The other advantage of the tie I had selected was that, being on a Sunday, I could go clubbing on Friday night as I had Saturday to recover and I already had Monday off work already. Everything was looking good until last Wednesday night, when ITV were going through the weekends FA Cup fixtures after the England game and I could swear I heard them say that the Fulham game was on Saturday and not Sunday. A quick check of the ticket revealed that I had made an almighty cock-up and the game was indeed on the Saturday, and all my pre-booked travel was for the Sunday. At this late stage, the cost of return travel by train had rocketed up to £65 return so I had to bite the bullet and go by coach instead, which was still mercifully cheap. Heading down was not too bad, leaving Manchester at 10.30am with a 3pm arrival, but coming back the only option was the 23.30 National Express service getting me back to Manchester at about 05.30 on the Sunday morning.
Thankfully, I managed to get myself up in time to make the coach down, albeit on about 3 hours sleep and feeling like one of the living dead. Despite Megabus having the most arse-numbingly uncomfortable seating I have ever found on a coach I managed to get back another 3 hours sleep and upon a slightly earlier than scheduled arrive at London Victoria I was now feeling up for the cup and ready for some food. I was fortunate to find a fine pub just around the corner from the station and availed myself of a very decent pint of London Pride and some excellent venison sausages and mash.
The trip to the ground was straight forward, having done it back in January, a quick change of trains at Clapham Junction to Putney, down Putney High Street, across the Thames and joining the crowds heading through the park. Again there was a nice friendly atmosphere between the fans and it was nice to see a couple with divided loyalties for the day.
On paper todays game promised much, Fulham were in a healthy 9th position in the league and had just knocked holders Shaktar Donetsk out of the Europa League and were now looking forward to taking on the mighty Juventus in the last 16 of the competition. Tottenham, who have won the cup 8 times in the past, are currently occupying the 4th Champions League berth in the league. To get to this stage, Fulham had a relatively easy path since I had last seen them with victories over Accrington Stanley and Notts County. Tottenham had started their run with a 4-0 victory over Peterborough but had made slightly harder work against Leeds United and then Bolton, requiring a replay on each occasion to progress.
For this game, I decided to opt for the Riverside Stand which would give me a different perspective on the ground and would also put the late afternoon sun behind me. Although not as impressive as the Johnny Haynes Stand, it does boast an excellent terrace behind the stand with views of the Thames for fans to enjoy their pre-match drinks and food.
Taking my seat for the game, I found myself right down near the front and next to the Fulham dug-out which was the closest I've probably been the action since my trip to Buxton way back in the 4th Qualifying Round.
After all the drama that I had gone through to get to the game, maybe I should have anticipated that the game would be a bit of an anti-climax. Both teams were playing a passing game but to little effect from an attacking point of view. Tottenham had the bulk of the possession and came the closest to scoring with a fine saves from Schwarzer denying England's midweek goal-hero, Peter Crouch as well as Niko Kranjcar.
The second half failed to be much of an improvement on the first half, Fulham edging a bit more into the game and managed to test Tottenham's Gomez with a few good chances from Duff and Gera. A little light relief from the action on the pitch was provided by home substitutes warming up on the exercise bike. Tottenham threw their FA Cup talisman Jermain Defoe in to the action as a substitute but he too failed to break the deadlock and the final score of 0-0 was a result that was a fair reflection and both managers will fancy their chances of trying to progress to the semi-final at the second time of asking.
So with Fulham and Tottenham being left to sort out who will get face Portsmouth in the semi-final, my next FA Cup game should be at Wembley but I'm not afraid to admit I'm slightly nervous about my prospects of securing a ticket but fingers are well and truly crossed for me in the meantime.
