Depressingly, the novelty has worn off being in the Conference. When we first came down to this level there was a sense of adventure as we headed off to face new opponents, wondering what Ebbsfleet, Forest Green and Eastbourne held in store for us. I’d pack my camera and video and rattle off content to our Flickr and YouTube accounts which looked to capture the newness of it all.

Now, worryingly, we’ve become part of the non league furniture and, with so many of our old Football League rivals finding the same is happening to them, the novelty has worn off. York, Stockport, Darlington, Luton. Ho hum.

Yet there remains the occasional trip into the unknown. Alfreton was quite an experience for everyone, and tomorrow promises to be the same.

I know nothing of Braintree, or rather I didn’t until this evening. Now I know that The Prodigy, Louis Spence and Steve Harley came from there, and their away end is called the Quag End. Oh, and there’s a big retail park not far from the ground. It sounds fun!

I love going travel, and I certainly include going to places like Braintree and Alfreton in that. Getting up early and hopping on a train, having a read and arriving somewhere new. Getting lost and ending up running to the ground. It’s an adventure! It might sound daft, but I’m excited about tomorrow just as I write about it.

One positive from the trip to Alfreton’s quite simple. Unlike the first couple of intrepid years of exploration, we turned up at a small club and played like we were a big team, not the pale shadow of a side which would roll up to places like Grays and Histon and lose meekly. Hopefully that’s a signal that we’ve found a formula which will get us back into the Football League, and hopefully Braintree will the the next side to see that we’re becoming a big club again.