I couldn’t really justify going to Alba’s match with Invisible at the Rec last night with England’s friendly against Hungary live on the box at the same time.

Dinner with my skin and blister in Sevenoaks takes precedence over tonight’s "Summer Cup" double header at Maida Vale. So that’s it, folks. We’ve reached the end of May and the season’s officially over.

I probably won’t see another match until…well, tomorrow.

I must admit I never expected to be watching international football in Eastbourne, my parents’ home from 1987. Eastbourne Borough were known as Langney Sports in those days, playing in the lower reaches of the Sussex County League in front of a few dozen fans standing round a pitch in Priory Lane which had no cover.

That pitch is still there but Borough’s impressive "new" ground, just a few yards away, had staged several County Cup Finals and an FA Cup First Round Proper tie with Oxford United (which drew a record 3,770 crowd six months ago) before England came to town.

Can there be a club in the country that has made so much progress in such a short time? It all seems a bit unreal.

With my leg still dodgy, I thought I’d get there early on Saturday to make sure of a decent seat. The No.1 bus at Terminus Road, close to Eastbourne Station, was already there when I hobbled up and I was in the ground an hour before kick-off.

There was a biting cold wind, scandalous for the end of May, and it was so grey and miserable that the floodlights were on from the start.

More than 2,000 people had piled in by kick-off time. As well as some familiar faces, "Langney" fans from years ago, there were visitors from all over the country – and even from Scotland. I noticed banners from Dagenham & Redbridge, Stevenage Borough, Halifax Town and Ayr United.

I thought England dominated the game but a 2-0 victory, the second goal coming in the 90th minute, wasn’t quite enough for them to retain the trophy.

The World Cup is nine days away. The first tournament I followed closely was Chile in 1962 but I can only remember seeing highlights late in the evening on our black and white TV.

It wasn’t such a big deal in those days. I knew most of the players’ names from the various countries and staged my own "World Cup" in our attic with marbles. I seem to have lost them now…