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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