So...Where does it stand?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Got to take Crewe in JPT in cotenxt though. Compared to now or stuff we've achieved it's quite low. But at the time relatively new out the conference, new stadium. The place was rocking and the whole town was out

There's also Dover 5-4 which not many will remember  (not KM I know, but one of my first Rovers games) 

That Dover comeback showed that the club had a pulse; albeit a faint one.

Remember a mini pitch invasion after that one and keeping hold of the Green Un match report for many a year.

I've said before, that match was our "Sex Pistols at the Manchester Free Trade Hall" event. I reckon there's about 28,000 of us claim to have been there.

[roversdude]

Great post Pib.

That last paragraph. I've been thinking the same and I've come to the conclusion that it really does matter whether we make the playoffs. If we do, yesterday was monumental and would be the key moment in one of the greatest turnarounds in all football history.

If we don't, it was still a great moment but it wouldn't have meant so much in the end.

Go on lads. Make sure you build on that to make a record in history that no-one can ever take away from you. These chances are very very rare. Grab this one.

You've helped me order my thoughts, that have been all over the place since Saturday, and I agree with you.

Desperate for us to go on and finish the job, and if we do, we will definitely still be talking about Saturday's events in 20, 30 years time, just like we talk about Stoke, Mansfield, Brentford, and supporters older than me talk about QPR etc. Even if we get in the play-offs and win them, that last 10 mins plus added time on Saturday will be THE pivotal moment.

I've also been thinking about the type of goal that Biggins scored and whether that had an impact on the moment, and I think it did. Don't get me wrong, I'd still have gone apeshit if Haks had gone through on goal and rolled another one in, but there's something about the ball hanging in the air, waiting for someone to arrive on the end of it, and then a header crashing into the net that made it even more of a release of emotions IMO.

Last paragraph again Pib. I couldn't agree more.

I was reading somebody online a few weeks ago, who was musing on why football is THE most popular sport globally by far.

He reckoned it was due to the consequence of there being so few goals scored. As a result, a) matches are often very tight, even if there's a big gulf between the teams on basic ability, b) the outcome of matches hinges on a few key moments and c) tiny variations in luck and technique have huge consequences.

He reckoned the combination of those aspects meant that football was the closest sport to what we experience in our personal lives. The people who win through aren't necessarily the most talented. The success or failure of your life often hinges on key moments and decisions, like being in the right place at the right time to get the job that sets you off in a different direction, or meet that life partner who changes your life.

I think there's a lot in that - certainly the rarity of goals in football makes each one special and the big one at the right moment becomes overwhelming. Let's be reyt. You're not getting celebrations like Satdi at a basketball match are you?

Regarding the specific type of goal that Biggins scored, the brilliant author Bill Buford summed it up in Among the Thugs 30-odd years ago. He was an American living in Cambridge when he got bitten by the football bug. He vividly described the feeling of being on the terrace at Cambridge United and seeing a goal scored. He spent half a page describing the moment between a chance being created and the net rippling, and how time stands still and the rest of the universe becomes irrelevant for that moment. You hold your breath and wait to explode or be deflated.

He called it "Dead Time".

That was exactly the feeling when the cross left Rowe's boot and you noticed Biggins steaming in unmarked. Everything else in the world is irrelevant for that moment. It doesn't happen in any other sport.

Maybe that's a part of why Stoke can never be beaten, because we won it with a similar moment of Dead Time and it was a Golden Goal situation. If you think about that aspect in the overall context of what that game meant to us, it's just not possible to top it.

At Home With the Wrexhams. Get f**ked.

Ah but was it a golden goal lol ?

[Mike_F]

I completely agree wit the dead time thing but the one that I find it hard to top is Brentford.

It wasn't as significant as Stoke or Wembley but I don't think the swing of emotion from despair to euphoria over such a short time will ever be beaten. The dead time for me was between Copps taking his first touch which bobbled up off his shin and him making the second contact to "turn the ball into the empty net." I swear it was hanging there for about forty minutes, looking like the player with the best first touch I've ever seen at Donny may have shanked a tap-in wide before he sent us all into unbridled ecstasy.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

What happens over the next month will probably determine where we see Saturdays epic comeback.

There's more drama to come which might equal or surpass it. How will we then reflect on this potentially historic run in context with the rest?

We might reflect on it as a Mansfield moment but my reflection on that was a feeling of certainty that we were going to go up and it was just a question then of whether we could beat Hull to the title.

This has the potential to be a combination of ALL the drama we've witnessed rolled into one continuous ride of a few lifetimes. Crikey, are we prepared?

[Jonathan]

I completely agree wit the dead time thing but the one that I find it hard to top is Brentford.

It wasn't as significant as Stoke or Wembley but I don't think the swing of emotion from despair to euphoria over such a short time will ever be beaten. The dead time for me was between Copps taking his first touch which bobbled up off his shin and him making the second contact to "turn the ball into the empty net." I swear it was hanging there for about forty minutes, looking like the player with the best first touch I've ever seen at Donny may have shanked a tap-in wide before he sent us all into unbridled ecstasy.

Very true. The most surreal moment of my life I think (with no exaggeration at all). I was still jumping around wildly celebrating the penalty miss and totally oblivious to the break upfield when I suddenly saw Copps just in front of us about to tap the ball in and it was utterly crazy. I think we all just lost it completely in that moment, just screaming and unable to take it all in. Pure pandemonium in the away end. Was there any inclination to pause, think about climbing over the barrier to run onto the pitch to film myself breaking some rules? Was there f**k.

[Campsall rover]

Stoke obviously, particularly on the backdrop of the semis v Chester.

Desperate in the home leg. F*cking McIntyre....then Tristan Whitmans dramatic equaliser...set up for the away leg. Just could not kill them off. Step up Andy Warrington in the penalty shoot out.

We could be forgiven for being emotionally spent but Rovers coasted into a 2-0  lead in the final. What could go wrong now? Jesus wept. Extra time with golden goal at stake. Nothing will ever eclipse that...not only the winning goal but the realisation we were BACK.

I always wonder, if they hadn't introduced the second promotion spot, how long would we have been in the Conference? Doesn’t bear thinking about.

Then think about the JPT semi. Very similar to yesterday..Then the final, very similar to the conference final. 2-0 up and coasting? Ffs!

Since 2003, we do drama very well. And Netflix thinks Wrexham are box office? Pah!

You nailed it with that last sentence DBR.

Do we do drama well or what.

The worst for me was the Chester game away & penalty shoot out.
I was relatively calm in the Final at Stoke.when I say relatively, what I mean is I was actually in a bad way at Chester I got so worked up I thought I was going to give myself a heart attack.

The Leeds final will always be my favourite, Cardiff JPT was nerve wracking in extra time as was Stoke and the Golden Goal scenario of course but for sheer drama Brentford wins it hands down.

Yesterday was a bit like Crewe in the JPT semi 2nd leg coming back from 0-2 (5-3) down to win 3-2 (6-5)

But for sheer volume of noise when that 3rd goal went in then yesterday comes out top at the Keepmoat/Eco

No one mentioned Man City, Aston Villa & Arsenal in that fabulous giant killing League Cup run in 2005/06
They were very special nights at Belle Vue as was the league Cup game V Hull City in Nov 1975 which we won 2-1 in front of. 21.000 gate.
That is my 1st special memory which made me fall in love with Doncaster Rovers  after my 1st year working and living as a resident of this now great City. Billy Bremner becoming Manager in Nov 1978 just cemented what had started that night v Hull City 3 yrs earlier.

Sorry the last paragraph I diversify somewhat from the thread. Apologies. I do get carried away
It’s just my passion for this Football Club that gets the better of me at times.

Matches like the Barrow one on Saturday just re affirm why you love this game so much & DRFC

[tommy toes]

Agree Jonathan.
That few seconds between the ballhitting the crossbar and Copps putting it in the net were the most surreal moments of my life.
I was watching in a gob open trance.
Then absolute pandemonium,bodies all over the place.Grown men (me included)screaming like banshees.
It was THE moment for me.

[Alan Southstand]

This is the way to hammer Villa

[Campsall rover]

So to sum it up.

Conference Play off final at Stoke:  Most important.

Leeds at Wembley:  Most enjoyable.

Last game of season at Brentford.  Most dramatic.

[Petche]

Whitman’s equaliser in the play offs is a real stand out for me. Hard to explain but as a moment it even topped Stoke, which all felt a bit overwhelming. Likewise Wembley. The Andy Butler goal at Charlton was right up there too!

Sadly I still wasn’t feeling well enough to be there on Saturday but I can totally relate to the feeling for everyone that was. I must have watched it back a thousand times. I’m going to get to Gillingham no matter what!

Was going to post this same thought.
Whitman's equaliser in the dying minutes will always be my favourite moment in a home game, I'd never seen the place erupt like that before! It was also the catalyst for our decade of success!
Saturday's game came close though!

[turnbull for england]

Whitman’s equaliser in the play offs is a real stand out for me. Hard to explain but as a moment it even topped Stoke, which all felt a bit overwhelming. Likewise Wembley. The Andy Butler goal at Charlton was right up there too!

Sadly I still wasn’t feeling well enough to be there on Saturday but I can totally relate to the feeling for everyone that was. I must have watched it back a thousand times. I’m going to get to Gillingham no matter what!

Was going to post this same thought.
Whitman's equaliser in the dying minutes will always be my favourite moment in a home game, I'd never seen the place erupt like that before! It was also the catalyst for our decade of success!
Saturday's game came close though!

I don't think we'd have come from behind at Chester either, that goal was truly priceless

[JonWallsend]

I'm throwing Whitman v Chester in as well. The absolute  pandemonium that ensued and as mad as it sounds, I knew that we'd do it and go up. The atmosphere in that final moment for achieving  a draw will live with me forever and  as i recall the crowd was only on the region  of 6000.
I don't  think I've ever seen my dad go as mental as that at a game before or after. I wasn't there Saturday  but my dad and son were and they both have it in their best ever Donny games.

[DMnumber4]

Chester away. Never again. 

[Donnywolf]

Great post Pib.

That last paragraph. I've been thinking the same and I've come to the conclusion that it really does matter whether we make the playoffs. If we do, yesterday was monumental and would be the key moment in one of the greatest turnarounds in all football history.

If we don't, it was still a great moment but it wouldn't have meant so much in the end.

Go on lads. Make sure you build on that to make a record in history that no-one can ever take away from you. These chances are very very rare. Grab this one.

You've helped me order my thoughts, that have been all over the place since Saturday, and I agree with you.

Desperate for us to go on and finish the job, and if we do, we will definitely still be talking about Saturday's events in 20, 30 years time, just like we talk about Stoke, Mansfield, Brentford, and supporters older than me talk about QPR etc. Even if we get in the play-offs and win them, that last 10 mins plus added time on Saturday will be THE pivotal moment.

I've also been thinking about the type of goal that Biggins scored and whether that had an impact on the moment, and I think it did. Don't get me wrong, I'd still have gone apeshit if Haks had gone through on goal and rolled another one in, but there's something about the ball hanging in the air, waiting for someone to arrive on the end of it, and then a header crashing into the net that made it even more of a release of emotions IMO.

Last paragraph again Pib. I couldn't agree more.

I was reading somebody online a few weeks ago, who was musing on why football is THE most popular sport globally by far.

He reckoned it was due to the consequence of there being so few goals scored. As a result, a) matches are often very tight, even if there's a big gulf between the teams on basic ability, b) the outcome of matches hinges on a few key moments and c) tiny variations in luck and technique have huge consequences.

He reckoned the combination of those aspects meant that football was the closest sport to what we experience in our personal lives. The people who win through aren't necessarily the most talented. The success or failure of your life often hinges on key moments and decisions, like being in the right place at the right time to get the job that sets you off in a different direction, or meet that life partner who changes your life.

I think there's a lot in that - certainly the rarity of goals in football makes each one special and the big one at the right moment becomes overwhelming. Let's be reyt. You're not getting celebrations like Satdi at a basketball match are you?

Regarding the specific type of goal that Biggins scored, the brilliant author Bill Buford summed it up in Among the Thugs 30-odd years ago. He was an American living in Cambridge when he got bitten by the football bug. He vividly described the feeling of being on the terrace at Cambridge United and seeing a goal scored. He spent half a page describing the moment between a chance being created and the net rippling, and how time stands still and the rest of the universe becomes irrelevant for that moment. You hold your breath and wait to explode or be deflated.

He called it "Dead Time".

That was exactly the feeling when the cross left Rowe's boot and you noticed Biggins steaming in unmarked. Everything else in the world is irrelevant for that moment. It doesn't happen in any other sport.

Maybe that's a part of why Stoke can never be beaten, because we won it with a similar moment of Dead Time and it was a Golden Goal situation. If you think about that aspect in the overall context of what that game meant to us, it's just not possible to top it.

At Home With the Wrexhams. Get f**ked.

Ah but was it a golden goal lol ?

Good call Rd

I appoint you as my successor in the "It was a Promotion Goal"

And later your son and his son after him can carry on reminding people to look at the Second Page on.the Official Programme
 As far as I know we are the only Team to ever win via a Promotion.Goal

Yes I.know it worked exactly as a Golden Goal

I also know every Rovers fan at Stoke including me didn't give a Donald duck

But it's Historic and we should claim it along with the Promotion.and the end of a totally S****y episode IN our history

[Donnywolf]

https://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=246036.msg435325#msg435325

[GazLaz]

Got to take Crewe in JPT in cotenxt though. Compared to now or stuff we've achieved it's quite low. But at the time relatively new out the conference, new stadium. The place was rocking and the whole town was out

There's also Dover 5-4 which not many will remember  (not KM I know, but one of my first Rovers games) 

That Dover game was an absolute classic. The Chester away game is one of the very few “historic” games I’ve missed over the years. That and the Cheltenham loss back in the day that was a massive game at the time.

Stoke and Brentford will never be beaten for me.

[WheatleyRover]

I don't know, but this will always be remembered from this point forward as the 9 game slaying!

[Lesonthewest]

Got to take Crewe in JPT in cotenxt though. Compared to now or stuff we've achieved it's quite low. But at the time relatively new out the conference, new stadium. The place was rocking and the whole town was out

There's also Dover 5-4 which not many will remember  (not KM I know, but one of my first Rovers games) 

That Dover comeback showed that the club had a pulse; albeit a faint one.

Remember a mini pitch invasion after that one and keeping hold of the Green Un match report for many a year.

I've said before, that match was our "Sex Pistols at the Manchester Free Trade Hall" event. I reckon there's about 28,000 of us claim to have been there.

Now that game was some comeback v Dover, was at the game & it was unbelievable, never forget my brother in law just running down to the halfway line from the Rosso end of the popside when the winner went in! Yesterday however meant more regarding importance, was an absolute joy to witness with my wife, 2 sons & relatives, absolutely fantastic experience.

For what it's worth, for me, it's Stoke 1st, Wembley 2nd. Cardiff 3rd. Yesterday will move to 3rd if we make the play offs!!