This was now my second football match - five years after the last, and again at the Shay in an FA Cup clash.  I remember that it was a couple of days after my birthday, and it was live on Sky (which, in those days, was a very grand affair).  I had gone out with my family for a meal at a pub in Halifax, and next thing I know my dad is foisting me off onto a stranger who had a spare ticket for the match - I can't imagine that this kind of thing would happen now. Halifax, who were either non-league or bottom division at the time, beat second-tier West Brom in this game, and it got me more interested in football.  Despite witnessing two great FA cup ties at the Shay, it seemed that my allegiances would lay elsewhere.