I’M looking forward to what should a great day at Rodney Parade today as we aim to pick up three points against Stevenage before I catch up with my old mate Jimmy Bullard.

I spoke to Jimmy while he was still Down Under after being voted out of the I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here and he really enjoyed his time on the show.

I also got him on the phone after he landed back in Britain this week and he can’t wait to share some amazing tales about his celebrity camp-mates with a sold-out Bisley Suite tonight.

You won’t believe some of the antics that went on when the cameras were switched off in the jungle and I’m sure everyone will have a great night as we also raise money for Newport Corries and the County Academy.

Jimmy is a top lad and it will be great to see him again and reminisce about our time playing together at Wigan.

Of course it will only be really enjoyable for me if we’ve done the business against Stevenage but I’m confident that we will because we’re in top form at the moment.

The wins at Bury and Carlisle showed how much we’ve progressed since the start of the season and I can’t praise the boys highly enough.

It was a shame that we didn’t have a game last week because ideally you want to capitalise on that momentum and keep the run going.

But the break has given a lot of players the chance to rest and get over little knocks and strains and from what I’ve seen in training this week there should be no question of us being rusty this afternoon.

I’ve trained with the boys this week but today’s game will probably come slightly too soon for me.

The boys have done so well that I know I’ll have to be patient and bide my time but I should be available for the Christmas fixtures.

I had some banter with our assistant manager Jimmy Dack this week, telling him that I’m like Santa because I always deliver at Christmas!

Last December was probably my best month of the season with the two goals at Portsmouth and the winner at Wycombe on Boxing Day so hopefully it will be the same again this year.

I didn’t play in the reserve game at Pompey on Tuesday but I was delighted to see Rene Howe and Danny Crow return from injury and Adam Chapman and Mark Byrne get minutes under their belts.

For Rene especially it was brilliant because we did all fear that he could be out for the season so to see him back in December is amazing.

Anyone who saw him in pre-season will know that he was looking in great shape so the sooner he’s fully fit and challenging Aaron O’Connor and Chris Zebroski up front the better it will be for the whole squad.

There was more good news this week with Byrner signing an extension to his contract and I think that is a great bit of business from the gaffer.

Mark has been one of our best players this season and he and Chappers have formed a superb partnership in the middle that has to rival any other central midfield pairing in League Two in my book.

One other reason that I kept an eye out on that Portsmouth game in midweek was the fact that eight of the under-18s travelled down with the first teamers.

Regan Poole, Kieran Parselle, Alex Zanotti, Aaron Collins and Tom Owen-Evans all started and Lewis Bamford came off the bench for Tom.

I was buzzing for them because it’s always great for the youngsters to get the experience of playing alongside seasoned professionals.

They learn so much more from that and it’s another part of their football education.

The gaffer was very pleased with how they all performed and they just need to keep taking on board what we are telling them and keep progressing.

The under-18s are not in action this morning and our next game is not until Tuesday.

It will be about 17 days without a competitive game for most of them by then so hopefully the boys can shake off the cobwebs and pick up a few wins before the end of the year.