So, who gets custody of the Nectar points?: A monumental month, episode 2 - 2015

THE SECOND HALF OF MAY - Part 6 of 12

The Doctor I saw was new to me, but it was the same surgery that treated my parents. They were well known up there as my father was the most sensitive person to medication that they had ever encountered and for months, pretty much all the GP’s there had been putting their heads together to try and find something that made my Dad more comfortable, so far without success.

“You and your Mum have had a trying time looking after him, haven't you?” he said. Yes, I guess we had, so I could do no more than agree.

“Well, it's taken its toll on you. Your blood pressure is very high, 155 over 95. I’ll put you on some medication to bring that down, plus I want you to do a fasting blood test and then an ECG. We’ll give you a bit of an MOT. In the meantime, try and take it a bit easier.”

So that was that. He said I had to take the tablets for a few months, probably NOT for the rest of my life, but certainly for the short term. I booked in for the blood test there and then, with the ECG being early in June.

Take it a bit easier… yeah, right. I had a new department to grow, elderly parents to look after and also a Wembley play-off final to attend! I also was concerned about how my new employers would view this; they’ve only just taken the firm over and within three days they could have had the quickest ever “Death-in-Service” claim in history, plus now someone that they have invested in has high blood pressure and orders to “take it a bit easier”. Hmm.

Well, I did try. A bit.

The play off final against Wycombe at Wembley on May 23^rd however was hardest. I just wanted a nice, non-eventful day with either team (preferably Southend, obviously) getting a comfortable win so there was no repeat of the semi-final drama, which clearly was the event that tipped me over the edge.

As it transpired, the game itself (or at least the first 90 minutes of it) did it’s best to accommodate my condition by being fairly staid and boring. I think at one point the commentators described it as “one of the worst games to grace Wembley” and it certainly wasn't edge of the seat stuff. We had a goal disallowed and a strong penalty claim denied, whilst our keeper made a decent save a few minutes from the end. That was about it. Tense? Yes. Exciting? Well, no, not really.

It was in extra time where Wycombe upped the ante by scoring first, the ball trickling over the line – but only just – via our keeper’s backside as the ball came down from the crossbar. Neither team looked much like scoring after that and so most thought that our goose was cooked with us being destined to spend another dreadful season in League 2. Wycombe were exhausted and trying to slow the game down by wasting time and falling over at every opportunity. There was only 20 seconds of extra time left when Southend's on-loan striker Joe Pigott fired into the net to send every Southend fan into delirium. I actually thought I was going to pass out. Wycombe were literally on their knees and there was only sufficient time to restart the match before calling time and signalling a penalty shootout. Oh. My. Word.

Fair play to all participants on both sides, a better set of penalties would be hard to imagine. Pressure? Barely, certainly none that was evident, although eventually it got to one of the Wycombe players as Southend's young keeper, Dan Bentley, threw himself to his left to palm his penalty onto the post and away to safety. Southend had won and were promoted!

It was a full 5 seconds before I realised what had happened. With a fuzzy and confused head, I managed to eventually get out of my seat before disbelievingly looking at the celebrations going on all around me. Realisation and joy then set in as the drama ceased; the game had become one of the most dramatic finals ever to grace Wembley, quite a contrast from the commentators comments made less than an hour before.