Chesham United manager Andy Leese says in any other year the club would have been heavily financially hit by their long run of away games.

The Generals are four games into a run of 11 away games that started on Saturday, 31 October and will not end until they play Stratford Town on Saturday, 19 December.

The run of fixtures is a consequence of the club’s extended stay in the FA Cup, FA Trophy and Bucks & Berks Senior Cup (B&B Cup).

Bizarrely though Leese claims that it is the FA Cup run that is guaranteeing the club can comfortably deal without taking a home gate for a month and a half.

He said: “In any other season it would have brought us to our knees and would have caused a financial problem for the club.

“This year because of the fantastic FA Cup run we have been able to deal with the run of away games and that has really helped us.

“It would have been pretty disastrous in any other year, the club would have kept running and we would have been able to cope with it but the cup run has made it a lot easier financially.”

The momentum created by the FA Cup win at Bristol Rovers has been carried over into Chesham’s recent exploits in the B&B Cup and the FA Trophy.

Having won 3-2 against Swindon Supermarine on Saturday Chesham now face Frome Town in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy and are in the semi-final of the B&B Cup.

The parallel path which the three cup runs have taken has conspired to ensure that Saturday’s match against Paulton Rovers is United’s first in the league for four matches.

They have therefore fallen down the Evo-Stick Southern Premier Division and Leese acknowledges the need to win league matches whenever they may fall due to the club’s disrupted schedule.

“The pressure doesn’t come from playing the games in the cup, it comes from having to make up the league matches,” Leese explained.

“We know we need to win them whenever they come around because otherwise we could find ourselves further behind before we even play again.

“We have two games in the league now that we have to deal with and have to make sure we get some points on the board before another break for the cup games.”

He will hope his side can fulfil that target on Saturday against a Rovers side who have not won since mid-October.

They are bottom of the table and new manager Tony Ricketts, who took over earlier this month in the wake of Richard Fey’s resignation, has a tough task on his hands.

Leese though is wary of a side that he believes will be a different proposition from the one Chesham have already beaten twice during this campaign.

“They have a new manager, and even though we have won twice against them this season I would expect to find a totally different side because of the new personnel at the club,” Leese explained.

“We have a strong squad to pick from which I’m pleased about. The players all want to play and when you are winning you don’t want a rest so they are happy and ready for the game.”