Last week’s games finished: Eastbourne Town 0 Hassocks 1 (Reserves), Eastbourne Town 1 Eastbourne United 1 (Youth), Eastbourne Town 1 Eastbourne Borough 5 (Women), Hanwell Town 0 Uxbridge 3 and West Ham United 0 Charlton Athletic 1 (Youth).

That’s 77 seen this season and 5,209 all told.

After all these years I shouldn’t be surprised when games are called off but when I got to The Polegrove for Bexhill United v Haywards Heath Town at 1.50 for a 2 o’clock start on Saturday and found it deserted, I was, well…surprised. I can only think of one previous postponement at that ground in 20-odd years and that was when it was under a foot of snow.

I examined the pitch, with its slope and good drainage, and it looked perfectly playable to me. It had rained during the night but Saturday itself was dry and windy. My only option at that point was to walk briskly back to Collington Station to catch the first train back to Eastbourne. United’s game was also off but Town Reserves’ fixture with Hassocks was going ahead.

When I entered The Saffrons ten minutes before kick-off, there were two other people in the ground. But a few minutes into the game I counted more than 50. I heard this snatch of conversation between two elderly chaps near me in the Sid Myall and Taffy Jones Stand.

"We’ve been drawn away to Wick in something."

"It’s the Amateur Cup." (This competition has been defunct for 32 years.)

"Who did we beat in the last round?"

"North Leigh."

"North Sea?! What were we doing in the North Sea?!"

It wasn’t a bad game. Hassocks Reserves had a very tall lad up front who they called "Crouchie".

On Sunday, a much brighter day, I went back to The Saffrons for two local derbies. Town’s U18s drew 1-1 with United in the morning, watched by 75 people, and the Ladies lost 5-1 to Borough in the afternoon. A very talented Borough player got a hat-trick inside ten minutes and one goal was scored direct from a corner on the left.

Wednesday night’s little trip to Upton Park was my first since the FA Trophy Final in May. I got there far too early as usual, about an hour before the start, and shivered in the seats until the action got underway. I was part of a capacity crowd that saw Hammers win the Youth Cup seven years ago with Cole and Carrick in the side – but Charlton beat them with a 99th-minute goal last night.

I have a particularly sumptuous tie in the AFA Senior Cup in mind for Saturday.