Be the pundit

Team Name: Leamington FC

What game did you see?: Leamington FC vs Romulus

LEAMINGTON 4 v ROMULUS 3 - Midland Alliance Saturday 23 December '06

There are many contenders for the best game of football I've ever seen, such as Liverpool's comeback from 3 goals down to win the Champions League on penalties, England vs Holland in Euro 2000 and of course the 1966 world cup final, but the game that I will always think of as the very best will be this one.

Much of the time, as a football supporter, the heart rules the head and as I don't support Liverpool and I'm not English my heart takes charge and puts this game right up there at the top of the pile.

Verian Thomas

Romulus were second in the league table and still quite capable of pushing on and winning the league. Leamington were 13 points clear in first place, 19 matches unbeaten and were on a 14 game winning run.

Sometimes before a game there are omens, portents of doom that can turn even the most optimistic fan into a pessimist.  All the while on the way to the game I was telling myself that the unbeaten run had to end sometime and that it would be just typical if it were to end at home to Romulus who were fielding former Leamington player and a bit of a legend, Richard Adams.

Adams had left Leamington for Redditch, of the Conference North, but had failed to hold down a regular place in the team. After an extended trip abroad and, in a search to regain fitness, Adams temporarily joined Romulus and the hope of many supporters that he would have returned to Redditch by the time Leamington and Romulus were to play each other were dashed as he ran out in the red & white of the Roms.

In fairness to Richard Adams, he didn't celebrate the goal although his team mates did with obvious relish.

The portents of doom that I had worried over were becoming a reality but I took hope from the fact that Leamington were playing exceptionally well and there was a fighting spirit there, heads didn't drop and if anything they stepped up the pace.

I didn't have to wait long for the portents to once again be relegated to the back of my mind as Martin Thompson hammered home a John Adams cross to level the scores at 2 -2 on 43 minutes. Now that really was the perfect time to score.

superstition

At half-time I ate my traditional bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, without which the team would end up losing. It's one of those superstitions that has grown in importance over time. I ate one at the first match I went to, which was a win, and then the next, another win and so on and so forth. The special magic of the dairy milk has rarely let me down and has provided something along the lines of a 90% chocolate to win ratio.

The second half began with a lot of pressure being put on the defence by the Roms and it paid off for them with a free kick by Fagan on 73 minutes.

Luckily Ben Mackey had been substituted on for Josh Blake on the hour and in a moment of inspired football left a defender for dead and slipped the ball past the keeper. This only a minute after the Roms had taken the lead.

They must have wondered quite what they had to do to win this game having thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Leamington (and if there was one about it might have been thrown as well).

I would have joined in with the crowd singing 'Ben Mackey is magic, he wears a magic hat" etc but had shouted so loudly as the ball hit the back of the net that I think I probably did a bit of damage to my vocal chords.

I would have been happy not to lose and a 3 - 3 draw would have done just fine but football has a way of adding a twist to proceedings and this game finished with a wonderful moment as Dave Pearson, just on for Martin Thompson, sped down the wing and sent in a fantastic ball that was met by the head of Jon Adams to win the game 4-3. 3 goals in 4 minutes and win when a draw would have been a good result.

Needless to say I had another good shout when that winning goal went in but nothing much came out, or what did come out may have only been heard by dogs.

This game, for me, is what football and what Leamington FC are all about, a never-say-die attitude and the will to win.

Their heads never dropped and they never stopped believing and, like the players, there are fans out there on the sidelines who will never stop believing in the club either.

I know, I'm one of them.

What was your best ever Non League game? Send us the match report and we'll publish it.

Or, for a current game, why not pick up the phone and leave a message on the Your Non League Shout line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Leave your match report and we'll try to use it on the show - so keep it clean!

CALL 020 7 208 92 77