Last Friday

On May 2 I went to the Blue Square Premier play off semi-final between Burton Albion (managed by Nigel Clough, son of the legendary Brian Clough) and Cambridge United. Andy was on the line with my old friend Aidy Holmes. Traffic was terrible and we arrived just a few minutes before the required time of arrival for the match officials. The game started at a cracking pace and I thought poor Aidy was going to be shattered with 3-4 offsides occurring in his half in the first 10 minutes. The game settled into a pattern of Cambridge possession and Burton counter attacking and we somehow dragged through to half time with the score at 0-0. I met Brian Little, ex-Leicester City manager at half time and also saw Neale Barry, Head of Senior Referee Development for The FA sitting a few rows behind me (I was two rows behind the Cambridge dug out occupied by the manic Jimmy Quinn).

In the second half Burton took the lead and doubled it with a kick from the penalty mark a few minutes later. As play switched down the other end we had the talking point of the whole game and it involved Andy...

A shot from close range was blocked by a Burton defender standing a few feet off his goal line. He turned his body, raised his right arm to midriff level and played the ball away. Andy was quick and confident in raising his flag. A few protests later, the goal was scored from the penalty mark and Cambridge equalised with flighted free kick from 18 yards. The game had been screened live on Setanta TV and by the time we got back into the bar, they were showing endless replays. It didn't look like a good call by Andy but as we talked about it in the car on the way home (and Mr Barry said so), we were happy that it may not have been 100% but around 85% certain. I got home at midnight absolutely shattered. I'd forgotten how exciting a game in a ground full of fans could be!