Craven Cottaging

I hadn't realised when I signed the New Ninja Bomber up to the half term football skills course run by Fulham FC, that a pair of tickets for a home game were part of the deal, so it was a great surprise when they dropped through the post box.

That is how we found ourselves getting off the tube at Putney Bridge last weekend on our way to see Fulham play Everton in a game that was bound to be full of sturm und drang as Fulham battled relegation and Everton tried to secure a Champions' League place for next season.

Objectively and externally our afternoon might have appeared to consist of several hours of hanging about in the freezing drizzle, but the bomber loved everything about it; he was thrilled by walking down the middle of the road in a throng of people, and by chanting "COME ON FULHAM" and stamping his feet along with the rest of the crowd when we were in the stand. He delighted eating a hot dog at half time, and whenever the spectators rose to their feet during an attack I would pick him up and stand him on the back of the seat in front so that he could see the action from the perspective of a tall grown up.

It is impossible to feel jaded around kids: Fulham 1 Everton 0.