AS YOU read this we’ll be on the way up to Grimsby for the last game of the regular Conference season and it could be a bit of a phoney war because we might be making the same trip again for a play-offs semi-final in a few days.

It’s one of those quirks of the fixture list that seem to happen quite a lot and it will be a bit of a strange game but we’re prepared for that.

Some people will be looking at it and thinking if we win we’ll face Wrexham on Wednesday and if we lose it’ll be Grimsby but we can’t approach it like that.

We’ve just got to go out there and do the best we can today because if we start trying to be clever and trying to pick who we want to play it could come back and bite us on the backside.

We’ll just go out as we always do to beat whoever is in front of us and that will show that we’re not scared of anyone.

We don’t want to pick up injuries but it’s not just in matches that you can get injured. You can pull something in training as well so you can’t worry about that sort of thing either.

If we end up going back to Grimsby on Wednesday that will be a bit strange but we’ve got the squad to handle it.

I think we’re good enough to take on and beat any of the other teams up there in the play-offs.

It might be tougher for whoever finishes in second place having just missed out on automatic promotion so we wouldn’t worry about facing Mansfield or Kidderminster.

After Tuesday’s draw at Luton we know we’re going to finish third and that means we’ll be at home in the second leg of the semi-finals next Sunday but that’s only an advantage if we do well in the first leg.

Some people will say they want to play at home first to make sure you take a lead into the second leg but we’ll have to wait and see.

If we win today we’ll finish the season on 88 points and that will be a brilliant achievement considering this time last year we ended up in 19th with just 47 points.

I thought 89 or 90 would win it this year but the top two have had a phenomenal run of results.

We’ve just come up short but we’re proud of what we’ve done this season and we want to finish the job in the play-offs now.

In terms of injuries we are looking in good shape with only Max Porter ruled out.

Ben Swallow is fit now and Danny Crow played his first game back at Luton, which is a big boost because we’ve got a fantastic record when Crowy’s played.

It’s good to have that competition for places with people like Conor Washington coming in as well and doing brilliantly over the past few weeks.

It’s encouraging because there’s probably only three or four positions absolutely nailed down at the minute.

Whether we head to Grimsby again on Wednesday or travel to face Wrexham it will be our final long coach trip of the season before hopefully what will be a special one to Wembley.

We have a bit of banter on the long trips and we try to pass the time as quickly as possible.

Me, David Pipe, Aaron O’Connor and a few others play cards and try to get the youngsters to make us a coffee but the game has changed so much now that you won’t get anything from them.

In the old days when I first started playing the young lads respected the senior players but not any more!

We have a good laugh though and everyone has their own seat where they always sit.

Andew Hughes is always at the back. Tony James and Ismail Yakubu sleep through everything.

Ismail would probably sleep through a hurricane to be honest.

And we try to catch up on a Premier League game if the signal is working – which it usually isn’t.

Talking of the Premier League, some County fans won’t like me saying it but I think Cardiff going up is brilliant for Welsh football and I think it’ll have a knock-on effect for Newport as a city as well.

There will be a lot of extra visitors coming to south Wales and that can only benefit the area.

Newport city centre is down and out at the moment so hopefully if there’s an influx of money to the local economy that can only help.

And if we get back in the Football League as well it will be a double boost.