Final reckoning

It was one of those special weekends in the season for the superfan, with The FA Trophy and FA Vase Finals taking place on successive days at Wembley. Both were played on sunny afternoons and both finished 2-0, to Stevenage Borough and Whitley Bay respectively.

Before the weekend, on Wednesday, I saw AWDF – ‘Angels with Dirty Faces’ – lose a thriller 4-3 to Islington Admiral ‘B’ at Market Road. ‘Angels’ were 4-1 down, but scored twice in the last few minutes and almost grabbed a leveller as the crowd (of about ten) went crazy.

I’d planned to watch the Conference South Play-Off Final at Hampton on Thursday, but after three hours’ computer training at Soho Square in the afternoon, I’d lost the will to live.

Saturday’s Trophy Final was my 27th, the first being Scarborough v Wigan Athletic in 1973, which I watched with my Finnish friend ‘Pepi’ who lived about five minutes’ walk from Wembley Stadium. The most entertaining was probably Kingstonian’s 3-2 win over Kettering Town in 2000.

It took less than half-an-hour from Paddington to Wembley on Saturday and I don’t remember seeing any Trophy fans, though the attendance of 27,102 was in the top ten in the competition’s history. I ran into a few Whitley Bay supporters at Baker Street on Sunday, singing ‘We’re lost and we know we are’.

Stevenage seemed to have more quality than York, though it took them 69 minutes to open their account. The scorer, who I believe will soon join Millwall, looked a good prospect. The first football match I can ever remember seeing on TV (a little black and white one) was Hendon v Kingstonian in the 1960 FA Amateur Cup Final and one of the players that day was sitting a couple of seats in front of me on Saturday.

It made it seem like yesterday, not almost half a century ago.

The Vase Final was my 21st, the first in 1979 and the best the Wimborne v Guiseley Final in 1992 which finished 5-3 to the Dorset side. I sensed from the first few minutes that Whitley Bay were going to be likely winners and their two goals in the last nine minutes of the first half were very well taken. It was hot though – my shirt was drenched.

I reckon there’ll be about another six matches this season, starting at Southall on Wednesday.