ROVERS REMEMBERED

The Great Escape April – May 1986

After another promotion near miss in 1985, the 1985-86 season started off promisingly with back-to-back wins against Lawrie McMenemy’s new Sunderland and eventual Division Two Champions Norwich City. In fact they were the last team in the country to lose its unbeaten record and by the end of October they stood in 2^nd place and another tilt at the big time bandwagon beckoned….until the wheels fell off…the goals dried up and despite knocking Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest out of the F.A.Cup in a memorable Third Round Replay the Rovers won just three matches from the end of October until they found themselves coming to the end of April looking over the precipice of returning to the Third Division. With just three games to play the Rovers lay in 18^th place, just above the relegation zone. Of the teams below them, Sunderland were two points behind with a game in hand and Carlisle were three points behind with two games in hand and a disastrous midweek home defeat by fellow strugglers Huddersfield Town looked like another nail in the coffin of Rovers season. They had forgotten how to score, let alone win. It was said that if any of the Rovers forward line had been John Lennon’s assassin, he would still be alive today. Their next opponents were mid-table Sheffield United, who included in their line up the likes of Ken McNaught, member of the Aston Villa Championship winning side only five years previously, the predatory striker Keith Edwards, a prolific striker who would score goals all through his career, albeit all in the lower divisions and colourful goalkeeper John “Budgie” Burridge. Not intimidating certainly but they didn’t need to be with Rovers current form. Their previous meeting was an entertaining 3-3 draw Bramall Lane so this game may have promised goals, “Budgie” Burridge wasn’t quite expecting to be so busy….. 

………..the action started after just 24 seconds, the team that couldn’t score suddenly hit gold. Amazingly it was Sheffield United who kicked off but wasted possession immediately by just hitting the ball towards the wing as far up the pitch as possible, hoping that one of their players would receive the ball in an advantageous position. It failed miserably by going out of play and immediately the full back Jim Branagan made a quick throw to centre-forward Chris Thompson, who had made himself available in the Rovers half of the field. He immediately turned and passed to ball out to the wing where Ian “Windy” Miller was waiting. The full back Smith had backed off, thinking he had his man covered but he was caught out by the sudden burst of speed of Miller and he was away down the touchline with Smith trailing in his slipstream. As Miller was streaming down the touchline, Rovers legendary record goalscorer Simon Garner was tearing down the centre in anticipation of what was to come. This was Miller at his best and just before he reached the by-line he crossed a perfect ball over onto Garner’s head. The header was bang on target, Burridge remained rooted to the spot and could only watch as the ball arrowed its way into the net. It was a goal of such simplicity but executed with such lethal precision it galvanised the team and they simply swept Sheffield aside. On the half hour local lad Mark Patterson made it two with a stunning volley and they reached half time with a 2-0 lead.

              As the second half started we awaited the Sheffield fight back and would the Rovers be able to resist and claim a crucial victory. The answer was Rovers continued were they left off and the massacre continued… Chris Thompson cut through the static United defence to make it three….just before the hour mark it was four, Garner pound Patterson in space and another inch perfect cross was converted by Simon Barker. It was now the biggest win of the season, beating a 3-0 victory over newly promoted Bradford City way back in October. Patterson got his second of the game with the goal of the game as he bent a shot with pace that again made goalkeeper Burridge an unwilling spectator.

              Sheffield eventually broke into the Rovers half of the field late on and in a rare attack Keith Edwards raced through to claim his 200^th League goal, a personal chink of light in what was a stunning defeat for the blades. United even further contributed to their miserable afternoon by getting a man sent off late on and to really rub salt into the wounds, Mark Patterson completed his hat-trick from yet another Ian Miller cross. It was an amazing performance considering what had gone before as they had lost their last five home games on the run. For once they had struck first in a game and coming so soon it stunned United and the quality of the goal seemed to destroy the mental barrier that the Rovers had created about their inability to win a game of football.

                There were now only two matches left to save themselves from the drop. The next match was at promotion chasing Charlton Athletic and the Addicks duly clinched a return to the top flight, brushing Rovers aside 0-3. This left the final two relegation places to be decided between the Rovers (46 points), Shrewsbury Town (48), Sunderland (47), Middlesbrough (45) and Carlisle United (46).

                On the final Saturday Shrewsbury beat Middlesbrough 2-1 to guarantee their safety and send the Boro down, Sunderland beat Stoke City 2-0 to clinch their spot in Division Two next season. The Rovers were at home to Grimsby Town, who were promoted with Rovers back from Division Three in 1980. Carlisle however were in the last relegation place but they had two games left to play, at home to Charlton on the Saturday and on the Monday night they had to travel to Oldham to play their last match after everybody else had completed their fixtures (in those days it was common for teams to complete their fixtures after the last day of the season if they could not fit them in. It wouldn’t happen today).

               The biggest worry was that even if the Rovers won their final fixture their destiny was not in their own hands because if Carlisle beat Charlton (now partying after their promotion) would know what they needed at Oldham to send Rovers down. Fate was to lend a hand though, in the early afternoon a deluge of rain cause the Ewood Park pitch to become flooded and the match against Grimsby would be called off at the last minute and moved to the Monday night, the same time as Carlisle’s match at Oldham. To add to the drama, Carlisle then threw away a 2-goal lead to lose 2-3 at home to Charlton and Rovers destiny was back in their own hands, if they matched Carlisle’s result on Monday they were safe…

……….The atmosphere before the match was full of tension but Rovers got away to another flying start, this time it took 42 seconds to break the deadlock with a goal almost identical to the opener against Sheffield, only this time Garner’s header from Miller’s cross was saved this time but he managed to prod home the rebound and score his 100^th League Goal for the club. The relief was evident all around the ground but unlike Sheffield, Grimsby were made of sterner stuff and fought back to equalise only four minutes later. A corner from the left has headed home by an un-marked Kevin Moore to get the nerves jangling again. As the first half went on the news came through that Carlisle had taken the lead at Oldham and a draw would now send Rovers down. They fought back and regained the lead after 32 minutes when Simon Garner got clear and sent over a cross to Chris Thompson who then set up David Hamilton to smack it home and Rovers reached half time in front.

              Carlisle were still leading at Oldham but if Rovers could hang on they would be safe. They then suffered a horrible attack of the jitters and were nearly made to pay for it when a mix-up between Glenn Keeley and goalkeeper Vince O’Keefe let in Gordon Hobson who should have put the Mariners level but didn’t and Rovers breathed again.

              With just over fifteen minutes to ago Hamilton sent Garner away into the penalty box and Phil Bonnyman brought him down to give Rovers a penalty. Simon Barker stuck the spot kick away to give Rovers some breathing space. Almost at the same time the news came through that Oldham had equalised against Cardiff. The celebrations really started when Oldham grabbed a late winner to condemn Carlisle to relegation and Rovers were safe.

                At the final whistle the roars around Ewood Park were not only of celebration, but also simply of sheer relief. Even though Rovers had not been in the relegation places at any time during the season, it had been too close a call. If it hadn’t been for two early goals against Sheffield and Grimsby, combined with the weather and Carlisle losing their last two matches after leading in both of them, the Rovers may well have been relegated and in their precarious financial position at the time, could well have ended up in the wilderness for years and the glory days of Jack Walker and Premiership may never have happened. It’s also interesting to note that Carlisle themselves never recovered from the relegation and as I write have still never regained their status in the second tier of the football league 23 years on.