It's widely expected that we will have a new manager by the end of today and it's odds-on that the man will be Steve Coppell.

It is no secret that Steve, manager at Second Division leaders Brighton, has been interviewed for the job at Reading and has been thinking it over.

It would be a major surprise to me if we were called down to the ground and they unveiled someone different.

Whoever it is has my backing. What else would you expect me to say?

But joking aside, as I said last week, it is important that we get someone in soon so we can bring some stability back to the club.

With the international weekend upon us we have been given an opportunity to recharge our batteries. Our game at Burnley on Saturday has been called off due to Steve Sidwell's call-up to the England Under-21 squad and so the rest will also, as and when the manager is revealed, give the new gaffer a chance to settle in and get across to us exactly what his plans are for the club.

The whole situation seems to have taken an eternity.

As players you need some direction, and that is true at any firm or company, you need a leader.

Initially, after Alan Pardew left to go to West Ham, it seemed straightforward - Kevin Dillon, coach and current caretaker manager, would get the job.

But after we had lost for the third time the players began to think that that might not be the case. We then started to look to when they might bring someone new in.

We were told at the time "at the end of next week" and that still gave us two games to play without someone in the job on a permanent basis.

Having played those two games we were told it would be after last Saturday's game against Bradford. Nothing happened then and it just seemed like it was "after this game, after this game, after this game".

Hopefully, an announcement will come today and then we can get down to trying to impress the new boss and he, in turn, can help get us back on track.

In Saturday's 2-2 draw I thought I had one of my best games for the club. I helped set up Steve for the opening goal and we were well on top.

Then with two minutes to go before the break I did something that I described afterwards as amateurish.

I was caught in possession by Bradford's Paul Evans and, although we were 20 yards out, he hit a shot that curled beyond the reach of our 'keeper.

It was probably the first ball I had given away in the whole game and coming when it did it knocked the stuffing out of us.

What I should have done was hooked the ball down the channel, but I took a touch going back towards my goal and Paul read my intentions. He used my momentum to nudge me off the ball and then ran four or five yards forward. It was one of those situations were you are thinking "Well, if he scores from here it will be a hell of goal" and unfortunately for me it was.

Having played so well in the first-half we went in at the break a bit down.

Nick Hammond, our director of football, was in charge for the game as Kevin had to head back to the North-East for personal reasons. He acknowledged my mistake but told me that my performance up to then had been exceptional and that we should go out there, play as we had been doing and we would win the game.

For the first ten minutes Bradford gave us as good as they got and when Scott Murray gave away the ball they went down the other end and scored.

At 2-1 down, having conceded goals in the manner in which we had, it could have been game over.

But credit to us, we dug deep and began to find our groove. We dominated from then on, scoring the equaliser through Andy Hughes with 12 minutes to go and, if anything, it appeared we would go on and get a third. I had two efforts that were not far away from achieving that, one the 'keeper saved and the other, a header, was cleared off the line.

Although we had failed to get a win and I had played a part in one of their goals, I was very pleased with my performance and will look to build on that in the upcoming games.