I Need a Fix- Republic of Ireland 1 Nigeria 1

I have become a bit of a football junkie and now we are into the barren desert of the off season I'm looking for anything to vaguely give me a fix. So it was that I found myself travelling to Putney Bridge on a beautiful summers evening to watch the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria play each other in a friendly before they moved on to the more serious business of World Cup qualifiers.

My vague excuse was that I was going to support any 'Orns past or present on show. In reality though I'd have gone if there were no links to WD18 at all. As it was, I hoped to see John Joe O'Toole if he'd managed to break into the senior squad, and Dan Shittu. Of course, JJOT didn't make the squad and Shittu wasn't even on the bench. There was one old friend present however. The fourth official was Stuart Atwell. Alas, unlike Anthony Hopkins, I wasn't able to have him for dinner.

Craven Cottage was a new ground for me. I wasn't there to see the Championship winning game of 97/8 and luckily missed the 5-0 Boxing Day demolition in 2000/1. It instantly won a place in my best grounds list. It goes without saying that its an old fashioned 'proper' football ground but its also in a wonderful location. Obviously everyone knows its on the banks of the Thames but no-one seems to rave about the picturesque Bishops Park that you have to walk through to get to it from the tube.

The programme gave us a potted history of Fulham FC and the ground. It hailed Mohammed Al Fayed as the saviour of both. Apparently no club is more synonymous with its home ground than Fulham. I don't recall those sentiments from Fayed when he tried to move the club to Loftus Road for a few seasons or looked to ground share with Chelsea before their neighbours got mega-rich.

As expected both sets of fans were good natured and in good voice and, although its a cliche, there really was a carnival atmosphere. Not that I'd ever thought differently but it made me think how wonderful it would be to have the World Cup here. Exciting exotic teams playing in beautiful weather in front of happy fans. The chilled out mood of the fans was one of the most noticeable things. At no point did they chant things against each other but put all their energies into supporting their team and the only rivalry was who could be louder. The Irish probably won that battle, although the Nigerians did a decent version of John Lennon's "Give Us a Goal".

I'd forgotten the amount of faffing that goes on before an International and as well as the big fanfare for the teams coming out we also, of course, had the National Anthems. The cameraman literally filmed right in each players face, presumably to check that they were singing. It must have been very off putting even if you did know the words. I don't know if this is standard practise, but this personal space intrusion could explain why Gazza, during Italia'90, told the watching worldwide audience where to go before every match.

As always with friendlies the start was very slow and both teams seemed to spend the first ten minutes complaining that the various balls, in use thanks to the multi-ball system, were too soft. Far more entertaining were the Nigerian adverts that kept popping up on the screens round the pitch. In Nigeria a TomTom is apparently the official candy of the Super Eagles and not a Sat Nav. They are also very keen for you to wear a condom in Nigeria, especially a variety called Gold.

For a while the Nigerians looked like Brazil before the Irish started asserting their more physical presence on the game. This led to some fairly wild tackles going in from the Africans and the blissful mood in the stands wasn't mirrored on the pitch as several times the players squared up to each other.

Against the run of play Nigeria took the lead with a very simple cross and shot. It should have been better defended and left Given no chance.

At this point I will confess that I'd made a fairly bad error in that I'd only worn a T-shirt to the game. It was boiling when I left High Wycombe and I hadn't considered that by 8pm, next to the Thames in a stand sheltered from the sun, the breeze would be quite as chilly as it was. Usually, along with my rule about never going early, I never go to the loo during the action but the cold did me in and I had no choice. So, of course, I missed Ireland's equaliser. There is nothing worse than standing in the gents at a football match and trying to work out what is going on by the noise of the crowd. You hear the beginning of the roar and think 'is it an attack, have they won a corner', but your heart gradually sinks as the roar reaches its crescendo and you realise you've missed a goal. The man standing next to me who sounded just like Father Ted said "Oh f**k, I've missed it" and I knew how he felt.

At half time I tried to recover by going and standing in what remained of the sun but it was hopeless. I remembered that Bill Bryson had said in his book 'A Walk In the Woods' that people don't get hypothermia in extremely cold situations because no one is daft enough to venture out without adequate clothing. The times people get in trouble are on perfectly normal days when they haven't taken anything that anticipates a change in the temperature.

I shivered my way through the second half trying to remember what Bill said the signs of hypothermia were rather than paying great attention to the action. All I could tell you for sure was there were no more goals but Ireland went closer than Nigeria did. My resolve to see out the 90 was severely tested but some how I managed it.

For the first time in a long time I actually managed to force my body into a run on the way back to the station as I tried to get my circulation going again. I don't think I've ever been grateful before to see a packed tube train pulling into a station. The sweaty heat of humanity warmed me up nicely. By the time I'd had a cup of tea at Marylebone I was back to normal, reflecting on the daft things I do to get my football fix.


I doubt you'd imagine this was taken from inside a football stadium.

Steve Coppell Resigns...

...and for the first time in a good couple of years I'm slightly worried our manager might get pinched.

Kids- Tottenham Hotspur Academy 2 Watford Academy 1

Partly in an effort to put off the ending of the football season for a couple more days and partly because I'd never been there I couldn't resist the temptation to watch the academy boys play at White Hart Lane.

The marketing for the game had clearly gone well because there must have been a good couple of hundred through the door. Most were schoolkids who weren't always as interested in watching the football as mucking about with each other but it still made for a better atmosphere than at some Carling Cup games I've been to.

Whilst outside of the ground isn't anything to write home about I did like White Hart Lane a lot. You get the sense of it always having been there with the local community growing and changing with it, rather than the new Arsenal or Wembley that seem to delibrately cut themselves off from their locality in the same way Legoland or Thorpe Park do. Inside its kind of like a bigger Loftus Road, with the stands very close to the action.

The pitch looked magnificent in stark contrast to how the Vic has looked recently. The pitches at Ipswich, Donnie, Coventry and even Marlow are far better than our own which on Sunday looked like my garden does in February. Sorry Sarries but under a boss who wants us to play such nice football as Brendan I really don't think we benefit from having you ground share. Spurs pitch looked how I remember ours used to look at the beginning and end of a season. A beautiful green carpet rather than a churned up farmers field.

Spurs came out with all guns blazing determined to impress their young crowd and within a minute we were 1-0 down. A very hard hit shot from just outside the area beat the wonderfully named Bo Antal in the Watford goal. Ten minutes later it was 2-0 from the spot after one of our defence brought down a Spurs forward. It looked like they might run up a cricket score but Bo made some fine saves and we managed to get back into it. Our reply came after about half an hour in the typical fashion of the seniors. A quick break down the right and Matty Whichelow resisted the attentions of the Spurs defenders to fire high into the top corner.

That was how it stayed despite us always looking threatening on the break and them firing some very fierce shots that Antal did well to stop. There was something a bit Edwin Van de Sar about him and I'd say he looks a good prospect for the future. The same with Whichelow who I've seen score twice in two matches. Lee Hodson captained the side and played well in the centre of defence rather than down the flank as he did on Sunday.

As with the reserve game I saw recently there were two very obvious pretend injuries midway through each half that were clearly just being used as a refreshment break. Both last night and at Marlow I was struck that the referee waited until the players had returned from the touchline ready for the restart rather than hurrying them to restart as soon as the 'injured' player had left the pitch. I do wonder if there is some unofficial experiment going on that will eventually see a sanctioned break for drinks midway through each half. I'm sure the sponsors would appreciate it but maybe from a dehydration safety point of view it is a good idea. However if it is going to be part of the game lets make it official rather than going through the charade of a player needing treatment.

The second half was made additionally interesting by some dire stewarding. You can't expect to let kids in for a quid and then not for them to behave like, well, kids. But one steward took exception to the occasional banging of seats and general not paying attention and kept hassling one group of teens. I even heard him say to his colleague "I like annoying people, that's my job". But in annoying these lads things got a little tense for a few minutes and it was totally the fault of the steward. Had he just ignored them like everyone was doing nothing would've happened. Luckily nothing really did but it was all unnecessary and his comment just confirms the fact that there are some stewards out there who really don't have the best interests of the crowd at heart.

At the end I was pleased I'd made the effort. I was impressed with our youngsters. Okay, they lost but apart from the opening ten minutes they'd been a match for the Premiership youngsters. Add in their victory at Chelsea on Saturday and we may have some ready made replacements should we need to sell in the summer.

Don't Want To Go Home- Watford 3 Derby County 1

I always feel a bit melancholy on the last day. The prospect of no football for three months looming large, especially in an odd numbered year.

But this was a thoroughly enjoyable heart warming game, kind of like a feast Harry Potter would enjoy before returning to the Dursleys for the summer. You don't really feel like celebrating the end but you can't help but get carried along with it. Credit especially should go to the Derby fans who appeared to be treating the day how we treated the last away game at Middlesborough in our first Premiership season. It didn't matter what the result was, they were just here to have some fun and even brought various inflatables along with them to give the Vicarage Road end a very 90's appearance.

The retro feel continued with Luther Blissett receiving a deserved award from the 'Kick Racism Out' campaign. It felt good to resurrect the old 'Loooofer' chant again. He was in very good spirits and looked exactly the same as always. Not for him the fast food eating John Barnes type of lifestyle.

The opening quarter of an hour was very even. Robbie Savage tried to impose himself in the middle of the park and got booed with every touch. He succeeded for a while with John Eustace battling along side him, not a pairing to meet late at night down a dark alley I would imagine. But as we've done so effectively all season, despite Derby having the better of the opening exchanges, we suddenly broke very quickly as Raziak found McAnuff in the area and we were one up. In one of the best celebrations of the season Jobi poleaxed the corner flag and rather like Ricky Hatton it needed quite a lot of attention to get back up again. Surprisingly Jobes wasn't booked but then the ref was totally unpredictable all afternoon. He allowed some nasty challenges to go unpunished but booked an innocent Doyley for failing to get out of the way of a quickly taken free kick. Bizarre.

It wasn't long before we made it two with a bit of Harlem Globetrotter football. Jobi's free kick was superbly headed by Priskin but hit the bar and came back out. Mariappa tried a splendid over head kick to put it in but alas it hit a Derby defender so Raziak struck it home.

From then on the result never really looked in doubt. I think Nigel Clough had a point when he said the opening goal was going to be important, but I don't think we would've given up quite as easily as Derby seemed to. Every time we attacked we looked dangerous and it was no surprise when Raziak got his second following excellent work by Tommy Smith.

Predictably we didn't add our lead in the second half. It would've been so nice to win by four or five. It wasn't for want of trying though and we hit the post, Priskin and Smith went close and Raziak had a good couple of chances for his hat-trick. At the other end Scott Loach did superbly to keep Derby frustrated until John Eustace headed in Derby's consolation. He grinned embarrassedly and returned the polite applause of the Watford faithful. In some ways I guess you could say we scored four.

One player who, alas, didn't get on the scoresheet was Lloydinho. But he kept up his recent record of going very close. It was shame he didn't take the free kick we got just on the edge of the box during the second half, or abandoned his usual defensive post to go up for a corner. Its going to happen one day and the place will go mad when it does.

Rodgers, tellingly I think, chose to substitute all three of our current loanees to give us the chance to show our appreciation. Gavin Hoyte was first off, only playing because of an injury to Mike Williamson which required Mariappa to move into the centre of defence. He has never quite shown the greatness you expect from someone on the books of one of the big four but his efforts are appreciated none the less. Hoyte was replaced by Lee Hodson from our academy who despite looking so young (although I find this more and more with footballers as I get older) did really well and was confident enough to get forward and help out Tommy Smith on several occasions.

Danny Rose was next off. I described him as a fatter Anthony McNamee in our game at Doncaster but actually I think he's nearer Nordin Wooter. He looks like he's going to be good but actually he is just frustrating as he constantly makes the wrong decision. 'Sacha' Cauna who replaced him probably did enough in the 10 minutes he was on the pitch to make it possible that we might see him in a yellow shirt again.

Finally Jack Cork came off to a standing ovation just before the end. He has been fantastic. He puts in all the hard work, with no fuss and often is the catalyst for making things happen that result in goals, whilst unfairly getting none of the credit because no remembers it was him who released the ball in the first place. Thanks fella. If there was an award for Loanee of the Season you'd have won by a landslide.

Before the traditional end of season meander round the pitch there was a touching reception for several very elderly looking matchday employees who were carrying out their duties for the last time today. The Russo's were on hand to thank them which was a nice indication of how things have changed upstairs. Would it have happened with Simpson or Cashton?

The pitch walk seems to get bigger every season. Children of all ages accompanied the players this year rather than just babes in arms. It won't be long before aunties and uncles are soaking up the applause too. I felt sorry for Mart Poom, going round in his suit. He'd done so well early in the season before injuring himself in the infamous Reading game. Had it not happened I think he probably would've been going round in his kit this afternoon and maybe looking forward to a third season with the 'Orns. As it is, I wish him all the best and am just sorry we never got to see him more often.

I walked away with the very apt "Hoist Up the Watford flag" going round in my head. I wondered how many of those who'd just done the lap of honour would be back next season to hear it. With us needing the money, sadly I think those who we most want to keep are the ones most likely to be on their way. Whatever happens though I'll be there to sing it and am already counting down the days 'til the fixtures come out.