My alarm woke me up at 8am. The final wasn't due to kick off until 5pm, so I'd only need to be at Miss Snell's house to get ready 2pm at the earliest. That gave me 6 hours to kill before then.

I got up and did myself some breakfast. Then I decided to go for a little morning run. Nothing too strenuous before the big game later in the day, but something to get the blood flowing and the body active. I slipped on a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and an under armour t-shirt.

As I was running, all I could think about was how unusual it now felt to be exercising as Toby and not Tabitha. It was actually kind of unpleasant. I had grown to like the weight of the breast forms on my chest as I ran about the football pitch, and my outfits as Tabitha just felt so much nicer, too. Exercising now as Toby just felt plainly boring and not quite right.

I ran for about 5km in total. I checked my watch as I wound up back at my house and saw that I'd completed the run in 39 minutes and 12 seconds. That was a new personal best; I'd never run 5km in under 40 minutes before.

I had a shower to freshen up after my run, put on some of my 'lounging around the house' clothes, and fixed myself some breakfast. I sat in front of the TV for a bit eating my Cheerios and drinking my orange juice.

After finishing my breakfast, I turned the TV off as I wasn't able to follow what was going on with it anyway. I wanted to watch another 'Real Housewives', but my parents were in and out of the room, and that would have been out of character for Toby. I settled on the 'Match of the Day' highlights, instead.

My mind kept flitting back to the cup final. I knew it'd be similar to the boys' cup final a few weeks earlier, the one in which I had fluffed up the deciding penalty. There was quite the crowd for that game, 417 people in total, according to the local newspaper. Now, being a girls match, the crowd would unlikely be so enormous on this occasion, but I imagined it would still attract over 300 spectators, double the number we had watching our semi-final.

This unnerved me a bit, as did the thought that the local paper may turn up again to report on the game. I just had this unmoving thought that this would lead to someone definitely recognising that I was Toby, not Tabitha. I tried to tell assuage my fears by reminding myself that plenty of people had already seen me as Tabitha who also knew me as Toby (the girls on the team, Mr Phillips, and the boys from the school who watched our first match), which was certainly true. But I couldn't help but think my secret was on the cusp of being revealed. Call it gut instinct.

I lounged around the house for the next couple of hours, doing everything and anything I could think of to try and distract myself a bit. But, try as I might, nothing would relax me. Playing on the Xbox? Lasted 15 minutes. Reading a book? Only managed 5 pages. Scrolling through Instagram? Listening to music? Doing a crossword? Nothing, and I mean nothing, could distract me from the match.

I suppose it wasn't just being recognised as Toby/Tabitha that I was worried about, either. I was desperate to win the match. I wanted to win to repay Miss Snell for her time, patience and faith in me. I wanted to repay the girls for their friendship and embracing me as a member of their team. I wanted to see Katie lift the trophy. And I wanted all of those things so desperately, I was fit to bursting.

I'd managed to hold out to noon, but could wait no longer. I text Miss Snell, and asked if I could come round early to get ready. Waiting for her reply was agony. I kept checking my phone every 15-20 seconds. Nothing for 30 minutes. I was getting pretty restless, even more so than I had been, when her reply came through:

No problem. Pop round when you're ready x

'Thank God!' I thought.

I was round her house less than 10 minutes after receiving her text. She opened her door as I was walking up her driveway and gestured for me to head straight upstairs to get ready. The usual process ensued, and in the blink of an eye I was Tabitha again. A blessed relief for my restless heart!

I was wearing the pink Nike sports bra and thong that I'd worn to the very first training session (which felt like a lifetime ago!), with my hair done up into its typical high ponytail. I wore a pair of pink leggings for the time-being, as it was too early to be kitted up fully for the match. After dressing, I headed downstairs.

I entered the kitchen, and to my shock Mr Phillips was sat at the kitchen table. Miss Snell explained that he had called to ask if she wanted him to take me and her to the match. She had accepted his offer, and he'd arrived just 5 minutes ago (he had arrived in the intervening period when Miss Snell had left me to finish getting changed on my own and me finally traipsing back downstairs...I don't know how I didn't hear him at the door, but that just shows how distracted my mind was with the match and everything around it).

I recomposed myself as quickly as I could and took the seat opposite him. I had talked to him before as Tabitha, and he had been exceedingly nice. But, and it may see daft, but I felt a bit...naked...I suppose, this time, sitting opposite him in just some leggings and a sports bra. Sure, the bra concealed 'the girls', but it wasn't like it served as an actual top.

But I thought: 'Oh, get over yourself, Tabitha. Girls wears sports bras and leggings as a complete outfit all the time. It won't be anything he's never seen before. Plus, it's not as if you're in the nude!'

"You ready for your game today, Tabitha?" he asked.

"Can't wait!" I replied

"Lucy tells me you've been in good form. Scored a couple of goals in your last match?"

"Yeah, and got an assist, too."

"Nice. Just got to bring that form again today now."

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

"No supposing about it, I know you will", Miss Snell said, bringing me over a glass of water. "You got this girl!"

She patted my shoulder and set my drink on the table.

The three of us continued talking for a bit. I relaxed as the conversation went on, forgetting largely about how I was dressed.

It got to 3.30pm, and Miss Snell said we'd better be getting ready to go. I went upstairs, took off my leggings and was about to put my kit on. As I was standing there in just my bra and thong, I heard the toilet flush and Mr Phillips came out onto the landing. I had left the bedroom door open, not thinking at all, and Mr Phillips had clearly stolen a glance at me as he'd exited the bathroom. Luckily I had my back to him, so he hadn't seen my front, at least. I took a peek over my shoulder. As I turned, our eyes met for the briefest moment, a fraction of a second, and he quickly averted his gaze and spurted down the steps. Whether he had stood admiring me or just happened to glance into the room by chance, I knew he'd seen me in just my underwear. But that didn't bother me. Actually, it made me smile.

I pulled on my jersey and shorts and checked myself in the mirror. I also pulled on my captain's armband, proudly shifting it into place over my right bicep.

"You've got this, girl," I said to my reflection. "Go out there and give it everything you've got. Make a name for yourself, Tabitha!"

I headed downstairs with a spring in my step.

We jumped into Mr Phillips' car and made our way to the pitch.

Once there, Mr Phillips helped Miss Snell with the nets while I filled the team's water bottles. We finished earlier than planned thanks to Mr Phillips' help, so Miss Snell took advantage of this little extra time together to pull me aside for a 1-to-1 chat.

"Excited?" she asked.

"Very!" I replied.

"Good. Now, I know this may be an odd thing to hear, but I don't want you to worry about the final result today. It'd be nice to win, but something more important has come from this tournament, for both you and I. You seem so much happier as Tabitha. Am I right in thinking that?"

"Yeah."

"Then that's the biggest win here. The rest of this, well, it's all superfluous."

I threw my arms around her.

As she let go, she said, "I mean it, Tabitha. Be proud of who you are. If you can do that, there's nothing more anyone should ask of you."

As she finished her kind words, the teams started to arrive.

I got everyone in, fulfilling my leadership duties, and led the warm-up. I didn't change anything from Katie's warm-up as it was effective as it was. I was so absorbed in leading the warm-up well that I wasn't at any point aware of the size of the crowd that had gathered. It was huge, and there wasn't much standing room left around the pitch. On one side, behind the Shevington bench, were stood the Shevington supporters, while behind our bench stood our group of supporters. In addition to the faces I'd become accustomed to at our previous matches, the entire boys' team had come to show their support this time, as well as several teachers from our school.

That felt odd at first: teachers who had taught me for the last seven years were about to watch me play football as Tabitha. But I'd grown used to people I knew seeing me as Tabitha, so that novelty soon wore off.

The local paper was in attendance, as I had anticipated, and called us in to take our team photo. We were all set up and ready, me with the captain's armband, knelt down in the front row with the ball at my feet. But something felt wrong...missing...and I realised what it was.

"Hold on 2 secs", I said to the photographer, getting up from my position and jogging over to the sideline.

"Come on, you've got to come in the photo", I said to Katie, who was stood by who I assume were her parents.

"But I'm not part of the team today", she replied.

"Yes you are. You may not be *playing* today, but you are a part of the team. A big one at that. We can't have our photo taken without our captain."

I started pulling her towards the team.

"But I haven't got my kit on."

"Yeah, and I'm glad about that. You'd look stupid standing on the sideline in kit when you're not playing. I wouldn't allow you to do a John Terry, anyway." She laughed at this. "You're getting in this photo. I'm insisting." I turned to face her and did mock puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, fine. If it means you'll leave me alone." She giggled.

"Good. And you'll be needing this, too." I took the armband off and slid it up her arm.

"Oh, honestly, I...", she started, but I'd given her my puppy dog eyes again and the tilt of my head told her not to argue any more.

Now, I should say, she did look somewhat silly wearing the armband. She was wearing a beautiful thin strap blue floral summer dress. Her hair was worn so that it fell down elegantly in long curls over her left shoulder. And her face was made up as if she was about to go on a date (I imagine her plan was to sidle over to flirt with Lloyd at some point during the match). The armband on her looked more out of place than a kangaroo in the arctic. But she was our captain, who'd led us to this point in time. She needed to be a part of this moment, front and centre.

She stood at the centre of the back row. "I'm definitely not kneeling down at the front in this dress...I'm not getting mud on my knees", she had stated definitively, drawing laughter from the team. I got back into my position at the front and the photographer took the photo.

Everyone ran with Miss Snell back to our dugout, ready for the pre-match team talk, while Katie held back to put the armband back on me. She hugged me and said "thank you, Tabitha. That was so lovely of you."

"Don't mention it, Katie", I replied. "You, and the other girls, have done more for me than you will ever know."

"Oh, babe", she said and pulled me back into another hug.

As she let go, she finished, "go and win that trophy, girl."

We made our way over to the side: I joined the team around Miss Snell while Katie went back to stand with her parents.

"I'm not going to say too much girls", Miss Snell began. "But I do want each and every one of you to know how proud I am of you all. You've not once given up during this tournament. You've overcome adversity and now you're here, in the cup final. Shevington will be a step up from what we've played so far, but, so what? I'm not going to focus on them when I know that, here in front of me, are the best group of players any coach could have. Enjoy this experience."

"Come on!" the team roared in unison, and we dispersed to head to our positions on the pitch.

The referee called in the captains with a blow of his whistle.

"Tabitha", Evelyn said, "that's you he needs".

"Oh god, forgot about that", I said, to which she chuckled. I jogged over to the ref and shook both his and the Shevington captain's hands.

"Heads or tails?" he asked me.

"Heads."

"Heads it is. Do you want kick-off or to choose your end?"

"We'll have kick-off".

"Alright. You get choice of end." He directed this statement to Shevington's captain.

"We'll stay as we are", she answered.

"Splendid. Good luck girls...may the best team win".

We all shook hands again and she ran back to her position to get ready for the match. I stationed myself by the ball on the centre spot, ready to take kick-off.

'Deep breaths', I told myself, and closed my eyes. 'Remember what Miss Snell said: "you've got this, girl!".

I reopened my eyes. I was ready.

The referee blew his whistle. The final was underway...