Man City v Spurs FA Cup final replay, 1981
It's a midweek game so we took the day off work to prepare. And we duly went on the piss for the day. It's fair to say we were hammered by the time the game started.
It was 1-1 at half time and we went to the bar. We came back just to see City take the lead so back we went to the bar.
It becomes a bit hazy after this but having lost my mates I re-emerged just in time to see Ricky Villa score the equaliser. It was one of the great goals at Wembley particularly in the context as he had been substituted in the final the previous Saturday.
The celebrations were wild, as you would expect, but something didn't feel right. It was just an equaliser after all but the fans were celebrating as though it was the winner.
Anyway, as the 90 minutes nears the Spurs fans start whistling for the ref to blow time. I couldn't get my head round this. Why are we whistling for extra time?
Finally the ref blew his whistle. The Spurs fans are ecstatic, jumping around and hugging each other. It's only extra time, FFS, but I joined in, peer pressure and all that. But I could see the players were also celebrating.
I couldn't let it go and asked a Spurs fan near me why wasn't everyone getting ready for extra time? I can still see the look of incredulity on his face. He explained patiently - as though he was talking to the village idiot (which in hindsight....) - that Garth Crooks had equalised and Villa's goal had put us 3-2 up, which in fact had proven to be the winner.
It made sense now. Somehow whilst I was in the bar I hadn't heard the Spurs roar when we equalised. So the context and significance of Villa's goal was lost on me. And so were the celebrations at the final whistle. One of the great days in our history and I didn't really appreciate it.
Looking back, I suppose the only good thing I can say is I was there - in body if less so in mind.