Read what Ben Clasper had to say in his programme notes ahead of our National League South clash with Hampton & Richmond Borough from the weekend.

‘Think of the away days’ we all said after promotion to the National League South, ironic for a Rabble for whom even our home games were away days back then. New clubs to visit, new seaside towns and more exotic, further flung parts of the country than the Isthmian League could ever hope to offer. Viva Weston-super-Mare.

So it was with eagerness that we awaited the FA Trophy draw on Monday hoping to top last season’s tie when both the Rabble and the Omicron variant arrived in Brentwood on the same staggeringly cold day. And what mouth-watering new opportunity sprung from the bag of balls this time for a match scheduled four days before we would be ticking off another new ground with a first visit to Taunton Town? Why, Taunton of course, so good they named it twice and it better be that good now we have to visit it twice. What to do? Go once? Go twice? Stay for four days? Tempting, but we have Havant and Waterlooville away the week before and Bath away a few days before that. ‘Get promoted and see the world’ we thought, we just didn’t expect to have to cram it all into 14 days. Pointing out how little the authorities care about the time and cost impact on fans who travel is like screaming into the void these days but honestly, who thought scheduling three of our longest away trips back-to-back knowing there was a chance of a draw of a fourth trip in the middle was a good idea?

Every game will bring the same challenges, train strikes, no split fares or group discounts, last train home is after the final whistle, will Membury Services have good enough wifi for a blurred background video call with work? Coaches could help with both cost and convenience but even before the pandemic our problem has been a lack of demand, I’d love to get those back as an option.

Fixture list management has been unexpectedly challenging this season, Weymouth was postponed first due to the death of the Queen and again because Weymouth want a break before their FA Cup tie. Is that within the rules you say? No. But I won’t be holding my breath waiting for an explanation from the National League as to why that was allowed to happen especially since they still haven’t answered our last question about how the League managed to successfully apply the policy on playing your closest possible opponent at Christmas and New Year to all clubs except Dulwich ‘fined by the National League’ Hamlet and Dover ‘fined by the National League’ Athletic. After our ‘four in fourteen’ tour the next two away games are also now being moved, Braintree from Saturday afternoon to Sunday lunchtime for BT (which also means Concord at home on the Tuesday is now postponed) and Oxford has just been moved to Saturday lunch time to avoid a possible clash with a World Cup game on TV unless clubs want to move it back or to another day, another National League recipe for disaster as clubs will no doubt not see eye to eye on that one.

A League who raged at clubs for daring to suggest that a deadly global pandemic and lockdown may be a legitimate reason not to play a match is now doling out postponements because people are sad, because TV companies ask them, because teams fancy a rest and because there might be a World Cup game on the telly.

At least today we know who, where and when as we welcome a Hampton & Richmond Borough side who suffered a difficult heavy home defeat this week against St Albans City who were our own opponents last time out where our victory saw us finally close the gap on the group above us in the table. Getting out of the relegation zone and catching up with that pack was our first aim with the new manager and we take nothing for granted but our form has already improved from relegation risk to mid-table safety and I think most fans would agree the football on show at the moment is deserving of higher still.

So, thank you for coming to this rare occasion of an ‘originally as advertised’ fixture and hope to see you on our travels but understand the cost constraints in the coming weeks, your support is valued by the club, inspiring to the players and applauded by our opponents. You really are special, so thank you, however and from wherever you able to follow the team.