The 1-1 draw at Alfreton on Tuesday meant our unbeaten run extends to five games and with today’s visitors, South Shields, making the long trek down from the north-east and bringing with them two coach loads of fans, another huge game of football is in store in West Norfolk.
 
Our fans were excellent on Tuesday night, with at least 70 making the journey to Derbyshire and, indeed, the away support has been impressive all season. Away from home it may surprise some that we are very much mid-table, 11th to be exact, with 18 games played and 21 points on the board. Tamworth are top on 34 points and Bishop's Stortford bottom with five points.
 
Our home form is, though, 22nd in the league table with 16 points - Bishop's Stortford are still bottom with just 12 points and Scunthorpe and Tamworth are top with 41 points. 

So, it seems if we can sort out our home form we will be able to pull away from the relegation places. What is behind our poor form could be a combination of factors from the pitch (but it is the same for both sides of course) to nerves, or even unrealistic expectations being placed upon the team. Clearly the more fans that come and get behind the team the greater our chances of success.
 
Our accounts for last season were finalised this week and they show an increase in turnover from around £1m to just over £1.4m. Our operating loss decreased to around £80,000 from over £150,000, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty good.

This season’s figures will be tougher as FA Cup income is down, so are player sales (amount generated as opposed to number of players), attendances have decreased by around 400 fans per game, which is a significant hit (season ticket prices were reduced but results have clearly affected gates) but broadly, sponsorship sales are in line with the previous season.
 
Rochdale seemed to have sorted out their financial position with an investment potentially coming from World Soccer Holdings, an American investment group with an investment in Dutch club MVV Maastricht.
 
I still believe finances at our level need real help. Salford spent well over £2,000,000 on getting promoted from the National League, Wrexham and Notts County would probably have spent more. Sutton United lost £477,000 on promotion to League Two and once there, they lost £278,000 in their first season and £950,000 in their second.
 
All clubs have a duty to field a competitive squad so the question that needs answering is how can one remain competitive when all the clubs around you are losing fortunes?
 
Those of you that think the regulator will have the answer will be disappointed to know that their remit finishes at step five – so what is the point of a regulator unless they look at the whole pyramid rather than just the top five divisions?

Eastern Daily Press: Little in the way of FA Cup cash this season - nor a scoreboardLittle in the way of FA Cup cash this season - nor a scoreboard (Image: Ian Burt)
 
Our scoreboard has been a huge issue since it was installed. It has never really worked since being installed by Scanlite – they believe that someone our end has opened the board and created the problem, although we believe this is very unlikely. Scanlite are now demanding £724 plus VAT to do a call-out. The scoreboard was brand new when purchased so should be under guarantee, but it seems that the guarantee has expired. Let’s hope we can get it fixed sooner rather than later.
 
The players and manager have given there all in recent weeks to put the club in a position where we are in control of our own destiny. Every fan at Alfreton saw that each member of the team put their bodies on the line all the way to the final seconds of the game and we now owe it to them to get behind them and give them our support.  

I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to come down today and get behind the lads.