Gricehead

"Hello, I'm the new Celtic Manager!"

It sounded good, and it got me quite a few friends down the pub. To be honest, it was a winner with the lasses as well, and to my shame I used it more than once. But in the cold, or rather very warm, light of an August day, as I sat with one of the club's representatives for a home friendly against inferior opponents, the truth of the statement hit home to me.

As we went 4-0 up in the first half hour, I looked at the inane scribblings on my notepad. It was time to put names to faces, or at least to numbers.

"Who's the number 9, he looks quite good?"

"Leon Kelly. Promising young forward..."

I didn't let him finish his sentence before butting in. "Yes, he took the penalty well. And he can score with his head as well! At least the club has something going for it."

"For a couple of months anyway" replied the official.

"You what?"

"If you'd let me finish, I was about to say he's on loan until the end of September. From Cambridge."

"Arse." I replied, scribbling out a note I had made. "Don't tell me that number 7 is on loan as well?"

"No. Richard Peacock is one of our summer signings, from Lincoln. He's 29 and has plenty of experience. He's two good for this level of football, but Lincoln had to trim their squad."

The referee blew his whistle for half time. I joined the official who had sat with me in the bar. We had a pint and discussed some of the other players.

"The right back looks OK." I said

"Chris Perkins? He's another experienced league footballer, and he can play either side as well."

"Not so sure about the left back. Any chance of seeing another option there?"

The official called over another blazered gentleman and whispered a message to him. He rushed off in the direction of the dressing room. I called him back. "We may as well see our other options up front, seeing as Kelly's only a short term solution." The man nodded and disappeared.

"Let's get back to it!" I suggested.

The stadium announcer's microphone crackled into life. "Substitutions at half time. Replacing number 3, Andrew Scott, is number 12, Dominic Crookes. And replacing number 10, Gerard Courtney is number 18, Winfield Steele."

I was settled in my seat just in time to see Kelly convert a Peacock cross for his hattrick. The crowd were going wild. "Centre backs look OK, especially number 5."

"On loan." my new friend prompted.

"Until September?" I asked.

"No, Oldham will let us keep Ben Futcher until the end of November."

"Oh, well, let's be thankful for small mercies shall we."

***

Fifteen minutes to go, and I had seen enough to make me realise that there weren't many more strong points to identify. At least, given the current FA rules, I wasn't going to unearth any more loan players. As I was studying my notes I heard the referee blow his whistle, and the crowd jeering and booing. I looked up to see the physio helping the right back (Perkins? Was that his name?) off the pitch.

"That's not good." My new friend commented. It was the first piece of information he had voluntarily given me all afternoon.

"And why might that be? Other than the fact the poor guy has obviously got a bad knock of course."

"Er. Cover is a bit, er, light in that department."

"Great."

***

The final whistle was blown, the crowd cheered and applauded both sides from the pitch (the visitors had performed above their standard to keep us to one goal in the second half) and I folded away my notebook. Turning to my rapidly departing chaperone I asked, "Incidentally, why were there only 8 subs on the bench?"

Without turning round he answered, "That's yer lot."

This was no ordinary Celtic.

Gricehead

Notes: If you think you've read this before, you might be right. The original version has been inexplicably lost from the board at some stage within the past three months or so. This can be viewed as a "Complete and Uncut" version, in that it has material not included in the original, and editorial changes in places as well.

Although effectively a repost, I hope those that read the original enjoy the extra material and edits, whilst any new readers simply enjoy the experience. If I'm allowed a moment of big-headedness, the first two seasons or so of this story are my best work. It's not just a matter of reposting, either, as there are two new seasons to the storyline, which should see it brough to conclusion.

This is done with Raptor's blessing. Thanks, Mark.

Now, enjoy!

Gricehead

I was less than happy to find out that Stalybridge Celtic, my new baby, my project to try to steer into league football, had a squad strength of 20, including the two loanees. I was absolutely fuming to find out that one of the clubs main assets, a young goalkeeper by the name of David Fish, had been sold the day before the friendly match in an attempt to balance the books and make the club a viable proposition. Apparently the buoyed finances had appeased the league's auditors, but they didn't do much for me. The club was still nearly £150k in debt, a sum which, quite frankly, we might just recover if we sold the entire squad at market value.

The available pool of players was reduced to 18 as Peacock picked up a training injury, and to be quite honest there wasn't any point making anything other than enforced changes for my first competitive game in charge. Fortunately substitute striker Matt McNeill popped up with a second half equaliser to salvage a home point.

Conference Game 1. 18th August 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Dover 1 McNeill 65 / Carr 2

The players were shocked by the pace of the game in this division. Shocked into absolute knackeredness, and captain Steve Bushell and his midfield colleague Mark Stuart were too tired to play. I would be having words with the coaching staff. If I ever found them. The two of them would have to make up the numbers on the bench, of course. At least Peacock was back. In a thrilling game we were 1-0 down in the first minute, 2-1 up only to be pegged back to 2-2 a minute later, then 3-2 down but managing to pull off an equaliser.

Good things: 2 more goals for McNeill, some promising set piece play, Futcher proving he can score as well as defend, a good performance from Peacock and, of course, we're still unbeaten.

Bad things: The players were horrendously unfit. Especially Peacock. And there was another game to come in 4 days.

Conference Game 2. 21st August 2001.
Doncaster 3 Stalybridge 3 Milligan 1 Barnes 43, 69 / McNeill 23, 42 Futcher 80

I was asking for volunteers by the following Saturday. Everyone was tired. Well, everyone apart from the two players who I had decided wouldn't get a game unless every available person in Stalybridge town was declared crippled. It's not good when one tenth of your squad aren't fit to grace a football field. Anyway, as everyone was uniformly knackered I fielded 10 out of 11 of what I was beginning to see as my strongest squad. Perkins being the absentee, obviously.

It was Kelly who decided now was the time to show his quality, with another goal from a corner. And defender Matt Williamson led the back line to our first clean sheet of the season, claiming the man of the match award along the way. Still unbeaten, and maybe things aren't as bad as they first appeared

Conference Game 3. 25th August 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Forest Green 0 Kelly 42

I've always been taught to stick with a winning formula, so it was unchanged again for another midweek game. Again we went down to an early goal, and had no sooner equalised than we conceded two more. We, or rather Matt Woods, got one back, but we couldn't find a third. And we managed to get yet another injury, with fringe player Ged Murphy getting a knee strain.

Conference Game 4. 29th August 2001.
Hereford 3 Stalybridge 2 Piearce 5,24 Robinson 29 / Kelly 21 Woods 45

Gricehead

Into September, and amazingly we bounced straight back with a home win. I was impressed not only with how the first team were managing to stay healthy, but also how the goals were getting shared around. This time it was captain and man of the match Bushell's turn to get both goals, and our turn to get the early break.

Conference Game 5. 1st September 2001.
Stalybridge 2 Hayes 1 Bushell 1,31 / Clark 23

Unbelieveably, we had to head off to the Lancashire coast as soon as Monday for another game. Peacock couldn't believe it either, and told me there was no way he would be fit. Matt McNeill agreed. I told them both to sit on the bench and not to be surprised if they were on in the second half. Even with both of them playing half an hour we were pants, but somehow kept the score respectable.

Conference Game 6. 3rd September 2001.
Southport 1 Stalybridge 0 Grayston 47

At least playing on the Monday game me some free time in the week to pursue other matters within the club. It was time to swell the playing ranks, but also to bring a little bit of quality into the backroom staff. So 41 year old midfielder Steve McCall and 37 year old left back Neil Pointon joined as player coaches. Neither expected to play too often. Assistant Manager David McMahon and Coach Paul Lodge turned up to welcome the newcomers and show them the ropes, and in a fit of pique at the state they had let the club get into I dismissed both of them on the spot.

Steve McCall had a shock for me though when he refused the Assistant Manager's job. It wasn't as big a shock as Pointon got when I told him to put on his boots and play as, to be honest, he couldn't be any worse than incumbent left back Scott.

It was a long but worthwhile trip to Kent. Courtney had been begging all the way down the motorway to be given a chance, and to be honest I told him he could start just for a bit of peace and quiet. He repaid me with his first two goals of the season and walked off with the man of the match award. I was gobsmacked. Peacock and his replacement Parr both got their first of the season as well.

Conference Game 7. 8th September 2001.
Margate 0 Stalybridge 4 Peacock 25 Courtney 38,57 Parr 68 (Margate's Paul Lamb sent off, 46)

Keeping up the run of two games a week saw us playing an across-Cheshire derby at Northwich. With Mark Stuart tired and his backup still injured, Steve McCall was told to hunt out his boots as well. It wasn't the most stunning performance of his very long career, even he will admit.

Conference Game 8. 11th September 2001.
Northwich 2 Stalybridge 1 Barnard 10 (pen) Garvey 80 / Kelly 57 (pen)

Gricehead

More backroom changes as Tony Barratt took up the Assistant Manager position. whilst Spencer Field took up the Scouting role, with Ben Heywood leaving in the same taxi. With that sorted, I could concentrate on preparing for the visit of bitter local rivals(!) Chester. Courtney proved that the Margate trip was indeed a one off, putting in a second poor performance in a row, with Leon Kelly attempting to no avail to keep us in the game single handedly.

For a couple of weeks I had been expressing disbelief at the number of premiership players who were popping up in the conference on loan. I vowed, as a joke, to keep an autograph book for those we met in action. This game allowed me to start that promise with my first autograph. Kevin Kilbane. He had a stinker by the way.

Conference Game 9. 15th September 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Chester 2 Kelly 10 / Wright 12 (pen) Spink 50

At last we had a full week between games. However, this was not a good thing as I started thinking about how to tweak our playing style and formation. Thus, for the visit of Barnet, Crookes replaced Williamson in defence, Bushell took up Woods' defensive midfield role, and Parr (who was starting to show unhapiness at his bench warming role) came in. It wasn't, shall we say, a complete success. Bushell and Crookes had nightmares, and Woods couldn't perform when he came on either. Parr did little better, and got himself booked in the process. However, we looked to have grabbed a shock win until giving away another penalty.

Conference Game 10. 22nd September 2001.
Stalybridge 3 Barnet 3 Courtney 5 Stuart 58 Futcher 72 / Gower 13 McNiven 28 Midgley 83 (pen)

I tossed and turned the rest of the weekend away, and finally came to a concious decision that there were enough positives drawn from the tactical switches to try them again in midweek. Mark Stuart didn't think so, and declared himself unfit for the game. He was told in no uncertain terms to put the number 15 shirt on, sit down and shut up. Whether it all worked, or whether Leon Kelly just wanted to put himself a bit more firmly into the market place doesn't really matter. Three points does. As does returning to the top half of the table, just.

Conference Game 11. 25th September 2001.
Telford 1 Stalybridge 2 Fitzpatrick 19 / Kelly 67,90

Leon Kelly's Stalybridge fairwell was a disappointing affair. 1800 turned up, and they'd managed to concoct a banner between them which the lad appreciated, but the game was lost. The new tactics still weren't working as I wanted them to, and we were conceding for fun. Gerard Courtney's run in the side was probably coming to an end as well, as he broke a toe in the first half.

Conference Game 12. 29th September 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Yeovil 2 McNeill 49 / Alford 53 Crittenden 69

Leon Kelly (Stalybridge: 1/8/01 - 31/9/01) Played 12 Goals 6 Assists 3 MoM 1 AvR 7.58

Gricehead

October started with a cup draw, and we were awarded a tricky away tie at Unibond League Emley in the FA Cup Qualifying round. There was a week to contemplate this, and for me to start negotiations with a whole gaggle of youngsters that Mr Field had identified as worth talking to, before our first league fixture of the month. I also started giving some thought to a replacement loan signing, so Tony Barratt and I paid visits to a couple of local Premiership sides' reserve fixtures. We weren't made overly welcome at either Manchester United or Liverpool, and we couldn't find Everton's training ground. All too soon the free week was over, even my birthday having passed without time for more than a quick beer.

There were murmurs of dissent from the stands as the fans lost patience with my persistent sticking with my tactical changes, and I was beginning to wonder if they were right as we conceded another soft goal. We picked up a potentially disastrous injury, just to make things worse, in the second half as Steve Heaton crumpled in a heap. Batty (did I mention our keeper is an international? OK, so it's only New Zealand. OK, and it means we'll miss him a couple of times in December. Oh ****, there aren't any other keepers at the club!) kept the score down and was the only player to have a decent game. With a makeshift attack of McNeill and Winfield Steele we never really looked like scoring.

Conference Game 13 (unlucky for Steve Heaton). 6th October 2001.
Woking 1 Stalybridge 0 Patmore 45

Our impotence in front of goal focussed somewhat my search for a loan player, and as non of the league clubs were playing ball (answering the phone would have been a start) I turned to look at options closer to our own level. Just in time to be registered for the cup game on Saturday, Steve Darlington arrived from fellow conference club Farnborough. I told concerned fans, who had been expecting a slightly higher profile signing, that this was a strictly short term arrangement, but I wondered if I was really trying to convince myself.

We made the familiar trip to Emley's Welfare Sports Ground as firm favourites for once, a position the Celtic had been unfamiliar with on past visits. However, we travelled without an acknowledged right back - a friend of the chairman had drafted his son along to aid the cause, and the chairman claimed he could actually play. So why, I had to ask, isn't he actually playing for someone? I suspected a "business deal" or a "favour" at work... In other team news, Woods returned to the side, but it was Bushell, not Parr, who dropped to the bench. Darlington started up front.

The game started well, with eventual man of the match McNeill doing the necessary and putting us in front inside 2 minutes. Jubilation was short lived, as Jason Batty signalled to the bench that he couldn't continue. No other keeper at the club (I might have mentioned that before) never mind on the bench meant it was time to draw lots, and it was Steele who pulled on the jersey. I spent the rest of the game worryingly partly about the outcome of the game, but mainly about what we were going to do without Batty in forthcoming games. Somewhat inconsequentially Peacock grabbed a second before half time, and the defence saved Steele the bother of getting his hands dirty by restricting Emley to no shots on target. We were through to the first round, however I didn't join the lads in celebrating, as I had other matters to attend to. The physio said 3 weeks for Batty, which our fixture list said would mean 2 matches missed, or 1 at best. Some sort of relief there at least.

FA Cup Qualifying Round. 13th October 2001.
Emley 0 Stalybridge 2 McNeill 2 Peacock 39

Number 56, Stalybridge Celtic, were drawn against number 17, Reading, in the televised first round draw for the FA Cup. This was where the television people started to take notice, and this was the big chance. Reading were no mugs, though, and it would be a very tough match. Of less interest was a home draw against Margate in the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy.

For some reason, known only to the sadists at FA Headquarters, after cramming midweek games in at every opportunity, we now had only one fixture in the next 25 days. Arriving in the intervening period before the 27th were the first tranche of what I hoped would become the future of the club:

Mark Peters, an 18 year old striker released by Southampton. Strong, fast and agile, the youngster had yet to pick up the killer instinct, but he was bound to get chances in this division. He would need to be introduced slowly into action.
Andrew Cameron, a 20 year old Scottish "traditional" winger released by Swindon. Cameron had the finishing skills I would have preferred to see in Peters, but also had tremendous pace and skill on the ball. Plus he could use either foot, a rarity in this division.
Darren Bastow, aged 20 and with two years experience already playing for Plymouth in the centre of midfield. Creativity is a strong point, but tackling isn't, so given our currently weak defence Bastow might find it rather difficult to see action.

There would be others. In time.

Eventually, it was time to play football again. The break had done us good as we welcomed back Heaton and Perkins for the short trip to the Lancashire resort of Morecambe. Another of the Chairman's acquaintances produced a relative with a pair of goalkeeping gloves, so Gareth Griffin became the latest temporary Stalybridge player. Before kickoff I went out onto the pitch and, in front of the band of travelling supporters, ceremoniously tore up my tactics sheet. Bushell and Woods would be back in the side, and we would play the style of football we started the season with.

If the fans thought this meant getting back to winning ways, they were going to be disappointed. Fast. Alleged keeper Griffin flapped helplessly at a strong shot early doors, but to be fair he had a decent game apart from that. Futcher had a stinker, but Bushell showed he was happy with things, getting the equaliser in first half stoppage time. And that was that, as we slipped to our lowest league position to date.

Conference Game 14. 27th October 2001.
Morecambe 1 Stalybridge 1 Arnold 9 / Bushell 45

Gricehead

Thus ended October, and with the arrival of November came another new signing:

Straight off the streets of Glasgow came Kevin Aitchison, a 19 year old creative midfielder. He claims to play in the centre, but early impression suggest that his strength lies in crossing the ball, so he might find himself getting used to a new position or two.

Next up in our rapidly unfolding season were 10th place Scarborough. As optimistically predicted, Batty was fit to return and with Courtney claiming fitness as well all of a sudden I had a theoretical strongest eleven to field. As an even bigger bonus, Andrew Cameron's performances in training demanded that he be given a place on the bench. So I was quietly confident at kick off. Rightly so as it turned out as Bushell claimed another goal, a man of the match award and a great deal of praise from me for a cracking captain's performance. Crookes popped up to claim his first goal since signing from rivals Northwich Victoria in the close season. Cameron's half hour of action was an anti-climax by the way.

Conference Game 15. 7th November 2001.
Stalybridge 2 Scarborough 0 Bushell 4 Crookes 40

Despite my initial intentions of nursing my youngsters through training and reserve football for an extended period of time, it was becoming clear that I would be unable to ignore them for long. Cameron continued to astound the coaching staff, despite his poor performance on his debut, and Peters was also making a name for himself. Both would be on the bench for the visit of Boston United. Darlington for Courtney would be the only change. There was little between the teams on paper in terms of league position, and on the pitch there was nothing at all to seperate us, although there might have been were it not for a superb all round defensive performance, led by man of the match Crookes, and a "Roy of the Rovers"-esque winner from substitute Peters, on earlier than expected for an ailing Darlington.

Conference Game 16. 10th November 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Boston Utd 1 Peters 63 / Weatherstone 28

We could now forget about the league for the rest of the month, and prepare for two cup ties, and the chance to earn some cash for the club. Finances weren't bad. We were still in the red, but we weren't losing any more money. It was time to welcome another bright young face to the Fold as well:

At 17, John Willoughby was the youngest of my signings, and the Scottish Outside Left could probably look forward to a long period of training before making much impression on first team activities. He was fast, but he had a lot to learn about ball control. The lad was the hardest worker I had seen in training though.

With the squad now bulked out a little, it was time to think about trimming the wage bill. There were net savings to be made, as all five youngsters had signed low value part time contracts. So a couple of the relatively high earners who had failed to impress were made available. Unbelievably, people were queueing up to sign them, and agreements were quickly reached for Steve Wood to move to Queen of the South for a whole £1k (a bonus as far as I was concerned, as he was one of the "players" who would never have played under me) and James Turley to leave for Universidad de Oviedo for £10k once the international window opened in December.

Steve Wood (Stalybridge: 1/8/01 - 18/11/01) Played 0

Gricehead

Unexpected news came via a phone call from the Farnborough manager, ex Ireland international Ray Houghton, to say that they had accepted an offer from Southern League side Crawley Town for Steve Darlington. Somewhat shocked, I managed to persuade him to stall them until after the Reading match on Saturday, but it looked like I would be out and about looking for more loan signings a bit sooner than I expected.

The visit of Reading, the biggest in my short career, meant that Darlington would get a better send off than the undeniably different class Leon Kelly got. 6451 fans, 49 short of capacity, packed the ground as cup fever took hold of the otherwise depressed Cheshire town. Futcher dropped to the bench after a couple of less than impressive performances, and Williamson was given the chance to stand tall. And stand tall my boys did. The southern professionals soon showed that they didn't fancy the driving rain and muddy pitch at the Bower Fold and we battered them constantly throughout the first half. You would have struggled to tell which team were the league outfit, and not because of the mud on their shirts! The breakthrough came just before half time, and it was fitting that captain Bushell was the one to head home a sweet cross by McNeill. The single goal was enough as the Royals stuttered their way through another 45 minutes, longing for the final whistle to come. The crowd went wild when the referee finally brought proceedings to an end. The perfomance could be neatly summed up with the award of the man of the match to the Reading keeper.

FA Cup 1st Round. 17th November 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Reading 0 Bushell 41

I let the lads, who had performed well across the board, off the leash a little as we drank the club bar dry along with those faithful fans who had the season tickets which allowed them access. There was a brief pause in the celebrations as on the portable TV in the corner the picture cut to FA headquarters for the Second Round Draw. Number 56, Stalybridge at home again, would play number 72, Barrow AFC. A brief murmur of anti climax before the bar erupted again, realising that this was a big chance to progress to better things in the third round. There was a knock on the door - the Sky man, looking bedraggled in the rain, wanted a quick interview about our giant killing and the next round. What could I say? I praised the lads, of course, but there were other games to worry about before Barrow. And there was a send off to give Steve Darlington that will ensure he remembers Stalybridge for the rest of his career...

Steve Darlington (Stalybridge: 7/10/01 - 19/11/01) Played 4(1) Goals 0 Assists 0 MoM 0 AvR 6.80

And other things, such as this mythical loan player spot I needed to fill. Fortunately, I hadn't signed anyone (not that they were queueing up to sign, you understand) when Batty took me to one side after training one afternoon and reminded me that he was due to ship out to his native New Zealand during December for their vital World Clup playoff matches. Turning my attention to the now urgent goalkeeping situation, I persuaded 34 year old Stuart MacKenzie, ironically another ex Farnborough player, now with Isthmian league Hampton & Richmond, to come up north for a stint between the sticks.

The Trophy was always going to be an anti climax after the Cup, and I think we were all suffering from a slight hangover when Margate arrived. Having gone out of the cup, they wanted the game more, and they beat an unchanged Stalybridge side by a single first half goal against the run of play in front of just 800 albeit drier fans. A disappointing end to the month, and a disappointing end to an otherwise successful loan spell for Ben Futcher, who sat out the game on the subs bench.

FA Trophy Second Round. 24th November 2001.
Stalybridge 0 Margate 1 Graham 30

Ben Futcher (Stalybridge: 1/8/01 - 31/11/01) Played 17 Goals 2 Assists 0 MoM 0 AvR 6.71

Futchers departure left me with another loan spot to fill, and a distinct lack of cover in defence. So I would be ending November doing what was rapidly becoming commonplace - watching meaningless reserve fixtures at cold, wet, miserable stadiums in the hope that I could catch the attention of some probably overpaid, underperforming wannabe professional footballer. It's easy to be a cynic at times like this.

Gricehead

December started busily, and with 7 games scheduled it looked like it would carry on that way. On the 1st of the month alone I spoke to my keeper after New Zealand's 3-0 defeat against Brazil, and welcomed two more youngsters into the club. Batty sounded depressed, not so much at the loss, but at not being picked. Apparently, two home-based players had been given the shout. The new players, signalling the last of those initially recommended by Mr Field, were:

Phillip Salt, a local lad. At 22 years old, somewhat of a veteran really considering my other recent signings. Released from his professional contract by Oldham he was surprisingly anxious to sign part-time terms, but I wasn't complaining. The lad looked good in training, but he'd not be pulling up any trees this season, unless injuries and suspensions struck hard.

And finally, Mike Lewis a 19 year old Welsh right back. Again, signed mainly as cover and one who should definitely not be troubling the statisticians this season.

And all that before we welcomed Stevenage to the Bower Fold on the afternoon of the 1st! Stu Mackenzie made his debut, whilst a training injury ruled out Stuart with Steele taking his place. Peacock walked away with the man of the match award, mainly for popping a perfect ball onto Gerard Courtney's right boot just after half time. Unfortunately, the defence fell asleep in the last minute and conceded a headed goal to the unlikelily named DJ Campbell. You can understand why the guy picked such an unusual monicker when you find out his real name is Dudley Junior. Oh dear. Still, not a bad result against the 2nd place team.

Conference Game 17. 1st December 2001.
Stalybridge 1 Stevenage 1 Courtney 48 / "DJ" Campbell 90

Wonders never cease. Not only was I welcomed into Oakwell for a Barnsley reserve game, but I was even allowed to approach Keith Brown with a view to a loan move. The £70k rated Scottish defender almost snapped my hands off, having played only once for the Yorkshire outfit in the last two seasons. Brown looked equally at home at left back and on the left side of the central defence. He would go straight into the side to face Barrow.

Also into the side came Phillip Salt for his full debut in the place of captain Bushell, and he soon snagged his first goal for the club after just two minutes. This was going to be too easy. But all of a sudden the visitors moved up a gear, and on the quarter hour mark they had equalised. For the rest of the first half, and the first 15 minutes of the second our on-loan stopper earned his meagre corn as the lower league side had the best of the play. It was clear that Woods was not happy out there, and so I had to bring him off, but the bench was full of youngsters and now was not the time to be blooding a new player. However, Darren Bastow stood up well, even though he wasn't involved in the winning goal - another piece of solo brilliance from Peacock. Mackenzie deservedly won the man of the match award.

FA Cup 2nd Round. 8th December 2001.
Stalybridge 2 Barrow AFC 1 Salt 2 Peacock 87 / Duerden 14

The Sky cameras joined us in the bar for the 3rd round draw, presumably to gauge our reaction, although there were 7 other non league sides still in the competition. Maybe their managers were getting the same treatment! Everyone wanted a big club, but there were only so many to go round. We weren't going to get Manchester United, as the poxy red devils came out of the hat early with a home tie. Boston United would be celebrating, with a home tie against Liverpool, whilst Nuneaton would visit the other Merseyside premiership club. Halesowen would have a money spinning tie against neighbours Birmingham. It was becoming a big round for conference teams, as Morecambe pulled out an away draw at Charlton. Hereford vs Millwall marked the halfway point in the draw, and I realised I had been holding my breath the whole time. Taking a deep breath I took in the complete silence in the bar. You could, quite literally, hear a pin drop.

I filtered back into the tv just as Burscough were drawn away at Notts Forest and Chester drew Southampton at home. Only six clubs left now, and three of them were premiership sides. Four left, and two big boys. Then, it came.

"Number 47."

"That's Stalybridge Celtic, Gary."

"Will play number 11"

"That's Leeds United. Stalybridge will play Leeds."

There was a moment of silence. Then.

The.

Place.

Went.

Nuts.

Fans were hugging each other and standing on the tables. Chants of "we all hate Leeds" rang out around the bar. The players sat in awe of what they had just heard. They would be mixing it with one of the best teams in the North of England. I was just glad to see my team and my supporters enjoying themselves. Deep down I knew that there were a lot of games between now and the first week of January.

Daz the Imp

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gricehead:
_"Number 47."

"That's Stalybridge Celtic, Gary."

"Will play number 11"

"That's Leeds United. Stalybridge will play Leeds."_

There was a moment of silence. Then.

The.

Place.

Went.

Nuts.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I remember that bit from last time