A crucial tie demands that match day superstitions be respected, and we set off nervously knowing that none, except choice of underwear, were on the agenda, not even the wearing of U’s colours, courtesy of D.O.M having won us lunch in the lofty heights of the Centennial Suite.

We settled down in the posh seats, determined to blow when the South Stand sucked in response to Joe Dunne’s appeal. Yes, we were the noisy two in the West, and apologise here to anybody that may have heard our rants over U’s Player. In our vicinity, nobody slept dribbling prawn mayonnaise.

A dream start, the U’s deservedly one up inside 20 minutes, and bossing the game. A dash to the back of the Suite to get a signal (never a problem in S2?) to discover other results going our way, then lots of hugs with strangers as Drey Wright doubled our advantage four minutes later. Ecstatic, you bet! D.O.M. hinted this also signalled a likely 100/1 result on the National, five balls up in the lottery, and wives asleep when we eventually creep in, this was indeed going to be OUR day.

But how did Kevin Lisbie get to narrow our advantage? From where we sat, directly in line with our back four, he looked five yards offside, with the linesman six yards to our left and hence twelve behind play. I have watched the Football League Show replay a dozen times, fiddled with the screen width, and horizontal hold and sadly the cameraman saw even less of the incident. Half time hence brought suspicions that maybe our luck wasn’t going to hold, and so it didn’t in the National, or the Lottery, nor as we later crept up the stairs, but at least it did at WHCS.

As Lisbie strode up to steal our delight, we swear from our vantage point that a sunbeam appeared to highlight the penalty spot, cherubic voices hummed gently, whilst D.O.M declared “He doesn’t want to be here, he’s a Col U legend and won’t send us down”. Sam Walker guessed right, threw his seven foot frame to his right, and smothered the peril.

What a day! Thanks go to Julie Ager and the hospitality team, also to Jack Daniel's for being a fine substitute for our usual Irish tipple. What more can I say, except apologise to Mrs Noah, as although I did leave 'smart casual' with good intent, it was, after all, a football match, and we won.

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls