IT WAS one-all after normal time.

The team I had taken to the Cup Final had scored an equaliser five minutes from time and our tails were up in those final nail-biting minutes as we bombarded the opposition’s goal with wave after wave of all-guns-blaring attacks.

With 30 minutes of extra time ahead, I knew we had them beaten and in the centre circle, I launched into what I still think was as heart-stirring a speech as any Sunday League manager in a polyester anorak could give.

Drawing on Shakespeare, Churchill and my old primary school teacher Mr Thomas, I delivered a truly magnificent call to battle and watched proudly as my men, chests puffed out with pride and dogged determination, took their positions for extra time.

The fact that we were slaughtered 5-1 is neither here nor there, as it is the thought that really counts.

I like the idea that professional footballers – so often derided as having no perceivable loyalty to anyone but themselves and their bank balances – were stirred by another player’s passion when they were 3-0 down at half-time.

The fact that their opponents emerged for the second half having discarded their footballing brains in the dressing room may have helped, but we should applaud the idea.

As many people will testify, a little motivation can go a long, long way.