IT was great to see Tamir Cohen finally make his mark at the Reebok with his equaliser against Aston Villa on Saturday.

But I owe the lad an apology because, pardon my ignorance, I didn’t realise he was the son of Avi Cohen, who was an old team-mate of mine at Liverpool. In fact Avi was in the team when I played my first reserve team game for Liverpool at the tender age of 15.

I was as nervous as hell and Avi, who was an established international, sat me down before the game and talked me through it. He told me to enjoy it, keep it simple and not worry if I made a mistake. I’ve never forgotten how thoughtful Avi was on that occasion and I can only apologise to Tamir for not realising the connection.

I’ll be having a good chat with him next time we bump into each other and I’ll make sure to give him a pat on the back for getting us that point, which I thought we thoroughly deserved.

We more than matched Villa. Like Gary Megson said, it wasn’t a vintage performance but the lads worked their socks off, weren’t deterred when they went a goal down and showed a lot of character and determination to get a draw. We might have won it in the end.

Gary Cahill was magnificent, considering the players he was up against, but all the lads showed that, while they are still not mathematically safe and haven’t had much luck lately, they are determined to grind out results and finish well above the relegation zone.

Away from the football, I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for the “Celebrity” Come Dancing gig that’s being run for charity and I met my dance partner Anita last week.

Two things: Anita must have the patience of a saint to put up with me and my two left feet and my jokes – asking if we could do the Birdie Song and the Okey Cokey because they are the only dances I know; and from now on I’ll have the utmost respect for dancers, who’ve got to be super-fit for what they do. I’ll certainly be a lot fitter by the time we finish.

It’s all in aid of charity so I hope you’ll all come along and support us and I promise to try and not make too much of a fool of myself.

On a much more emotional note, I had mixed feelings going back to Burnden Park last week. I enjoyed meeting the Bolton fans who turned up at Asda but it was really hard for me to think the place where I enjoyed the happiest time of my football career is now a supermarket.

I had to use the “King Bill” across the road to get my bearings as to where the pitch actually was. It really was so sad. I know we had to move on but that site will always be special to me. It will always be Burnden Park. I couldn’t resist getting a couple of pies from the old pie shop – just like in the old days.

Then, by sheer coincidence, Burnden Park was featured the day after on ITV4 – the Bolton-Ipswich game from 1979 when Frank Worthington scored that famous goal. What a player he was! I’d love to have played in the same team, although I’m not sure he’d beat John McGinlay into my all-time favourite Bolton XI.

I’ll be travelling up the motorway tonight with my boss Andrew Dean as guests of Lancaster Whites who are holding their player of the year do. I had a great time with the Lancaster supporters last time I went up there and I’m looking forward to another good night.