Kicking your heels – a footballer's worst fear

The worst thing to happen to you as a footballer is to get an injury that prevents you from playing on a Saturday.

OK, in the grand scale of life, there are plenty more terrible positions to be in but, as a player, it is the most frustrating thing to happen.

This is the position I thought I was in after last week. My back stiffened up in the second half against Aldershot. I cannot remember a single incident that set it off but when your concentrating on the game and adrenaline is pumping through you, you don't seem to feel much pain.

Luckily, so far this season, I have averted injury and I was back training again on Thursday. But, missing training on both Monday and Tuesday gave me a horrible reminder of how difficult it can be.

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When you are injured, you often become a forgotten man. It can be very lonely and more often than not for most players, a little depression sets in.

As a supporter, you might find this a crazy concept. How can you be depressed when you get paid to play football? That's just it. We're not getting paid to play.

If, for a second, you could think of what you love doing more than anything in the world, be it fishing, cycling or just having a few beers with your mates. Imagine that you were told you couldn't do that one thing for a length of time. Not only that, but to top it off, you have to go off and work on your own.

Some people do work on they're own and they might enjoy the solitude, but the majority of footballers have grown up playing and working in a social environment. Being in the dressing room and being able to go out and train with your mates every day, is what life as a footballer is all about. Being paid to do it is a privilege and it's something that I have learned to never take for granted.

I remember the feeling on Monday, when I arrived back at the training ground after a swim and seeing the lads warming up. A wave of disappointment came over me. I hate to miss training. I absolutely love doing what I do, and am determined to make the most of my career. Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger.

Often, in football news, I have seen players who have been out injured for a while but then breaking down again. I have known numerous players this very thing has happened to.

The majority of times this is born out of their pure desperation to be back training and subsequently pushing themselves too hard.

So, if you see an injured player around the ground on a match day, go out of your way to give them a little bit of support because more often than not, that's when they need that support more than ever.

By the time this goes to print we would have travelled up to Morecombe. Often on away trips, to break up the journey, we stop off somewhere to train for an hour or two.

Seemingly, every away match is a million miles from Exeter so a stop off to get your legs going is always welcome. One thing that I have noticed over the years is that the further north I go the greyer it seems to get.

I don't mean to speak ill of the north, I've had some wonderful breaks up there with some stunning countryside, but it always seems grim when travelling for a game.

Away trips are always a laugh at least. Weirdly, you tend to sit in the same seats every time, to a point where certain players throw hissy fits if they don't get theirs.

I shouldn't name names but I will. Mancs has to sit in the same seat for every trip and he gets very angry when someone sits in his place, so invariably he gets what he wants when he loses his temper.

We are lucky to have a good coach. It has bunk beds in the back where you are guaranteed to find Gowzer sleeping for the whole trip. You will literally only see him at the start of the journey and at the end.

The younger lads can be found at the back playing Fifa on the Playstation or making tea for the 'older pros', the staff are at the front and in between you can find the rest of us, probably playing cards.

Just as the seats on the coach, once at the hotel, you are given a room with the same room-mate. Unfortunately I room with Colesy so you can imagine our stay is anything but restful.

Hopefully this will be another successful away trip and we can enjoy the journey back down south again with three points in the bag and Gowzer can sleep easy in the back.