I?VE never been late for a game in my career ? ever.

But unfortunately my first time was my debut for Coventry on Thursday night in a testimonial game. I have never had to do long commutes to my club before, never more than 30 minutes or so, and this trip reminds me why.

We Bermudians aren?t very good at long journeys, once we get past about 40 minutes or so we start asking ?are we there yet??

I had a 90-minute journey to Worcester, so I left two-and-a-half hours before to make sure I would avoid any problems.

But footballers aren?t very good at calendars, we normally work holidays so we don?t think too much about these things . . . and it was the annual Easter exodus at the time and the roads were full.

It wasn?t long into my journey, spent just sitting in traffic, that I realised that I wasn?t going to make it to the ground time ? but because I had only just signed with Coventry, I didn?t have anyone?s number yet!

In the end I had to ring my agent and try and get him to contact someone to tell them I was going to be late.

The one-and-a-half hour journey ending up taking four hours, so I got to the ground at 8.05 p.m. for a 7.45 p.m. kick-off.

It was a bit strange because I arrived and the dressing room was empty apart from the kitman who just pointed at my pile of kit and I was left to get dressed on my own.

Normally there are people around to help you with strapping and rubdowns but I didn?t have any of that, it felt like I was just getting ready for a quick kickaround.

I went and did a really long warm-up to try and get the drive out of my system. I warmed up for the rest of the half and then again during the break, so I didn?t even get to speak to my team-mates at half-time.

I came on as substitute at the beginning of the half and went around to some of the the guys before we kicked off and said ?hi, I?m Shaun?.

Unfortunately, I realised very quickly that I didn?t know any of their names, which made it quite difficult to adjust.

That was the strangest thing for me, in all the years I have played professional football I have never not known any of my team-mates? names.

It was awkward calling for the ball because I just had to scream for the pass without giving a name, not something I have had to deal with before.

You don?t want to offend a player by asking his name, us footballers have egos and expect everyone to know who we are ? so asking was not an option.

Now I know how George Weah felt when he came to Man City ? we all knew who he was but he didn?t know any of our names.

It was a game I really enjoyed on Thursday, it was nice just to be playing football again.

The manager just told me to go out and get some fitness and not to get involved in anything. It was 1-0 when I came on, although I missed the goal as I was still sitting in traffic, but then we scored another four.

It felt like everyone around me was getting goals even though I didn?t get any. I had a couple of chances, one shot from the edge of the box which whiskered by the post and then another where I broke through but I got a bit of a nudge from a defender and it was just enough for me to lose the ball and the ?keeper came and smothered it.

I am now really looking forward to Saturday and making my debut in the league against Brighton. I think I was involved as substitute for about five minutes early in the season for Reading against them and from what I have seen of them, I think it is going to be a scrappy game.

They can be an imposing and physical team and they seem to play better away from home.

Brighton are a tough side and they look to contain you on the road and then can be dangerous on the break. It will be a testing first game but I am just looking forward to being involved again.