Our Chesterfield FC fans columnist on how playing unfamiliar teams at unfamiliar grounds will be a common theme

Three points gained on the opening day of the season and our first away win since Yeovil last season in the depths of winter.
Picture by Sam Mallorie-Williams/AHPIX.com; Football; Vanarama National League; Ebbsfleet United v Chesterfield FC; 04/08/2018 KO 15:00; The Kuflink Stadium; copyright picture; Howard Roe/AHPIX.com; Zavon Hines celebrates the winner at EbbsfleetPicture by Sam Mallorie-Williams/AHPIX.com; Football; Vanarama National League; Ebbsfleet United v Chesterfield FC; 04/08/2018 KO 15:00; The Kuflink Stadium; copyright picture; Howard Roe/AHPIX.com; Zavon Hines celebrates the winner at Ebbsfleet
Picture by Sam Mallorie-Williams/AHPIX.com; Football; Vanarama National League; Ebbsfleet United v Chesterfield FC; 04/08/2018 KO 15:00; The Kuflink Stadium; copyright picture; Howard Roe/AHPIX.com; Zavon Hines celebrates the winner at Ebbsfleet

The only thing to look for at this stage is whether the side actually gel together and it looks as though they do, a little bit lacking in pace but you can’t have everything.

Zavon Hines seems to be relishing playing upfront rather than out wide and linked up well with both Ugwu and Fortune.

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For many it is going to the first of many long treks down south to places you’d heard of but wouldn’t necessarily know where they were.

I hadn’t realised before the game that Ebbsfleet used to be Gravesend and Northfleet and that they had taken their name from the nearby river, still lots of Spireites managed to navigate their way to the place and find the nearest Wetherspoons.

In 2007 the Gravesend club was taken over by on online venture called My Football Club, whose members raised £700,000 to take the club over and then had the right to vote on transfers, ticket prices and player selection.

This seemingly crazy idea did actually work to a certain extent with Ebbsfleet wining the FA Trophy in 2008. Members of the My Football Club began to drift away and it looked like the novelty had worn off for them.

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These days a Kuwaiti group has bought the club and seems to be making good strides forward, their club looks well run and the ground is certainly capable of hosting league football.

It’s nice that we managed to win that one without any major scares once the Blues had gone ahead, that’s a theme we are going to have to contend with all season victory is a relief whilst a defeat will lead to haunted remarks of “Are we going to be stuck here forever?”

It’s Aldershot next and then Braintree which is a place you drive past on the way to Colchester, in Essex.

This is going to be a recurring theme, we used to play team X in the league now we play a suburb of that place. For example, Borehamwood is a London overspill suburb somewhere near Watford.

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I suppose the first big test in the league is going to be Salford City FC away, having spent some time covering the club for radio in Greater Manchester I’m aware of the great strides forward the club has taken, mainly due to the vast amounts of money spent on the project.

I’m sure Adam Rooney has left the Scottish Premier for the English non-league purely for the love of the game, I’m certain that theme is going to re-occur all season.