I WANTED to start this week by writing about one of the worst experiences I’ve had in my football career.

And, no, I’m not talking about sharing a dressing room with Jimmy Bullard! This is something that happened last weekend.

On Sunday, in my role as youth development coach, I was with the County under-18s as we played RTB Ebbw Vale in the FAW Youth Cup.

We won the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Nyall Gray and Cedirc Mpaldi but that is only half the story.

I’ve seen and heard a lot of things during my time in the game but I’m sorry to say that the behaviour of some of the Ebbw Vale fans and a lot of their players was nothing short of a disgrace.

It’s not just that they had three players sent off and could have had more red cards for some horrendous tackles on our boys.

That was bad enough but it can happen when a side gets frustrated that they’re taking a beating.

What made it even worse was the way some of their supporters were encouraging their players to foul our lads.

I lost count of the number of times I heard shouts of ‘break his legs.’ And, yes, I have cleaned that up for a family newspaper like the Argus!

We’re talking about kids of 16, 17 and 18 here and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

I was close to saying to the boys ‘forget this, let’s go home’ because I was so angry about it.

Their manager apologised to me but that sort of thing just shouldn’t be happening and it’s something the authorities have to look at.

I’ve got a list of complaints as long as your arm and I’ve spoken to our club secretary Lewis about making an official complaint to the FAW.

Hopefully today’s match at Torquay in the Football League Youth Alliance will be less eventful, but I’d take the same result.

Torquay are bottom of the league and we are one place above him so we could do with a win.

With our best players in the first team squad now it does make it harder to get results but we’re all made up for Regan Poole, Aaron Collins and Tom Owen-Evans because ultimately that’s what the academy is all about.

I’ve taken another big step with my coaching badges this week as I handed in my completed my A Licence folder.

It’s been really hard work and I know I’ve bored my fiancée Victoria with it when she’s far more interested in the Great British Bake Off but it will be worth it in the end and I’m confident I’m nearly there now.

But I’ve still got life in my old legs yet and I’m hoping to be involved with the first team against York this afternoon.

I’m over the hamstring problem now and I know we’re a little short in midfield with Mark Byrne suspended and Adam Chapman injured and I’m ready to help out.

I know the gaffer thinks it might be too soon but if it was up to me I’d be playing today and hopefully I can convince him as well.

Either way I’m confident that the team can bounce back from a disappointing defeat at Oxford last week.

It’s an old football cliché that it’s sometimes harder to play against ten men but it’s a cliché because it’s true.

When a team loses a player more often than not the remaining players all switch on that extra few per cent and make sure they don’t make a mistake.

Oxford defended well and we just couldn’t break them down but we’re a different team at Rodney Parade and we’ve been playing some great stuff at home for weeks now.

Oxford are a big club and I’m sure they won’t be down the bottom of the table come the business end of the season.

With all due respect to York, we want to show today that we’re also a force to be reckoned with in this league – just like we did against Wimbledon last time out.

And I know we can rely on your support as we aim to start another unbeaten run.