Well, what a run of form. I'm sure a certain Mr Holloway is looking over his shoulder.

Well done to all the supporters who travelled to Hartlepool . I hope my goal made your journey worthwhile! And well done to the fans in general for you excellent support in recent weeks. It is certainly helping the lads grow in confidence.

I thought you might all be interested in my last week's diary leading up to the Hartlepool game, so here it is:.

Monday 19 January

7.30am : Got up

8.00am : Breakfast (porridge)

8.15am : School run

9.15am : Set off for training

9.30am : Arrived at training ground. Into the dressing room for the normal morning banter, with Robbo taking the brunt of most of it! Tommy Doc talks us through his goal again and again. You can feel the air of confidence in the dressing room, which is good.

10.00am : Out onto the training pitch where we go for a 20 minute jog round the training ground. When we got back we got the ball out and played keep ball five vs five, with me floating with whichever team has the ball. The goalkeepers then come across and we play a small sided game. We finished training at about 11.30am . Some of the lads stayed back for shooting. I met Mickey Bell at the ground at 12 o'clock to do some extra running around the track.

12.45pm : I went over to the media department to meet the gentleman and his family who caught my shirt at Notts County . A very nice family. We had photographs in the Atyeo Stand, then I gave them a tour of the ground as they were so happy to be there.

1.15pm : Boardroom for some photographs with the sponsor who had just decorated the boardroom.

1.30pm : I went to physio's room for a rub off of Dave.

2.00pm : Home for a few hours.

5.15pm : Went back to the training ground to watch the under-15s and under-16s training. I like to keep an eye on the youngsters to watch their progress as I also watch them play every Sunday morning.

7.00pm : Went home to watch the football on television.

10.00pm : Went to bed.

Tuesday 20 January

7.30am : Got up

8.00am : Breakfast (Cereal and toast)

8.15am : School run

9.15am : Set off for training

9.30am : Arrived at the training ground. The dressing room was a bit quiet as Tuesday is normally a running morning.

10.00am : Go out to the training pitch. Straight onto the balls, which was a relief to a few. We played a small sided game all morning – three vs three and four vs four. High tempo and hard work. Finish with some shooting and crossing.

12.00pm : Finish.

Wednesday 21 January

Lads have day off.

9.30am : Left home to go to the David Lloyd Center to meet Belly and a mate of ours Pete who is into quick feet training with ladders and hurdles.

10.00am : Met Belly and Pete for an hour long session of this, which gives you a good sweat on and keeps you sharp. Matt Hill does a session with him on a Thursday after training.

11.00am : Went to training ground for a chat with Tony Fawthrop, the Academy Director and a good friend of mine. We talked good football for a hour and a half.

12.30pm : Went home.

Thursday 22 January

7.30am : Got up

8.00am : Breakfast (Cereal & toast)

8.15am : School run

9.15am : Leave for training

9.30am : Arrive at training ground. The lads are in good heart after a day off, Butts is struggling with his ribs!

10.00am : Go out on the training ground and go for a jog for 20 minutes before we play 11 vs 11 with Hartlepool in mind. Thursday is when I tone my training down in preparation for Saturday. I like putting my hard work in earlier on in the week. The manager is fine with this. The rest of the lads do shooting and crossing, while I go for a cup of tea with Tony! We know Hartlepool is going to be a tough task as they have only lost one home game in 18 months.

1.00pm : Go home.

2.30pm : I decided to go shopping for some new boots as I have not scored a goal for a while.

Friday 23 January

7.00am : Got up

7.30am : Breakfast

8.00am : School run

8.30am : Left for training earlier today as we are starting at 9am so we can finish early to get on the coach for 12pm .

8.45am : Arrive at training ground. There are some tired-looking faces as a lot of the young lads have not seen 8.45am before!

9.00am : Go out on training ground for a light session of ‘keep ball' then a small sided game - old vs young. Yes, you've already guessed who I played for! And we got hammered 7-3, although I scored two volleys. On a Friday at the end of the game there is a vote for a yellow jersey which goes to the worst player. This week it went to Aaron Brown and was proudly presented by Steve Phillips (last week's winner)!

10.30am : Go home got packed to travel to Hartlepool to be back at the ground for 12.00pm . The journey begins. Get on bus for a nice six-hour journey. Plenty of papers to read and videos to watch. I am sat with Belly as usual and opposite is Marvin Brown and Leroy Lita, who for six hours play Champ Manager on their laptops.

6.00pm : Reach hotel just outside Hartlepool , go into my room which I have to myself as I like being on my own so I can prepare for the game without any distractions.

6.30pm : Go for food as the rest of the week I have pasta, potatoes, fresh vegetables, bread. I drink at least 2 litres of water a day.

7.30pm : Go back to my room just in time for Coronation Street ! Followed by EastEnders, then The Osbournes at 9.30pm .

10.00pm : Off to sleep

Saturday 24 January

9.00am : Wake up and go for breakfast. Don't see many people down there at that time!

9.30am : Go back to my room and put Soccer AM on TV, just relaxing before we all meet to walk at 11.30am .

11.30am : Meet up and go for a 15 minute walk.

11.45am : Go for pre-match meal. Chicken, pasta, beans and bread.

12.00pm : Go back to my room and get ready to be on the bus for 1.00pm . Catch half an hour of Chelsea vs Scarborough .

1.00pm : Back on the bus and on the way to the ground.

1.30pm : Arrive at Hartlepool ground. Manager names the team. (Woody delighted and Mickey Bell disappointed).

2.10pm : On the pitch for the warm-up.

2.35pm : Back to dressing room for last minute preparation - i.e. who's picking who up at corners etc.

2.55pm : All ready to go.

4.45pm : Absolutely delighted. The new boots have worked, I have scored a good goal, we've got the three points and I even got a hug off the chairman on the pitch on the way off! The supporters have been excellent and we were much better in the second half.

5.15pm : Met Gazza's agent Wes Saunders after the game, who tells me that Gazza would like to play in my testimonial game in the summer, which was really nice. I then had a chat with Martin Scott, who isn't that chuffed about my goal - but never mind. Then I bumped into their youth team manager Paul Stevenson, who played in the same youth team as me at Newcastle .

5.40pm : Got on bus to head home!

I hope this gives you all a bit of an insight into a week as a footballer.

If I am going to score a goal like that you will be getting a diary every week! Please keep up the good support, its appreciated.

Cheers

Tinman