The superfan has been on The FA Cup trail again, watching Preliminary Round ties at Henley Town in Oxfordshire and Barkingside in Essex at the weekend. Plans to attend a replay last night were scuppered by the tube strike.

The 127th competition has already had a record number of entries (731), a record number of ties in the Extra Preliminary Round (171), a Crowborough Athletic player scoring a hat-trick of penalties, Dereham Town winning 12-0 and Colliers Wood United edging a 13-goal thriller.

I was looking to visit a new ground on Saturday and plumped for the Mill Lane HQ of Henley Town, who play in the Hellenic League’s Division One East. It involved a 40-minute train ride from Paddington to Twyford, a shorter ride to Henley-on-Thames (home of the famous "Regatta") and a walk of a mile or so to "The Triangle".

Like a complete clot I missed the turning off the main road and went more than a mile in the wrong direction. But I still got to the ground before the kick-off, albeit by a few seconds, paid my four quid and took up a position behind the nearside goal. Henley’s opponents, Bemerton Heath Harlequins, were allegedly attacking that goal but barely crossed the halfway line in the first half-hour.

The home side ("The Lilywhites") scored with a disputed penalty just before half-time. In fact, most of the referee’s decisions were disputed. That’s often the way these days.

Henley decided to stop playing when they were 3-0 up, encouraging Quins to pour forward in numbers. Two goals in the last six minutes, one a penalty, made it 3-2 and a potentially equalising effort flashed inches wide in the last few seconds. One of our oldest clubs, formed in 1871, will now play at Chesham United in the First Round Qualifying.

Chesham reached the Third Round Proper in 1980 – but I’m sure you knew that.

Sunday afternoon saw "The Barber" in the very different surroundings of Barkingside, whose ground adjoins the Central line tube station of the same name. Side share Oakside Stadium with Redbridge, who had lost their Preliminary Round tie to Woodford United there on Saturday. A crowd nearly double the one at Henley saw the home "Side" come back from a goal down to win 2-1.

It was a tough old game. Side’s centre-half was massive. I thought he looked like Benito Mussolini, the former Italian dictator, though his team-mates apparently call him "Burger". When they were hanging on near the end, he was booked for timewasting. He had walked back about 20 yards to take a free-kick, like a fast bowler before he hurtles towards the crease, and then claimed he was waiting for the whistle.

I met my friend Mike from the BBC in the stand. He went to 428 games last season.