we weren?t sure if I was going to make it.

We were playing small-sided games on the Friday with push-ups for forfeits and when I was doing one of them I got some really sharp pains and even though I then swapped them for sit-ups, it became obvious that I wasn?t going to be able to play against Bradford on the weekend.

It?s not that it hurt when I chested the ball, it was something beneath the surface. The physio reckoned it was bruised ribs and some muscle damage so it hurt when I breathed hard ? and as a footballer that is not what you want when you have made a long run and are gasping for breath.

So I had to sit out Saturday?s game but I am pleased we got a point (1-1).

When you are playing poorly and have been on the sort of run we have, you will take a draw and even though maybe we should have got more because they had an outfielder in goal for two-thirds of the match, we are not too disappointed.

In the dressing room afterwards everyone was pretty positive. When you have been losing games like we have, you have to take what you can get and a couple of draws is a step in the right direction.

We now have to build on those and try and get back to winning ways ? starting at Huddersfield on Saturday.

It?s funny how football works. Everyone is talking about a crisis but we are still in fifth place in the league ? this game is all about expectations.

If we had started this season badly, maybe only getting a couple of wins in the first ten games or so, then the fans would be happy just avoid the drop, so even finishing fourth from bottom would be okay.

But we have started incredibly, winning eight games straight, but because we got to the top of League One everyone?s thinking that we are going to win the league and that winning these games is easy.

There?s still a long way to go and I think we certainly have the players to keep up this end of the table.

And, to be sure, before a ball was kicked if you had offered us fifth place going into Christmas, we would definitely have taken it.

* * * *

AS for my form, I am not that happy with it.

You can call it a dry streak, an unlucky streak, a bad-form streak, a no-opportunities streak, you can call it what you like but it is frustrating to not have scored for a while.

It is just one of those runs strikers go through sometimes. I am going to say that some of it is bad luck and some of it is that we are not playing well as a side at the moment and so chances are few and far between ? maybe only a couple a match for the whole team.

But, personally, I don?t feel I have had that many chances to score. I can?t remember the last time I was one-on-one with the ?keeper ? I?m thinking it?s probably about eight games by now!

I feel that I have been creating chances for my strike partners in recent games but for one reason or another, I haven?t been given chances.

You always need a bit of luck and something to go your way, but I haven?t really had the chances set up for me like I have done for other players.

Hopefully my rib should be better with a bit of rest and I can get back into the side for the Huddersfield game and try and get a goal this weekend to get us the win we are looking for.

* * * *

I MUST admit I didn?t see the whole incident with Donovan Ricketts (Bradford goalkeeper sent off for gesturing to Southend fans, one of whom was later arrested for allegedly making racial comments).

I was on the bench and didn?t hear any racial chanting or anything, so if there was anything like that, it couldn?t have involved many people. The way I saw it, the crowd thought he was feigning injury earlier on and were giving him some stick and he half-turned round and raised his hand to the crowd, and I thought it was a sort of ?shut up, leave me alone? sort of thing.

I didn?t see him make any kind of gesture, but the linesman obviously did because he called the referee over and the lad was sent off.

I haven?t heard anything about any of the racist stuff and I would be surprised if there were any problems because we have had nothing like that before from the Southend fans.

As a black player I would be very disappointed if there had been any racial taunts and I know the club would not tolerate that and I?m sure they would go ahead and ban anyone who was involved.

There are a few black players at the club and, like I said, we have had no trouble with any of the fans and it would be very disappointing if there did prove to be anything like that going on.