The following is an account of a game between Watford and Liverpool in 1986. I went to Vicarage Road that night, aged 14, to witness something special. I was not disappointed in that respect – although the result itself was more disappointing than Sven-Göran Eriksson’s tenure as England manager.

So taken by the night’s football, I felt compelled to commit my thoughts to paper the following day. It remains one of the most intense, amazing and unforgettable nights of football I have ever experienced. As a game, it was spell-binding, a supreme event. And what is really interesting is the fact that we lost.

Here’s what I wrote:

Picture the scene. It is 1986, and Watford are at home to Liverpool in an FA Cup quarter-final replay. The Hornets had played magnificently at Anfield, particularly 'King Coton', as one newspaper had described our amazing keeper Tony Coton, and had held the Reds to a 0-0 draw. And now the opportunity to progress was real and upon us.

On a warm Tuesday evening, a 14-year-old Pazza could barely believe his eyes. I had witnessed big crowds at Vicarage Road before, but this night was clearly special. The ground’s capacity then was 28,500, and there was barely an empty square-inch. There were even people perched on the roof of the refreshment hut at the back of the Family Terrace, which itself was jammed. The scoreboard terrace, too, was packed and there were thousands filling the space between these areas and the pitch. At the other end, Scousers filled the Rookery like few other visiting teams’ fans had.

This was the big time. With an outstanding FA Cup record in the '80s already under our belt, Watford were aiming for what would have been a semi-final appearance against Southampton. And that, I was convinced, we were sure to win.