I remember feeling really fed up with it that Christmas, as the threat of relegation to Division Four was very real. And it made it worse when our Boxing day match at Bury had to be called off as well. Maybe Mr Cryne made the mistake of feeling sorry for Johnson at that time, which was disappointing, after the appalling run of defeats we went through.
Blackpool at home 3rd round, 2008 We actually won 2-1, but we were abysmal. The game was shocking, and weirdly, Michael Coulson of all people came on and changed the game. Within 10 minutes he'd scored one and set one up. Then the game petered out again. Probably the worst victory I've ever seen. I actually said to my mate after the game, we deserve to draw someone like Southend away in the next round. We did. And it got moved to Friday night for good measure.
Its weird, but I think differently about both of those games lol. While creating next to nothing in the first game, I certainly wouldn't say we were lucky to get the goal less draw. And I thought we totally outplayed them in the replay, and only had Roger Wylde's close range volley to show for it.
Somebody mentioned the FA cup 4th Round loss against Birmingham in Jan '88, and that admittedly was a disappointment. They usually won at Oakwell in those days, so although I had hoped for better as it was a cup match, I really wasn't surprised. Clarkey was on Look North a few days before, asking for more fans to turn up for a cup tie he confidently thought we could win!. And I think Tony Rees scored one of their goals in the 0-2 win, and we signed him that summer, thinking he was a good striker.
I think we signed Rees a few weeks later. Scored a decent goal against Leicester IIRC and did nothing of note after.
That's what I thought. The Bromsgrove club video listed Sheridan instead of Wilson but the picture was very fuzzy. I then googled it as I was also sure Sheridan hadn't played, and got these, both of which also list Shez. https://www.footballdatabase.eu/en/match/overview/1087494-bromsgrove_rovers-barnsley https://www.besoccer.com/match/bromsgrove-rovers/barnsley-fc/199412294/lineups Let's be right, Sheridan or Wilson, that side should have smashed Bromsgrove or any other non-league side.
It's the only game we've ever won that has left me cold. The whole day was horrible. I've written about it many times on here; it very nearly stopped me going. That was the worst experience of a match I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst performance. For 80 minutes we were awful, but if the game had gone on 10 minutes longer we would have got six. These things happen, Enfield held one of the greatest teams we've ever had, Bromsgrove out played a team of near Premier League quality, we can now add Horsham to the mix. One of the greatest games I've ever seen was Sutton beating Coventry. I don't put these down to bad performances by the professional, more that the non-league lads played out of their skin. But Cardiff at Wembley... We didn’t turn up. We could have had an FA Cup Final and they denied us that. That's the worst because they didn't walk off the field having given it their all in the biggest game of all our lives. We knew how they could battle as we'd seen them against Liverpool and Chelsea. I guess the occasion got to them but I can't adequately express how disappointing that was.
I didn't go thankfully, though I listened to the whole debacle on the radio. Until last week I'd only ever seen the two minute highlights reel from MOTD, so I had no idea of the scale of the pitch invasions. I'd heard them mentioned, but I assumed it was just a few over-exuberant oiks dancing around on the wrong side of the perimeter fence. But on watching the match on YouTube last week, I discovered, to a mix of surprise and horror, that a fair few of our fans ran onto the pitch as if we'd just won the league. Three times.
The abuse given to Danny Wilson was appalling. The celebrations embarrassing. An old Bromsgrove guy died in the stand. The walk back to the car was carnage. Violence and vandalism everywhere, to innocent shoppers, cars, businesses, houses. My brother and I saw a lad from Barnsley jump into someone's front garden, pick up a plant in a pot and put it through the front window. The ******* slipped through my grasp, otherwise... The whole day was sickening.
Ohh did we sign him soon after that match then. He was unlucky in a way, because it was always going to be difficult to get a game ahead of players like Cooper & Currie. And I forgot he went to Grimsby eventually.