With the Bolton lockdown kicking in and the launch of the Government’s six-a-side competition restricting our movements even more, everyone was looking forward to the start of our League Two campaign to give us a much-needed lift in morale.

This meant that there were no trips to the local for a pre-match drink and the fresh challenge of getting iFollow up and running.

A lot of fans have struggled with this and nobody has yet come forward to claim the prize for being the first to successfully watch it on their smart TVs.

I donned my new home shirt and poured my beer into a BWFC pint glass to try to feel some attachment to the cause as I settled down alone to watch the match on my PC.

The new-look programme appears to have shrunk, which is maybe a sign of the times or due to all the wet weather we have been having. It was an interesting read, especially with all the new faces around the stadium these days.

As expected, Ian Evatt made four changes from the midweek defeat against Crewe and for the first 20 minutes, we got looked good.

We dominated play and pressed forward. Eoin Doyle missed a good chance and then we stopped doing the good things and allowed Forest Green to grow back into the game. It was no surprise when they took the lead.

We improved a little when Ali Crawford and Andrew Tutte came on.

Our midfield was poor, our defence looked shaky and the strikers were starved of any decent service. Other than that, we were okay.

After the defeat, nobody can be under any illusions of the task ahead.

Being the bookies’ favourite does not guarantee anything. Only one bookies’ favourite in the past 10 years, Portsmouth, managed to finish top of the league and that was only at the fourth attempt after three previous seasons as favourites.

The only other favourite to get promoted was Rotherham, who finished second in 2012/13.

We will have to earn promotion. There is a lot of hard work to be done. Settling in any new player takes time. Settling in 17 new players is an enormous challenge for the new management team and will need a lot more time.

I believe it can and will be done but there is going to be a long and winding road ahead of us.