|
Some Seasons are more successful than others – and I will look back on the 2005/06 campaign with a lot of great memories.
From a personal point of view, I was delighted to go into our final fixture against Cheltenham yesterday with 23 goals to my name. It is the first time in my career I have ever scored over 20 goals in a season, so it is very pleasing.
This has been my first full season at League Two level after three-and-a-half years in the Championship and it shows that if you do things right you will get your rewards.
I'm not saying I will be able to beat my tally next season, but I can continue improving my game and will give it a good crack.
One thing that has really helped me is that I've played every week. If you are playing regularly, you get used to the players you are playing with and against, and you get used to the level.
The FA Cup has also given me some memories to cherish this season. It was great to go back to my former club Rotherham, where I still have a lot of friends, and score twice in our 4 – 3 win in the FA Cup.
After leading twice, we went 3 – 2 down to a team from a higher division, so everyone had to show a lot of character to help turn it around.
We went on to visit Newcastle in the third round and it was one of the highlights of my career to lead a team out alongside Alan Shearer in front of 45,000 fans.
When you get to 30 you think those kind of opportunities have passed you by a bit, but that was just about as good as it gets.
Alan has been someone I have aspired to for the last 15 years and to meet him was brilliant. One year later and I wouldn't have got the chance to play against him, so I was very fortunate. Alan's goal knocked us out, but the fact it helped him equal the Newcastle goalscoring record tempered our disappointment a bit.
I would have loved to have got Alan's shirt, but it had been agreed it would go into Newcastle's museum. I've seen one or two programes with highlights of Alan's career and they have shown that goal against us. In ten years time, we can say we played against Alan Shearer when he scored his 200th goal for Newcastle.
If those were some of the highlights of my season, one of the lowest points was getting sent off for the first time in my career against Chester in January.
My first booking was for a foul, but it was the second one that left me frustrated. I never touched their player, but he dived and I got sent off.
It would have been nice to have gone through my whole career without being sent off and I'm an honest player. If I deserved to go, I would have held my hands up and admitted it. I had never missed a match through suspension before that and I felt even worse after we lost the game I missed 4 – 0.
------------------
To see all of Richie's Comments, buy a copy of Today's League Paper.