ISN'T it great watching competitive football? After four years of having it nearly all our own way, we now find ourselves in a division where plan A doesn’t work every game. Sometimes, even plans B and C are ineffective too. That’s the fun of competitive football.

In the last four years, teams would come along to Heritage Park and, but for a handful who left with three points, would put up a bit of a fight for twenty minutes or so and then roll over like a puppy hoping that we’d tickle their belly.

Whether it’s the competitive football, the recognisable opposition or the imminent return to Darlington, promotion appears to have worked wonders for our average attendance.

Last season, we averaged a little over one thousand two hundred although that was skewed in an upwards direction by a handful of games with high attendances. Crowds of just over a thousand were more the norm. Every year following a promotion, I’d optimistically hope that the step up would result in an increase in attendances; almost every season, I was disappointed.

All of a sudden, this season, we appear to have found an extra 400-500 fans on what appears to be a regular basis. Obviously, we have to factor in away fans but the increase is numbers coming through the turnstile is fantastic. Hopefully, there’ll be more when we finally make the move to Blackwell Meadows.

What has been notable since the numbers have risen is the atmosphere in the ground. It’s been good at most home games this season but it seemed to build up to a crescendo on Wednesday night. It was bouncing in the Tin Shed. Without wishing to sound too soppy, it was almost like the original Tin Shed – but with a drum!

Having endured the soulless arena and then four years of hammering teams on our home patch which usually didn’t generate an atmosphere, the added competitive nature on the pitch seems to have elicited more vocal support from the terraces. It’s hard not to get swept up by it. I had a belting sore throat on Thursday morning.

As for the game, well, let’s overlook the first half. There’s work to be done to improve our defensive record. As a whole team, we need to defend better. The timing of the equaliser, as undeserved as it probably was, played a huge part in our win. In the second half, we got about a Stockport team that we’d made look good in the first half and finally got the goal our pressure deserved. We still looked vulnerable at the back – we always will until Martin Gray does something about it – but until then, we’ll continue to try and score one more than the opposition. It’s highly entertaining even if it’s not great for the nerves.

With three points in the bag, we head off to Warwickshire to face Nuneaton Town. The Boro haven’t exactly got off to the best of starts this season despite being a full-time outfit. Their managerial team of Kevin Wilson and Steve Chettle were in charge of fellow full-time outfilt Ilkeston at the start of last season before stepping up a division from the NPL to take charge of The Boro. Interestingly, Guy Branston is on their coaching staff. Remember him?

A quick look through their squad shows they have some useful players at their disposal including Aaron Williams who has returned on loan from Peterborough having moved in the opposite direction for good money in January. They also include Christian Dibble who has already seen us put four past him when playing for Boston last month. Let’s hope on Saturday we’re more like the second half performances against Kidderminster and Stockport than the first. Nuneaton are winless at home so far and I’d dearly love it if that was the case come 5pm.