When we met earlier this season I thought that we were a little bit tired because it came immediately after we had knocked Watford out of the Worthington Cup. I think we thought that we just had to turn up against Rotherham and things would be fine. Well, that clearly wasn't the case because they beat us 2-0.

That performance up at Millmoor was one of the most disappointing performances we have had this season. There have not been many but that was definitely one of them. We have to recognise that and put it right in today's game.

Our last home game against Plymouth may have given us another win, but I thought that we should have won a lot more comfortably with the number of chances that we created.

That seems to be a little bit of a problem for us at the moment, The football that we are playing means that we are creating chances but we are not taking a good enough percentage of them for my liking. So, even though we were in control of the game and creating our chances, we had to spend the final 20 minutes on a knife edge.

The Plymouth game also saw Marc Joseph return and he played very well. He and Andy Duncan picked up where they had left off with their understanding. Andy is possibly going through his best spell and, against Brentford last Friday he was, for me, the beet player on the park - he had an outstanding game.

That Brentford game gave me an insight in the sense that no-one we have played so far has shown anything that would worry us. No-one has really hit into us in terms of the football that has been played. We dominated the Brentford game in terms of possession and football but we didn't take any of our chances and that was the problem. This isn't a major worry, but it is letting us know that it is something that we need to polish up to enable us to deal with any situation thrown at us.

In the fast few weeks we have tied up several of our players on long-term contracts. John Taylor, whose winning strike against Plymouth saw him break the club's all-time scoring record, has signed a two-year extension to his contract which will see him not only continue as a player but also come onto my staff. I guess his title would be player and second team coach.

John has also been voted as King of The Abbey by the supporters. I think that accolade is wonderful recognition of his services to the Football Club.

Shaun Marshall and Tom Youngs have also put pen to paper this month, while Martin McNeil has signed professional terms with us which is recognition for how well he has done since coming into the first team. He has not let anybody down, he came in at what was a difficult time but has equipped himself very well.

I had actually tried to bring in a loan PI'Y0r when I knew that Marc Joseph would he out for around five weeks. But I couldn't get the defender I Wanted so I decided to give Martin a go. I'm certain that the experience will have done him the world of good. It also lets me know that should I need to call on him again I know exactly what he is capable of doing. We're also close to agreeing a new deal with our captain Paul Wanless and, in the New Year, I would expect to sign a new contract myself.

Let's hope that we can keep our form going throughout the second half of the season and keep our hopes of promotion to Division Two alive and kicking.

I was saddened to hear that Bill Cawdery passed away a few days before Christmas. Bill was a great servant and tremendous ambassador for Cambridge United Football Club over a great many years. Since I've been here, Bill was always the first to say 'good morning' when I walked through the door, with a smile on his face and a cup of tea on the way. Our thoughts are with his wife Joy and his family at this difficult time.

Finally, I hope you all had a merry Christmas and I wish all our supporters a successful and prosperous New Year.