BORN OTD: PAUL HARDYMAN

Paul Hardyman, 62 today, will forever be remembered by those of a certain vintage for a moment against the Mags in May 1990.

A few days before the memorable night at St James' when Gates and Gabbiadini took us to Wembley, there had been a tense contest of few chances at Roker. In the last minute, we were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Hardyman, his effort was saved low to his right by keeper John Burridge, and the ball briefly ran loose. Hardyman carried on his run, brought his foot back and took aim, despite later admitting Burridge had scooped the ball up "about half an hour" earlier. Budgie was thankful his head didn't end up in the back of the Fulwell net, our left-back got a red card and the atmosphere, already lively, was raised another notch.

I have another memory of Hardyman, more niche, which happened towards the end of an action-packed 4-3 win over West Ham a couple of months earlier. The game, one of the best I saw at our old ground, is better remembered for being the day a young star shone brighter than ever. Kieron Brady was unplayable that day and had put us on the brink of victory, when they pulled a goal back. The Hammers' Martin 'Mad Dog' Allen went to retrieve the ball, closely followed by Hardyman. Again, footage of the game exists, and gives plenty of glimpses of our man's quality. Sadly, it cuts off just as the crowd noise and glances of players trotting back to their own half reveals that things were getting a bit spicy in the back of the Roker End net. You had to be there to appreciate the tear-up - luckily I was in the Roker End that day and had a ringside seat.

Our man himself painted a good picture of the incident, the era, and himself, when he told ALS a few years back: "It was quite funny. He's gone running into the net to get the ball, I got him by the throat and said 'put the ball down, you ain't going anywhere'. We had this confrontation and he put the ball down. Then I heard him say to George Parris 'do him' and soon after I went in for a 50-50 and he did do me. I remember thinking 'shit, that hurt' and although I tried running it off, Denis (our manager, Smith) saw I was injured, so I had to come off."

Trust me, the word 'confrontation' massively downplays the tear-up, but Hardyman added: "I never portrayed myself as being a hard man, I just gave 100 per cent, but I didn't like people taking the piss."

Funny as these stories were, they don't tell the whole story of a popular and well respected left-back, who had a lovely left foot. Five of his nine goals for us were penalties and although one that was missed is best recalled, the ones he scored were crackers. Hammers keeper Ludek Miklosko, subject of the original 'Big Man, What's Your Name' chant, couldn't get near one in that seven-goal thriller.

Hardyman joined us from hometown club Portsmouth in 1989, and played more than 100 games for us before giving us a £30k profit when he joined Bristol Rovers three years later. Left out of our FA Cup final line-up a few months earlier, his reason for leaving was personal - his mum had died a few weeks and he wanted to return south. The fact he was offered more money by the Pirates made it an easy decision. It also says plenty about where we were as a club at the time.