This week we have managed to pick up a valuable win on our travels.

It's often said that you get out of football what you put in but this isn't always the case.

On many occasions last season, and even a couple of times this term already, we have picked up wins and draws without being at our best.

We made the long trip to Chorley on Saturday for our first Evo-Stik Premier Division game in three days. They are a team who have started the campaign really well and are many people's tip for promotion. I missed out through the calf injury I sustained at home on the Tuesday night. And I thought the boys were good value for a point on the day.

The gaffer (Gary Setchell) changed things around slightly, playing a 3-5-2 formation. He is desperately trying to make us more solid and I think we certainly looked it for the whole 90 minutes.

With nothing between the two sides it was always going to be a set piece or a moment of magic that would separate the teams and unfortunately for us it was a penalty given in their favour. From looking on I don't think nobody had too many complaints about the decision and to be fair their lad converted it well.

It was a bit of a kick in the teeth not to come away with any points but the mood in the changing room and on the coach wasn't as down as it has been at times after games so far. I think the lads took confidence from the performance.

We faced another tough away trip on Monday as we travelled to Ilkeston. They are another team fancied for a play-off place and our performance was top drawer in my opinion. We started the game really well and were really unlucky to find ourselves a goal behind.

But Duffers (Rob Duffy) soon got us level following some great work between Hally (Andy Hall) and Millsy (Gary Mills).

Something we have spoken about is scoring when we have been on top in matches and this came back to haunt us after we dominated the last 20 minutes of the first half.

The ref saw something I don't think anybody else in the ground saw and awarded them a penalty just after the restart. To make things worse he then sent Clarkey (Ryan Clarke) off. I think to put it mildly the ref must have had better games in the past.

Despite this the boys' character was fantastic. We came from behind three times in this game (George Thomson made it 2-1 before Dan Jacob made it 3-3 with about 10 minutes left) with the other Clarke (Ewan) coming off the bench to grab a late winner.

Hopefully this is what we need to really kick on now as we prepare to welcome Marine to The Walks for our latest league action on Saturday.

Finally, to put football really into perspective, the gaffer was missing from the dugout on Monday night.

His boy Danny was ill in hospital. It does make you realise that however much we live it, and however important it is, it's just a football match.

Danny is such a good kid and a popular face around the dressing room. Everyone connected with the club hopes he has a speedy recovery.

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