We've been down to the bare bones on the training field, and even one of the coaches joined in to make up the numbers.

That shows what we are going through at the moment, but you won't hear any of us moaning about the situation, as this is football, and football works in very strange ways.

One minute you're up, next down, but you must remain the same throughout – the sign of a strong-minded individual.

The training had been good and as game day approached we knew how important a game this was, as if we had not won then the play-offs would have seemed a long way away. The manager tried to take some
pressure off us but I knew this was a must win game, and with added pressure on games making it far more interesting.

We had to win... no ifs or buts... no excuses.

We went into the game, with two players at the Olympics, two players suspended and two long term injuries. Then on the eve of the match we lost Laurent Robert to a hamstring injury. This opened up some chances
for the younger lads to stake a claim.

I just had a funny feeling that the Colorado Rapids team would look at our team sheet and think we were their for the taking.

This is always a difficult situation as when teams have players missing then they are harder to beat as the mentality changes.

We had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We survived a free header after two minutes when their centre forward missed from five yards but then we began to pass the ball excellently. We were playing very well and limiting them to some long range efforts but were trying to catch them on the break with the pace of the younger lads.

After 30 minutes we were dealt another blow when our most experienced centre half pulled his thigh muscle and hobbled off.

We had three substitutes, we were allowed seven but did not have enough players.

We had to reshuffle and I went to play centre half with another young lad coming on in midfield. Deep in injury time in the first half we got a free kick 30 yards from goal.

Our new signing Chad Barrett stepped up and bent a beauty into the top corner to gain his first goal for the club. He was delighted and ran straight to the bench to celebrate.

Now at half time, this is where managers earn their money, as it's key when to know to encourage, criticise or simply say nothing.

Our manager John Carver was spot on as he gave the young boys some praise, told the older boys to concentrate, and all of us to do the jobs that we'd talked about during the week. We'd had a habit of conceding late goals so had to guard against that.

For the second 45 minutes we defended as a team, threw our bodies in front of the ball, got blocks in, cleared headers and kept that clean sheet that we'd set out to do. Defending is an art, and should be enjoyed, and we all enjoyed it this week. A great result for us with players missing, and lads that came in certainly did themselves no harm.
Now we get back to work with preparation for the New York Red Bulls away.

I also got called up to the Wales squad this week to play in the friendly against Georgia at Swansea on August 20. I'll be there as
always, flying direct from New York after the match, arriving on Monday morning.

I've been busy telling people I'm extremely happy here, and I've no intention of going back to the UK to play at the moment.

Somewhere someone has said through the English press that I'll be going back to the UK to play now the season has started there, with a couple of clubs interested. Never believe what you read in the papers....

Off the field I took Lowri to play in her final soccer match of the season in her u7 team. To say I get heated on the sidelines is an
understatement. I just hate losing, even if it's a kids' soccer match.
Enough said about that too, before I get myself in trouble.

I'll look forward to coming back to Wales to see some rain as the temperature soars to 30 degrees here every day.

Tough when you train in it every day – although we do use vests instead of rain jackets like home!