AFTER the disappointment of the Aldershot Town game it’s all about making sure we respond properly when we go to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

Their manager Mark McGhee is someone I know very well having worked with him at Millwall and he’s a smashing guy and manager.

It’s no surprise to me that all the reports I’ve been reading indicate they’ve become a better team with him in charge and it will be another real test for us this weekend.

Having said that we seem to be a side who are set up to do better away from home so hopefully we can get a good result there.

Ideally we would’ve loved to have gone in to the game on the back of a good win against Aldershot, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

We huffed and puffed and there was certainly no lack of effort from the boys, but we just couldn’t get the performance or the result we wanted.

That’s the way it’s gone for us at Roots Hall just recently and I really don’t know why.

I don't think there’s a lack of confidence or that we worry about playing in front of our own fans so it’s a confusing situation for us all.

But it’s something we have to sort out because the chances of us winning all our remaining away games are pretty slim so we have to get points at home if we are to get promotion.

Eighty points have normally been enough for a top three finish and for us to get there we need four wins and a draw from the eight remaining matches we have left.

We’re still confident we can do it and we were all delighted by how we played at Hereford last weekend.

The 3-2 score-line made the game sound closer than it actually was and for me personally I was pleased to get another goal.

I was also delighted for Elliot Benyon to score for the second game in a row and I think it’s good for a team when the strikers are hitting the back of the net.

We’re not a side who has a player gunning for 25 goals so we’ve all chipped in throughout the season and it’s great Elliot is doing that too.

As I found out myself at the start of the season, it’s often hard to get off the mark with a new side but he’s up and running now and also became a father for the first time last week.

On behalf of all the lads I’d like to congratulate the Benyon family and we wish them all the very best for the future.

Michael Timlin has also been celebrating this week as he turned 27.

To mark the occasion he brought in these fantastic little cakes for all the lads and staff, accompanied by some cards advertising where they had been made.

Unfortunately, it was then that we realised it was his girlfriend’s company meaning he must have got all the cakes for free!

Tims has been therefore been getting a bit of stick but Stefano, our masseur, also came up trumps for his birthday as well.

He arranged for Rossi’s, the finest ice cream maker in the world, to take over Chris Barker’s new van that I mentioned last week and served all the lads which went down very well indeed.

That was all done well in advance of our games because we have to be careful about what we eat in the build up to matches.

But things have been more downbeat since the Aldershot game.

We were all desperate to beat them after what happened against them before and we now have to do better against Bristol Rovers.