I thought our chance had gone

The Latics star player writes every week for Chron Sport

I FEARED that I had blown my big chance.

As the ball came over, I concentrated on cushioning it on my chest, getting a good connection on the ball and firing it low into the ground. I managed to do that, but Tim Howard made a great save.

He would, wouldn’t he?

I rate the Everton man as one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League and he showed why at Boundary Park by producing some excellent stops.

It was incredibly disappointing. I was devastated, thinking I had failed with the final chance we were going to get to take our FA Cup fifth-round tie back to Goodison Park.

At the start of the tie, we had our noses in front. Everton hit back hard and when they got their second goal, I admit I thought the game could run away from us and the Premier League side could score a couple more.

It is to our great credit that it didn’t turn out that way. The players just kept on going and in the final 10 minutes, we were completely on top. David Moyes’ side had their backs well and truly to the wall.

Fortunately, the team didn’t ever give up. Even Dean Bouzanis was getting in on the action and when ‘Smudge’ - Matt Smith - got his head to the ball to level the game, the atmosphere was unbelievable.

Smudge is loving the media attention that has followed our latest FA Cup adventure. It is brilliant for him, and well deserved.

He seems to have really come of age and has turned into a man in striker terms, bullying centre-backs.

I don’t think even Everton’s defenders will have come across too many Matt Smiths.

That game saw Tony Philliskirk make six changes to the team, of which I was one.

At the moment, the strength in depth within the squad is very pronounced – so why not use it?

We will be following up plenty of Saturday games with ones on Tuesday until the end of the season and everyone will be needed.

Getting three points at Stevenage was vital. It gives us the psychological boost of moving out of the bottom four and now we must follow it up with another positive result against Portsmouth.