PRICE of a match ticket $1,200. Air ticket to London $1,300. Accommodation for four nights at a four-star hotel $800.

The joy from watching your team score the fastest goal ever in the final of the world's oldest football club competition? Priceless.

Well, almost.

Those feelings of jubilation, of undescribable joy - the rare kind which will make me hug even an overweight male Scouser - did last for 20 glorious minutes in the FA Cup final two Saturdays ago. 

Twenty minutes after Louis Saha's 25-second strike, until Chelsea equalised and took control of the game before running out 2-1 winners over Everton.

It was then that the all too familiar reality hits.

It starts as a sinking feeling in your gut, before working its way up to the brain where it festers for hours before you finally realise what's bothering you: it's that feeling of coming so close yet ending up with nothing again.

Ah, the price of rooting for an almost top-four club.

Reality was given a new meaning during this trip to Wembley.

PHOTO: MARC LIM

As an Everton fan for the past 24 years, I'd like to think I've gotten used to settling for the odd draw against Manchester United, the rare win against our more successful Red neighbours or that elusive shot at silverware - it was in 1995 when Everton last won a trophy, the FA Cup.

Call it cheap thrills, but in the era of 30 million pound players - when u consider the entire Everton first XI cost about that much - you learn to enjoy the simple pleasures.

Nothing however opens your eyes like your first trip to England to support your team.

The ticket price alone should have been enough warning to manage expectations.

When I asked a popular ticketing brokerage firm why Everton tickets were so expensive and Chelsea tickets were going for a fraction of the price, I was told simply:

"It's the first time in 15 years you're in the final. Demand's a lot higher."

I should have guessed so when the immigration lady at Heathrow almost choked on her mint when she asked me for the reason I was visiting from Singapore.

"You mean you flew all the way to watch Everton?" she mumbled between controlled laughter and efforts to catch her breath.

I gave a polite smile, but looked around just to make sure no policeman was in sight, in case she accused me of assualt.

Police presence were plenty as me fellow Evertonian from Singapore boarded the train from Baker Street to Wembley.

But all they offered us were apologetic smiles as we became the target of boos and taunts from the army of Chelsea fans.

"Ready for a whipping are you?"

To which a small, brave group of Everton fans on board retorted in song: "Where were you when you were poor?" in obvious reference to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and the millions he pumped into the club since 2003.

We laughed. But when you hear Chelsea fans talking about being there for their last FA Cup win only a couple of years ago, recalling the day they were present when John Terry lifted the Premier League trophy, suddenly it isn't so funny anymore.

Even when we made the trip to Goodison Park in Liverpool, Everton's home ground, the contrast between Liverpool and Everton is huge.

In Liverpool's city centre, a Liverpool megastore sits proudly. If one wants to buy Everton merchendise, one would have to head to a sports shop next to the Liverpool store, where, ironically, there are more Liverpool jerseys on sale than Everton's.

Everton? Their city-centre megastore will open only next month.

What more than the generic sports shops in London? You guessed it. Limited Everton merchendise - one rack to be exact - but tons of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool stuff, from pillows cases to alarm clocks.

Everton finished fifth in the Premier League this season. It means entry into Europe. But not into the lucrative Champions League. The Europa League is where Everton will hope for European glory.

It is why this season, the big four of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will continue to dominate, continue to buy quality players, continue on their building their name in emerging markets like Asia - Man U and Liverpool will be heading to Malaysia and Singapore respectively next month.

And it is why fans of clubs like Everton and Aston Villa will have to be contended with being the nearly boys, the almost theres.

The difference between Everton and a place in the top four of English football is just one spot. Yet one position in the table is a world of a difference.