Poor old Dirk Lehmann! The German has been on the receiving end of some horrific mickey-taking since the mighty English thrashed his miserable countrymen in Munich.

He has gallantly tried to defend his national team by explaining how they took us to the cleaners for the first ten minutes. I don't think Dirk understands the concept of a football match lasting for 90 minutes.

Not that Dirk has been the only player to be ribbed because of the limitations of his countrymen. The Dutch SAS chef has also been in mourning after the Republic of Ireland knocked the orange army out of the World Cup.

A Michel smile this week has been about as rare as a Bobby Zamora away goal! Compare the moods of Dirk and the chef with that of Jonesy, the token Taffy in the squad. He was delighted with the Welsh drawing 0-0 at home to the Dog and Duck third XI!

I thought England were awesome. They showed power, pace and an ability to counter-attack that I have never seen before. Michael Owen's finishing was lethal but I had to laugh when I read his after-match comments.

His remarks showed just what a massive difference there is between the international players and the journeymen footballers from the lower divisions. Owen was quoted as saying that he was going to frame his hat-trick shirt and mount it along with the signed matchball in the snooker room at one of his houses!

I do the same with all my memorabilia, so if anyone wants to look at my Dunlop Terriers under eleven cup winners' medal that sits proudly on top of my television at home, they are welcome at any time.

On the domestic front, we were very disappointed to lose our unbeaten run at Northampton. I thought it was our best away performance of the season in terms of passing and keeping possession but we did seem to lack a bit of width and struggled to create clear cut chances. Having said that we should have had two penalties - maybe we used up all our luck at Tranmere.

If we keep trying to play football and get the ball to the feet of our danger men we will cause opposition defences a lot of problems. Just because we have drawn a blank away from home so far doesn't mean we should change our ideals.

As we have a number of other Friday night fixtures this year I hope this defeat was not a sign of things to come. Heavy traffic is obviously one drawback to playing on a Friday but from a players point of view it was lovely to be able to relax and enjoy a rare weekend off after our busy recent schedule.

The gaffer got his pound of flesh though by leading us through a couple of lung-busting "punishment" sessions at the start of this week. That will teach us to lose! I won't say the sessions were long but by the time I got back home my 15-year-old son had grown a beard and my little girl had left primary school!

In a week when so much has been made of the new generation of English footballers being so young, fit and pacy, I quietly reached the age of 35 - a footballer's pensionable age!

Not that I have any of my pension left after spending a fortune on cakes for the lads! There should just be enough left for a new zimmer-frame. I'm just glad to say that I have reached 35 without going grey like the gaffer or thin on top like Dodge! My neatly shaved head is in tribute to my hero, Danny Cullip.

Finally, the free week allowed me to take stock of what has happened so far this season.

A solid start to the league programme, a giant-killing cup win, three clean sheets, Bobby Z on the goal trail again, Steeley on fire, Michel and Danny in commanding form, players with the quality of Kerry, Cros, Pitch and Wicksy itching for a chance and a Premiership team in town next Tuesday. Not bad for starters.