Grand time playing - and watching football thrills

As I look back at this week I am astounded by such levels of brilliance and excellence I have witnessed and been a part of in my hometown.

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Mal at the specially commissioned multicoloured Steinway Grand

First up was the visit of Manchester City to the Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday. From the moment I arrived at the stadium I could tell it was going to be a special night. As I walked through the crowds my mind went back to those halcyon days of the Premier League that we had waited for, for so long and then maybe took a little bit too much for granted once they had arrived.

I've been a Match Day host for the club for a number of years and it’s always a joy to welcome back some of our legends. It seemed appropriate that one of our special guests was Darren Pratley.

Darren is a model professional who has now taken on a coaching role at Leyton Orient after finally retiring from the game aged 40.

We had been playing at the Landore Stadium for a number of years and if I'm honest it still wasn’t quite home. Leaving the Vetch Field was hard for so many fans. I think we all knew that to progress the club had to move to a shiny new stadium, but it was hard to leave because of the memories. The special games that had left a mark on our lives. The people we stood next to on the North Bank. The sights and the smells.

In many ways it was Darren Pratley and his teammates in the 2011 Championship Semi Final against Nottingham Forest that finally made the stadium ours. If you were there you will never forget those closing moments. With Forest chasing the game the goalkeeper came up for a final corner. The ball was cleared, and Pratley broke away to shoot from inside his own half to score and clinch our place in the final. As the ball went in I’m sure I felt the stands shake. When I welcomed him to the room all I had to say was ‘remember that goal’ and the whole room erupted in applause and cheering.