A  PLYMOUTH  FAN

Seeing the earlier postings about Carlisle reminded me of that crazy day two years ago where the kind of stuff you tell your grandkiddies about, happened. At the time my sister and her husband were living in Carlisle and we took the opportunity to combine a family get together with a match.
The night before I wore my Argyle shirt about town and got some funny looks. I'm surprised in hindsight that I didn't get more given the fact Argyle could well be kicking them out of the league tomorrow.
The pre-match beer was a lot more tense as we had chosen one of the roughest pubs in Carlisle according to my Darlo supporting Brother in law. No colours on display and given the accents no other greens either!.
On the way to the ground I bought four programmes. These were later waved at the home fans next to us with the shout "they'll be worth £10 each tomorrow" after Lee Phillips put us ahead !!.
I remember seeing a Carlisle based Argyle fan at the turnstiles and couldn't resist a beer induced "you came all this way", well it seemed funny at the time.
The atmosphere for us was good, beer on sale inside and no pressure on us.  The atmosphere in the rest of the ground was full of tension. They were in no doubt who was going to get a kicking if they went down.
Given the fact we had to walk through Carlisle town centre, the natives were very restless and I'd singled myself out by waving the programmes so we thought it best to get ready for a quick exit.  Scarborough had already finished, Carlisle needed a win and it was getting late for even Argyle to throw points away. We walked down to the entrance to the steps out. There was no steward to stop us standing on the yellow area as they'd abandoned us to protect the touchline.
Then it happened, my only recollection was a streak of red coming into view to my left as a corner was being prepared. It came over was knocked out and the red thing thumped it in. Unbelievable. The noise was like nothing I've heard before or since at a footie match, more of a scream than a cheer, and lasting so long. The pitch was invaded and that was our queue. That was it, there was nothing left to see, nothing could top that.  Our feelings were hard to describe, seeing Argyle lose is never nice but we knew we'd seen something very special.
The celebrations went on into the night, but without us. We'd by then realised we'd finished below Exeter!
In time my sister sent down a souvenir issue of the local paper. It had a two page spread photo of the goal.  Incredibly my BIL, my Dad and I were right in the middle. By standing in the tunnel we were framed in black right between Glass and the bemused Barlow and Bessie on the posts.  I'm the one with my hand over my face!.
Despite Argyle losing this remains one of the highlights of my Football supporting career, I'm glad to have shared it with you.  No repeats this season though please.

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