LAST FRIDAY David Beckham's Golden Foot finally erased some of the pain of the memory of Diego Maradona's Hand of God.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's call to his young lions to reach for the stars in the Sapporo Dome against the old enemy Argentina worked a treat. In Newton Abbot – and countless other English towns and cities – England fans watching on pub TVs reached for their beer glasses in support.
It was obvious beforehand that whatever the result of this epic football match publicans were going to be certain winners.
In Sapporo it was evening as the England team lined up to take on Argentina in the World Cup group stages. It was just after High Noon in Newton Abbot. The streets seemed to be left to the very old or mothers with young children as pubs bedecked with countless flags of St George filled up fast.
Many firms had succumbed to the inevitable, and either allowed radios and TVs onto their premises or had closed for the duration of the match. If you could not be in Sapporo, a pub was the best place to be.
In a packed Courtenay Arms in Queen Street company director John Mitchell was accompanied by several of his staff.
'I had no choice in the matter,' he said. 'I was told that we had to come and watch.'
The Courtenay, with numerous bar staff and several TVs including a large screen, was typical of many pubs which had prepared themselves for the event. Men and women in business suits rubbed shoulders with regular fans in official England shirts.
'I'm normally a rugby man, but I had to see this one,' said Peter Lyons. 'I'm on holiday anyway so there was no problem with work.'
Some children in the Arsenal club strip had painted their faces with the red-and-white England colours, and hung around the open side door hoping to catch a glimpse of the action.
The mood was good-hearted throughout, but got more high-spirited as the match wore on and a miracle seemed to be in the making. There were the inevitable white-knuckle moments which seem to be part of every England match, and which every fan is used to. It was expected to be a physical game and it was. Fouls from Argentinean players such as Batistuta and Simeone were greeted with boos and hisses. But when the screen flashed up at one point the stat that England had committed more offences than Argentina it was ignored.
There were huge collective groans at near misses from Owen, Scholes, Heskey and Sheringham, and near delirium when Beckham scored the game's only goal. Seaman had a particularly vocal section of the pub on his side – 'Sea-man, Sea-man' went the chant – and the Teddy Sheringham fan club replied with 'Ted-dy, Ted-dy'.
The magnificent England victory, in which every team member played a blinder, means that football fever in Newton Abbot has a good chance of surviving into the knock-out stages of the World Cup.
'We were unbelievably busy,' said Anna Powell of the Jolly Farmer in Market Street. 'I don't know what will happen if England win the World Cup.'