'Football is the only thing I've known. Put me in an office or on a checkout and I'd be lost'

PRATLEY'S JUST A 40 BOY AT HEART

- MIKE WALTERS

DARREN PRATLEY may be a precious fossil from English football's Jurassic age but he knows the game inside out raptor and verse.

From bread rolls being tossed around set-piece drills in hotel dining rooms to the manager who jumped into a river to inspire his players, the Leyton Orient captain thought he'd seen it all after over 720 appearances in all four divisions.

But when the O's face Manchester City for the first time in 59 years in the FA Cup fourth round today, it will be one of the biggest games of his life.

Pratley turns 40 in April, but Father Time needn't bother sending round the bailiffs to call in his debts yet.

If City, whose £200m outlay in the transfer window was almost more than all their Premier League rivals put together, pitch up expecting a stroll in the park, super-fit Pratley will give them a guided tour of Brisbane Road from box to box.