I just wanted to post a quick reply back to thank all those that have replied. These are exactly the pointers I needed to help me think about what I should be doing as I go into the middle game.
Johnyoudell - thank you for such a detailed reply - I really do get the theory behind what you say and will now make attempts to put that into practice.
Scottrf - will definitely look at pawn structures and how that can help me.
Anyway as someone new my thanks to all and I will be coming back to those tips over the coming weeks and months.I have some other detailed questions but will post them separately another time.