So, the big day had arrived in the town of Hednesford, and some younger players, managers and fans of non-League football would be thinking why, if you are drawn at home, would you play the game away at the opposition’s ground?
Twenty years ago, many non-League clubs would switch their ties to the opponent`s ground, especially if it was against a side from the top two divisions before it was outlawed by the Football Association.
More recently, Sutton United played at home to Arsenal and Marine AFC took on Tottenham Hotspur at their tight Rossett Park ground, but Keys Park, the home of Hednesford, was just not big enough to take a big crowd and there was more money to be made playing at the Riverside Stadium.
Many would argue that the club could always have boasted the day we played host to Middlesbrough, but the small town was still going to support their team no matter what.
The shops in the town were all decked out in the black & white. Over 60 coaches were hired to take the travelling fans, and on top of that, many went by car and train, bringing the support to around 5,000.
So, what about the team who had earned this day of history?
Well, they spent the Friday night at some posh hotel with the local Midlands TV in tow and, of course, all the media surrounding the place.
It was great for the players, the management team and staff, not forgetting the owners of course as you must savour the moment but some of the players in the side had seen and been through all this with their professional clubs.
When I was on the management team of the Surrey FA for five years, staying at all the nice hotels around the country, I can relate to that kind of special treatment.
Now onto the Riverside Stadium and the game itself, and in those days, top clubs did not carry such big playing squads as they do nowadays, so Boro were always going to put out their strongest team, especially with their manager Bryan Robson having a true winning mentality.
It certainly was going to be a mountain to climb for the Pitmen as included in the Boro line up were some top-class players such as Juninho, Fabrizio Ravenelli, and recent £4 million signing Vladmir Kinder.
The Hednesford fans, all 5,000 of them, including the halfway liners, were massed behind the goal ready for kick-off.
The game started and for a short while there was not much happening but slowly Juninho started to pull the strings, but Scott Cooksey in the Pitmen goal dealt with all that came his way.
To be fair, all of the Pitmen tactics of close marking were starting to pay off and Juninho was now going to be the villain as he brought down Joe O’Connor to concede a free-kick which was charged down, only to break to O’Connor, who fired the ball past Ben Roberts to put the Pitmen into a shock 1-0 lead to great celebrations from the visitors` end.
Could there be a big upset on the cards or were the Boro going to find a way back into the game?
Well, they did find a way back, albeit in rather fortunate fashion as a foul by Gary Fitzpatrick led to a Middlesbrough free-kick finding Mikkel Beck who headed goalwards only to see Colin Lambert turn the ball into his own net.
The tempo of the game was now rising fast and tackles from both sides were flying about, keeping the referee rather busy. He kept his cards in his pocket though, unlike today where yellow cards would have been dished out with virtually every tackle.
Despite all of this, we did see one last bit of action before half-time when Brazilian star Emerson unleashed a 35-yard strike that saw Cooksey make a great catch.It was 1-1 at the break and all to play for in the second half but it was going to be a very tiring 45 minutes for the part-time Pitmen players.
Bryan Robson’s team talk at the break had the Boro players flying out of the traps with efforts from Juninho then Ravenelli and Emerson, but again Cooksey was equal to it all, but it was now becoming a case of how long could the visitors hold on before Middlesbrough went ahead?
Hold on they did, however, and such was the respect shown for Joe O’Connor that Gianluca Festa (the man from Milan) was given the task to mark him so tight so as not to let him slip through on goal.
Hednesford had to make some changes as players were now getting really tired as the hosts came onto them wave after wave and in the end something had to give.
Emerson found substitute Ja-Aage Fjortoft who showed his class by turning and firing the ball past Cooksey into the net to put Boro 2-1 up and left Hednesford with a massive hill to climb to save the tie.
But such was Hednesford’s pride and passion for the day they kept going and O’Connor was desperately unlucky when he rose to head the ball past keeper Roberts, only to see the ball hit the post and rebound clear.
Maybe, just maybe, the game wasn’t` over yet. But with 2 minutes to go, the `silver fox` Ravenelli got on the end of a cross from Emerson to put the game to bed.
Again, the Pitmen refused to lie down and when substitute Brendan McNally picked up the ball on the right-wing and played it into the box, O’Connor was first to the ball and headed it past Roberts as the travelling fans went wild with delight.
It was all too late, however, despite a great effort from the Pitmen, who were a great advert for non-League football.
The Hednesford players swapped shirts with some of Middlesbrough’s famous names on parade that day and deservedly did a lap of honour which was well received by both sets of supporters.
Hednesford would have other days of celebration and times of misery but that is non-League football.
Like all great days, they become just a memory, but it will live long in the history books of Hednesford Town and their great day at the Riverside.
Just to finish off ironic it was that Middlesbrough did go on to make the FA Cup Final but were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea.
Even more disappointing they were also relegated from the Premiership.
The friendship between the two clubs continued and in later years and Middlesbrough came down to Keys Park to play a few pre-season friendlies.
<3> (Micky Taylor`s excellent book `Non-League Football - A Roller Coaster Ride To Beat Any` is available to buy from Amazon priced £8.35 (Kindle version £3.39. All proceeds to Cancer Research)
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