The start of the season is just days away and after our victory at Huddersfield last week, it promises to be a mouth-watering year for me.

As I mentioned in last week's column, Kevin Keegan had a real go at us after we lost 1-0 at Tranmere and said we had to improve.

And at Huddersfield we did just that and won 2-0. Our performance was around 70 to 80 percent better.

As a senior player, you don't like it when the gaffer has a go at you and I went out at Huddersfield wanting to show what I could do.

I played 70 minutes, scored a goal and had one disallowed. Danny Tiatto set up my goal, I just took one touch and side-footed it into the corner. That's makes it sound a bit easier than it was! I've now scored two goals without having played a full game yet, so that's pleasing.

I think the starting 11 will be pretty much the team for the first league match at home to Watford on Saturday.

Our new signing from Celtic, Eyal Berkovic, looks a really good player. He plays behind the front two and he's the one looking to play through balls from the midfield.

To have Berkovic supplying through balls will be great for me. The season before last, I scored 29 goals, but only one of them came from a through ball. The rest came from wide or from defender's mistakes.

In fact, Berkovic, my fellow striker Paulo Wanchope and myself played very well together at Huddersfield and showed good understanding.

As far as communicating in the English language goes, our understanding is not quite so good. Paulo, who is from Costa Rica, speaks a bit of English, as does Eyal, who's from Israel. But they both seem to have a hard time understanding me. Maybe that's the Bermudian accent coming out!

Anyone watching us play at Huddersfield would have thought we worked well together, but I'm sure our combination will get even better.

At the weekend, I played for the City first team against the reserves - and we lost 3-2. To me, that was not a surprise. Throughout my career, whenever the first team has played the seconds, I can't recall an occasion when the reserves have not won.

Playing for the firsts in a game like that, you know the boss is watching every move you make and I think the reserves are always more relaxed.

It was probably a better workout for us than playing against someone else. It was a difficult one to prepare for, because no-one wants to go and injure a team-mate but everyone is playing for personal pride.

We didn't reach the level we reached against Huddersfield, but for parts of the second-half we looked the part.

Nothing has been mentioned about the Watford match yet. In training this week, they will probably bring over some of our youngsters and ask them to play like they think Watford will play.

They may have a long throw or a certain free-kick routine we will be told about. And we try to find out a little about how individuals in the opposition play. If some likes to cut inside, then we'll try to force him down the line, for example.

But this being the first game of the season, our scouts may not have had a chance to see Watford. And Keegan might work differently. He might only be concerned about how we play and not the opposition.

I'll spend most of my Friday this week preparing mentally for the match. You have to be ready to concentrate fully on the game and blank out the crowd and the cameras and everything else. Saturday evening's match is live on Sky TV, but I can't afford to be wondering if someone back home is watching while I'm playing.

Like us, Watford are one of the stronger teams in the First Division and, also like us, they have a new manager (Gianluca Vialli) and will be looking to send a message in their first game. A good start is so important, for the team and for individuals. As a striker, you're looking to get off the mark with a goal as soon as possible and if not, at least put in a good performance.

A goal can cover a multitude of sins. Even if you don't play well, if you can just put the ball in the net, it gives you so much confidence.

At the end of last season, after we were relegated from the Premiership, I thought it would take a few new signings to refresh the place - either that or a new manager. Of course, City went out and got one of the biggest names in football, Kevin Keegan. It's given everyone the chance to start with a clean slate and things look very promising.