Fans are back and are giving football meaning again

Football has felt odd for a long time - too long. Driving up to empty car parks, walking through checkpoints to get scanned, checked and approved without a general hubbub of noise and excitement in the background. On Wednesday night though, that football feeling returned.

I've been extraordinarily fortunte to be allowed to watch games live since the restart of the EFL programme back in September. A handful of friendlies cast us straight back into the thick of the action, with the Carabao Cup, Papa John's Trophy, FA Cup and League One to fill the column inches, but it has felt a little... meaningless. Without supporters showing their emotions, cheering, booing, singing, yelling, jeering, laughing and joking in that hour-and-a-half we become so fixated with, the feel of football has been wholly different. It hasn't been right, even if it did start to feel normal.

Pulling up to The Valley though, there was a different air. As I waited to be let in, I heard a steward say "Which stand, sir? West, right this way." The hubbub was quieter, hidden behind facemasks and the nervous "am I doing this right?" sense as people ventured into the unknown-yet-familiar, but it didn't take long for the Charlton faithful to remember what they were there for.

As their team filtered out onto the playing surface for the first time, the 2,000 in attendance cheered and clapped. Everyone in the press box bolted up from their chairs, peering over the barrier down to the pitch to see - and we finally saw the people we've wanted to see since March. It didn't matter that it was Charlton fans, it could have been any supporters really (well...), it made everyone smile.

And for those who did watch, the game delivered a bit of everything. It had chances, periods of pressure at both ends, saves, penalty appeals, scuffles, "REEEFFFF!" shouts, chances, near-misses, efforts off the woodwork and ultimately an MK Dons victory at the end of it. Some Charlton fans were also reminded of the unwelcome memory that football is sometimes a horrible mistress, and that leaving early might just help you avoid a traffic jam in the car park. It left me wondering whether the game was as good as I thought because of Dons' performance, or whether it was because the game felt like it meant something again. Somewhere in there, it was a combination of both.

Dons fans will have to wait a little bit longer before they can see Russell Martin's team in action again - less than a week though when they take on Norwich U21s in the Papa John's Trophy on Tuesday night. It's the first step of what will surely be many before we get back to the heady days of sitting next to each other, but it's getting closer.

"I cannot wait," said Scott Fraser. "I've seen a few messages about fans wanting to see me live, but none of us can wait to see them back and even though there will only be about 2,000 of them, they'll make noise like there's 10,000 or 20,000. I cannot wait."

None of us can, Scott.