Did they stimulate and tease me? Not really, well perhaps the one called Tomlin did.

I am ashamed to say I missed the first two goals. I was intrigued to see if Denman could win off top weight, and I had made a modest investment in him to do so. This gave me an extra spring in my step as I hurried towards Withdean at ten to three. It’s almost deserted around Preston Park station at near to kick off time. Almost eerie in fact. There are still lots of stewards around though, scowling at those who dare to be football fans.

I got to my seat just as Rushden equalized. I had Radio Sussex on my walkman and Mr Cantor announced the ball had gone underneath the despairing dive of Graeme Smith, so, I knew I was in the right place. Withers wasn’t busy, in fact I was able to sit in the row in front of my normal perch, much to the delight of Frank and Zoe. They soon realized however that I could bore them both in equal proportion, from my new position. Frank makes out he is listening to his radio. I know his head phones aren’t really plugged into anything. Anyway, we got a penalty which Nicky Forster won and scored. Not long after, Rushden’s O’Connor beat three defenders or maybe just Virgo three times, and angled a low drive into the bottom right hand corner. Repayment mortgage (I call him that because he seems to go down in instalments) was nowhere near it.

2-2 at halftime, and then this being Withdean on a Saturday afternoon, in the uncovered cheap seats. Yes, it started to rain. I gave my previous seat colleagues, now a row behind and practically almost forgotten by me, a Froggo bar each. To be honest, even with Gus prowling the touchline in his pristine white trainers, sitting in the rain, watching the Albion struggle to break down, and at times struggle to cope with a non league team, is not very thought provoking. What do you mean you’ve noticed? So I will conclude by saying, that Elliot Bennett, even when having an off game, can not only win man of match, but also won a loose ball to engineer Albion’s winner. He was occupying the position that Alan Navarro should have been occupying for the first hour, but didn’t. If the Albion keep Bennett until February 1st, I will write a blog without mentioning Peter Andre .I keep seeing him you see. At Tesco’s and even the Co-op by the dog stadium. I bet he writes the same about me on his ITV2 page.

Oh yeah, then Liam Dickinson scored the decider from close range and we all trudged off, dreaming of Manchester United at home in third round. Well we got Greater Manchester, perhaps!