JONATHAN Douglas may have spent the last month stuck indoors with family and friends, but the midfielder is determined to be anything but the perfect host as Norwich City come to the County Ground tonight.

The 27-year-old has served his four-game suspension for a straight red card against Millwall in October and will return to the heart of Town’s midfield this evening for the quarter-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

But Douglas, pictured left, is hoping his enforced rest could serve Swindon well over the coming months, with the side benefiting from a refreshed dynamo in the centre of the park.

“It probably could have done me some good in the long run,” he admitted.

“We know there’s a lot of games left to go and it’s a long, hard season. From pre-season I’ve played all the games until I got sent off.

“I didn’t like being suspended - nobody likes missing games. I don’t like watching football that I should be involved in and I guess you could say I was lucky that the couple of away games we’ve had were long distances and I didn’t have to go.

“I spent a lot of time with the family and had people over visiting, which was nice, but I’m looking forward to getting back and stuck in and, who knows, hopefully in the long run I will be fresh and ready to go.

“It should be a good game against Norwich - they are a good side who are going well.

“It may only be the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy but we want to get to the next round because there’s a chance to get to Wembley at the end of it.

“It’s not too often that people can sit back and say they’ve played at Wembley so it’s one we’re really looking forward to.”

Douglas’ sending off and subsequent suspension - which was increased from three games to four after a failed appeal - angered everyone at the County Ground.

But the former Leeds and Blackburn man is leaving the past where it belongs and is instead looking forward to making up for lost time, starting tonight.

“It’s still not nice to get a four-game ban for that tackle,” said Douglas. “Somebody said it was two-footed, which it clearly wasn’t, and then to get the extra game on top wasn’t nice either.

“You see Premier League players going in for even worse tackles, only getting three games, losing their appeals and not getting the extra game. So it does rattle you up, but it’s over with now and I’m just looking forward to the game.

“It’s been a long month or so but getting involved will be nice because it’s been tough going. I’ve been training hard though and am just looking forward to getting back into it.”