Ben Davies / Ben Davies / 03 December 2009 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet View Market

Notts County's Ben Davies on a super week for the club, getting frostbite whilst playing at Grimsby and why scoring at Villa Park would be something a bit special.

"Grimsby is still to this day the place where my feet have been coldest. We played them in January once and there was about two inches of snow on the ground. I have to admit I was fighting back the tears as my toes thawed out in the shower after the game and was later diagnosed with frost bite by the Club Doctor."

It has been a successful week since the last time I wrote my column, and last week even saw me clock up some air miles!

The weekend's fixture saw us travel down to Bournemouth to face the Cherries in the second round of the F.A Cup. It turned out to be a pretty eventful trip. The club decided to look after us very professionally, as we had a very important league game against Darlington on the Tuesday night, and they didn't want us to be sat on a coach for hours on the Saturday night after the match. Therefore the club paid for us to fly down to Bournemouth on a journey that took only thirty minutes.

The lads absolutely loved it and were all made up that they were back in time to watch X Factor on the Saturday night. We got a great result too, beating them 2-1 in a typically frantic F.A Cup tie, which made the trip even more enjoyable. The conditions were horrific and how the game was actually played out to its conclusion I will never know.

The pitch was waterlogged down the one side and got worse as the game went on, but we were delighted the game finished and were in the hat for the third round draw. Forest Green at home will be our next opponents.

The Tuesday night game saw us get another good win as we beat Darlington 4-0. It was a dream start to the game for us as we were 3-0 up after just fifteen minutes, a real rarity in modern day football. Our striker Lee Hughes bagged two goals and I also scored one, to take us up to sixth in the league.

It was nice to go and win down at Bournemouth as it was the first time I had done so in my career. It is a lovely stadium and normally always a good pitch; there is also always a good atmosphere there. Another ground in League Two where I enjoy playing is Bradford City. Their stadium is huge and they have the biggest attendances in the league, which always lifts you as a visiting player. Home is where the heart is though and my favourite ground is our Meadow Lane. The supporters are fantastic and really get behind us. It is a great place to play every other week, especially as it is the oldest football club in the world. We are still unbeaten at home this season in the league, a record we are keen to hold on to. We have had some good wins there this season and hopefully can keep giving our superb fans something to cheer about.

Whilst there are some places in our league where I enjoy playing, there are also some places which are not so appealing. Although I love my football and enjoy playing wherever it may be, there are some grounds which do not have quite the same appeal. Barnet's Underhill is a ground where I have never been too fortunate and do not enjoy trecking back up the steep hill that slopes across the pitch. Grimsby is another place where I have not got too many fond memories. For some reason we always seem to play them in the middle of winter and it is freezing. The wind is always howling in from the North Sea and it is always lashing down with rain whenever I play there. It's still to this day the place where my feet have been coldest. We played them in January once and there was about two inches of snow on the ground. I have to admit I was fighting back the tears as my toes thawed out in the shower after the game and was later diagnosed with frost bite by the Club Doctor.

It's interesting that Grimsby has far happier memories for me in my personal life than my footballing one. I met my wife at a place just outside Grimsby, as that is where she is from, and if she gets her way we will probably live there when my career is over.
Having played at Wembley in the summer and thus fulfilling a childhood dream, the next ground I would most like to play at is Villa Park. I am an Aston Villa fan and had a season ticket in the Holte End when I was a kid. It would be fantastic for me to play against them at Villa Park for Notts and to score in front of the Holte.

I've talked before about lapping up football and other sports when they're live on TV, but the same doesn't go for books. But recently, what with doing a lot of travelling and hanging around hotel rooms for hours on end, I have decided to give one a go. I don't like sitting down and doing nothing as I am an active sort of person person but with rest being essential for footballers I am hoping that reading a book might help me to chill. The book that I am reading at the moment is called Mind Games and it gives an insight into how athletes prepare for events. Hopefully I might be able to pick up a few techniques to put my mind in a positive place for when I next play up at Grimsby!

Mind games bring me on to this week's bet which features the king of mind games - Jose Mourinho. I am going overseas for this bet and the Juventus v Inter Milan fixture. This week I am going for a draw at half time at [2.02] as well as the straightforward full-time draw at the bigger price of [3.25].

Tags: Ben Davies footballer, Ben Davies Notts County, football tips, Grimsby football, Jose mourinho, Juventus v Inter, Lee Hughes