For those 30 glorious seconds that followed Conor Gallagher's equaliser to pull Palace level at 2-1 down, each second a moment in time you won't remember but can't forget, the delirium got to us all. 

 

There is nothing in this world like the celebration of a goal at the football. Nothing matches the intake of breath and the exultation of noise from a collective of supporters, whether they number in their thousands or their tens of thousands. 

 

The sound of a crowd celebrating a goal is one of the most beautiful known to anyone that has experienced it -- like a 3000-strong choir rejoicing at the rise of their protagonist -- you won't find it anywhere else. 

 

You experience a sensory overload as your eyes, mouth, ears, heart and brain conspire to create the kind of pleasure you can only experience when your team scores. 

 

Your eyes see it. Your brain engages. Your lungs fill with air. Your voice projects. Your arms rise. Your eardrums vibrate. Your nervous system fires chemicals into your bloodstream. 

 

Your team's player has just kicked a ball into a net, but that's nothing compared to what your body is going through.

The pandemic took much away from us, and football is just one of the minor elements. Many have lost much more than going to watch a game featuring 22 men kicking a ball around a pitch. 

 

What we learnt from the months spent locked away in our own living rooms was that, to those of us who attend matches, going to the game is so much more than just watching a sport.

 

 

 

 

You meet friends. You share stories. You vent, you discuss, you understand. Football is, for many, a mental health exercise without even realising it. 

 

It offers an opportunity for people to be around family or friends who they trust -- who they have something in common with -- and it gives them the chance to offload. Football isn't just there to entertain. It provides structure to our lives and forces us to spend time with people we care for; time we might not otherwise give each other. 

 

Celebrating goals with friends is what football is about, too. Strong friendships often come from overcoming moments of adversity together. Being 2-1 down may seem like an insignificant moment of adversity to experience, but the memories created help to foster strong and meaningful relationships. 

 

Goals like Gallagher's on Saturday aren't just insignificant moments of entertainment. They provide pleasure as endorphins are released; the same feeling you get after exercising. That too has a positive effect on mental health. That too is something we missed. 

 

Sitting in your living room, celebrating as your team score a goal in an empty stadium to the sound of a fake crowd cheering, will never match the many emotions and feelings you get when you see it happen in the flesh. It can't. It wouldn't. 

 

It is those moments of delirium we live for. It is those moments, the ones we can't remember because of how incredible they were, that we missed the most. 

 

It's great to be back.