I finished in the office on 14 December, a Friday, and saw Hayes & Yeading United lose 5-0 to Aldershot Town in The FA Trophy on the following afternoon. It was a scoreline that flattered the visitors, Hayes having held them comfortably for 20 minutes before their ‘keeper inexplicably threw the ball straight to a Shots player who rolled it into an empty net.

Sunday morning’s match, featuring Swaffham Exiles and Nice Fridge in a West End Sunday AM League fixture at Hurlingham Park, was my hundredth of the season. I turned up five minutes before the scheduled kick-off time of 10.30 and the whole place looked deserted. With no rain or frost, I was thinking in terms of 'match postponed due to it being cold' until three or four players came down the steps from the changing rooms.

This was a morning for silly team names. On the other pitch, Putney Pacers were playing Oranges Boranges and even Nice Fridge are now actually called 'Nice Fridge Lokomotiv'. At one point their skipper shouted "Switch on, Fridge!" and it clearly worked because they achieved a 3-1 win that had the crowd (me and another chap reading a book) in raptures.

My midweek matches were Redbridge v Brentwood Town in the Ryman Division One North on Tuesday (1-1) and West Ham United v Bolton Wanderers in The FA Youth Cup on Wednesday (0-2). I could’ve seen Hayes’ U18s play at The Warren on Thursday, but it was just too cold. I mean it was like December.

There was the fillip of a mince pie from someone I was standing next to, but didn’t know from Adam, at Dagenham & Redbridge v Notts County in League Two on the Saturday before Christmas (1-1). Then there was disappointment as 'The Barber' missed out on a Boxing Day match for the first time in more than 20 years. All the Eastbourne teams were away and there was no public transport.

Lewes’ Conference South fixture with Eastbourne Borough attracted 2,299 fans to The Dripping Pan. A taxi there and back would’ve cost me a small fortune – and I didn’t want to contemplate going on foot. I walked the four miles back from Borough’s ground in sub-zero temperatures three Boxing Days ago and ended up with pneumonia.

I paid my last visit to Merstham (Surrey) about 40 years ago. They were playing Egham in a Surrey Senior League match in a roped-off part of a big park, Johnny Bangs scoring all five goals in a 5-3 win.

Now in a proper ground, I saw them take on Raynes Park Vale in a Combined Counties League fixture last Saturday and they were ahead in 93 seconds. The league leaders by 15 points ended up 4-0 winners.

My seventh and final match, bringing me up to 5,437, was Crystal Palace v Norwich City in the Championship at Selhurst Park yesterday. They had just one ticket window open for the whole stand and, though my ticket was numbered, none of the seats were.