Pugh played through the pain last season

It just showed me how little we sometimes know and the opposition for that matter about the players on the pitch and how they are feeling when I heard Marc Pugh's post match interview on Cherry Chimes, after the Portsmouth game this week. I had to rewind the video just to make sure I understood what he said - and no, that wasn't because of his northern accent, ha, ha. No, he really said that he played the last 10 games last season with a fracture on his heel and even now he has been working off some fluid on his heel, so it is still niggling him a bit.

Pugh ready for action.

When I look back at his performances last season and we did wonder whether he was playing as well as we had seen him in the past at times, we now know that he was probably putting in 110 per cent and doing his very, very best when his body was probably not quite up to it. I think we all saw how brave he was when he tried to play in the first half against Preston North end away last February. He clearly was not well enough but it wasn't going to stop Marc from trying to help his team if he thought he could do a shift for them. That was a strange night when it all went a bit wrong for the Cherries and we were all a bit stunned to see them suffer a 2: 0 defeat having been on a good run -only two defeats in 22 games.

The thing is, no team is going to have players that are on form and 100 per cent all the time for every game. It is that fact which makes the run AFCB had last season such an amazing thing. When it comes to the Championship though, getting back-to-back wins is going to be an achievement alright. Still the kind of attitude our players have gives me confidence that they will do the club and the town proud.

It's getting to the stage when I am taking a few deep breathes now. The summer is slowly moving along and the serious stuff will soon come around. It's a time to be excited.