John Seager's 30 for 30: Day 22

A Cunning look back of 30 days which have changed my life over the past 30 years

Day 22:  9^th December 2008 – man, I love the FA Cup

“There’s nothing better than seeing your team win away from home, even if it is in the FA Cup”

Evening all,

Away games are the best to follow your team especially if you win way from home in a meaningful game like a promotion or in the FA Cup.  For me this time around it was a cup replay for the Gills and they were up against Stockport after the first leg finished 0-0.

I knew it was going to be a cold Tuesday night in Stockport but i was hoping that we can do something special.

The trip to Stockport wasn’t going to be that long to me as a Gills fan as i was based in Nottingham at the time.

The game was played on the 9^th December and the winners would be at home to Premier League side Aston Villa. So i finished uni early to catch the train to Manchester.

Once i got there my early fears were right, it was bitterly cold and but it was dry and luckily no rain which is the ‘norm’ when going to Manchester.

But after a couple of Bovril’s and ciders, it was time to head to the ground to see the game. There were not a lot of Gills supports who made the trip up north – i estimated that there was about over 100 fans. I even saw a couple of kids with their families who took the day off work to see that game, now that’s dedication.

Being behind the end stand behind the goal wasn’t easy to see the action in the first half, well i said that then Stockport promptly took the lead early in the first half.

At this point i was thinking that it was a trip that wasn’t going to have a happy ending. That was before Andy Barcham scored from the edge of the box to make it 1-1.

Naturally we were in bedlam when the goal was scored and it got even better latter on the first half when Barcham scored again after a brilliant run by Curtis Weston which gave the Gills the lead.

At this point going into half time i was worried about the score line. Although we were ahead Gillingham never perform very well away from home and i felt that we would implode at this point.

But After a quiet end to the half and after a lot of huffing and puffing by both sides in the second half the game ended 2-1 to Gillingham and the final whistle was the start of a massive disco by about 100 Gills fans in the away end.

I still have patches which went blurry that evening after the final whistle. There was a lot of man hugging and man kissing, even the odd cry of “Bring on the Villa”. It was a big party which the players, management and even Scally himself got involved with. It’s not every day when you tem cause an upset and get a premier league side at home in round 3. Even the stewards of Stockport were gracious in defeat.

 A kind reminder of the final score :) 

After the game there were a lot of man hugging and drunk phone calls on the way back to Stockport train station and i manage to get back to Nottingham in the early hours of the morning. But it was a game i will never forget and it was part of something special to see your team win away from home in the FA Cup.

I spent the next day at university with a sore headache and a sore throat. It was worth every single minute of me going.