IT will be good to get back into league action and it seems a bit strange because we have hardly played a first division game this year.

In the whole of this month we have only played Ipswich and Palace and so we can't wait to get our push for the play-offs going again.

We have not lost since we played at Gillingham but we know we have to start winning games and not drawing them.

And we certainly need to play better than we did at Reading, in one of those nightmare games at the start of the season.

We all believe we are a totally different team now and it was actually a very strange game. We were 1-0 down near the end, had a free kick on the edge of their box and suddenly we were two and then three behind.

Reading lost to Leicester in midweek and that has helped to keep us in touch with them and even though we look to be a long way down the table it is really grouping up with very few points between a lot of teams.

Saturday would be a great time to start climbing the table because we have got a few games coming up against teams who are above us, not just Reading but Coventry and Derby. The next few weeks will be vital.

I am hoping to be in the starting line-up at Turf after a rather strange 15 minutes or so at Brentford. We were obviously under pressure when I went on and I think I only had a couple of touches, the first one made the goal for Cooky and the second one I scored myself.

Other than that the ball never seemed to drop for me as they went for it, as teams do in the Cup more than in the league. Now we are back in London to play Fulham and I think we will be helped by the fact that they like to play football. We are better suited in that sort of game than against a side of battlers, like West Brom.

But for the moment all that matters is our league form and it would be great to go into the Cup match with a couple of good wins behind us.

THE FA Cup is proving to be a good competition for me as I have not got three goals in the last two seasons - a run I hope to continue at Fulham.

I have now scored six times this season and I am hoping to get into double figures for the second successive time. That is a good target for a midfielder.

Last season I got virtually all my goals before Christmas but this time I am spreading them out more evenly.

The goal against Brentford was very similar to a few I have scored with my left, a side foot low into the far corner. I just hope that goalies don't get wise to it.

THE gaffer celebrated 100 wins as the Burnley boss at the weekend which is not a bad record when you remember that we struggled for most of his first season at Turf Moor.

People in football don't tend to worry about stats that much and he said he did not realise it was a milestone when we beat Brentford.

Mind you, he will be hoping that he gets to 200 a lot quicker because that would mean he has achieved his dream of managing in the Premiership. And let's hope that win number 101 comes along on Saturday.