LAST Saturday I visited the wonderful Millennium Stadium for the First Division play-off final between West Ham and Crystal Palace.

I was a guest of the Football League and it was nice to relax with no particular allegiance to either team - although I did have a natural interest in people like Iain Dowie, Michael Hughes and Steve Lomas from my Northern Ireland days and Neil Shipperley, who was a youngster with us at the Dell.

The big mistake I made was letting the train take the strain!

I enquired about the service by ringing British Rail, who politely directed me to another number for the South West trains service where I was able to speak to a fine gentleman in Calcutta.

He explained he could get me a ticket but not reserve a seat. This had to be done at Romsey Station which he informed me was closed from 1.20pm each day.

I drove down to my local Romsey station at 11.30 one morning to find the platform open but the office padlocked. So I obtained a ticket from Southampton Central.

On Saturday morning I arrived in good time for the 9.20am out of Romsey but when it pulled in five minutes late, to my horror it was only two carriages long and so packed it was impossible to see daylight through windows.

For the return journey I nipped out immediately the final whistle went and joined the queue at the station at 5.15 and it was 6.45 before I literally fought my way on to another packed train.

The train staff were as embarrassed as anyone could be when asked why no more carriages were provided on weekends like this. Their answer was that none were available.

As for the game itself, readers may remember how I prophesied, when Dowie first became manager at Oldham, that he would go all the way to the top.

He took over Palace when they were fourth bottom and less than a season later he's got them into the Premiership.

I have never seen players work so hard. West Ham were hustled and bustled from the start and Dowie's natural enthusiasm showed all the way through.

West Ham were denied a blatant penalty but you got the feeling even that even if it had gone to penalties, Palace would have won.

So a great occasion and a fantastic stadium, but many will welcome the re-opening of Wembley in two years time. The old traffic problems we used to moan about pale into insignificance compared to getting into Cardiff for a big match.