As I write this, I’ve just watched the third round draw of the FA Cup - one of my favourite times of the year, especially when Oldham are in it. So this time it was more than a little heartbreaking to see Leyton Orient take on ball number 48 in an attempt to face-off with one of the Premier League big boys.

That they will play against Derby County at home was rather pleasing really as, while it would have been nice to take on higher opposition again, at least it wasn’t a draw like Bromley, who will visit my current home town of Newcastle, or, fantastically for the wonderful group of people who work at Stanley, a draw like my home and place of birth Accrington got as they go to Liverpool.

Nothing against Orient themselves of course, but for us to have lost our second round tie against them in the circumstances we did was like a punch to the stomach. Twice.

Goals in added time of added time at the end of the match and then again at the end of extra time, with the first one of those scored by their keeper going viral, made it even more sickening to lose after we had matched our League One opponents for large chunks of the game.

We would, in the past, have earned the right to a replay but of course FA Cup replays no longer exist due to the greed of a small handful of the bigger clubs in the game.

I really hope they get a good rest during their sun-soaked, money-making friendlies in the winter.

Even during the extra time that followed though we kept pushing and, as had been the case during the 90 minutes (with James Norwood being guilty of missing a sitter in the first half) we continued to create chances in the same way as the home side did and, in reality, either side could have nicked it, with Orient also dragging a penalty wide.

It wasn’t meant to be for us though, and we left East London empty-handed but incredibly proud of the performance of the lads, a performance which bodes well for the rest of the season working towards our main goal, as Frank Rothwell said on TV last week, of winning the league and promotion.

And so, it’s probably fair to say that the FA Trophy and Stockton Town on Saturday is a bit of a distraction really and I fully expect to see a number of fringe players get minutes in their legs, and rightly so.

Of course I want us to win every match, and even the Trophy itself, but I’m more than happy to sacrifice the Trophy to support us in achieving our main goal, a goal which, without doubt, is very much possible this season.