The City midfielder has also set his sights on another start for the Sky Blues on Tuesday night when City travel to Oldham...
Coventry City midfielder Adam Barton has revealed how difficult the last few months have been after the 3-1 defeat against league-leaders Bristol City.
Steve Cotterill's men were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Marlon Pack and Kieran Agard before Shaun Miller's second-half strike brought City back into the game.
Scott Wagstaff's 90th-minute strike sealed the win for the Robins which was Barton's first start for the Sky Blues since February.
The midfielder admitted it has been difficult to be out of picture but has praised manager Steven Pressley for giving him another chance in the side.
Barton said: "Considering how long I've been out of the side, I'm just delighted to get onto the pitch. The other positive is that the gaffer still shows belief in me and is willing to give me a chance.
"It's very hard over the last couple of months. Being away from home and staying in hotels all the time because I was in a situation where I thought I was going out on loan so I couldn't commit in those sort of ways.
"At one stage, I had to question whether football was making me happy but today, I was really buzzing to get out there and even though we lost, I remembered why I love football again and I'm glad the gaffer gave me a chance.
"Disappointed with the result, even though they're top of the league. I don't really look at my individual performance but the team's performance. We got to look where we need to improve."
Barton's selection was motivated by an impressive performance in the 2-0 win over QPR Under-21s and he hopes he will keep his place in the side for the Oldham game on Tuesday.
He added: "The gaffer explained why he wanted me to play out of position for the Under-21s and it wasn't a problem as it was for a team-mate and I just said to myself, it's another game and do well.
"It turned out that I had a really good game and from that, I get my chance in the team which even a few weeks ago felt very unlikely. It just shows in football, things can change very quickly.
"I'm going to go back to the hotel and recover how I always recover as it was my first 90 minutes in a long time. We've got a crucial game on Tuesday now and we've got to stand up like men and be counted.
"It hasn't been good enough recently. If I'm not selected, that's OK but I really want to keep my place in the side if the gaffer thinks I did well today."