Vale Farm, the home of Wembley FC, is about two miles from the new Wembley Stadium and is a ground I’ve been visiting for five decades. The first match was an FA Amateur Cup tie with Enfield in 1967 which drew more than 2,000 fans. Wembley scored in the first minute but Enfield, who went on to lift the Cup that season, hit back to win 2-1 in the rain.

I’ve seen so many matches there over the years – it’s an easy journey from central London out to Sudbury Town on the Piccadilly line and then a ten-minute walk – and most of them have been in the various divisions of the Isthmian League. I can’t remember having ever seen a bad game there – Wembley sides are always so committed, even the youth lads.

Talking of "Sudbury Town" I had my longest ever wait for a tube train there about ten years ago. I’d just seen Wembley Ladies play Doncaster Belles on a wintry Sunday afternoon – the lights on from the start gave Vale Farm a strange, pinkish hue – and later paced up and down for a record 48 minutes before the first Piccadilly line train came into view.

The stand I watched the Enfield match from all those years ago was burnt down – in the ‘80s, I think – and what used to be covered terracing on the opposite side is now a smart stand with individual red seats. The crowd was just under 50 for Bedfont Green last night and we saw Steve "Gussie" Augustine blast the home team in front after only five minutes. It finished 2-1 to Wembley.

Hearing all the players’ shouts reminded me of a pre-season friendly a few years ago at Cowes Sports on the Isle of Wight. I had a theory that players don’t use that many different expressions during a game, so I decided to jot them down. (Nothing rude, obviously.) To my surprise I heard 85 completely different ones during the first half and the two most common, perhaps not surprisingly, were "Time!" and "Man on!"

Last Saturday’s match at a wet and windy Priory Lane was Eastbourne Borough’s Conference South opener against Yeading, the FA Cup heroes of two seasons ago. I was privileged to see them put on a fantastic display to hold Newcastle United to 0-2 at Loftus Road.

The Cup’s 126th competition starts this weekend, of course, and Wembley’s Extra Preliminary Round tie with Thame United has been brought forward to Friday evening for TV. So another little trip out to Vale Farm is very much on the cards for "The Barber". We have a record 687 entries this season and I’m feeling Cup fever symptoms already.