Final day blues
Can Tranmere do us a favour? Unfortunately, when it comes to County needing a helping hand from elsewhere on the final day, there’s usually more chance of Boris Johnson passing a lie detector test
Tuesday 2 May 2023
“Lad, we’re absolutely shite. Wouldn’t wish for too much.”
“From my time growing up in Birkenhead, I can tell you one thing, and that’s never to rely on Tranmere.”
“To all the Stockport fans relying on Tranmere to beat Northampton next week in order to gain automatic promotion, can I give you a warm advanced welcome to the ‘Tranmere will ruin your weekend’ club.”
Just three of the seven million comments on Twitter from Tranmere fans (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration when Rovers have been averaging 6,000 at home this season) since the weekend. I’m not going to lie, my confidence ahead of Monday is waning with the hordes of Prenton Park regulars saying they’d have more chance of beating Northampton with their Under-7s.
Today’s edition of The Scarf My Father Wore isn’t going to do anything to ease those final day nerves, either. Sandy McGregor has taken a look back at a number of occasions when County needed a helping hand from elsewhere on the final day, but got bugger all.
Once you’ve read today’s main feature, please can I make a polite request not to turn up at Sandy’s house with pitchforks or report him to The Negative Police. It’s my fault he’s written it after I asked him to do a little more digging when the topic came up in a group chat.
We’re still going up on Monday anyway. What day was it when we won promotion at Chesterfield? And what day was the Rochdale play-off final at Wembley? That’ll do for me at this stage…
Finally, a huge thank you to Kingsway Carpets for sponsoring today’s edition.
Enjoy today’s issue.
Des Junior
On the final day of the season, it’s great to be in a position where you stand to gain something: a play-off place; automatic promotion; or even the league title. It’s what we all hope for at the start of the campaign.
Matters become a lot more complicated when your destiny isn’t completely in your own hands. In fact, that way madness lies; events in another match dictating whether or not you are going to be having a full-throated celebration on the final whistle.
County’s record in this situation is not bad - it’s DREADFUL! Take a look at our history…
Halifax (A)
Saturday 5 May 1990
Division Four
County needed to win and hope that Southend would drop points at Peterborough in order to clinch the third and final automatic promotion place. Danny Bergara’s men were a goal down at half-time, but turned things around with late goals from Chris Beaumont and Ian McInerney. The travelling fans - with numbers in excess of 3,000 - piled onto the pitch at the final whistle as rumours spread like wildfire that Southend were losing. They had in fact won, meaning County missed out on promotion by a single point. Eight days later a 4-0 defeat at Chesterfield ended our play-off hopes before the second leg had even kicked off.
Result: Fail.
Swindon (A)
Saturday 4 May 1996
Division Two
One of the lesser-remembered ones. County were away to runaway champions Swindon on the last day. A win, and a couple of other results falling County’s way, would allow us to sneak into the final play-off spot. It was a dour 0-0 draw, results did not go our way, and we ended up finishing ninth, three points and three places off the play-offs.
Result: Fail.
Luton (A)
Saturday 3 May 1997
Division Two
Surely some mistake here. This was County’s glory season. The season of all seasons. In fact, on the final day, County could still win the title. All we had to do was better Bury’s result. In the end, neither result went County’s way. Bury beat Millwall 2-0 at Gigg Lane while we could only draw 1-1 at Kenilworth Road against the fake Hatters. County were already promoted, but had to settle for second place and the title of “Moral Champions”.
Result: Fail (but not really).
Darlington (A)
Saturday 5 May 2007
League Two
County had to win at Darlington on the final day and rely on other results going their way to get into the play-offs; the most important being Bristol Rovers not winning at Hartlepool or Shrewsbury losing at home to Grimsby. County certainly did their best, smashing five past the Quakers. However, further up the north-east, an 86th minute winner from Rickie Lambert (remember him?!) secured Bristol Rovers’ place in the play-offs, with Shrewsbury joining them thanks to a point at home to the Mariners. County lost out on goal difference to Shrewsbury.
Result: Fail.
Kidderminster (A)
Saturday 20 April 2013
Conference
A black day in County’s history. Three points needed from our match at Kidderminster, but we also needed either Tamworth or Gateshead to slip up. County embarrassed themselves on and off the pitch and both Tamworth and Gateshead won.
Result: Double fail.
Gloucester (H)
Saturday 29 April 2017
National League North
Strictly speaking this doesn’t belong in here because for once, another team did us a favour, but it was such an emotionally-draining afternoon at Edgeley Park I’ve included it anyway. Chorley started the day occupying the final play-off place, two points ahead of County. With a better goal difference, a win for the Hatters in front of a record-breaking National League North crowd of 5,783 would see them overtake Chorley, as long as they failed to beat Halifax. Chorley lost 2-0, and Danny Lloyd’s second half penalty had Jim Gannon’s men in the play-offs for a quarter of an hour, before a heartbreaking Gloucester equaliser.
Result: Epic fail.
I’ve been going to Edgeley Park for decades now, and it’s a heck of a lot quicker - and a lot more accurate - to get results from other matches when you’re inside the ground these days. I’ve seen it go from someone with a radio, to someone on the phone with a mate watching Soccer Saturday, to instant updates on an app like Flashscore.
Personally, I really only want to be paying attention to one match - the one in front of me. That’s stressful enough. Worrying about another match that’s being played at the same time is far worse. So on Monday, my attention will be firmly on what’s happening at Edgeley Park. Although if thousands of radios or mobile phones explode into life with news of a 90th minute Tranmere equaliser at Prenton Park, you won’t hear me complaining.
Did you go to any of the half a dozen games mentioned by Sandy above? Can Tranmere do us a favour by beating Northampton? And what’s your favourite way of keeping up to date with scores from other games? Click on the button to leave your comments.
Need a new carpet?
One of our sponsors is Kingsway Carpets. Established in 1985, the family-run business have a huge selection of carpets to suit all budgets and there’s no hidden extras – the price quoted is the price you pay. They also have a team of experienced fitters who will expertly lay your brand new carpet perfectly. If you’re in need of a new carpet, give them a call and they’ll have you sorted out in no time.
Visit kingsway-carpets.co.uk for further details.
Photo of the day
An app on Mark Smith’s mobile phone, and subsequently Twitter
If you’re finding this season’s League Two promotion battle stressful as a County fan, spare a thought for what it’s doing to the manager. Look at what’s happened to Dave Challinor! Our esteemed leader was fine a few weeks ago, but a couple of draws at Gillingham and Carlisle later, Chally’s now getting mistaken for Joe Biden when he nips to The Friary for his chippy tea on a Friday.
Check out @countyfanzine on Twitter to see what Mark’s inflicted on some of our poor players.
Today in SK
🥃 With Sky Sports announcing they’ll be showing live coverage of County’s final day showdown with Hartlepool, things are starting to feel very real aren’t they? If you need a few drinks to settle your nerves on this Tuesday night, we recommend heading to the Nelson Tavern (SK1). The Nelson have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £4.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £2, and 3 for £6 on Jägerbombs.
🔫 Come on you Gunners! The Premier League title race is probably over now, but you never know what might happen. At least Arsenal can possibly inflict a little bit of pressure on City by returning to the top with victory over Chelsea tonight. Bask (SK1) will have all the action on their big screens from 8pm.
Never mind Google or Yell.com, we’ve got you covered
STOP! That got your attention, didn’t it? Just a quick one… I’d hazard a guess that at some point in May, all of our readers will use Google or Yell.com at some point looking for a particular product or service. But before you do, please have a quick look at our own directory to see if we have what you’re looking for. A number of great businesses support The Scarf My Father Wore, allowing us to publish fresh content every day, so let’s send a few enquiries their way in return.
Click here to have a look at all the businesses in our directory.