The FA's superfan is back on Planet Football after 16 days without a game. Stricken with a mystery nerve injury that has left his right leg numb from hip to ankle, he spent a week in St Mary's Hospital in Paddington but was out in time to go to The FA Cup and FA Trophy Finals at the weekend.
Here are the results of the games seen since the last column all those weeks ago: Kismayo 5 QC Aces 3, Rothschild 1 Warrington 1 (R on pens), HSBC 0 Weirside Rangers 0 (H on pens), Linton 2 Acton & Ealing Whistlers 1, Philosophy Football 2 Viacom Outdoor 2, Fisher Athletic 3 Hendon 2, Sotheby’s 5 Athletico Chips 0, Chaseside 3 Islington Admiral A 4, Liverpool 3 West Ham United 3 (L on pens), Grays Athletic 2 Woking 0 and Morley FM 1 Alba 1 (M on pens).
That’s 233 for this season and 5,125 all told. And still only one leg to stand on.
It was all going so well, with games on six consecutive days up to 27 April. They had included three finals: the London Financial FA Cup at Roehampton, the Chiswick & District Sunday League Cup at Bedfont and the London Senior Cup at Tooting.
Then the leg went dead in the early evening and I was flat out in the Lilian Holland Ward with no TV and no newspapers. But obviously there were people worse off than I was.
After a week they said I could go home and I was out of the place in five minutes. I start a course of physiotherapy this afternoon and hopefully the feeling will return eventually.
I’m back in the swing of things football-wise, despite the limp, and have seen three finals in the last three days: The FA Cup in Cardiff, The FA Trophy at West Ham and the London Football League Spring Cup at Paddington Rec.
There’s no need to say too much about The FA Cup. I thought it was the best since Palace v Man U in 1990 and I had a feeling Liverpool would win, even when they were 2-0 down.
I travelled to Wales by coach and it was quite a smooth ride, with no jams, and we were in the stadium around 1.45. My favourite bit on Cup Final Day is always when the teams come out side by side for the start and more than 70,000 people go mental.
The attendance was a little smaller at the Rec yesterday evening. There were only three or four of us there for the 6 p.m. kick-off but to be fair the crowd had swelled to about 30 within a few minutes.
A few ladies in their sensible coats and silk scarves had come to cheer on Morley FM, presumably the company they work for. It was a typical mid-May evening – cold, wet and windy – and I envied them their flasks of coffee.
It was an excellent Final, Morley equalising at 1-1 with a penalty that turned out to be the last kick of normal time.
It went straight to a shootout, with the players of the next game already waiting in the wings, and the reprieved Morley smacked home five kicks out of five to lift the "Spring Cup". It was great to be at the Rec again and meet my good friend Hany.