And then reality struck.

It's going to be a long 9 months. I saw very little to get excited about. I know we can't read too much into friendlies, but bar or two, our squad isn't that strong and I'll again be happy to survive another season in League One.

New signings in the summer have been Danny Jackman,

I the match, we completely outplayed them, and according to that stats, we had 17 shots on target. The trouble is, most of those 17 seemed to be weak headers straight to their goalkeeper from good crosses.

They took the lead in the second half with a scrappy goal after we failed

This was the first fixture I looked for when they were announced all those months ago. Despite the result, it didn't disappoint. I thought we more than held our own against our old managers club. Despite being 3rd in the league, Forest fans were utterly silent bar a 5 minute burst after they scored. Calderwood must be doing a good job exciting all the fans then...

According to the stats, we had 7 shots on target

Last weekend was my Dad's 50th Birthday, so my Mum decided to surprise him by taking him away for the weekend with me, my sister and our families. We went to Center Parcs in Penrith for 3 nights. A really good weekend with loads to do, although a tad expensive. But my Mum paid for accommodation, so I didn't mind paying over the odds for a couple of things.

Due to lots of walking in the cold during the weekend, I caught myself a cold and had most of the week off work, and was so ill I decided not to go to the Millwall

3 highlights of my year in no particular order:

1. Northampton getting promotion.

After 3 years in the basement league, we finally get the promotion we failed to get after reaching the play offs for last two years by finishing 2nd and not having to bother with the play offs. We clinched promotion against Chester with a game to spare, and it was a superb day of celebrations. The success was based on our solid defence conceding only 37 goals

After not seeing us win at home since April (I missed our Swansea win), I've now seen 2 home wins on the trot (thanks to the rain at the Millwall match). We looked a different team against Carlisle and deserved our 3 points, although it was a nervous last few minutes. Stuart Gray is now in charge after John Gorman left before Christmas. Two games in, he's picked up a point at Tranmere (I didn't go, but form what I've read, we were

Now that the exams are over, I can enjoy my new PSP and the last few days have been spent playing GTA: Vice City Stories, which is the mutts nuts and Poker on my new handheld little friend. I'm a bit broke now, so will need to wait a couple of months before I get some new

Saturday, however, we were diabolically bad. How we managed to get a replay, God knows. If we played like that all season, we'd be bottom of the league. But Grimsby weren't much better and I'm pretty confident we wont cock up our second chance and earn a second round tie at Barnet.

Before our cup replay, we have a game at Scunthorpe. We've failed to win away to them in 15 attempts and

It's mine and a mates birthdays today, so along with a few more mates, we went for a curry and a few beers in Stony Stratford on Friday night. Curry was absolutely top notch and I'll be definitely be going there again. Thanks to new licensing laws, The Cock (opposite The Bull and where the cock and bull story originated) was open late and have a conference room which had a sort of disco in it. A lot better then we were expecting and everyone had a good night.

With it being my Mother-In-Laws birthday on Saturday, we

Taking to mates and reading reports, it seemed like it was an even match. Our goal came on about 55 minutes from a long David Hunt throw and volleyed in at the near post by Luke Chambers. Up to 13th now, just 3 points behind play offs. Hopefully we can build on this and get another home win in front of me next week against Blackpool.

In other football news this weekend, the first draw of the FA Cup was made. A glamour