Scoring goals is the best feeling in the world. It's a habit. It's a drug. Everybody runs away in the playground pretending they've scored in front of thousands of people. I do that for real.

Obviously, I don't have any real speed to work with so I have to use other things. The modern game is very speed based so as soon as managers see that you haven't got that pace it can be tough.

My wife is from Brighton so I got a bit of stick for going to Palace even though in my first three-and-a-half years at Brighton I didn't actually face them. So I don't think I completely understood the rivalry.

The lowest point in my non-league career came when I was a teenage substitute for Workington Reds in a game at Blyth Spartans, and some kids started throwing eggs at me and the other subs when we were warming up.

I feel every time I score I prove people wrong. People doubt me all the time. They do that to all players but for me it's, 'He's too slow, he's too old.' It annoys those people every time I score and it drives me on.

I am taking each game as it comes, enjoying it and taking that little bit of extra time to look around a full stadium, because I know it's not going to last forever. But I will try and make it last as long as possible.

Football can give everyone who loves the game their great moments and most dreadful disappointments. All it takes is a couple of bad injuries or decisions to turn a season and that's just the unforgiving nature of sport.

Players want a manager you feel in your gut you want to play for - they can have the best tactics and philosophy in the world but if you have lost a player in his heart or head, you have lost him in every other department.

The space between keepers and defenders is referred to as the 'corridor of opportunity' - a well-hit pass in there has the goalie questioning whether to come into traffic and defenders unsure of whether or where to clear the ball.

I've only ever moved on when I've not been wanted. Experience has told me, when your time's up, you have to go. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my time at all the clubs I've been at, and they've all got a special place in my heart.

I can remember playing for Carlisle and just running around like a headless chicken telling the others boys not to worry, that I'd do their running for them. I was just so eager and so keen and desperate to be a footballer that I did that.

I've had the privilege of playing in our top seven leagues and the main differences when stepping up are organisation, athleticism and decisiveness. Believe me, the gap is even more evident when you achieve the holy grail of the Premier League.

That's something that drives me on - wanting to prove people wrong. Because the amount of people who have told me, 'no, you're not good enough.' A lot of people fall at that hurdle. But I just kept getting up and looking for that one person who said yes.

Most things in life you can work for or buy. But I can't guarantee a goal... And when it comes, I can't give that feeling to anyone. Only I can feel it and know it. I want my children, my wife and people close to me to have that feeling. But I can never give them that.

It took me a little bit of time in the Premier League. I came back from an ACL and got one goal in I think six months at Crystal Palace. It wasn't great but I got to grips with the Premier League, started to understand what it's about because it's very different to the lower leagues.

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