Paul Robinson believes he is close to regaining his best form after overcoming the "hurt" of being dropped for England's game against Croatia.

The Tottenham keeper admits he lost confidence for a spell but feels he has put his troubled times behind him and he looked confident and assured despite Spurs being beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa on New Year's Day.

Now he wants to continue in that vein as a new England era gets under way with Fabio Capello at the helm.

Robinson said: "I had a dip in confidence. When you get criticised, it is not nice and you have a dip in confidence but I feel in the last few weeks that I've been getting back to my best.

"I'm feeling confident now going into games and really confident playing games now and hopefully my form is showing that.

"Of course, it hurt at the time when I was left out by England - but sometimes you look at the game and become a better player by not playing.

"Now there is a new England manager and everyone starts with a clean slate.

"There are only a couple of England games during the rest of this season and I'm really looking forward to building on my confidence and maintaining my form for Tottenham."