It gets no easier for Boreham Wood who travel to the home of last season’s beaten National League Play-Off Final runners-up, Grimsby Town, on Saturday.

The two sides historically are poles apart, given that the Mariners were members of the Football League for 117 years until 2010.

That year marked Wood's fantastic promotion to the Conference South for the first time in their history.

Mariners Boss Paul Hurst began his tenure towards the end of a disappointing first season in the top tier of non-league football.

Since then he has seen his side improve to lose out in the Play-Off semi-finals in two consecutive seasons before May's heartbreaking loss on penalties at Wembley to Bristol Rovers.

It was the second time non-league Grimsby had suffered the same fate. At the end of the 2012/13 season Wrexham won a penalty shoot-out under the Wembley arch to deny Town a chance of lifting the FA Trophy.

The odds of the Mariners making that trip again this season are short. A place in the last eight of the FA Trophy plus their current comfortable position of third in the National League standings make the prospect of another mass exodus from the Lincolnshire coast a real possibility.

Their trip to Meadow Park in September saw Wood humbled for the first time this season, the Mariners running out confident 3-1 winners.

In fact it was not until last Saturday's defeat by basement side Kidderminster Harriers that Wood were comprehensively outplayed again in this division.

Town have just lost once in 11 league outings and there have been some real hammerings given out during the season. The Mariners took full advantage of both Halifax (7-0) and Southport's (4-0) dismal early season form, while more recently putting five past Altrincham without reply.

Were it not for Forest Green Rovers’ injury-time heroics in their last three matches the gap between second and third (ten points) would be considerably smaller. That said, the Mariners currently have two games in hand.

The leading scorer is Padraig Amond. An Irishman with Primeira League experience in Portugal, Amond has 21 League goals to his name.

Recent signings include midfielder Jon Nolan, who celebrated the move from rivals Lincoln City by scoring in Tuesday night’s victory at Bromley. Experienced defender Evan Horwood has also joined the Mariners on loan from Northampton Town.

From a Wood perspective the only aim is survival. A run of just one win in ten matches, along with the recent resurgence of Southport and Halifax, leaves Luke Garrard's men in the bottom four, two points from safety with 16 games left.

The recent return of loanee Jamie Lucas - Wood’s top scorer with five goals - from Bristol Rovers may well be the key to survival come April.