Sitting on the bench is not how I imagined the season would start for me, but I guess that is how it has to be sometimes in football.

I was happy with my pre-season ? playing well, scoring goals ? but it doesn?t always go your way in football.

Last season I finished top-scorer and my ratio of one goal every two games was similar to that of Dave Kitson and well ahead of Nicky Forster but they are the two players the gaffer obviously sees as his first-choice front men.

I was happy with the way I played against Manchester City in the final pre-season game but the boss obviously already had his starting XI in his mind as I was on the bench for the first game of the league season.

You have to be professional and supportive and bide your time and wait for an opportunity to show what you can do.

I just need to keep my head down in training, work hard and wait for my chance ? and make sure I seize when it comes.

Just because I was a regular starter with other clubs and was top-scorer last year does not mean I have an automatic right to play every week so I have to respect the decision the gaffer has made and get on with things ? I can?t rely on past performances for anything.

It is frustrating because last season I was on a scoring streak when I was dropped, or rested, and never really got a chance again.

I felt that I was playing pretty well at that time and I don?t think it was the best decision to take me out of the side, but managers make decisions for the good of the team ? that is what they get paid to do ? and I have to accept and respect that.

I am not going to pretend I am not frustrated. Of course it is disappointing to be on the bench for the opening games of the season. I got six minutes in a tactical substitution against West Ham but that is not the same as being in the starting line-up and being a first choice striker.

You sit there on the bench and it flashes into your head that maybe you are too old to be just sitting there just watching, but just as soon as that sort of thought enters my head, it goes.

It is a very long season and it is far too early to be thinking like that.

Maybe by mid-season, December time, if the same sort of thing is happening, I would have to think long and hard about what I am going to do and maybe approach the gaffer and ask about my future.

But for now that is not even an issue.

It is a long season here in England and my time will come. People get injuries, people suffer a loss of form so I just have to be patient, wait for my chance and then show what I can do.

All you can do is your best and things should take care of themselves.