These were the cup ties:-
Fulham 2 West Bromwich Albion 3 in the Carling Cup
Wealdstone 3 Ely City 2 in The FA Youth Cup
Greenwich Borough 1 Colliers Wood United 3 in The FA Vase
Snodland Working Men’s Club 0 Brache Green Man 2 in The FA Sunday Cup
It was only 15 quid at Fulham and I was sitting at the Putney End in the middle of several hundred Albion fans singing "Oh, Junichi Inamoto" to the tune of "Oh, do the hokey cokey". I mean you’ve got to join in, haven’t you?
The Baggies made it 2-1 two minutes from time, Fulham equalised almost immediately and the aforementioned Japanese midfielder hit a 25-yard belter for the winner in extra time. It was a shame that only 7,000 witnessed this treat.
Wealdstone’s FA Youth Cup tie was played at Ruislip Manor FC and I watched it with pals Dave and Neil, both of whom go to 200 games in a season. I went on the tube as usual, changing at Baker Street for the Metropolitan line, and was quite taken aback when the train rattled through Ruislip Manor station without stopping. Bizarrely, there was no platform.
Stones’ youngsters dominated the first half without scoring and then, as so often happens, went behind early in the second period. They poured forward in a panic, scored twice, hit the post twice and then looked safe at 3-1. But the visitors from Cambridgeshire converted a last-minute penalty and came close several times during the added six minutes.
I had only been to Greenwich Borough once before, for a Croydon v Liverpool women’s match ten years ago, and on that occasion I had sat in a stand behind one goal.
That stand has disappeared and all they have now are two little bits of cover on one side, with holes in and covered in graffiti.
Borough, Ian Wright’s old club, took the lead in this FA Vase tie after just three minutes and a man mowing the grass on another pitch rushed up to me through a gap in the hedge.
"You don’t mean they’ve actually scored?" was his breathless question. He insisted on a full description of the goal, which I was happy to give, before returning to his task with a smile on his face. But Colliers Wood ended up winners and deservedly so.
My first FA Sunday Cup tie of the season featured clubs from Kent and Bedfordshire and was played at Sevenoaks Town FC. Both sides were at the ground more than an hour before kick-off and I joined some of the Snodland players in a queue for cups of tea from "Sue" in the refreshment hut.
One player mentioned that the referee had asked for some fox droppings to be removed from the far goalmouth. Only he didn’t use the word "droppings".
How can somebody go to 5,000 football matches?
"Not only had you escaped from the clanking machinery of this lesser life, from work, wages, rent, doles, sick pay, insurance cards, nagging wives, ailing children, but you had escaped with most of your mates and your neighbours, with half the town.
"And there you were, cheering together, thumping one another on the shoulders, swapping judgements like lords of the earth, having pushed your way through a turnstile into another and altogether more splendid kind of life, hurtling with Conflict and yet passionate and beautiful in its Art."
JB Priestley, The Good Companions