Looking back on this year as a whole, it's been a mixed bag for both the club and myself for obvious reasons. At the start of the year, we managed to improve our form for the run in to the end of the season. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. It's never nice for anyone involved to get relegated, especially when you do it for your job of work. Ultimately, you get reminded that you've failed.

It was a hard one to take and that was part of the reason I wanted to stay here – to put that right and get us back into League One. In the time I've been here, I've been out injured and have had relegations so when I did come back, I wanted to make sure that I would be able to leave here and have some positive times to look back on. The people have been good to me at the club. It's a club that I enjoy playing for and am proud to play for. I want successful times and I believe they'll come this season.

We had to rebuild over the summer because of the outcome of last season. A lot of new faces have come in and a lot of old faces have moved on. It was disappointing to see some of those boys leave because they were good lads, but unfortunately, dropping down a division was always going to mean there would be changes. Brian Laws did that, and thankfully now, it's put us in a position where we can hopefully bounce straight back into League One and build from there.

On a personal level and in regards my ongoing career as a pro, the past year was a positive, discounting the obvious disappointment of relegation. Around October/November time in 2012, it was a case of me thinking to myself “would I ever get back playing regularly”. In the six months that followed, I managed to be involved in every game and not miss a training session. Considering that I was out for fourteen months, the two injuries I've had since have not been along the same lines, which is encouraging. The first was picked up in a tackle and my calf strain is only a one to two week thing. The positive thing is that I haven't picked numerous little niggles after that lengthy period out. So, for me, it's been pleasing on the fitness front as a whole, but disappointing this season to miss another chunk which I will hopefully make up in game time as the season progresses.

Of course, there's been some very good performances from the lads in there while I've been out, so coming back from the knee injury, I've had a spell on the bench.