Barnet 1 MK Dons 3

It was cold. It was wet. And worst of all, it was at Barnet, some backwatered shithole in North London. Yet this tie was something I was extremely excited about, because it presented to me exactly the kind of experience I have been craving since I began the cup run.

I am a child of the heath and safety generation, an age which roughly began as the terrible events unfolded on an April afternoon in Sheffield in 1989. The consequences of the disaster have changed football stadiums forever in this country, something superbly demonstrated by the stadiummk.

This tie however, gave me a chance to experience life on the terraces for the first time ever. Barnet's stadium is the epitome of the old fashioned football ground, the away terrace is accessed via a long passageway, a couple of seating areas sit uneasily with the open air terraces along the length of the pitch. There is actually a slope. The away terrace hosts one small refreshments 'cupboard'.

After purchasing my meat pie, I decided to perch myself at the back, assuming the further towards the back I was, the better the view I would have. I was wrong. Seconds later I dropped my plastic fork down the other side of the railings and the grim reality of no seating was starting to hit me. I had to spend the rest of the game in a cold terrace up close and far too personal to some idiot mk fans (how funny, I thought, that they can barely muster a 4,000 attendance for a home game, yet when away they suddenly find their voice). Towards the end of the game I had had enough of standing and perched myself on a metal bar running the length of the terrace. Old school indeed.

As for the game, I consider Barnet to be extremely unlucky, on virtue of a spectacularly missed chance in the first half; the front man hitting the ball on the turn and, with nothing but an own goal to aim at, shooting wide from 10 yards. It was clear to all that MK were the better team on the ball though for the majority of the game there was little to speak about; neither team being able to open up the other. Cruel then, that the Dons should score first literally minutes after Barnets wasted chance.

The second half was a great deal more entertaining, as the weather turned colder, darker, and both sets of players seemed to have woken from their first half slumber party. Barnet however seemed unable to break down the solidity of MK's defence, and it wasn't till MK were comfortably 2-0 up that the Bees seriously began to threaten. Getting a goal back late in the second half threatened the prospect of a dramatic comeback, only to be cruelly swept aside by the fluidity of the Dons passing, and at 3-1 it was all over. Thankfully, time to exit a freezing stand and get the hell out of there.