With another fairly tedious international break casting its dark shadow across the world of top-flight football, I decided it was time to give some non-league football a go. As a teenager brought up on a not-so-healthy diet of constant Premier League and Champions League coverage, it made for a completely new experience, and a good one at that. This is a world costless from the dramas of FIFA corruption 'investigations', ethical questions of the British legal system and the sporting effects of the ebola crisis; this is exactly what it says on the tin. Football, and nothing more - but equally, football and nothing less.

Given the cost of a day out to my usual haunt of the Riverside Stadium usually coming to the £35 mark with transport and half time refreshments, it was refreshing in itself to be able to wander down the road with £10 in my back pocket with confidence of a seat, programme and a not-to-be-sniffed-at portion of chips and curry sauce - with change left over for a drink at the end. New Ferens Park - home of my now-beloved Durham City AFC - is not state of the art by any stretch of the imagination but it offers everything that could realistically be expected in a non-league ground with shelter from the November wind, floodlights and a great view of the pitch.

The crowd was an odd mixture, with a great blend of people making up the admirable attendance of 261. To my left sat arguably the most Northern man in the whole of England with flat cap in hand, though disappointingly without news of 'trouble at 'mill'. Providing contrast to him to my right was a gaggle of Durham University physics students discussing their latest lecture and behind them, a touching display of support from the players' family and friends. It was hardly the one man and his dog picture so frequently painted of fans at the bottom of the football pyramid, and it made for a good variety of chants - ranging from playful banter to the unashamedly offensive - and a decent amount of noise throughout the game.

To the game itself, then. The home side came into the game as underdogs against high-flying seaside town North Shields, who started the afternoon in third position in the Northern League Division One. A damp morning and chilly afternoon meant that hopeful punting and comedy slips were the order of the day for the opening minutes, but soon the visitors took control of the ball and of the match, with most of the play coming through their pacy and powerful right-winger. Clearly fancying himself as the next Gareth Bale, he drove forwards at every opportunity before usually cutting inside and tapping a pea-roller directly at the keeper, though to his credit he did strike the post after 20 minutes.

If Shields had the non-league Bale, it was the hosts who found themselves focusing their efforts around the Geordie Ronaldo; unfortunately, it was the Brazilian Ronaldo circa 2012. That said, the forward clearly knew how to use his physique to his advantage, holding off challenges before playing in one of his wingers who would usually be able to put a threatening delivery into the area.

It is not often that a player misses a shot from actually inside the goal, but then that is the wonder of sport at this level. After a shot was initially parried out to the side, the ball was played back in towards the far post and as the Shields number five looked to get a touch to divert it goalwards, he somehow contrived to hook the ball off the goalline and launch a counter attack for the home side. Things soon went from the ridiculous to the sublime; as Durham broke, the ball was played out to the no. 10 on the left and as he cut inside at the edge of the area, he wrapped his right boot around the ball and bent a stunning shot into the top right corner. The goalkeeper - who had pulled off a Higuita-esque scorpion kick in the warm-up - could do nothing but stand and look.

From that moment, it was pretty much all Durham. An end-to-end encounter soon became a siege on the away goal, and once they grabbed a second with a back-post header in the second half it seemed like a matter of time before they added a third. Despite the best efforts of the electric number nine, it wasn't forthcoming and things began to heat up in the closing stages of the encounter. Tackles flew in but no yellow cards were forthcoming, and one player from each side was stretchered off. The stretcher was half the length you might expect meaning it was in essence a long chair and the tiny castors made for a bumpy ride across the turf, and by the end the referee had seemingly had enough, sounding the final whistle as the Shields right back lay prostate receiving treatment on the halfway line.

All in all, it was what sport should be all about - an awful lot of fun. The atmosphere was good, the football was entertaining and the half-time snack did the job on what became an unsurprisingly baltic evening in Durham. Considering all of this cost around a third of the cheapest matchday ticket available for a match at that great measuring stick of football pricing, the Emirates Stadium, it is an opportunity not to be missed and one which I would implore you to take up in the near future. Up the Citizens!