Dan the Fan: Difficult tests due

But after playing some easier opposition recently Town have a few tricky league fixtures coming up in December.

After the Cup games Town play Bristol Rovers, Morecambe and then Torquay on Boxing Day.

They are three fixtures we could easily slip up on and it won’t be made easier with the January transfer window coming up.

Typically now we’ve started to do well in the league and cup competitions clubs will start sniffing around the players that have impressed recently.

Last week Bournemouth made a pathetic £250K offer for one of our best players Matt Ritchie, it was encouraging to see Paolo come out and say straight away that any team who wants Ritchie will need to offer at least £2M for the winger.

It was also encouraging to see Matt express how much he is concentrating on getting us promoted back to League One.

But with him coming from that area of the country I can see how tempting an offer that would be if the club did receive another offer, but I doubt the cherries have that sort of money in the bank!

Last week we saw the club bring in another new face on loan, Ronan Murray arrived from Ipswich after finding first team chances limited in Suffolk.

After only being at the club one day he came on against Aldershot and made an instant impact with an assist, lets hope he’ll be another good loan signing by Paolo.

As well as Ronan joining the club Paul Benson looked like he would be making the move to Wiltshire also but due to some paperwork issues that move has been cancelled for the time being with Swindon possibly going back in for Benson in January.

This Saturday Town travels to Essex to take on League One side Colchester United in the F.A Cup 2nd Round.

After our heroics against Huddersfield in the 1st Round the team should go into this game full of confidence that they can come away with another cup victory.

We all know the clubs main ambition this season is promotion, but an F.A Cup run can mean lots to a football club financially and to the fans, you just know that West Ham away will be are 3rd Round draw!

Then after Saturday’s big cup game we move onto Roots Hall and top of League Two side Southend United.

After we easily beat the seasiders 2-0 in early September they have been on an amazing unbeaten run.

Even though it’s the unfashionable Johnstones Paint Trophy the club reaching the southern area final for the first time would be a good first achievement for manager Paolo Di Canio.

Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson6

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