After a bad result against Rushden, it is important that we picked ourselves up and played well in our next game. And I'm pleased to say we did exactly that at Shrewsbury on Saturday.

It's at times like this when team spirit comes into play and ours is brilliant which goes a long way to making sure we are Okay. Being top of the league is a great feeling and everyone at the club is on top of their game.

The manager has brought a new face to the club in Marcus Richardson and he quickly impressed everyone in playing his part on Saturday. We played against him at Torquay earlier in the season and he scored against us that day - a fact which has already been mentioned once or twice and I'm sure it will crop up at the club and on the training ground in the coming weeks! He is a big, strong front player who has plenty of pace and can score goals. His signing gives us a different option up front because we have a new outlet and I hope he enjoys playing in this team as much as everyone else at Victoria Park.

It was good to see a lot of our teams progress in Europe last week. I watched the Leeds game and thought they did unbelievably well not to react to the roughhouse tactics of their opponents. That game showed just why you have to be so professional to progress in these European ties.

And I was pleased to see my fellow columnist Craig Liddle back in action for Darlington at the weekend. He's had a very nasty gash in his thigh and you could tell by reading the reports from the weekend that he was back playing as well as ever and leading the team as usual.

Next up, we are at Bournemouth this weekend in front of the Sky cameras. Normally it's the big boys from the Premiership who are the main attraction on Sky Sports on a Sunday. This time it's Hartlepool United's turn - now that's something we could get used to!

Published: 08/10/2002