Best Game:
My initial winner here Crawley's 3-2 win away at Colchester in March, but only as long as my beloved Reds stayed up as it seemingly would have been the gamethat went a long way in us surviving. Seeing as that went out the window t after 2pm on 3rd May, my winner for the best game I've been to is North Ferriby 3-3 Wrexham - FA Trophy Final. Not a soul gave little North Ferriby of the Conference North any hope in their Wembley final against Premier side Wrexham. 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go, super sub Ryan Kendall helped the Villagers fight back to 2-2 and shock the Welsh side. I was in the Ferriby end for this game, and let me tell you, there was pandemonium (mostly caused by me and friend Tom!) So extra time came, and Ferriby took a 3-2 lead. It was incredible. The little village just outside Hull had controlled the game from the moment they pulled a goal back and were moments away from an incredible trophy win, until Wrexham equalised at the end of extra time. Penalties loomed, and North Ferriby won 5-4 to lift the trophy. What an afternoon.
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| Me and Tom as Ferriby fans for the day |
Just a week after my Reds stuck 5 past Barnsley, a rejuvenated Dean Sunders side almost killed me. Swindon 1-2 Crawley is the winner of this one. A scintillating run from Gwion Edwards (who I love very much and which I'm sure you'll have seen if you follow me on Twitter) created the opening goal for Crawley after just 5 minutes - all well and good and the fans went a bit mental... then Swindon equalised. Cutting out the rest, lets head to the 89th minute - Bearing my mind my head was banging already from 90 minutes of constant singing, the last thing I needed was a last minute winner. Ecstasy and wild arms flailing everywhere. I ended up four rows down with my head stuck in between seats and my legs in the air. Don't ask how. I can't remember the journey home, but apparently I rang good friend Matt who'd been at Hibernian that day...
Best stadium:
Valley Parade - Bradford City. A beautiful stadium coupled with an electric Tuesday night atmosphere. Superb.
Best fans:
An unexpected winner here - Glossop North End v North Shields. Just two weeks ago I found in the Glossop end at their FA Vase Final with half of my Twitter 'fwends' in tow. So with Lostboyo and self-proclaimed 'bae' Matt, Tom, Ben, Ellis, Gibbo, Fake Gibbo, Lee and Peter. I'm not going to lie, the support was probably made up of fans from the two Manchester clubs, but they didn't half get behind their second team. Songs were sung to the tune of Brimful of Asha in ode to big Dave Young, and the classic Since I Was Young ensured it was Glossop who made the most noise around Wembley. And then there was Madness, literally. As we all sat down, one hardy Glossop 'ultra' stood up and began the opening sequence to One Step Beyond. We all knew where this was going. Mental.
Best individual performance:
Simply for his heroics in the FA Trophy Final, North Ferriby's PE Teacher, Ryan Kendall has to win here.
Craziest game:
A striker in goal, a 96th minute goal, tea thrown at a player, players confronting fans and managers getting angry. I'd like to think my introduction of Crawley to groundhopper Matt (@mophead_88 on Twitter by the way) was rather exciting. Crawley 2-2 MK Dons really was one of those games you'll just never forget. Read Matt's view of the day here -
https://lostboyos.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/lost-in-crawley/
Best goal scored:
I had six options for this award. I ruled out three. So...
Gwion Edwards (Coventry v CRAWLEY)
Kieron Morris (WALSALL v Crawley)
Shane Long (SOUTHAMPTON v Villa)
The temptation was to give this award to my boy, Gwion, but as hard as it was, I think Shane Long's strike in Saints' 6-1 win over Villa last weekend (yes, I was in the away end) has taken it. After gaining possession from a poor Villa back line, Long lobbed Shay Given from 30 yards out to put the Saints 5-0 up. It was a stunning goal. Even the Villa fans were clapping.
Best team performance:
Crawley 0-4 Rochdale - It wasn't even a case of Crawley being bad; Rochdale visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium and were rampant. Slick, passing football all under the guise of Matty Done, who earned all the plaudits that day. No surprise that in the return fixture Rochdale hit us for 4 again, winning 4-1 at Spotland. Possibly the best footballing side I've seen this season!
Save of the season:
I can't remember it. It was the first day of the season at Barnsley and I remember when it happened the whole away end were in awe and thought "He's gonna be good". Brian Jensen; for your save against Barnsley, I salute you.
Celebration of the season:
I didn't want to give myself an award, but if rolling around on the floor isn't worthy of an award, I don't know what is. As the second of our three goals at Colchester win, I was soon on the floor, without a top on and with Matt's trusty flatcap on my head. If I was drunk, it would have been understandable, but I was stone cold sober. I have no idea how or why it happened, but it did, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.
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| Celebrations at Colchester |
