A day at the office

Two matches at the weekend have brought me up to a modest eight for the season but a more feisty 5,681 altogether. I still haven’t seen a home win in the present campaign.

Saturday’s match, on a blistering hot afternoon, was Coulsdon United v Chobham in the Combined Counties League’s Division One. It was the first competitive action for ‘The Barber’ since last season’s FA Cup Final.

It’s a 20-minute walk from Coulsdon South station to the Netherne Community Amateur Sports Club in Woodplace Lane and as I struggled up the steep hill, someone called to me from a few yards behind. I’d never met this chap before but he was a Crystal Palace fan from around 1960, exactly like myself, and Johnny Byrne and Cliff Holton were his favourites too.

"Straight from the off, eh lads?!" shouted Chobham’s big number five and skipper as they kicked off before 21 spectators in very little shade. The visitors took the lead after six minutes and were 2-0 up at half-time. Coulsdon showed some skill and invention in attack and had a good spell towards the end of the half, threatening to score on a couple of occasions.

But it was Chobham who played the flowing football after the break to finish 5-2 winners. One of their goals was a penalty for a foul by the ‘keeper which the taker blasted down the middle as that ‘keeper moved to his right. Having not denied a scoring opportunity, he had stayed on the field.

Sunday’s match was a slightly less glamorous affair, featuring Chelsea v Manchester United in The FA Community Shield at Wembley. The crowd easily exceeded Saturday’s 21 and they saw an entertaining game with four goals, a penalty shootout and some controversy.

It was almost like a day, or an afternoon, at the office. The FA moved from Soho Square to Wembley last Monday and everyone seems to like it here. We’re all on the fourth floor and it’s sometimes quite a trek to walk from one department to another. This is a massive place.

There’s a pleasant canteen one floor down called ‘Venue 3’, where I’ve had lunch every day so far. The corridors have big framed photographs of special moments in Wembley’s history all round them. Bob Stokoe racing across the pitch to embrace Jim Montgomery after the 1973 FA Cup Final? You bet.

It’s still my favourite Final.