Best and Worst in the same game award...

[Spaceman Spiff]

The game that springs to mind for me, where I experienced the abolsute highs and absolute lows in equal measure was:

Charlton Athletic The Valley 2 Apr 94 4-3 defeat Ansah (2), Hunt


We'd gone 3-0 and were dead and buried... PT brought Ansah on to give us a bit more bite up front, and Andy duly obliged with 2 goals, Hunt scoring another to bring us level with only a few minutes to go... then of course we let another in to lose the game

Memorable for another reason cos I sat next to Alison Moyet

 

[A loyal supporter]

A game which springs to my mind is last seasons home game against Boston.

We were sensational in the first half and it was 3-1 at half time (if memory serves me right). Second half we were absolutely shocking (after a Buzz half time talking to). Boston were all over us but we managed to hang on win 4-2.

A game of two halves definately.

 

[tomasufc 4eva]

Being young I haven't been a shrimper for as long as some of you so I can't vouch for earlier than '95 but I think last game of last season away at Grimsby mainly due to the last two or three minutes where we thought we were up, only to come crashing back down to earth when we found out Bury hadn't scored.

 

[SouthUpperYellows]

Quote[/b] (tomasufc 4eva @ June 17 2005,15:43)]Being young I haven't been a shrimper for as long as some of you so I can't vouch for earlier than '95 but I think last game of last season away at Grimsby mainly due to the last two or three minutes where we thought we were up, only to come crashing back down to earth when we found out Bury hadn't scored.

This game also gets my vote

 

[fbm]

Definitely Newport in Dec 1977.  We were total toilet for 81 minutes, Newport were 2-0 up and people were leaving.  Then, Tony Hadley nodded in a free kick and the atmosphere changed.  With 3 minutes to go we had equalised, and in the 90th minute went 3-2 up.  Newport took the kick off, knocked the ball forwards and it was intercepted by us and played to Gerry Fell, who raced onto the ball and hit an unstoppable drive into the corner to make it 4-2.  The crowd hadn't stopped cheering from the 3rd goal when that one went in!  Amazing comeback and talked about for years and years.

 

[Slipperduke]

I'll go for the home match with Orient in 02/03, a couple of seasons ago. It was the best of times after about 20 seconds when we opened the scoring, yet the worst of times when nothing, literally nothing, happened for the next 89 minutes.

I don't want to get greedy or anything, I'm always happy to beat Orient, but by Christ that was a boring game of football.

 

[Rusty Lee]

Best in recent times was Hartlepool away in the FA Cup replay think it was 2003.

Hartlepool 1 v 2 Southend.

1-0 down and 30 sec left and we turned it around

Facing a nightmare journey home turned into a conga down the motorway on a Wednesday night

 

[McNasty]

Quote[/b] (fbm @ June 17 2005,15:59)]Definitely Newport in Dec 1977.  We were total toilet for 81 minutes, Newport were 2-0 up and people were leaving.  Then, Tony Hadley nodded in a free kick and the atmosphere changed.  With 3 minutes to go we had equalised, and in the 90th minute went 3-2 up.  Newport took the kick off, knocked the ball forwards and it was intercepted by us and played to Gerry Fell, who raced onto the ball and hit an unstoppable drive into the corner to make it 4-2.  The crowd hadn't stopped cheering from the 3rd goal when that one went in!  Amazing comeback and talked about for years and years.

Was that nearly 30 years ago ? I can remember that finish as if it was only 28 years ago.
That is the one game I have in my fading memory more than any other, and you are right, it was talked about for years. Trouble is , I cant remember much of what happened yesterday. Who am I ? Where am I ?

 

[londonblue]

Best and worst for me was a 3-2 win at home to Hartlepool in about 1985.

We took our normal seats in the East Black (although they were benches at the time) only to be surrounded by all the Hartlepool fans. I use the word fan in it's loosest sense. From the 1st minute to the last, every time Richard Cadette got the ball there were all kinds of racist comments and, of course, the moronic monkey noises.

So, on to the game itself. It was awful, there were no goals until the 43rd minute when Hartlepool scored. Richard Cadette equalised in the 44th with a shot from an impossible angle, from pretty much right in front of the Hartlepool "fans" (which just led to more abuse for him), but Hartlepool scored again in the 45th.

The second half has a non-entity, except for the constant abuse hurled at RC. Anyway, in the 91st minute RC scored again, also from an impossible angle, and in the 92nd minute John Gymer (on as a sub) scored the winner.

All I remember is walking out of the ground happy that RC had rammed the abuse back down the throats of the worst fans I have ever come across in the best possible fashion.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

16 Oct 1999 - Southend v. Shrewsbury

First half, we were all over them, taking them to pieces. 3-0 up inside 35 minutes through Tolson, Carruthers and Tolson again. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "we could get at least 6 here, this lot are terrible!"

The Shrews pulled back one before half time, a second after the restart, and spent the rest of the game camped in our penalty area. We spent the whole of the second half clinging on for grim death.

How they failed to equalise - or indeed win - I'll never know. But I remember walking out after the game, puffing the cheeks out and thinking how lucky we'd been to scrape home with the 3 points.

And that's not exactly what I was thinking after 35 minutes...

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

Boxing Day clash at home to Reeach & Development. 2-0 down at HT. By FT 4-2 Winners!

 

[BoyWonder2]

Quote[/b] (The Flying Scotsman @ June 17 2005,16:48)]Boxing Day clash at home to Reeach & Development. 2-0 down at HT. By FT 4-2 Winners!

Yup, that is up there for me along with;

The already mentioned Boston game, Leon Cort ended up with a hat trick but we were very lucky second half after a cracking first half.

Also, Darlington. 2 nil down at half time, then 3-2 winners in the end. Gower capping off the scoring by sticking the ball in th far right hand joint.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

The other weird game of one side dominating, and then the other side, was our away trip to Hartlepool in Dec 98 (which made my top 10).

About 50 or so hardy souls were gathered in a bitterly cold Victoria Ground.  I recall thinking that there were very few of us there, and yet they'd still run out of pies - ridiculous.  Anyhow, my mate Hawkesey and I had been well fed & watered by my mate Chris's parents, who lived in Hartlepool and with whom we'd stayed the previous night.

Anyhow, the game kicked off... and we were diabolical.  Truly desperate.  The first ten minutes of the game was a succession of Hartlepool corners - they must have had 5 or 6.  After numerous spurned chances, they finally scored.

Then, well... who knows why or how it happened.  I can't explain it.  The only way I can describe it is as if a fairy flew over the ground, swished her wand, and changed the teams around... so that the one that had been playing really well started playing dreadfully; and the collection of donkeys (us) turned into thoroughbreds.

The fairy in question was the rotund figure of Scott Houghton, who showed us that day how he had once played for Spurs.  Almost single handedly, he tore 'Pools to shreds.  They simply didn't know how to deal with him.  He trundled up the wing, shimmied past a couple, and slammed in the equaliser.  He put through a lovely pass, and there was Buzz Newman to put us ahead.  In swung a corner, and there was Fitzpatrick to stick in a boot in the melee.  3-1 to the Shrimpers at half-time.

We were almost too stunned to sing.  Confirmation of our arrival in cloud cuckoo land was confirmed mid-way through the second half as Barry Conlon stuck away our 4th.  No one looked more surprised than he did.

And with that... the spell was undone; the carriage had turned into a pumpkin and Cinders' ball-gown was in tatters.  Suddenly, we were a bucket of ordure once again, and at 4-1 to Southend, the only team who looked like they were going to score was Hartlepool.  They pulled one back, hit the bar, and had a fairly solid-looking penalty turned down.  Thank heavens they'd left their comeback too late.

A truly bizarre and a truly amazing game.

Matt

 

[shrimper4life]

Whay about swansea away when we were 8 men down and still won!!

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

My nomination is March 1999, home v Hull City.

Awful game, feeling really down about our prospects, only to later to experience great relief on finding out that Alvin Martin had been sacked.

Otherwise the 4-3 at the Valley.

 

[fbm]

For those who were there, howsabout this one:

Tuesday 28/1/97 - Southend v Crystal Palace.

The Eagles had already thumped us 6-1 at Selhurst Park and we were 23rd in Div 1 (this was our relegation year).

Andy Thomson scored in the first minute past a Palace "rookie" youngster keeper who came hurtling out of his goal for some reason to the touchline in front of F block in the West. Thomson beat him to it and curled the ball into the empty net from the touchline at a really acute angle.

From then on all heads were turned towards the South Bank as Palace literally lived in our half, and mainly in and around the penalty area. Dougie Freedman missed a penalty and we somehow reached the break still 1-0 up.

The second half arrived and I had moved up to the South end of the West stand and spent 44 minutes with my feet up, facing the North bank and watching the action in the distance as Palace still lived in our half. Then, with about 25 mins left, they equalised. If it were possible, they upped the tempo further. I remember Leo Roget throwing himself in the way of everything in an inspired performance. Unfortuantely, fitness was a huge problem with us that season and our lot looked overweight and tired, which by and large is exactly what they were. Then, in the very last minute we broke down the Palace right, Rammell (I think) crossed deep to the far post where Jeroen Boere headed the winner.

The crowd didn't so much cheer as laugh. I stopped at the Harry for a post match drink and there were 3 Palace fans in there who were moaning like mad. I found myself apologising to them whilst laughing at the same time and in the end bought them a drink by some sort of recompense. One of them took huge delight in telling me over and over again that there wasn't one player other than Roycie who he would even want in their squad, let alone their team. I just reminded him of the score and said it was payback time for all the times when they had beaten us and not deserved it.

Still, we were crap and I have yet to see a more one sided game in my life.

 

[A loyal supporter]

Quote[/b] (The Flying Scotsman @ June 17 2005,16:48)]Boxing Day clash at home to Reeach & Development. 2-0 down at HT. By FT 4-2 Winners!

I thought it was only myself that called them Research and Development . Great game tho

Anyhoo, driving home I remembered the game against Bury at Gigg Lane in October 2002.

Two down and the Graeme Jones had his best afternoon in a blues shirt by running onto a lose ball and heading it past the oncoming Bury keeper. I think we won 3-2 but its all abit of a haze. Could've been 2-2!

 

[tomasufc 4eva]

I'e just remembered another one, Rochdale ( or Rotherham ?) at home about 5 years ago. 3-0 down at half time and managed to pull it back some how to three all, then with just seconds remaining, Leo Roget leapt highest at a corner and..... hit the cross bar! Great game though.

 

[andrew_sthnd]

its got to be the playoff final in cardiff this year! building up to the game i was a bag of nerves - would we beat the curse of the millenium stadium or lose dramatically and spend another year in the basement league. the game wasn't , if we are being honest, the greatest football ever played and when it came to 90mins and we still hadn't scored i was distraught. But then in the 106th minute my mood changed from suicidal to a feeling of ecstasy! We had scored!! Then four minutes later i was going mental as jupp put the ball into the back of the net to take us into league 1

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Grimsby away, i was so down, knowing it was not goin to happen, then someone exclaimed that Bury had equalised, so it was a huge high, only to be back down to the earth, with confirmation that that had not happened