A crucial game... the run in to promotion against a "big boy" gone crap! We boarded one of the two coaches at the Social Club late on; the time escapes me, but in my mind it was after midnight. Drunken high jinks etc ensued. I was 13 at the time but was escorted by my older cousin and friends. The journey down was long...I seem to recall seeing the morning dew over somewhere in Oxfordshire after a slight kip. We arrived in Pompey roundabout 6am. Everyone sauntered off to do their own thing; we chance upon a vandalised Barnsley team coach on the seafront. Windows broken and "PFC" and so on sprayed all over it. The run up to the game is one of bumping fellow fans having a torrid time in various bars and then; the game! Tensions are high; there's 400 Barnsley fans on the away end, but my cousin and his mate opted for the terrace below the main stand. *****! We're subjected to taunts, spitting, but nothing more.... Elsewhere Derek Bell (BigLil ?) scores and we win 1-0. Pitch invasions by locals; I get giddy and get on there to celebrate, ignoring my cousin's shouts! Soon go back when the severity sinks in .... some local took a swipe at Clarkie and I witnessed Phil Chambers being spat in the face! We finally get out....bring on Grimsby!!!
Was probably on the same bus! I remember me and my mate getting off the bus at the crack of dawn wondering how to go undetected round Portsmouth til 3pm.
We'd set off much later that morning. However, I'm certain our old bus must've been built pre World War 1! No heating, no radio, springs sticking out of some of the seats. It was astonishing that we actually made it to Fratton Park and we were certain we wouldn't make it back to Gilroyd! Nerves had certainly kicked in with the players during the final run in. Allan Clarke being injured certainly didn't help, either. But that day, we were back to our best. An excellent goal from Derek Bell won us the match, but Portsmouth were second best all game. The win meant Aldershot could only catch us if we lost our two remaining games and they won theirs. The following Tuesday night's victory over Grimsby made our promotion mathematically certain.
I was on the corner in-between the Ponty end and West stand for the Grimsby game. I was a crushed 18 year old, and was really my first experience as a Barnsley fan of winning anything important . I was hooked here on and enjoyed the Clarke Hunter era for the next 3 seasons. The highlight being in the old brewery stand knocking 3 first division teams out of the League Cup including Man City on that midweek night with over 30k supporters in the ground. Good old days eh
I missed the Portsmouth game in 1979 as I was only 11 at the time and my Dad must have been working! I was there though for the Grimsby game, stood half way back behind the Ponty end goal, celebrating wildly with 21, 000 others that night!
You read that correctly younger Reds fans - 21,000 for a fourth division game. The appointment of Allan Clarke really was the start of the golden era.
