FOOTBALL can be a cruel old game at times as young Matt Derbyshire found to his cost in Germany on Saturday afternoon.

The former Great Harwood player had only been on the pitch a matter of minutes against 1860 Munich when he got red-carded for a late tackle on Brazilian defender Rodrigo Costa.

Now I wasn't at the game but I'm reliably informed that it wasn't a malicious challenge, it was more the product of youthful enthusiasm.

As a young lad trying to make his way in the game, Matt would have been desperate to impress Mark Hughes and his backroom staff and maybe he got a little bit carried away with himself in the heat of the moment.

The important thing now is how he reacts to this little setback in his career.

This is a big test of his character and Mark Hughes will be able to learn a lot about his temperament by the way he comes through it.

Life can be tough for an 18 or 19-year-old trying to force his way into a first team squad.

It requires a great deal of mental strength and if you haven't got that quality then you won't survive. I know how Matt is probably feeling right now because I got sent off several times fairly early on in my own professional career.

And in those days, you had to go some to get a red card, unlike now when one fairly minor indiscretion can lead to an early bath.

I remember seeing red during my first season at Chelsea, and then again the season after.

I

n fact, by the time I joined Rovers at the age of 22 or 23, I remember John Radford coming up to me and saying he thought I'd gone soft!

To be honest, I didn't get sent off quite as many times as people think. Bookings were more my forte!

My problem was every time I did get dismissed, it usually happened in a game that was being televised, so it must have appeared to the average man on the street like it happened every other week!

Of course, the one everyone remembers is the Merseyside derby when my debut for Everton lasted all of half an hour.

That was a big disappointment for me at the time, but you do get over it and I'm sure young Matty will, too.

The good thing for him is Mark Hughes had the confidence to play him in the first place. The mere fact he's over in Germany at all would suggest he's not too far away from the first team, and that should give him bags of encouragement.

It's never easy to impress in friendlies and I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from any of Rovers' results. At this stage, it's all about getting match fitness, no more than that.

You get some funny results but they count for nothing once the serious stuff starts.

It's all about being ready to face West Ham at Upton Park on August 13, and if Rovers get off to a flying start in the Premiership then no one will care about their failure to beat Morecambe in a meaningless friendly.