There are some days when you wish you hadn't got out of bed. This was one of those days...
ACCRINGTON STANLEY 5 BARROW 2 Northern Premier League Premier Division 29 March 1995 by Michael Gibson
I thought I'd be able to have a trouble free journey by catching the 13.40 train from Euston. In theory I should have had plenty of time to reach Accrington. However, things started to go wrong as soon as I arrived at Preston. The scene at the station there was organised chaos with trains to and from Scotland running anything up to three hours late. The reason - arsonists had set fire to a lineside building south of Lancaster which had damaged the overhead power supply which in turn meant that only one track was in use. I can only hope that nobody living in Barrow intended to travel to Accrington by rail as all the trains between Barrow and Preston were either cancelled or running very late. This has implications for me as the train I was due to catch to Accrington normally set out from Morecambe and was unlikely to run. But to be fair, British Rail did find some spare rolling stock and provided a replacement service, which got me into Accrington just over an hour before kick-off. As it was the first time I'd been to the town, directions to the ground from the Non-League Directory were required: 'Through town centre on the A680, turn right into Livingstone Road, approx. 500 yards after Victoria Hospital, one and a half miles from railway station.' This may have been of some use had I been travelling by car or plane, otherwise the directions were as much use as a pair of football boots to Eric Cantona before October. Thankfully, despite some idiot giving me directions for Peel Park (stupid p®¡¢#!) and walking halfway up Mount Everest, some friendly locals pointed me in the right direction and I finally reached the Crown Ground. The game itself was at best an embarrassment and at worst a disgrace. Barrow's midfield appeared as though they were legless after downing half a dozen pints, while the defence were legless in terms of mobility (or lack of it). Those of you of a nervous disposition are advised to skip the next bit. Sloppy defending gifted Accrington a goal on the stroke of half time. The Barrow defence failed to clear the ball properly and Andy Johnston came out of his area in an attempt to rectify the mistakes of the back four. However Barrow were dispossessed and Johnston, in a state of hyper-flap, tried vainly to race back to his goal line only to see the ball fly over his head and into the net. Keep skipping, for Accrington went further ahead a couple of minutes into the second half straight from a free kick on the edge of the area. A few minutes later they scored again... and again... and again... but thankfully that last one was disallowed for offside. Okay, you squeamish people, it's safe to begin reading again now, for Barrow were given a ray of hope when a Parillon header reduced the deficit, albeit against the run of play, and Whittaker scored Barrow's second with just five minutes remaining. But normal service was resumed when Accrington were gifted a fifth goal in the last minute. Returning home wasn't much easier than getting to the game, The train service in Preston still wasn't back to normal and one unfortunate soul who had just witnessed this debacle at Accrington had missed his last train home and had to go back to Wolverhampton by taxi. The situation wasn't much better for anyone going back home to Barrow as the last train, which should have gone at 22.40 didn't leave until sometime after midnight. Surprisingly my train back to London was on time and I was indoors by 7.00 the next morning. Issue 023 - August 1995