The last seven days had begun with an FA Youth Cup First Round Qualifying tie on Wednesday night between St Albans City and Leverstock Green.
It meant a packed commuter train from Kings Cross Thameslink, standing all the way, and then just a five-minute walk from St Albans Station to the 6,000-capacity Clarence Park.
This tie had been abandoned a week earlier due to floodlight failure with the score 1-1. Leverstock Green had apparently been well on top, so it wasn’t a great surprise to see them dominate the early exchanges.
They won 4-0 but it could’ve been ten. Admission was £2 with a free team-sheet, compared to £4 without a team-sheet at Sevenoaks Town in the same round.
It was too warm for an anorak on Saturday. I took the "special" bus along the A35 to Poole, then the Weymouth train to the little Dorset village of Hamworthy.
I was there absurdly early for the Hammers’ Vase fixture with Newton Abbot, but they had Man U v Wigan on the big screen in the bar and I saw the whole of the second half.
Hamworthy bossed their game from the start, taking a 3-0 lead in 22 minutes that had Newton Abbot’s coach shouting "This is embarrassing!" from the dugout. The Devon visitors did manage one goal but caved in towards the end, conceding three in eight minutes in an 8-1 defeat. "We’re absolutely abysmal", said the coach.
Hammers are at home to Poole in the next round, a local derby to rival Man U v Man City or Rangers v Celtic. I can’t wait.
Sunday morning was sunny too, so you could hardly move for people walking their dogs in King’s Park. Amongst all the canine mayhem a crowd of 16 settled down (or up) to watch Littledown v Premier Sports in something called "The Robbins Cup" on Pitch 1.
Premier’s ‘keeper, whose top looked like an anorak, made some flying stops in the first half but experienced a less agile second period as Littledown stormed to a 7-0 win.
Then it was a long walk down Holdenhurst Road to Bournemouth Station for the superfan to pick up another bus to Poole. The afternoon attraction at Tatnam Farm was Poole Town v Oxford City in The FA Women’s Cup Third Round Qualifying, watched by a healthy 36 fans.
City didn’t open the scoring until the last few seconds of the first half, prompting the home skipper to tell her team-mates during the interval: "They’re no better than us".
As it turned out, they were. One girl, who reminded me of Puskas with her hammer of a left foot, came on as a sub after an hour and notched a hat-trick. City’s No.7, wearing shades, also scored in their 6-0 win. Their reward is a home tie with Salisbury City in the First Round Proper.
Two games this week – QPR v Norwich City (1-0) in the Championship and Leyton Orient v Dagenham & Redbridge (0-1) in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – have brought me up to 66 for the season and 5,398 all told. I was inside Orient’s ground at 7.10 and they’d run out of programmes. Poor show for a League club.