Saturday 5th May 2001

Barnet vs Torquay United

Midweek results for other clubs had ensured that the only two clubs that could sink into the dreaded mire of the Conference were Barnet or Torquay. It was simple: if Barnet won, Torquay would go down, otherwise Barnet were doomed. This would be the most significant game of the season, and I had to be there.

I set off from Poole railway station on the 10:31 to Waterloo, accompanied by my friend Adrian, a Plymouth Argyle fan who came along hoping to see us survive ("after all, we could do with the six points next season"). The day had started auspiciously as I sat on the platform in the sunshine wearing my Torquay scarf when several supporters of other teams wished us well. I took further inspiration on the journey by starting to read "Left Foot in the Grave" by former Torquay player/coach Gary Nelson, his account of his transformation from ageing Charlton stalwart to lower division old pro. He took over when Torquay were rock bottom, only surviving in the league because of the unworthiness of the Stevenage ground. It reminded me that things had been bad for Torquay before and we had pulled through. Could it happen again?

We arrived at Waterloo a little late, so we decided to head straight for the Barnet ground, a trip up the Northern line. Some young lads sat near us who were also going to the match. They normally go and watch Chelsea, but clearly they could sense a historic occasion and could not resist the pull. They were going to sit with the Barnet fans but were otherwise uncommitted. I wonder how may others thought the same?

As the tube pulled into High Barnet station (the end of the line) at 1:30pm, the lads commented on the size of the queue of people trying to get into the ground. Our plan had been to try and grab lunch in the vicinity before going into the ground, but on this evidence we considered it best to make sure that we got in. The queue for the home end stretched around the corner and most of the way along the long side of the ground. We met some other Torquay fans, and we decided to try and get round the other side, taking a short cut along the boundary of Barnet cricket club's rather soft outfield. The groundsman rolling the wicket seemed unconcerned about our intrusion. We found the front of the queues, one for the seated area (at £12 a head, Barnet wanted to see this filled first) and one for a section of the grandstand that had been allocated to us. The latter was the longer queue, so a local policeman suggested that we were better off just joining the queue for the seats. We did, but we declined his suggestion to just push in at the front: it wasn't that far to the back, and we didn't want to upset our fellow supporters.

So we were in the ground. No food (sold out by 2pm), no programmes either, and a seat at the end of the ground where the biting wind was straight at us. Underhill is not the best ground, squeezed into a housing estate with both ends open to the elements. You couldn't even shelter behind the people in front because of the steepness of the stand. Thank goodness for the occasional burst of sunshine to make us feel warmer. There was only one thing for it, clap your hands together and jig around a bit to keep the circulation going. A banana and some chunky Kit-Kats also came in handy. After the seated area was full, they let the remaining fans into the grandstand, and soon they were making as much noise as we were. The home sections were packed as well, and the atmosphere was building up nicely. A possible sighting of "Hells Bells" also cheered us up.

It's worth commenting at this point on the organisation. According to the Torquay United web site (http://www.torquayunited.com), Barnet assured us repeatedly that there was no need to make the game all-ticket, as they were confident that they could cope with the numbers, with room for 2000 visiting supporters. In the event, there were allegedly 1000 Barnet fans and 1500 Torquay fans who were shut out of the ground. An F.A. official was reportedly seething at the chaos, allegedly threatening to throw them out of the league anyway even if they did win the match. Also, I had two plastic bottles of water in my bag, but I was told to dispose of them because they had screw tops and I might have been planning to stuff something into the tops and throw them at somebody! Preposterous, but I had to swig them at the turnstile and throw the empty bottles away. Good job they didn't demand that I disposed of all my loose change, then. With the headwind at the end I was standing at, I doubt I could have even reached the pitch with a throw!

Torquay were attacking our end in the first half. It was soon obvious that the wind was worth at least a goal advantage, with their defensive clearances barely reaching the half-way line. In the first minute, their keeper bravely challenged our forward, came off worst, and had to be substituted. He was given a generous round of applause. Torquay had a good shout for a penalty turned down when Williams was tripped as he tried to go past the last defender. Then, to the delight of the crowd, Jason Rees slotted home a side-footed shot from the 'D' just inside the post. We had a great view: it was like slow-motion as we could see that it was going in about the right direction, but would it curl enough and would their keeper reach it? The stand erupted when both uncertainties went in our favour. A dream start. Joy then turned to euphoria as Kevin Hill's glancing header at the near post went in the far top corner. The home fans were stunned, and we couldn't believe it either. Was this the same Torquay United that were so inept at Home Park just two weeks ago?

Then Barnet attacked in the only way they know how: get the ball to their wingers and put in a cross to their big target men. Player for player, they were about 2 inches taller on average than our team. A cross came over, and a big black arm went up to intercept it. Aggrey claimed he was pushed, which probably saved him from a booking for deliberate handball, but the penalty was awarded. To add to the drama, a weak penalty into the wind was comfortably saved by Jones in the Torquay goal, and our fans celebrated yet again.

Then David Graham, another impressive signing by caretaker manager Colin Lee, found himself clear through with only the goalkeeper to beat. The ball bounced awkwardly, but thankfully he managed to place it into the top near corner. Three goals from about five chances? A missed penalty by the opposition as well? We couldn't believe it! We were grateful to sit down at half time to recover.

At the start of the second half, the public address announcer exhorted "Come on, we know they can do it!", but judging by the silent response not many of the home fans seemed to agree. With the wind in their favour, and the giants in orange playing something like a 3-3-4 formation, the ball hardly got out of the Torquay half. The pressure told when they scored their first goal from a header, a beautiful glancing header from Ryan Green into his own top corner, just after the woman next to me said "they'll have to score every seven and a half minutes now if they want to win".

Two male streakers came on to the pitch from the Barnet end. I suspect that they were Torquay fans, as one of them dispossessed the Barnet keeper, who was preparing to make a clearance upfield after a rare threat from Torquay had broken down, and tapped the ball into the Barnet goal. The keeper chased after him, and a defender chased after the other. Clearly incensed, the defender aimed a vicious kick and a punch at the other streaker. I had some sympathy for him, as with your livelihood at stake you could do without some clowns interrupting the game and breaking your concentration. Perhaps it's just as well that the kick and punch did not connect, otherwise he would have been in trouble. As it was, the referee let it go.

Barnet's second goal also came from a cross from the right, although our goalkeeper was impeded by two other Barnet players and clearly, like everyone else at our end of the ground, thought that he had been fouled and that the goal should not stand. But it did stand, and the Torquay players did well to re-focus on the job in hand.

In fact, they did a great job. Whereas before their clearances were skewed to the wings and/or straight back to a Barnet player, with Tony Bedeau particularly guilty, some of the players started to play the ball intelligently out along the ground. Defensive headers were also confidently made, with Jimmy Aggrey and the diminutive Lee Russell particularly outstanding. Confidence returned, and a couple of breakaway chances were fashioned that deserved better finishes.

The end of the game was tense. Without many injuries in the second half, it was a surprise when 3 minutes of injury time was apparently signalled by the fourth official. Perhaps we had forgotten about the lost time for the streakers incident. Barnet threw everyone forward in a last ditch attempt. There was a goalmouth scramble that was cleared, and an attempted cross curled with the wind and came back off the inside of the far post. The referee found a total of 6 minutes of injury time, to the away fans' disgust, and it was a huge relief when the final whistle went.

It's moments like these that makes supporting a lowly team worthwhile. The away end fans, who had stood all game despite the availability of seats, danced in delight as the fans from the main stand poured ecstatically on to the pitch. No attempts were made to stop the pitch invasion, and soon all the Torquay fans were on the pitch gathered by the tunnel, singing, chanting, clapping, and hoping for a glimpse of today's heroes. I shook Beeney's hand, and saw Bateson embracing some of the die-hard fans: it clearly meant a lot to everyone. I look forward to seeing Adrian's photos, in particular I hope he has one of me in the same shot as Hells Bells. A couple of the players came to the mouth of the tunnel to take the acclaim of the fans.

By now, most of the home fans had drifted away, but a few stayed behind to take it all in. Commendably, there was no trouble: it's as if they took the view that they are really a non-league club who had a 10-year adventure in the big time. We chatted to one of them as we walked away from the ground: he wasn't impressed by his own chairman. They'll have a job getting back in the league, as Underhill only holds 5500, and you need 6000 capacity to be a league club.

A crowded tube ride back to Waterloo was spent talking to some Torquay fans, and an Arsenal fan who had come along to watch the fun. There was speculation as to who would be the next full-time Torquay manager, with hope being expressed that although Colin Lee didn't initially want the job, he may have been won over by his success and the reaction to it.

Back at Waterloo, our stomachs reminded us that we hadn't had much to eat or drink since breakfast, and we found a nice cafe doing Italian food down at street level. We asked for a soft drink and a celebratory beer each. The beer was "Nostro Azzuro" (or "nasty aftertasto" as we had called it on our Italian holiday), but even that seemed to taste good as we drank to the lads' victory and survival. Even on the way home, I was asked what the result was and was congratulated by neutrals, although the Southampton fans that we met on the train were more preoccupied with the prospect of Portsmouth's relegation after Saints lost 0-3 at West Ham.

So all the consolatory thoughts that I'd prepared weren't needed: "I've still got my health and my job", "We'll bounce back up", "It will do them good to rebuild and win a few games again." But I would have missed the Devon derbies next season, and really, without a manager and presumably the better players leaving, Torquay would have struggled to rebound. And I'm glad that I wouldn't have to put up with Plymouth and Exeter fans gloating over our exclusion from the Littlewoods Cup in the style of the League of Gentlemen: "This is a League cup, for league teams"!

Watch the match highlights on YouTube.