IT MAY be the last match for us today, but I certainly don’t expect an ‘end of season’ performance.

By that I mean the sort of game where players go through the motions and start doing things they haven’t done all season.

It’s a league game, there are points at stake, and I fully expect every player involved to be putting his heart and soul into it.

I thought we did that really well at Millwall last Saturday.

It was an intimidating atmosphere, for about nine minutes!

By then we had scored twice – two good goals from Conor McAleny – and the home crowd could see that we meant business.

If I’m totally honest, I expected Millwall to come at us in the second half, knowing they needed a win to push on in the play-offs.

We spoke a bit about what to expect, but I thought our concentration and application were first-class and we never let them back into the game at all.

My attitude as a player was always to play every single game as though it was my last.

You never know who is watching or what is just around the corner, so you always go out there looking to impress.

Over the last three or four games, two young men from Oxfordshire have come into the side and done just that.

We knew plenty about Josh Ruffels, obviously, but since he got his opportunity he has pressed on and done extremely well.

He has scored a couple of goals and been excellent.

Canice Carroll has also had his chance.

I think the fans have taken him to their hearts, because he is such a hard-working young player and has such an obvious passion for the game.

Fans love to see local lads doing well and those two will have a big part to play next season.

When you add in Christian Ribeiro returning after a serious injury then there have been plenty of positives over the last month.

Yes we are gutted to miss out on the play-offs, but you look to progress, you look to the future, and whether it’s the first game of the season or the last, there is always plenty to play for.

TONIGHT sees the club’s annual awards ceremony and then there will be a chance to get a little break and recharge the batteries.

I think there is a misconception among fans that the moment the final whistle blows we are all off on the beach until pre-season – nothing could be further from the truth.

We do have an end of season break planned – the players have earned that.

But I have meetings scheduled with existing and potential new players, meetings to discuss budgets and plans, there is pre-season to map out and a million other things that need to be slotted in as well.

There will be some down time, much needed.

But if you get things right in the next few weeks, it has a massive bearing on what happens this time next season.