Much has been said about the 1990 play-off second leg, with Marco and Co taming the Mags. Not so much is known about the game between the sides that took place three days before.
To set the scene, we're in a similar place now to where we were then, promotion hopefuls in the second tier of English football after finding our feet well following promotion a couple of years earlier. We ended up pipping West Ham to the final play-off spot and were rewarded with a double-header against them up the road, who'd finished three places and six points above us in the food chain.
Getting a ticket for the first leg was always going to be a challenge, living down south as I did in those days. Our ground had once held more than 75,000 but around a third of that would be squeezed in for this one. And giving the Roker End to the Mags was going to test my usually reliable ticket sources further. I drew a blank but decided to drive up anyway and rely on luck on the day. A couple of mates fancied it as well, so the three of us found ourselves around the back of the Main Stand an hour or so before kick-off sniffing around for spares. We got lucky, paying a tout a few quid over the odds, but nothing stupid. Two of the seats were together in the Fulwell wing of the Clock Stand, one was right down the other end, which we knew would be populated by a few Mags. Thankfully I didn't draw the short straw.
The game itself was largely forgettable and edgy, the foreplay before the St James' orgy a few days later. Organisation and tightness were always likely to be the watchwords of the day. They maybe edged it but we were largely resilient, although had little to get really excited about until the closing seconds at a warmish, windyish, rammed Roker.
Barely a soul had left when Marco went down right in front of us and a penalty was given. After the inevitable protests (and there'd have been plenty from us if they'd been awarded one like this at their place), Paul Hardyman stepped up to take it. Our left-back was largely dependable from the spot and, not being as heavily invested in this one as much as the local lads in our team, was arguably a sensible choice to keep a level head and get the job done. Unfortunately he saw his shot blocked low to his right by John Burridge, who was quick to scoop it up at the second attempt. Undaunted, our left-back carried on his run and booted Burridge in the head with a similar strike to the one he'd connected with the ball a few seconds earlier. It was a bad decision.
Hardyman was sent off, the game ended soon after and many a police officer muttered something in Hardyman's direction as they prepared for a tense hour or so trying to keep a lid on things. The Roker wing of the Clock Stand was the 'liveliest' part of the ground, to put it mildly.
When the three of us regrouped after, the mate who had watched it all unfold from that area was still in a state of shock. He was the red and white side of neutral but a bigger fan of QPR and escaping unscathed from violence, so describing trying to look simultaneously pissed off yet joyous at the award of the spot-kick, then Hardyman's failure to convert it, dependent on who was staring at him, wasn't what he had in mind. There wasn't a shirt or scarf to be seen and, given the lack of clues, he reckoned he hadn't read it right, that no one appreciated his acting ("swishing arms" apparently) and that he'd done well to get back to the car without getting ripped to pieces.
When our laughter died down, the immediate reasoning was that we'd missed our chance, that it was advantage Newcastle. It didn't turn out like that of course. The replay has gone down in folklore, and even though we ballsed it up in the sunshine at Wembley, still ended up getting promoted. Just one of those rare, beautiful seasons, when things turn out just as we hope they do.
It didn't last. We went straight back down. At least the QPR fan had the last laugh though, he was back at our place with me the following season when they edged a horrible game on Grand National Day which put another nail in our coffin. At least he could enjoy this one.
