I went to Birmingham for the weekend. One small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.
My sister Kathy and her husband Martin have recently moved up to Smethwick and it was my first visit.
Football-wise I saw West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday and Worcester City v Greenwich Borough in the FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying on Sunday.
The scene from behind the goal at Worcester
I think Jeff Astle was playing the last time I went to West Brom v Palace at The Hawthorns.
Martin kindly gave me a lift as far as Halfords Lane and I was in my seat at the Smethwick End by 2.30.
The crowd was just under 25,000 and we witnessed an exciting 2-2 draw, Albion equalising three minutes into stoppage time with a spot-kick.
I supported Palace in the ‘60s and ‘70s, home and away and even pre-season friendlies abroad, and some of the old feeling is still there.
Back at the house in the evening we watched a Marx Brothers DVD (‘Duck Soup’) and some football action on BBC Alba, a TV channel I hadn’t heard of before.
The terraces at Worcester were busy ahead of The FA Cup tie
We saw bits of St Mirren v Ross County in the Scottish Premiership and Scotland v Holland in a Women’s World Cup Qualifier, both with a commentator speaking in Gaelic.
Worcester City share Aggborough Stadium, Kidderminster Harriers’ ground, and for their FA Cup tie on Sunday we (Kathy and I) travelled by train from Smethwick Galton Bridge to Kidderminster via places like Cradley Heath and Stourbridge Junction.
The ground is less than ten minutes’ walk from the station and we were in the main stand – only two sides were open – by 2.15.
A big sign proclaims that the Stadium has served ‘the best food in football since 1962’.
Worcester proclaim to have 'been serving the best food in football since 1962'
Some pretty appetising dishes were on offer – including cottage pie, chili con carne and lasagne – but we had only just had lunch so we settled for a cup of tea. Conference North Worcester had an average home attendance of 503 but 896 were ‘Up for The Cup’ on a grey Sunday afternoon.
City were three levels higher than their visitors and did nearly all of the attacking in the first half. But they were only 1-0 up at half-time and a Greenwich team that included former pro’s Gary Borrowdale and Gary Alexander put itself right back into it with an equaliser on the hour.
City won it near the end and earned a First Round Proper tie at Coventry City, who they met in The Cup’s Third Round back in 1983.
Then, for the first time this season, I was travelling home from an afternoon match in the dark.
Worcester City will now face Coventry in the First Round Proper
I came back to London on Monday on the 12.10 from Birmingham New Street and looked forward to the FA Cup draw from St George’s Park, being shown on BBC2 at 7pm.
It’s always been a dream to have Gosport Borough – where I saw my first match – reach the First Round and be drawn at home to a Football League club.
Their tie was the second to come out and as soon as I heard that they would be playing a low number I knew it would be a League side.
Boro’s first-ever match in the Competition Proper will see them welcome Colchester United from League One to Privett Park.
Unmissable, of course.
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 past 35 years.
He has attended nearly 7,000 football matches at all levels but hasn’t lost any of his enthusiasm!
