20:00 Arrive in Finnegans Irish pub 2 hours before kick-off and sit down for a beer and steak and kidney pie with veg and chips and watch the Middlesbrough 1-1 Arsenal game on the widescreen TV above the door - perfect.
21:40 Lots of people enter the pub. They don't look like Hull City fans. One of them says to us "Sorry if we're going to ruin your night, there's 50 of us and we're all teachers." They seem like typical teachers on a night out: very drunk and very silly.
21:50 Teachers begin to ruin my night. The TV is on the ESPN channel showing Manchester City-Everton and the staff are getting annoyed with me asking them to change it.
21:58 The Man City and Everton game is definitely the game showing, while in the bar some of the American teachers are leading a singalong of We Wish You A Merry Christmas and The 12 Days Of Christmas, dancing and waving their hats in the air. I am not singing along, dancing or waving a hat in the air.
22:01 Star Sports channel is turned on, a minute into the Liverpool-Hull City game at 0-0. I don't think my mood has ever swung so quickly. A pint of Tiger beer please!
22:12 McShane heads Hull City in front. I'm the only one cheering. A confused American asks who Hull City are, and when answered that we're beating Liverpool and are about 6th in the Premier League he says "That can't be right." It is!
22:32 2-2 now, oh well, that's still okay.
23:33 Vietnam hears its first shout of "Deano!"
23:55 It's over. Most of the teachers collapsed outside a while ago and the pub's ready to close. We head back to Hanoi Glory Hotel happy. Tomorrow we check out and get the train to Hue in the evening.