I can't remember the last time I was in a side that lost 5-1 - and it is not a nice feeling.

We went into Saturday's game against my old team, Rotherham, full of confidence after notching up a couple of wins and we were all feeling positive.

But we got a bit of a hiding out there and the way Rotherham played reminded me of when I was a player at Millmoor - with everyone grafting and working hard for each other.

But for the first 30 or 35 minutes we were all over them and were pretty much in control of the game. They were having to pass back to the 'keeper a lot and we were in a strong position.

It was nice to get a goal, my first against Rotherham since I left them, but it was a shame that it was in that sort of a result.

I was surprised they let me take the penalty. I had taken one earlier in the season but Andy Hughes is normally our kicker. He did miss one earlier on in the year, but I still thought he would be taking it - but he came over and handed the ball to me instead.

It was nice to thump it in, but things didn't go well after that. When we went in at half-time after they equalised, the gaffer was still pretty confident we would go out and win it and he said after the game he was surprised at the way we lost.

We got a bit of a telling off - sometimes you concede one sloppy goal in a game but I think we were guilty of two or three.

But now we have to move on and wipe that from our memory.

It was nice to see a few familiar faces among the backroom staff at Rotherham when I went back there. On a purely personal level I can count that return visit as a success because nobody booed or cheered me.

I said hello to a couple of lads who were there from my day, Paul Hurst and Darren Garner. I wished them 'all the best' before the game - I wish I hadn't bothered now!

All credit to Rotherham, they are a tough side who battle hard with pretty limited resources.

But back at Reading we have to now refocus. We have another free weekend coming up and we have to knuckle down and get on with the hard work and try and prepare to move forward.

We have a pretty gruelling day of running ahead of us on Friday. There had been talk of some kind of activity day, but I think it will be a physical work-out instead now.