Not A Bad Game, Y’Know!

Perhaps the greatest ever comeback?

Saturday November 23, 2002. A game of football that will live long in the memory of everyone who was there.

Saturday morning started early. A groggy Tomarse crawled out of bed at 9am, wondering just why he surrendered his well-earned lie-in. Today Tomarse had decided to drive to Mansfield, fed up with early leaving CATS coaches. This meant a trek up in the car.

I picked up some mates and the journey started in earnest around 11am. By the time we were at Cheltenham, Madger was on the phone asking if I thought the game was going ahead. An hour later and the stampede to get past the NEC is taking Tomarse’s stress levels to a new high. Finally, ten miles of crawling are finally over and the left hand foot is nicely nailed to the accelerator.

I ask my friend Kirsty: “So what do you think the score will be?”

“0-0, A bore draw”

Not quite! I think those 90 (or should that be 96) minutes provided more emotion than you normally get in an entire season. A cracking City away support and great banter between the Mansfield fans had set the game up for a good start.

But the football simply blew everything away!

Madger got the hump at 4-2 and buggered off home. For a split second I considered joining him, but saw that Lita was about to make an appearance. I stayed, and I’m bloody glad I did! To pull the game back to 4-4 was a mighty fine achievement in itself, when Roberts sent that rocket into the net for 5-4…well I have never felt an emotion quite like it. No-one outside of the ground will even know what it was like. It was purely a magical moment.

Saturday was a day I will remember for perhaps the rest of my life.

However, at the end of the game there was a tinge of sadness in my celebration. Why? Well, 15 months ago I lost the best friend in my life, brutally murdered. She was a great friend, and a lover of football too. She always said to me that she’d love to go to a football match with me.

We never did.

Three days after she’d passed away England beat Germany 5-1. That night I though of her. I was thinking of her after the game on Saturday, knowing that she would be beaming from ear to ear if she’d been here with me.

The point I’m making is that I can’t believe some people think it’s very clever to point out that we conceded four goals. But we scored FIVE, for Christ’s sake! Enjoy the positives while you can and make the most of them. What is the point of dwelling on the bad points of what was one of the most stunning performances I have EVER seen from a City side. Would you like 1-0 or 5-4 wins?

This City team have talent in abundance going forward, a delight to see. True the defence isn’t quite on the same level. But enjoy the good days! Saturday was one of them – a real once-in-a-lifetime, tell-your-grandchildren match.

You just don’t know what could happen yourselves tomorrow do you? Keep supporting the team 100 per cent.

Tomarse