The Experiences
My personal trawl through those memorable and infamous away days
Grounds I've been to with the Rovers(*=friendlies):
Aston Villa 1 Rovers 1
After a disastrous run of managers, 'Big' Malcolm Allison took over as our temporary Technical Assistant (or something stupid like that) and was at the helm for the 3rd Round FA Cup game at Villa. In the few days before, Big Mal got into a major War of Words with Big Ron, and horns were as equally locked on the pitch. Neil Cox put the Villains 1-0 up in the first half, and things looked bleak when they got a penalty in the second. Dean Saunders stepped up, struck it right, but Gavin Kelly got down and pushed it away. Soon after, Marcus Browning came on up front, and young Gravy slipped through the Villa defence and beat Spink with a great goal to level it. It ended one-each, but we got stuffed 3-0 in the replay.
Liverpool 2 Rovers 1
You get drawn against the best sides very rarely if you exist in the lower reaches of the league. Luckily, we had been filtered directly to the third round by virtue of being in Division One and after despatching Plymouth 5-0 at Twerton, we drew the giants of Liverpool, again at home, who were just falling from their infallible perch of the 1980s. We held them 1-1 in the sell-out game in Bath, with both Saunders scoring (Carl and Dean, after elbowing Jock) and the ref didn't give what was probably the most blatant penalty you've ever seen for a cynical leg-taker on David Mehew (or 'Meeehew' as Motty preferred on Match of the Day). After perhaps dominating most of the play, Carl Saunders notched what is an integral 'moment' in Rovers history as a lovely turn opened up the defence and he looped the ball over Bruce Grobbelaar into the top corner of the net. Rovers were leading Liverpool - at Anfield. We drowned the Kop out with relentless, reverberating choruses of Irene, before the raw diamond Steve McManaman was unleashed during the second half. He turned the tide, had our full-backs on the rack with his trickery on both wings and he scored one and set up the other if I recall correctly, and Souness' job was saved with a narrow 2-1 win. Funny that they should go on to win the Cup that year, cos if Boris had been awarded that penalty, we could have had Sunderland in the final too.
Wigan 3 Rovers 0
What a nightmare this was. A bitter Tuesday night in Lancashire just got worse and worse until you would have nutted a wall just for some light relief. Springfield Park was a living grave, with an away end that acted like a sacrificial platform where visiting fans were frozen alive as the wind was channelled straight towards you by the crumbling stands on either side. Even the sanctuary of the warm snack van was violated as they didn't sell pies - only £3 burgers where the buns were too small. The pitch carried a frosty layer as the skies couldn't decide whether to continue spitting icy drizzle or snow full-on. A silly error opened up the goal for Wigan to go one-up midway through the first half, and as the game neared half-time, ref Kevin Lynch decided he'd warm up the proceedings. Dave Pritchard slipped near the touchline and skidded into the Wigan winger, and Lynch brandished a harsh yellow card. Within seconds he'd lost his feet again defending the resultant throw-in, and Lynch decided he was off. The free-kick given for that "challenge" was then delayed as Graeme Jones, the Latics' hard-line frontman, butted Jason Perry as the mad Welshman wound him up. Perry's reputation as a bit of a loon often passed before him that season, and there was no change here - red for him, and Jones. What was even more baffling was why Lynch then called over Andy Tillson, who had been quietly admiring his tan some ten yards away, and flashed him a red card too. Three Rovers players off within a minute of each other, and all defenders. The second half was comic; Peter Beadle paraded around at left-back in a 3-3-1 formation, and Gary Penrice actually hit the post twice as the eight men carved open an obviously shocked Wigan side. Josh Low, the most mild-mannered player in Rovers history then contrived to hack at Roberto Martinez, and he joined the others in an overcrowded bath. The gates finally unhinged and two more goals flew in, but by then we were hysterically laughing under our frozen breaths, and mad smiles lit up the barren away end. We were well and truly Lynch-ed that night.
Birmingham City
Blackpool
Bournemouth
Brentford
Brighton & Hove Albion
BRISTOL CITY
Burnley
Bury
Cardiff City
Carlisle United
Chester City
Chesterfield
Crewe Alexandra
Crystal Palace
Derby County
Exeter City
Fulham
Gillingham
Grimsby Town
Ipswich Town
Leicester City
Leyton Orient
*Lincoln City
Liverpool
Luton Town
Millwall
*Mangotsfield
Newport County
Northampton Town
Notts County
Nottingham Forest
Oldham Athletic
Oxford United
Peterborough United
Plymouth Argyle
Portsmouth
Port Vale
Preston North End
Reading
Rotherham United
*Ryde Sports
*Scunthorpe United
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Shrewsbury Town
Southend United
Swansea City
Swindon Town
Torquay United
Tranmere Rovers
Walsall
Watford
Wigan Athletic
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wrexham
Wycombe Wanderers
*Yeovil Town
York City
WEMBLEY
Other Grounds I've been to, but not with the Gas:
Bath City
Brislington
Bristol Manor Farm
CARDIFF ARMS PARK
Castletown(ISLE OF MAN)
Chippenham Town
Manchester City
Steaua Bucharest
Stirling Albion
Yate Town
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