the diaries of martin baker, who watched several yeovil and enfield games during the latter stages of the 1996/7 campaign:
1. TUESDAY Night : Oxford City : Home.
I felt this was the real crunch match - playing two days ahead of Enfield could have been either the break we needed or the kiss of death. As a result there were some nervy faces around the ground.
But it all seemed to be going so well - that was until the ref steps in. OK, so I was 80 yards away when Yeovil's lead was cut back to 2-1, but you often wonder why some referees don't tell their linesmen to go home - they seem to pay them that little respect. Up went the linesmans flag, but "over-rule" went the referee and we were back to our nail-biting again.
The *joy* when the third goal went in was sublime - it took away that anxiety completely - I think that was the moment at 3-1 when I *knew* we were going to win the title. A ridiculously superb goal set up by Forinton and gifted on a plate for Patmore - has anyone considered that bit of sublime skill as worthy of goal of the season ? A fourth equally farcical goal (scored almost direct from the throw-in - via Patmore's floppy fringe) completed the business for us.
2. THURSDAY Night : Enfield vs Dagenham.
This was a surreal evening. Were we really at a ground that was the home of a championship contender? Barely 750 supporters muttered and mumbled but never made a noise you could call atmosphere. The only noise was being made by 30 Daggers supporters, who once they realised they had 4 Yeovil supporters in their midst decided to spend the rest of the evening chanting Somerset songs - after all what did this game matter to them when they had a Wembley trip already booked?
John Stimson became the hero of the moment - his crisp volley four minutes from time turned a possible home draw into Enfield's worst nightmare and the four of us into delerium! I don't think I've ever celebrated a non-Yeovil goal quite so much!
But when it came down to it where was the Enfield passion, where was the frantic finish, where was the will to win? I saw none of that on this night - perhaps they had already given up the race when they heard the Tuesday score come through? No-one seemed to care when the final whistle went - almost like that match had meant for Enfield the difference between finishing 11th and 12th - not 1st and 2nd. Just as an indication of this negatitvity - over the tannoy *before* the game came the announcement of season ticket prices for the *ICIS* league for next season - as for the Conference prices? Well, they just didn't seem to be available!
3. SATURDAY : Heybridge
What a long trip! What a fantastic following! What a total anti-climax as Heybridge did to us what they had done to Enfield two weeks previously - used the eight man defence tactic. Oh dear, I do hope they do not do this every week - Heybridge should really take a leaf out of Purfleet's book and at least *try* for victory!
Still, a terrific time was had in the bar, and of course under the roof where we stayed at the away end for the full 90 minutes voluntarily to get better volume on the chanting. The highlight of this had to be the smoke flare that got let off in the second half - electric stuff !
The difference between us and Enfield in this same fixture was that we did not need to panic - a draw really was good enough for us - despite the frustration of the party being put on hold.
4. TUESDAY : Bromley
Well, I haven't stopped smiling about this one. Initially I thought the Gods were against us - IRA bomb threats on the M25 in the morning, a bar that only opened at 6:45pm and a crap referee on the cards. Fortunately, the motorway was cleared, plastic glasses allowed us to take carry-outs to the terraces and above all the referee got changed to about the only one who I've had any respect for in this league this season (a very distinctive bald coloured guy, who we last had at Hendon - away).
And lo and behold, he repaid that respect with two penalties (both fair in my biased opinion!) and we seemed to be cruising. The second half I think lasted about 45 years - not 45 minutes - as Bromley pulled a goal back and we sat back on a 2-1 lead that was nail-biting but never ultimately in doubt as Harvey cleared from the back every time.
The rest all goes a bit blurry really (!) - the final whistle, the pitch invasion, the trophy, the shield, the bar (again!), my mobile phone going off every two minutes and above all the singing! One hell of a night - one hell of a party! We left Bromley at 11:45pm much the worse for wear and with the Bromley bar takings probably having gone through the roof!
Georgie Borg is going to need a lot of cheering up now! |
