It was, nonetheless, a good workout for us against a very good team - even if we were caught out by our own mistakes. We tried to play too much football and that is not our strength. Our quality of football can definitely improve and it will have to if we are to do well. But we know that we can play a lot better than we did when we have got the ball.

There were, however, a few bright points from the defeat against Ipswich. I was pleased with Jamie Campbell, who made some tremendous stops, including that saving tackle against Bobby Petta. Even so, he was probably fortunate that the referee allowed him back on the pitch from the 'sin-bin'.

We had decided to give this idea a try after Trevor Benjamin's booking at Kettering and, while I think it worked, I think George Burley was a bit bemused when the referee allowed Jamie back on. I definitely think that due to the offence, once he had 'sent him off' that should have been it.

Another player I was impressed with was Alex Russell. I thought he had a good game for us and he almost got on the scoresheet before half-time when their goalkeeper made three excellent stops in a short space of time. We are currently in negotiations with Alex over a move to The Abbey and we are working really hard to sort something out.

I would definitely like to sign Alex because he has shown the qualities that I think can help us. I can assure you that I have been doing my best to sign him over the last few days.

On the injury front, I was hoping to give Michael Kyd a bit of a run-out at Histon on Thursday and if he came through that he will be starting today. I also hope that Neil Mustoe will be ready because I want him to have a game before the opener at Torquay.

Today we welcome Graham Taylor and Second Division Champions Watford to The Abbey in our last pre-season game before we kick-off our League campaign.

I can't wait for this game - it just can't come soon enough for me. Then again neither can the season. We've got one game left and I'm confident this test against Watford will be exactly what we want. I expect a really hard game because every team that Graham Taylor produces is hard-working.

However, I expect the game to be a bit 'cat and mouse' with our Worthington Cup game in mind. From our point of view, we'll be putting out our first team because we want to get things right for the start of the League season and I hope that we will put the things into practice which we didn't do on Tuesday night.

The game also marks the return of Micah Hyde to the Abbey Stadium and it will be interesting to see how he has progressed during his year at Vicarage Road.