The air temperature on Saturday afternoon was actually a balmy four degrees. It was the wind-chill factor of minus 50 that made it a bit nippy. (Or was that in Moscow?)

Barking seemed an appropriate place to go in the circumstances and it didn’t disappoint. Barking & East Ham United, as the old "Barking FC" are now called, edged a Trophy classic against Croydon Athletic.

As the tannoy announcement ten minutes before kick-off began with "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen", I could only see two other people in the ground. There certainly weren’t any ladies.

But dozens of people piled out of the clubhouse at 3 o’clock and I notice the official crowd was 101. If I hadn’t gone, they would have been left with a suspiciously round number.

After 45 minutes standing (or swaying) in the cold wind, a welcome transfusion of vegetable soup from the tea hut during the break set me up for a second half that was even more thrill-a-minute than the first.

Croydon pulled it back to 2-1 with four minutes to go and the home ‘keeper then dived bravely at an opponent’s feet to preserve a lead that took the Essex side into the First Round Proper.

At Fulham on Sunday (2-1 v Bolton) there was "a minute’s silence" for the late George Best that very quickly became "a minute’s applause".

More fitting, I think. I saw the great man play for four different clubs: Manchester United, Fulham, AFC Bournemouth and Northampton Town.

Northampton?! Yes, as a guest in Dave Bowen’s testimonial against Liverpool in 1976. At the time I knew his daughter Lynn at university.

Two games during the week at Paddington Rec had featured UBS v Sotheby’s (4-3) and Visa v Boodle Hatfield (2-0). To my surprise there was somebody else watching the second of those, bringing the attendance up to a healthy two.

This other chap, well wrapped up in long scarf and woolly hat, had a flask of some unidentified hot liquid next to him and what looked like a round of sandwiches on his lap.

He took in the action intently, but in silence, until a Visa player fluffed an easy scoring chance just after half-time. Then his shout of "You muppet!" rang around the Rec and frightened a couple of dogs.

How surreal is this? Imagine you’ve watched a game and you leave the ground and walk swiftly to the nearest tube station.

The first train pulls into the platform and, after you’ve got on, you realise that one of the teams you’ve just seen is in the carriage with you. I mean the whole team and they are still in their playing strips. Well, it happened to me last week.

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