In this week’s Coke Column, Giles talks about his return to first team football.

Hi everyone, well after a year out with injury, I’ve finally returned to playing first team football. I must admit it’s been one of the most frustrating year’s of my life, especially as I’ve been close to coming back on several occasions only to suffer a new setback. My year out of competitive football has had one positive however, in allowing me to spend time with my baby daughter, who had her 1st birthday last week.

I made my Northampton debut against Leeds United at Elland Road last week. We lost the game 3-0 which was very disappointing but I thought I did ok when I came on for the last twenty or so minutes, when we were already 2-0 down. It was quite a high tempo game and unfortunately I picked up a yellow card within the first couple of minutes of being on the pitch. Leeds are a decent side, they’ve obviously got all the facilities and infrastructure to play at a much higher level again and I think they’ll definitely be in the mix to go up at the end of the season. My mate Brad Johnson has gone there, and he made his debut against Crewe on Monday. I was sad to see Brad go but I think it’s a very good move for him as it gives him a huge possibility of playing at a big club in a winning side, and most probably playing in the Championship next season.

Following ninety minutes of reserve team football against Southend last week in which I wasn’t too happy with my performance, I made my home debut against Hartlepool at the weekend, my first ninety minutes of first team football since New Year’s Day 2007! When Stuart Gray told me I would be starting I was absolutely buzzing, and couldn’t wait for the match. We ended up drawing the match 1-1 which I thought was a fair result. However we need to start turning the home draws into wins, so we don’t get sucked into the battle at the bottom, as there are several clubs behind us in the table who have games in hand.

As far as my performance went, I was fairly happy with the first half. My touch and passing weren’t bad, though I did give the ball away on occasion. In the second half I was holding back quite a lot and not pushing forward as much as normal. It’s going to take about six to eight games to get back to full fitness and sharpness, so I hope people are patient with me. My game is about being box to box, I like to come back and defend, but I also like to push forward a bit like Steven Gerrard does for Liverpool. I’m going to have to play intelligently over the next month or so to conserve my reserves of energy for the full ninety minutes; there is no point me pushing forward, then leaving us exposed at the back.

I half expected to only play around sixty minutes on Saturday, but I think playing the full ninety minutes will be very beneficial in the long run. I nearly won the game for us in the last ten minutes, having a diving header well saved by the keeper, from a free kick. I got a bit of a bash on the hip when I went in for the header, but I’ve been icing that and I should be fine for the match away at Gillingham on Saturday.

Fingers crossed by the next time I speak to you we will have a few good results under our belts.

See you in 2 weeks.