Around this time of year everyone makes resolutions that they swear they’ll keep: lose weight, join the gym, give up smoking etc. I’m not usually one for New Year’s resolutions but perhaps I should pledge to make mine this: write on here more.

My first term back at uni was hectic to say the least, and combined with my shifts for Goal.com, this place has been left feeling pretty neglected. I’ve currently got a month off and to be perfectly honest I’ve used a fair amount of it to reacquaint myself with a long lost friend – sleep.

My work for Goal continues, the usual Wednesday night news shift has been supplemented with live commentaries of Birmingham v Chelsea (0-0), Aston Villa v Liverpool (0-1) and the shock of the FA Cup Third Round, Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to old rivals Leeds United. Midweek it’s the Carling Cup Semi Finals and I’ll be providing live updates of Blackburn Rovers against Aston Villa.

I’ve also been catching up on a bit of reading over the holidays. The other week I finished All The President’s Men. A little confusing at first, the book quickly grabbed me and by the end I was left feeling inspired. Speaking of inspired, I was given Harold Evans’ book My Paper Chase for Christmas and have hardly put it down since. Evans’ writing is a joy as he takes you through his illustrious career – from the Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter to the editor’s chair at The Sunday Times. He tells it with a good dose of humour, but also empathy and emotion, such as when discussing his campaign for the victims of the Thalidomide scandal.

In addition, Drew Westen’s The Political Brain and Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation have bookmarks lodged in them somewhere and are demanding to be finished off.

Uni work is siting on my desk – a presentation on my month at Sky News for the first year students at the Centre for Journalism, a 2,500 word feature and, of course, shorthand practice. That trio will take up a fair chunk of my time before it’s time to make my way back down to Gillingham once again for another term down in Kent.

I’ve currently got a month off from university (I go back on 18th) so I’ve decided to give my somewhat neglected website a bit of attention and add to the portfolio section of the site.

Now you can view some of my work for Goal.com by clicking here.

Happy New Year.

You can read my write-up of the game here.

I also wrote two post match reaction pieces:

Portsmouth manager Paul Hart refuses to criticise players after Stoke City loss

Stoke City’s Tony Pulis disappointed with performance but pleased with Portsmouth win in ‘difficult conditions’

Tomorrow I’ll be doing the live commentary on Liverpool’s crucial Champions League encounter at Hungarian side Debrecen.

I’ve now got a good number of shifts at Goal.com under my belt and it’s going well so far. I’ve done three shifts writing news for the website. Here’s some of the articles I’ve had published:

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: Tackles need to be fair as well as firm

Sochaux president Alexandre Lancombe in shock over Charlie Davies accident

Owen Hargreaves desperate to return for Manchester United

Ex-Portsmouth owner Sasha Gaydamak willing to help Sulaiman Al-Fahim sell club

Last night I did my first live commentary. I covered the Fulham v Roma Europa League game at Craven Cottage, which finished up 1-1. A frantic last 20 minutes ensured that I had to think (and type) fast but I enjoyed it.

Tonight is my first shift at the football website Goal.com. I’ll be doing the 6-11pm shift every Wednesday, updating the site with latest news about the beautiful game. I was offered the internship with the website through my work on Bleacher Report. I was trained up on Monday and picked up my first byline on the site in the process. I’m looking forward to it and raring  to go.

It will be hard to balance the job with the ever-increasing mountain of university work, but it’s a challenge I hope I will be able to manage.