If you think about football deeply, it really is a funny old game.

Players train for hours every week on the grass and then use the gym and the pool to keep themselves in peak physical condition. 

Linnets boss Adam LakelandLinnets boss Adam Lakeland (Image: Ian Burt)

Our manager Adam Lakeland, is up at 4am most mornings to make the long journey down from the north-west to Ely with his assistant Sam Walker sitting by his side; they will be out on the pitch for as long as the players are, before making the journey home. 

Our groundsman, Ben Hales, will have spent hours tending to the pitch, Travis and Grace would have put in the hard yards to publicise the game on our media channels, Sarah will have put in a proper stint to ensure the catering side is ready for our fans, James will have burned the midnight oil pulling together today’s programme and everyone contributing to it would have also had to put in time. 

Julia spent all week ensuring that everyone received their tickets, keeping the club shop stocked and keeping on top of the administration whilst Julie has ensured that the club has fulfilled all match day and league protocols, liaised with referees, the league, our opposition, sponsors and guests. Liam, the physio, would have been at every training session, helping those that needed rehabilitation, and another Sarah would have been speaking with the Safety and Advisory Group to ensure that everyone attending will be kept safe. Norman will have washed every kit and ensured that all matchday duties are taken care of.  I could, of course, go on, but unlike any other business, all this effort culminates in a 90-minute game, and those 90 minutes will determine if all the hard work put in by so many has been in vain or has resulted in three precious points.

What determines your season comes down to two words: recruitment and fitness. There were some last season who doubted our manager would be able to put together an attacking team that needed to win games rather than ensure that we did not lose them. If those guys have visited The Walks recently, they would have had their questions answered emphatically. Not only has he put together a team that can win games, but he has put together a team that can win games playing an energetic, high tempo style that is a joy to watch.

Some managers have been labelled as managers who can only play a certain style, but that could be down to their budget and the players at their disposal. Could Sam Allardyce have played a different brand of football if he had Manchester United’s budget rather than Bolton’s?

Watching players link together has been a masterstroke and as the season progresses, they will get better as they gain a better understanding of where their team-mates will be on the pitch.  We have seen some great football, but to my mind the best is yet to come.

This has not happened by accident, but by meticulous planning, ensuring that we have the right mixture of youth, experience and energy and having different sorts of players so we can change styles and formations if needed.

With Kian Ronan out of contention with concussion and Dylan Crowe suffering from an injury (now cleared up), it was clear we needed somebody on the right-hand side of the park. Finlay Barnes was the man that got the call, a player that one of my previous managers inexplicably turned down and a player who, through no fault of his own, had two signings at York and Braintree where he could not get going. He has fitted into the team like a hand in a velvet glove (to coin another of AC/DC’s lines) and has given the manager another lever to pull when needed.

Today, of course, we welcome Curzon Ashton, who narrowly lost to league leaders Scunthorpe in the week, and it will give us the chance to put right last season’s result which has no doubt given the manager nightmares ever since we ended up on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline.

Curzon are a good football team, they have some players on big money, so it is not the David versus Goliath scenario narrative that some commentators make out and we will need all the support that we can get from the terraces to get us over the line.

For all the blood, sweat and tears that go into ensuring that everyone and everything is ready on and off the pitch for today’s encounter, nothing beats the feeling of winning and it is that feeling and our supporters singing at the top of their voices, “I guess that’s why they call it the blues” on the final whistle that makes everything seem so very worthwhile.