Free bus pass for Benyon day
Bristol Rovers 3 Burnley 4, 9th
January 1999
Hego
Met the train at Reading, on time and no problems,
at the start of an auspicious day. Sun shining, savage cholesterol packed breakfast behind
me, and innumerable London Clarets faces grinning out of the window of the first carriage,
as the iron horse ground to a halt. Little did Junior Hego and I suspect that this was the
beloved London Clarets Treasurer's birthday. Oh how the champagne and salad flowed as
GWR's finest sped to our rendezvous with the first pint in Bristol. Mr Benyon didn't seem
to favour the lettuce and cucumber for some reason.
Out of the station and, for certain people, straight to the
bus stop, to try out the new free bus pass. The rest manfully climbed the first of many
hills to the Highbury Vaults, there to partake of a free pint from the Internet Guru,
following his lucky win in the dead pool. It was downhill from there, all the way to the
ground. Well, figuratively speaking anyway, as anyone who knows Bristol's hilly terrain
will understand.
The away end was the usual crappy corner, but the pasties
were half reasonable and the view over Bristol excellent. Still looks odd with the net
strung behind the goal at that end, just like Aldershot's ground used to have. Reasonable
crowd, three new signings and no Barry Hayles. The latter point was in fact an irrelevance
as we were about to find out, as indeed Jamie Cureton has been Rovers' main scorer against
us in the immediate past. Burnley played 4-4-2 without Mark Ford, who was apparently quite
aggrieved about the omission. Wonder why!
The first half will live in history as a cracker, played at a
furious pace. It was a race to see whether the Cureton / Roberts duo could outscore the
Clarets, and they nearly succeeded. The first Burnley goal was a curious affair with all
and sundry missing a Mellon cross for Davis to head in at the far post literally colliding
with same. The goal was credited to Cooke by the Bristol announcer which was interesting,
given their obvious physical similarity! Cureton quickly equalised when Crichton raced out
of his area in mad dog Beresford fashion. The subsequent easy lob over 'The Admirable'
left red faces all round and God's chosen few level at 1-1. Five minutes later, new man
Branch then robbed the full back, weaved a magic spell around Lee, and then beat the
keeper to score from a very tight angle. Great piece of skill. A further five minutes
brought the Rovers response when Roberts turned and shot for the equaliser as a result of
some poor marking.
Thirty minutes gone, 2-2, and no one dare nip to the toilets.
Then came the goal of the match. Armstrong wins the ball in his own half and sets Cooke
away up the right. On to Mellon, whose cross was met on the volley by Payton. Classic,
apparently. I actually only saw the ball reach Payton, then there was a blue sky interlude
followed by darkness as a heap (?) of London Clarets descended on to the floor. Maybe it
was a gaggle of London Clarets, or a barrel or a flock. Not sure. Not to be outdone, a 25
yard scorching drive from Chelsea reject Lee left Crichton floundering, and the score 3-3.
Two misses afterwards by Roberts, and close efforts by Cooky and Mellon brought us to a
breathless, level, half time.
Half time brought the usual rush to the toilets, but mixed
with the sort of strange where am I type of feeling, as if it was all a dream. It probably
was a dream, as I could have sworn I heard the announcer wish Michael E. Benyon a happy
birthday. When was the last time the boys were involved in a 3-3 half time score line?.
Weird. Maybe it was the appearance of the lucky mints for the first time. Wolfed down as
many of them as I could wheedle out of the Internet Guru in the second half, just for good
measure.
The second half was much tighter as Stan had obviously told
Davis not to chase upfield quite as much. There were still chances at both ends, but only
one counted, from Cooky. Again a Mellon inspired move, which resulted in a thumping finish
from a tight angle and a huge sigh of relief as Cooky's barren spell finally came to an
end. An unbelievable Roberts miss brought the game to an end, with much singing and
dancing, all the way back to the Hare on the Hill in the town. Forgot to borrow the free
bus pass from Benny, so walked with the youthful (?) portion of London Clarets. Met up
again with the two London based Bristol Rovers fans who had travelled down with us, and
they were distraught, but as we agreed, there are no real losers in a game like that.
Nonsense Hego, it would have been devastating to lose a game like that.
Given Bristol Rovers' form before (no goals conceded in last
five games) and after this match (Reading), this was indeed a result and a half, as indeed
was remembering to get off the train in Reading to go home. Some sound performances to
remember: Davis inevitably, Mellon, Branch and indeed Cooky, and unsound from Morgan.
Subsequently the lucky mints succumbed to the lucky mitts, but that is a story for another
day.
Team: Crichton, Pickering, Morgan,
Mellon, Davis, Reid, Robertson, Armstrong, Cooke (Swan 80), Payton, Branch. SNU: Brass,
Maylett.
Tim Quelch's
report and Firmo's report, plus the
London Gasheads' memories of the day
