I THINK everyone knew the first goal at Millwall was going to be all important. We had a couple of chances and we were trundling along merrily thinking it would end in a stalemate.

After they scored we were always up against it, but then Alan Moore had that chance at the end. He seems to be taking the brunt of the blame for the defeat and he has taken quite a bit of stick this season.

But he was out a long time injured and only recently came back. It would have been lovely for him to score. We all would have been happy because he's a quiet lad and that goal would have given him a real boost, but fans have to realise that at the end of the day, people miss chances.

Even the likes of Michael Owen, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry miss sitters.

It's just that in Alan's instance - in the last minute of an FA Cup game we badly needed to win - everything is magnified. But we have all done it. Ian Moore went through in the first half and missed a good chance and if he scores, we go one goal up and could have gone on to win the game. In some ways, that makes that miss more important than Alan's.

I also had a chance when I cut inside near the end and was tackled from behind just as I was about to shoot. I just tried to shake the defender off and just as I was going to try to put it in the corner I felt a knock from behind and they scrambled it clear.

It's just one of those things - sometimes you are maybe trying too hard.

At Preston, it was me left feeling distraught after missing a good chance. It might not have been the last minute, but I still felt if I'd scored we would have gone on to win that game.

You crucify yourself afterwards.

When you are a forward player, you are going to get in the box and miss chances. So don't be too hard on Alan. It's gone now and in the next few months there could be another crucial game where he pops up with the winner to become a hero.

Consolation comes in the fact it's the first time Millwall have beaten us in quite a long time. We are back at the New Den in a few weeks in the league and it's a chance to put it right.

There was a time we would have been bullied out of a game there and lost three or four nil. We are not that type of team now. Forget the 6-1 defeat at Ipswich earlier this season because that was a fluke with us having a decimated squad.

They are at the Turf this weekend, but you always know what you are going to get with Ipswich and thankfully that's a game of football.

We've had a run of games lately, playing the likes of Millwall, Wigan and West Brom, that have all been ugly, hard, physical games.

Hopefully now we can now get back to playing the game as it's meant to be played.