Sadly, his first game back in a City shirt ended just before half-time on Saturday when he was given a straight red card for raising his arm at an opponent who was trying to prevent him from getting to the player he was supposed to be marking at a corner.

“Their guy ran into me and I had no choice but to put my hands up to protect myself,” said the former Torquay United, Stoke City, Southampton and Burnley man. “Sometimes they are given, sometimes they’re not. On this occasion the referee deemed that I had hit out at their player.

“It’s frustrating but it’s gone now, the decision was made and we have to move on. I apologised to the lads afterwards because we were cruising at that point.

“Even so, we did enough with ten men to have won the game but we failed to capitalise upon the chances that we created.

“Despite the red card, it’s great to be back here. Snapper gave me a call to see if I fancied getting my boots back on and I jumped at the chance.

“I started the season in the Rushall team because of injuries and unavailability, so I felt okay out there and enjoyed it – until the sending off, course!

“At the moment I am just concentrating on playing for Worcester City and helping the team as much as I can. It’s a club that means a lot to me and we’ll see how things develop over the weeks ahead.”