THE football dressing room can be the best place in the world, or it can be the worst place to be involved with.

When things are going well, it can be a magical place. I have memories from my time as an apprentice when I would do jobs on a matchday.

I wanted to get into either the home or away dressing room just to be a fly on the wall. As a young player, I wanted to observe what the players do.

At Christmas, when the other boys would go home to their families across the country, I would continue working as a local boy.

I can recall standing at the dressing room and hearing what managers like Brian Clough were saying to their players.

I would always do the job I had been tasked with, but I would also be listening into conversations between some of the best players in the country.

That was all a part of my learning curve before I went on to step into the dressing room myself as a player.

The dressing room can also be a pretty aggressive place to be.

There are a lot of emotions running and sometimes things get said that should stay in the dressing room.

A win against a team we were not supposed to beat or overcoming a long relegation battle would always be followed by the highest of highs.

But as a player, I always tried to keep myself as level as possible. As cliché as it may sound, you do have to take things one game at a time.

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That is not to say keeping yourself at the baseline is easy. It is far from that.

As players you get wrapped up in the emotions of a big win – particularly when you see what it means to fans.

In the past, Russell Martin has explained how he likes to ensure he does not get too high or low after a result.

I imagine that is the message he will be passing on to his players after Saints managed to set a new club unbeaten run since joining the Football League.

When you have a group of people, from playing staff to the club staff and supporters, I do not believe for a minute that anyone will allow that to be the defining moment of the season.

If it was not already clear, Southampton cutting the gap between them and Ipswich to just a single point is further evidence that we are right in the race for the automatic positions.

Going second, albeit only for a matter of days, will be a massive mental boost to a group that has worked tirelessly to catch the Tractor Boys.

But more than that, we have to think about what this run will have done to the likes of Ipswich and Leeds – neither of whom can afford to slip up for fear of falling behind.

Somebody will slip up at some point. There is two different kinds of pressure in the run-in.

There is the pressure Saints have been under to play catch up, and then there is the bravery to maintain and sustain results when you have someone chasing you down.

Although I would rather be in Leicester’s position on 66 points, I think we are perfectly poised. With the way we are playing, we can be confident of being the side that maintains this run.

The danger now could be that players start to think they are going to blitz the rest of the season – a mindset players can slip into quite easily when they are this good.

If there is one or two players who are thinking that way, there will be enough people at the club to reign them back into line.

That is how I was as a player. When you have a lot of people on that same page you can continue working collectively towards the same goal.

If you control all the things you can have a say on that is all you can do.

The arrival of Joe Rothwell, and the upcoming returns of those players who have been out, will only help foster that feeling.

Extra quality in training will only drive up the standard and put good pressure on those starting players to perform.

Daily Echo: Steven Davis has announced his retirement from football

I also wanted to congratulate Steven Davis, who recently announced his retirement.

He has had an incredible career and is an equally exceptional person off the pitch. I wish him all the best with what he decides to do in the future.