I took the Central Line to Greenford on Saturday for an AFA Senior Cup tie at London Marathon Playing Fields scheduled for 1pm.
Two teams kicked-off in the winter sunshine at the appointed time on one of the far pitches, but it turned out to be another match entirely.
A bespectacled linesman informed me – one of only three spectators – that New Hanford were playing AFC Spelthorne Sports Club Reserves in a Middlesex Junior Cup quarter final.
I decided to stay there, knowing that London Tigers would be facing Kings Langley in a Spartan South Midlands League fixture at next-door Avenue Park at 3pm.
Two complete matches on a Saturday afternoon are not to be sniffed at.
Spelthorne edged it 2-1 and were hanging on at the end, Hanford creating chances right up to the last moments of stoppage time.
The Barber headed to Avenue Park to watch the London Tigers
Kings Langley, now top of the pile on goal difference, later won 5-0 in front of about 20 fans in match full of curious incidents.
A Kings striker went round the goalkeeper and was a yard or two from the goal-line when he was tripped from behind.
The ref awarded the obvious penalty but surprised the Kings players, bench and supporters by only pulling out a yellow card.
I heard a bemused player say to one of their supporters: “The ref reckons he wouldn’t have scored”.
Rampant Kings were 4-0 up at the break. Early in the second half Tigers’ No6 was sent off but no-one seemed to know why.
The Barber took in games from The FA Cup, AFA Senior Cup and the Spartan South Midlands League
He was halfway to the dressing room when his bench called him back. Apparently he had received a ‘second yellow’ without having received a first.
He was able to join in the action again after the ref had consulted with the nearby assistant.
On another cold day, Sunday, I could have happily have taken in a morning match in Regent’s Park and then come back to my warm room – but what can you do when you’ve got ‘Cup fever’?
The only cure, not available on prescription, was a train ticket from Waterloo to Aldershot.
I’ve been to at least one tie in every round of this season’s FA Cup, a journey that has taken me to Clapton, Tower Hamlets, London Tigers, Redhill (twice), FC Romania, North Greenford United, Dulwich Hamlet, Greenwich Borough, Worcester City, Barnet, Bromley, Gosport Borough and now Aldershot Town.
I’ve seen 44 goals in those 14 ties and my lifetime total of Cup matches is 461.
The Barber's third game of the weekend was an FA Cup tie at Aldershot
The Shots are two levels below Rochdale but could so easily have beaten them.
They had grown in confidence enough to pile forward in the last 20 minutes and seemed certain to make at least one of those attacks count.
I stood by the exit with some other chaps for the three minutes of stoppage time and thought they had to score as the ball pinged around the box.
There were no goals but it was a Cup tie that got better as it went on and I was back at Waterloo just after 5pm.
David Barber, aka ‘The Barber’, joined The FA as Sir Alf Ramsey’s assistant after the Mexico World Cup in 1970 and has been its historian for the last 35 years.
He has been to nearly 7,000 matches at all levels but has lost none of his enthusiasm.
