Here’s my column from last week’s Leader. It forms part of the paper’s comprehensive pre-match coverage every Friday, featuring interviews, an in-depth look at the opposition and lots of statistical analysis. All content in the column (c) www.leaderlive.co.uk.

Alfreton are in town and the magic of the cup has arrived with them!

I must admit that last season reopened my eyes to the possibilities of the competition. The windfall we earned as a reward for the players swashbuckling run to the third round was much needed and reminded me of how important the competition is.

Before that, I’d spent our non-league seasons feeling pretty ambivalent about the early rounds of the competition. The fixture congestion associated with a cup run, and the sudden, unexpected trips to a reply on a Tuesday night, didn’t appeal. Sure, the third round held out the prospect of a dream tie, but it feels a long way away when you’re sitting in a freezing empty Racecourse watching a preliminary round tie, or a qualifying round tie, or whatever the stage we’ve just passed through is called.

It’s never a good sign when you can’t actually recall the name of the point of the competition you’re in, is it? It reminds me of the LDV Vans Trophy (or whatever it’s called this season). It was amazing to win it, thrilling to have a run to the semi-final under Brian Flynn, but very confusing.

On the latter occasion we went out to Wigan, who in those days were a little club fresh from non-league, stuck in a dingy hole of a ground, who looked up to the likes of us. But although it was the last four of the competition, it wasn’t the semi-final! In the modern style of rebranding everything in the hope of fooling consumers into thinking it’s better than it actually is, it was the northern final!

Yes, we were slugging it out for the right to be considered the best northern team in a knock-out tournament which didn’t feature the sides from the top two divisions. Thrilling eh? To commemorate such an achievement, the winner received a highly appropriate reward: no trophy.

The change in Wigan’s status is the exact reverse of ours, of course. It’s a little odd to feel like the giants rather than the minnows in a cup tie, and when I consider a match like tomorrow’s, I briefly get a pang of sympathy for Manchester United fans, who are always in this situation. I then give myself a good slap and the feeling passes!

It’s such an odd no-win situation though. I want to see us win, and preferably win comfortably as such an outcome never really hurts the confidence, does it? But having said that, what’s the point of piling the agony on in a cup tie? After all, goal difference counts for nothing! If we’re ever going to wallop someone, let it be a league match! Alfreton are decent anyway, and beat us last season at The Racecourse, so it’s a tie fraught with difficulty.

So on reflection, what I want is a nice solid performance which leads to a win, but not too heavy a win. And definitely not a draw.

But I do want to win though. The FA Trophy? Now that’s a different matter!