As a teenager, I was in the Carlisle schoolboy scheme and while I was excited to join at first, I look back on it as a tough few years.
Stadium tunnels are often tight and filled with testosterone. With that combination of a confined space and emotions running high you get the ideal scenario for confrontation.
It was through the Hammerheads that I got a route into the professional game, via a trial at Sunderland from Mick McCarthy and then an invitation to come back to Carlisle in 2004.
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 had many strike partners over the years and usually their aim is to outscore you - and take great pleasure in doing so.
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.
