Unfortunately, this column doesn’t bring news of a Watford player heading to the FIFA World Cup in France next summer.

My Wales team and I missed out not only on automatic qualification but also on a play-off spot as the harsh reality of qualifying became all too clear. We lost 3-0 to England on the night - conceding three times in less than a quarter-of-an-hour. This came after going an amazing seven-and-a-half qualifying games without conceding a single goal. So, we lost just the one game and had a total of 17 points at the end of it all which still wasn’t enough to nick one of the four play-off spots available between the eight groups.

It was a tough one to take but I know in the coming weeks and months we will be able to look back with pride on what we achieved as a third-ranked seed in our group. We have had so many positive messages of support and thanks for inspiring the next generation of footballers and that is so lovely to hear.

I was back home last week and back on the training pitch with Watford in preparation for our third league game at Oxford United.

Last time out, a young squad overcame a resilient Poole Town side 2-1 in the FAWNL Cup which sees us through to the next round. It was a great opportunity for some of the girls who haven’t played much in terms of first-team football up to this point and they went out and got the job done in a very professional manner.

We always knew that Oxford were likely to be a team who want to be up the top end of the league and challenging for the title, so it was no surprise when they flew out the blocks at us on Saturday afternoon.

In truth, we weren’t at our best by any means but Weronika in goal was superb, as were the back four in keeping us in the game. We were fortunate to go in just 1-0 down but after some choice words from the management we came out and turned the game around to win 2-1 with a late winner.

I was so pleased by the reaction of everyone and it showed the character that was missing in the first half. Good teams win games when they haven’t played well so although we don’t want to do that too often, it’s a positive sign that we can grind out a result when necessary.

We have also played QPR this week and ground out another 2-1 win with another late goal settling it. We did fly out of the blocks this time, though, with our first goal coming in under a minute.

In truth, we let the game become a bit of a scrap and I don’t think that suits us. We need to learn not to get involved with silly arguments and challenges and try to rise above it. It’s not easy to do but if we can, I am confident that the football we are capable of will have more of a chance of coming out and that’s where we will win games and put on good performances.