MAGIC OF THE CUP

I was really excited about the draw for the FA Cup third round.

I was dreaming of Stamford Bridge or The Emirates . . . we got Torquay away!

I have played there once when I was at Hull City. My only memory of the game was going up for a header¿and then waking up flat out on the pitch with our physio bent over me.

I'd broken my nose. I asked the physio if it was bent."No," he said. "it doesn't look too bad."

But when I got into the changing room, the boys all started laughing at me and calling me 'Steve Bruce'. I checked in the mirror and my nose was plastered all over my face. It was lucky I wasn't pretty before.

Special mention must go to Stephen McPhee this week.

He was talking about our win at Plymouth and uttered the priceless line: "Well, that has really put the spanner among the pigeons."

I've heard some classic quotes in dressing rooms over the years.

Carlton Palmer, who was my boss at Stockport, came out with a classic after we'd lost to Carlisle, who were being managed by Roddy Collins, the brother of Irish fight legend Steve Collins.

Frozen

"I told you lot they would be full of fight and energy, just like their manager's brother, Chris Eubank!"

Early this week the training ground was frozen so we have had to vary our sessions.

On Monday the lads who didn't play against Plymouth went for a run on the beach with the gaffer.

After 20 minutes running one way, the boss stopped and said: "if I beat anyone back to the ground then you all have to run again."

Seems easy.. but he then sent them running further in the opposite direction to give himself a head start.

Haymakers

The rest of us did a weights circuit in our state-of-the-art gym. In reality, we call it the Flintstones gym because it's so old and just has rocks to pick up.

We did a bit of boxing, which always separates the men from the boys. There wasn't much technique around, especially from our coach Steve Thompson.

He was swinging some of the biggest haymakers you will ever see, which earned him a few shouts of 'Butterbean'.

When we did finally get out on to the training pitch, we ended up having a 12-a-side game because we have such a big squad.

Competition for places is certainly hotting up in my position. We now have seven strikers vying for two spots. Maybe we should change formation to four up front to give us all a game!

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