by Robert Mann
The game quietened down on the field at least, with both teams sounding out an opposition that was new to them. Both midfields were competing with an intense ferocity and determination for any loose balls and some bone crunching tackles were going in from both sides. Scott Murray in a moment that totally reflected the tension all round the ground on and off the pitch scythed down Terry Pauls in a badly mistimed tackle when he was bursting free of the midfield congestion. Terry Pauls writhed on the ground in agony as the Redbourne players angrily confronted the guilty City player. Within a minute a huge scuffle had broken out in the centre of the pitch as the referee vainly attempted to restore order.
Deborah especially could hardly bear to watch as Matt O Rourke who had raced onto the pitch on seeing the horrific challenge without waiting for the referee’s permission gave him treatment. By now the referee had regained control and booked Scott Murray for the challenge.
"Any more of that and you are off"
was his stern warning. As Terry gingerly got to his feet grimacing the referee called the two captains together and said
"Get your lads to cool it before someone gets hurt please. Another tackle like that last one, from either team and it will be a red card!”
The game restarted with a free kick to Redbourne. It was all of thirty-five yards out from goal. Terry Pauls indicated to his captain it was his. He was fuming after the tackle but okay and wanted to take his anger out on the ball. By now the Redbourne fans had stopped jeering and whistling Murray and a deafening chorus of
"Come on Redbourne"
erupted from the away stand as Terry made his run up. Bristol had only put up a three-man wall given how far it was from the goal His shot had all the pent up venom from the previous tackle and the tension of the evening in it. Terry’s shot also had a bit of Brazilian magic in it and truly was a screamer swerving towards the top corner of the goal. Somehow Basso in the Bristol City goal managed to get his fingertips to it pushing it onto the bar and then over it for a corner. All four sides of the ground reverberated with applause for the quality of Terry's strike and the equally breathtaking save.
From the resulting corner Redbourne pushed their big men up from defence. Jock Mcleish took the corner from the right and floated over a pin point cross to the far post where Graham Durrrance or Chopper as he was better known to his Redbourne team mates rose unchallenged to plant a towering header into the net. It was Chopper's first ever goal for The Countrymen and he went absolutely mad celebrating the goal. Off came his shirt, which was waved round his head like a demented whirligig! Seconds later he was submerged in a scrum of celebrating Redbourne players. The roof had proverbially come off the away end with the goal. 2800 fans plus those in the adjoining seats of the side stand were bouncing up and down in unadulterated joy. Similar scenes were to be seen at Whaddon Road. No one associated with the club could now quite believe how close they now were to an appearance in a domestic cup final in their first season in the league.
Despite the exceedingly slim chances of the new Wembley being ready for the final on April 1st, the chant started from the Redbourne End
"Que Sera Sera whatever will be will be we’re going to Wembley Que Sera Sera"
as a sea of scarves and flags filled the Redbourne end of Ashton Gate. Many Redbourne fans in the stadium and back at Whaddon Road had lumps in their throats as they sang! The Robins fans were silent watching with a little awe and envy as Redbourne buoyed by the goal visibly grew in confidence and stature and really began to pass the ball around with confidence.
With fifteen minutes left of the half, Terrance Fletcher was a contented man. His team was doing him proud. Sat in the dugout watching with the other substitutes but cup tied for tonight was Jermaine Easter whom had just agreed terms with The Countrymen in a record breaking transfer deal with Wycombe for a fee of £500,000.Up in one of the executive boxes Miles Grimley was just about keeping his composure as he puffed away furiously on a large Havana cigar!
As the minutes ticked away to half time nerves started to kick in for everyone watching from Redbourne and at Whaddon Road. A never ending chorus of whistles started rising to an ear splitting crescendo as The Countrymen fans decided that they were quite happy with things as they were and would take 1-0 at halftime. The whistle went for halftime moments later to a standing ovation from The Redbourne fans. Such had been the team's dominance. Dave Francis had not even had to make a save in anger, in the first forty-five minutes!
Terrance did not really need the half time interval! When a team was as on top as Redbourne had been for that first half a manager's job was easy! As his players sat down for a well-deserved break and some liquid refreshment he looked at Chopper his man mountain of a central defender and commented
"Blimey Graham you must have been dizzy getting that far up the field! Great header though!"
Chopper blushed as the rest of the team roared with laughter! Terrance didn’t want to overburden them with more tactics so finished off a very brief halftime talk for him
“More of the same for the second half lads. I'm proud of every one of you!"
Redbourne were unchanged for the second half as they came out. Bristol City had made one change, Scott Murray who had had a torrid first half for his standards had been subbed and had been replaced by their star striker Enoch Showunmi who hadn't been fit enough to start the game. Gary Johnson was making his intentions quite clear not wanting to have to go to Whaddon Road for the 2nd leg without giving it a real good go to at least pull back this deficit!
Straight from the restart you could see that Bristol City had been given a real roasting at half time by their manager. They were fired up and keen to make amends to their fans and manager for being totally outclassed in the 1st half. For long periods in the 2nd half Bristol City camped in the Redbourne half. Dave Francis became increasingly busy in The Redbourne goal. It was a nail biting 2nd half for the Countrymen fans! The keeper pulled off quick fire saves from Showunmi and then Phil Jevons who had followed his old boss from Yeovil. Still Redbourne held out, fans and management alike felt that surely time had stood still so slowly were the minutes ticking away!
Ashton Gate was now again a cauldron of noise as both sets of supporters urged their respective teams on for one last effort from tired legs as the match entered its final ten minutes. Neither manager could sit down; both were out in their dugouts screaming instructions at their tiring players who had given everything and more! With five minutes left on the clock the Redbourne defence eventually gave second best, even with Terry Pauls having reverted in the last twenty minutes of the game to playing in front of the defence like he did against Wycombe. It was Phil Jevons and Enoch Showunmi that did the damage combining brilliantly right through the centre of the Redbourne defence. Showunmi for the first time in the second half got clear and jinked a deft little shot with the side of his foot past the despairing dive of Francis. Ashton Gate erupted with relief with the home fans in full voice right at the death of this pulsating first leg area final.
For the Redbourne fans the last few minutes were now torture with many fans at times unable to look especially when Phil Jevons whistled a shot the wrong side of the post in time added on with Francis in the Redbourne goal well beaten! But the final whistle did come and the Redbourne players turned to applaud their magnificent supporters, at the same time that the management duos of the two clubs were exchanging warm handshakes. Half time in this enthralling two-legged clash saw the teams inseparable with all to play for at Whaddon Road in the 2nd leg in fourteen days time!
22
Focus Is All It Takes
Sitting on the “Beast” a couple of hours latter on the way back to Redbourne, Terrance knew that this coming fortnight before the home leg at Whaddon Road would really be where he earned his money as a manager. Fortunately the team had come away from Ashton Gate without any injuries but now had three important league games coming up. At the moment Redbourne Rovers were in the thick of one of the most exciting pr
omotion races Division 2 had seen for many a year, a tantalizing four points off an automatic spot with a game in hand on the teams ahead of them. There was just another three points to Hartlepool who were top, who they still had to play at home! Before they reacquainted themselves with Bristol City again they had two home games coming up in quick succession against Torquay and a rearranged one against Wrexham followed by an away trip to Macclesfield the Saturday before the 2nd leg of the area final. All were winnable and Terrance wanted no slip ups!
Terrance hated to come down all disciplinarian on his players but after discussing things with Steve on the way back from Ashton Gate he felt it was the only viable option. At training on the Thursday he called the first team squad together for a brief chat.
“Right lads great result the other night and I am as excited as you are about our chances of getting to the final. What I want from you lads now is professionalism. We have three huge league games coming up. I want your eye on the ball and all of you in the zone. To sum up anyone mentioning the home leg or the Millennium Stadium until on the way home from Macclesfield gets a £100 fine”.
Before the Torquay game Miles and Terrance had a tour of the new stadium over at Pines Road accompanied by the press. They were shown round by the Press Officer for Thistle Brother Constructions. In the four months since Terrance had been there he was amazed by the progress that had taken place. Miles had been keeping far closer tabs on developments and smiled a knowing grin on seeing Terrance’s amazement. The infra structure on the main stand was now complete and it was hugely impressive standing out prominently from the dual carriageway. Inside of it the electrics were being wired up and work was going on to decorate offices and executive boxes. One of the other stands was rising regally from its foundations and Terrance was informed reliably that the foundations on the other two were now complete and work would be progressing upwards on these too, in the near future. Their new home was starting to look like a football stadium! Before the tour finished the Press Officer proudly announced that the first consignment of seats for the main grandstand had arrived and he would love a picture of Terrance and Miles installing the first one for the press! Terrance reluctantly acquiesced before heading off for Whaddon Road before the match day traffic got too bad leaving Miles to finish up with the press!
Terrance couldn't really complain about lack of focus as he sat there watching his team perform against The Gulls who were enjoying a season of mid table mediocrity, a welcome relief for their fans after their brush with relegation to the Conference the year before! Redbourne's record signing Jermaine Easter was on the bench desperate to get on and prove his worth to The Countrymen. This seemed to galvanise their main strike force even more and by the half an hour mark Redbourne were leading by two goals courtesy of strikes from Angelo Mizuel and a superb volley from Dwight Edwards.
Five minutes into the second half saw the introduction of Jermaine Easter, virtually the whole of Whaddon Road rose as one to welcome their record signing as he replaced Dwight Edwards who had just picked up a slight knock. With the half time news that both Yeovil and Hartlepool were losing a wave of excitement had swept round Whaddon Road, thoughts of getting to the Millennium Stadium temporarily forgotten as a chant of
"We are going up say we are going up"
swept round the home sides of the compact little ground! With ten minutes to go Jermaine Easter got his debut goal for Redbourne. Showing superb vision he latched onto the lofted through ball from Terry Pauls who was having a quiet game for his standards. He easily out speeded the Torquay defence and rounded Abbey in the Torquay goal to put the game finally out of reach!
The final 3-0 score line closed the top of the table up even more despite the fact that both Yeovil and Hartlepool both scraped draws. Five points now separated the top four clubs with Redbourne still having one game in hand on those above them!
Next in town for Redbourne at their adopted home were The Red Dragons from North Wales in the rearranged game from earlier in the year. Jim Smith's Wrexham were having one of their best seasons for many a year and were only four points out of the play offs themselves. Their nemesis all season had been a terrible inability to win on their travels with just one away win so far. At home at The Racecourse Ground they had just dropped three points all season and were unbeaten!
The crowd for the Torquay game had been just over 6500 with quite a large travelling away support coming up from the south west and Miles Grimley had high hopes that Tuesday's crowd would come close to that despite the considerable expense being shelled out by Redbourne fans during this run of games in close proximity! Redbourne were only expecting about two hundred fans to make the long journey from Wrexham but come kick off time much to everyone's amazement more than double that number had turned up with a large assortment of Welsh flags. Quite unexpectedly, there was a cracking atmosphere inside Whaddon Road as the game prepared to get under way with a variety of Welsh songs echoing round the ground! Wrexham's strength all season had been their adaptability and their ability to switch play very quickly. Terrance and Steve were very aware that Wrexham could be a surprise package. “Watch Mark Jones and Ryan Valentine,” had been the warning to the Redbourne defence. Let them play and they can cause you all sorts of problems!
Redbourne fell for one of the oldest sucker punches around from Wrexham. The away side scored straight from the kick off. The ball was passed forward to Chris Llewellyn who went off a mazy run. He was allowed to keep going with the Redbourne players looking at each other in bewilderment. Suddenly aware of the danger Dave Francis shouted a warning but it was too late he was hopelessly exposed. The cross shot from the edge of the penalty area beat him with ease! To say that the Redbourne team and fans were stunned was an understatement! The goal was timed at 45 seconds and the Wrexham fans went crazy! It took Redbourne until the second half to recover from the shock of this indignity and then the chances started to come as Terry Pauls and Jock Mcleish finally began to run the midfield. The chances came and the chances were squandered as the home crowd's frustration grew. At last with minutes left Jock Mcleish supplied the equaliser with a thumping drive from a clearance that fell to him after yet another corner. It was two points dropped though and a very flat home dressing room after the game! The automatic promotion spots although so agonizingly close still seemed so far away!
Despite Terrance's efforts as the week after the Wrexham game slipped away thoughts inevitably were now on fast-forward to the 2nd Leg against Bristol City. Excitement in Redbourne was building steadily with just days to go! Tickets had sold out weeks before and Miles Grimley had just managed to negotiate use of The Centaur Centre at Cheltenham Racecourse, where the game would be shown on big screens. Redbourne did not possess a venue big enough! This could cater safely for two and a half thousand fans and it was planned to be a £10 a head pay on the evening with all catering and bar facilities being open.
The Redbourne squad travelled north on the Friday afternoon for Saturday's game at Macclesfield. As the "Beast" was just getting onto the M6 all thoughts of normality and a quiet journey went out of the window. Everyone knew that the new Wembley was approaching completion but latest media reports suggested the first game there would be the season’s FA Cup final. Terrance was the first to hear the stunning news via a text message from Miles.
"The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final is at Wembley, the stadium has just been granted its final safety certificates. A FA press conference has just gone out live announcing the news!"
Terrance was absolutely stunned, excited and petrified a combination of all three really! His first rational thought was could Steve and him keep this news from the players until after the Macclesfield game? By the time he had contemplated this thought, the news was all round the coach as excited family and friends contacted individual players with the news! The prospect of being part of English football history was suddenly dawning on this small club from south Gloucestershire! Before they could contemplate it further though they had a le
ague game to try and win!
Any further hopes of a normal away trip were dashed on arriving at their overnight hotel in the Greater Manchester area. Awaiting them was a Sky TV crew and a reporter from 5 live looking for reactions from any of the Redbourne squad or management!
The media circus was even worse on Saturday lunchtime on arriving at Macclesfield’s ground. Moss Rose had never seen anything like it .The nation’s media had really taken Redbourne to their hearts but it wasn’t good for Terrance who had a match to prepare his team for. He knew his team was distracted in the dressing room before the game. He could see it in their eyes! He tried every thing he knew but still their football suffered as did the four hundred or so Countrymen fans who had made the trip north. Neither team really deserved to win or score despite substitute Ian Hargreaves hitting the bar late on when it looked easier to score! Redbourne stayed 4th but sadly for them all three teams above them won. The gap was now six points to Lincoln, Hartlepool and Yeovil!
23
A Night Dreams Are Made Of!
The forty-eight hours preceding kick off, Redbourne had been like a pressure cooker. Excitement, tension and nerves had risen to fever pitch levels. The nation’s media had really taken to this small Gloucestershire football club and 5 live had even broadcast their flagship breakfast programme from the centre of the town. Fans, management and players dared to dream as the hours seemingly crawled by to kick off but to dream was to believe of getting to Wembley! As the last few hours towards kick off went by, excitement and nerves were at record levels with the ultimate prize for a lower league club up for grabs. At six o clock "The Beast" crawled towards Whaddon Road, traffic was almost gridlocked in the centre of Cheltenham as the town struggled to cope with rush hour and the influx of football fans onto the racecourse and to the ground. The Countrymen’s first team squad had spent the last two days ensconced in The Cheltenham Park Hotel in an attempt to get away from the media frenzy that had surrounded them since the news had broken, that the final would be played at Wembley on Friday afternoon.