I wasn’t born when former England captain Terry Butcher famously played on with a blood soaked bandage on a head wound in a World Cup qualifying match against Sweden in 1989.

But I’ve seen the footage plenty of times and I can now relate to what he went through after what happened to me in the Vanarama National League clash at Braintree last week.

I copped three stud scratches on my forehead after a Braintree player fell on me after I had tackled him. It wasn’t bad but as with any cut on that part of your head, it bleeds a lot.

So to stem the flow, I was bandaged up and played on while doing my best Terry Butcher impression – he was a centre half like me, too!

I can assure you that you forget all about having a bandage on your head when you get going again and natural instinct takes over - you keep heading the ball!

At least I finished the game with a shirt that didn’t resemble Butcher’s - that was drenched in blood but officials wouldn’t let that happen nowadays.

The good news was that wound healed up nicely but it didn’t stay that way, thanks to my fellow defender Aswad Thomas.

I managed to get through Saturday’s game with Macclesfield Town at Crabble without re-opening the wound, and I didn’t hold back either.

So I was happy with that but my joy proved to be shortlived.

The gaffer had just finished his team-talk when Aswad started banging his boots to get the mud off and accidentally whacked me across the forehead with a boot!

It drew some blood after knocking off the scab and it needed a quick trip to the club doctor to clean it up.

That made me last one out of the changing room and last to get some food much to the displeasure of my car school buddies - I had to eat the curry while going along in the car!

On a more serious note, we are all looking forward to Saturday’s FA Cup clash at Eastbourne Borough.

There is a real excitement as we prepare for the game and as Dover had a fantastic run last year and I’m excited by the prospect of trying to emulate that success this season.
Until next week. COYW!