A beautiful winter afternoon was made even more beautiful as The Terrors raced to a 6-0 lead at half time. The crowd awaited the second half with eager anticipation. Despite the best efforts and the last man standing efforts of the visiting ‘keeper, the score remained 6-0. Still, a good result for the goal difference and the crowd was happy. And so was I. The Terrors have never lost a game since their move to Imperial Fields when I have been present. That’s both home and away fixtures.

The offer of Hackbridge Harry to pay for my fare over every other week sounded tempting, but tiring. I snared a few souvenirs from Harry’s ravishingly overloaded table of delights of all things Toots. I do wonder if I’ll ever get back to see the mighty Terrors; so make the most of it while you can I told myself!

Prior to leaving the sun burned country down under – or should I say, completely burned out country – I emailed the Maltese FA to enquire about any Monday evening games to watch. Monday 20th January, K.O. 7pm, Valletta Vs Sliema Wanderers at the National Stadium at Ta’Qali. I wonder where that is? I was staying in Sliema, so decided to do the right thing and support them. Valletta were pushing for a top three spot in the league whilst Sliema were pushing for a bottom three spot. Might have my money on the wrong horse here!

Before the game, I did the tourist thing around Valletta and an ancient walled city in the middle of the island called Mdina. From Mdina, views could be had over the whole island as far as the eye could see, which wasn’t very far as Malta is very small. I could see the National Stadium at Ta’Qali, almost within reach. I remember when England played in Malta. The pitch was an old fashioned cinder pitch from memory. The type where you left half your leg behind and didn’t raise an eyebrow.

After being a tourist, I took a bus to Ta’Qali and disembarked 200 metres from the stadium. I found myself on the top floor of the main stand in the VIP area and ordered myself some food. Got talking to a couple from Germany. Now their travels sounded like a real Groundhopping marathon. They had been in Malta for a couple of days and had already seen two games over the weekend. Most games are played at a small selection of venues because most grounds are “suburban” to say the least. The Germans came from Halle in the old East Germany. Their team played in the 3rd division of the Bundesliga and had excellent support. There were some big name teams in that division including TSV Munich 1860 (whom West Ham beat to win the old ECWC back in the mid sixties) and Kaiserslautern. They planned to take a 550 km trip to the northern port city of Rostock to watch Hansa Rostock take on Halle. (Later checks revealed that Rostock won 1-0). Kick off for the “big” match was still over an hour away. There was another game being played at the smaller Centenary Stadium right next door. Entry cost 2 euros. My ticket had a tear off section. A very large hand shot through a small hole in the wall and took my ticket. It was returned – less the tear off section and it was 'game on".

The floodlights were great. A stand on one side had around 500 seats. The rest of the ground was uncovered with flat standing. It was a Bank of Valletta Division 3 game between Gharghur and Santa Venera Lightnings. The lowest division in the Maltese League structure and at times the lowest standard. The artificial turf pitch ensured an even bounce of the ball. No muddy puddles to slog through. That said, most players were caught out by the relatively high bounce of the ball. Gharghur took the lead midway through the first half and the goal scorer, Warren Zerafa, ran half the length of the pitch jumping and punching the air. Was that a winner in the World Cup Final? He was though, one of the better players on view. At half time, I left the ground and headed towards the National Stadium next door for the “big” game. I went for the covered side (where most supporters were) and played the “Old Man” card, paying the princely sum of 4 euros to get in. This is for a league match that gives the winner entry to one of Europe’s elite club competitions.

The ground's capacity is 16,997. Perhaps looks can be deceiving. The crowd was all of 642 and 98% of them were opposite the main Millennium Grandstand. Valletta supporters were all at one end and were by far the noisiest fans. They had a big drum and throughout the match could be heard singing and cheering (and drumming). I found myself with the Sliema supporters who, by comparison, were very quiet. Considering the relative league positions, this was hardly surprising. Despite being in the middle of the Mediterranean, it was quite chilly with a cold wind constantly blowing. The standard was better than the 3rd division. As it should be, I hear you say. The bounce of the “artificial pitch” didn’t cause the players as many problems as in the other game. It was a huff and puff affair with Valletta having the edge although Sliema always looked dangerous on the break only to hit a wall at the 18 yard line.

Half time came and the score was 0-0. In the second half Valletta stepped up the pace in a bid to consolidate their top three spot. It didn’t take long for them to score the opener. Would there be more? Valletta made it 2-0 after 75 minutes and it looked curtains for Sliema. But they continued to push until the 90th minute when they earned a spot kick and the centre forward, a tall lanky fellow that from the safety of the stands looked a bit like Jordi Cruyff, slammed home the penalty. 2-1 to Valletta a score that Valletta held onto for the points much to the delight of the drummer and his cohorts. The bus journey back to Sliema took about 50 minutes and the next day I headed to Tunis.