3 Games from our history that you could attend again

[PDX_Rover]

Bloody hell. Loads to mention but I'll go for:

(1) The Freight Rover away game at Wigan (1989?) where we got soaked and the away end was a mud bank. We won it through a Bruno goal in extra time. Brilliant for many other reasons that just football.

(2) The Play-Off Final at Stoke. Genuine emotion and the drive back to London that evening was joyous.

(3) A tie: Either the first game back in the League away at Orient. Scorching hot. A few ales and a fantastic game, OR the Mansfield moment game.

Happpppppy happpppppy days.

[donnievic]

Another 2

The 3-1 away win at Rochdale when Paul Crichton saved the twice retaken penalty each time year after or before the earlier Bruno hat trick game

1-1 draw away at derby in about 86-87 dougie scored for us with them equalising in 90th min before Andy Rhodes still had time to save a 94th min pen

[BillyStubbsTears]

Im going to mention 3 less obvious choices

1. Wigan away in the LDV 88-89 (i think) quarter final, we won 2-1 in extra time, when we got the winner loads of Rovers fans slid and fell on the mud bank at Springfield Park, we were caked in mud but didnt care!

2. Bruno Jones hat-trick at Rochdale on his debut, gave us long suffering fans, that there may be at last success on the horizon.

3 Chester away in the F.A CUP.Around 1989 This game was played at Macclesfield, we were 2-0 down but Rankine equalised in injury time to send us in to raptures! Needless to say we lost the replay 2-1.

Prez. Three gems me old cocker. And, Max Boyce stylee, I was there. For all three.

Worrabaht the 6-0 at Hartlepool in 1990-ish. We were utter gash back then. According to Norris McWhirter, THE worst team ever to score 6 goals away from home.

[Rovers-on-Thames]

1) That foggy night in Barnsley

2) Billy Sharp coming on against Crystal palace. Loudest noise ever made at Keepmoat. Changed the game in our favour. Never felt so connected with a player.

3) Vs Kidderminster 5 - 0 to the rovers. Snow coming down over Bell Vue, all four sides of the ground singing rovers till I die.

[BillyStubbsTears]

If we're making a list of matches we WOULDN'T want to re-live, top of the list would be that hail storm at Haig Avenue in the Conference, around 2002. Not a nice experience for the follicly challenged like me.

Errr. I mean, cropped headed fashionistas like moi.

I have never been so wet through in my life. Stopped at Hartshead services on the M62 on the way back still piss wet through. Went to the bogs and it was like some nightmarish gay porn scene. 50 middle aged Donny blokes stripped off half naked drying their nethers under the hot air blowers and making semi-orgasmic grunts of relief as they thawed out.

Christ, I won't sleep tonight remembering that.

[wilts rover]

Then you cant have been at Saltergate that Christmas game when it was snowing, hailing, blowing a monsoon across that open-end, that were proper cold.

Was the Southport game the one under Snodin when big fat nev had to go off and I think it was Darren Brookes went in goal?

[donnievic]

The one at southport was a 4-0 win hailstones like golf balls for about 25 mins in 2nd half and their keeper couldn't see a thing having to keep covering his face

[Prez]

BST, the reason i picked those 3 is because there was such a buzz watching Rovers from 89-91, we had such a cult team, bruno, johnny muir, noteman, brockie, rufus, etc as well as King Billy back in charge, had a real feel good factor back at Belle view, not forgetting the excellent raise the roof fanzine.

Good times.

[BigH]

i) L'pool 2 Rovers 2 '74. Just unreal

ii) Spurs 7 Rovers 2 '75. First half. A bit unreal

iii) Rovers 2 Arsenal 2 '05. So nearly the best result ever. Arsenal were good then.

3 worst

i) Orient 8 Rovers nil '97. Cried all the way home. In therapy for 5 years afterwards. They subbed their strikers on 60 mins - both had bagged hattricks - could have been worse

ii) Forest Green 2 Rovers 2 '00. A draw with a hilltop. Sheep on the pitch. Wignall. Thought we were going to be non-league for ever

iii) Take your pick from the 97-98 season

[Woodhead Passer]

Taking out cup ties and games such as the first one at KM and last at BV, these are my three:

1) Forest 2-4 Rovers - the turning point of the 1st season in the championship

2) Leeds 0-1 Rovers - great atmosphere, just an unbelievable achievement to beat the 'mighty leeds'

3) Tranmere 2-4 Rovers - fantastic game, funny chants, especially after Eugene Dadi got sent off, and the fans were singing "Where's your Dadi gone"... brilliant. What he deserved after trying to starting on John Doolan 

[MachoMadness]

This is way more difficult than I thought it would be, as I've only been a fan since the Conference days I started watching us at our lowest ebb and so I've seen us tear through the leagues and never look back. I've been very lucky as a football fan having seen so many great moments compared to bad ones so narrowing it down to 3 is near impossible.

1) Beating Dagenham 3-2 at Stoke. I'll try and be a bit different with the rest of my choices but how can any Rovers fan not say this one? What a game, great drama and everyone went mental. After only a couple of years supporting Rovers I had my first taste of real success and I'll never forget it.

2) Beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Hillsborough. This, for me, was the ultimate SO'D performance. As bad as it got towards the end of his tenure, this performance always summed up the SO'D way when it worked. And did it ever work. We were unplayable that day, Wednesday were dogshit but the way we played would've given most Premier League teams trouble. Perfect passing and movement, glorious possession football, defending from the front and creating a hatful of chances, with a world-class bicycle kick to top it all off. Not only that, but I was sat in the Owls end as we'd sold out, so got the added enjoyment of listening to the Owls fans whinge about how they couldn't get near us. From a footballing perspective this was the best Rovers performance I ever saw.

3) Nottingham Forest away, when we won 4-2. I thought we were dead and buried, we were dominating teams but couldn't buy a goal. But SO'D finally played Heffernan and we took them apart, with an end result as well. 4-2 flattered them. Everything fell into place, we found the missing piece of the puzzle, and I knew from that day we wouldn't be an embarrassment anymore and we'd stay up. I've never felt so hopeful after a game than I did that day.

[BobG]

Thank you Yankee. The old grey cells must be fading. I had thought my Dad said 6 - but I wasn't at the game (lol) and I must have misremembered. Apologies all.

That Boxing Day massacre at Valley Parade still has my ultimate vote despite all the wonderful recollections in this thread. There are some real crackers. I will offer one more match though: away at Newport County one freezing cold Friday night somewhere between 74 and 76. We won 3-0. But it wasn't that that made it special. It was Peter Kitchen. That night he scored the best solo goal I have ever, ever seen. It knocked that famous Tony Currie one into a cocked hat. It was better than his one for Orient in the FA Cup semi (or was it quarter) final against Chelsea. A veritably awesome goal - in front of about 2,000 people. (TRB: is there any chance you could find out which year it really was? And what the attendance was? Brendan scored one from a corner I remember too)

BobG

[RobTheRover]

Here's an off the wall one.  Rovers v Swansea in L1 (the last time we were there).  A friday nght, a big crowd, and a fantastic game of football from 2 sides at the top of their games.  Rovers lost 4-0 (And Steve Roberts got his marching orders) but that didnt matter.  The crowd stayed with the Rovers to the end and sand even louder in the last few minutes.  Swansea were a machine that season, unplayable and utterly clinical in front of goal.  We gave them a game and a half that night that the casual observer wouldnt realise from simply looking at the scoreline.

[IDM]

Swansea were a machine that season,

Mostly yes, but we won at their place with 2 crackers from Wellens...

[RobTheRover]

Thats true, we did.  The one from the corner was an absolute screamer.

[newyankee]

Hey Bob G it's all down to old age, I was at the game, stood on the old floodlight pylon at the Rosso end of the main stand. I thought it was 4 and 2, but I went on Wikipedia for J Hill and there it said 5. I was about 8 at the time.

[andysly]

Some good 'uns there.
PDX - that night at Wigan was f**king mental. Even my Dad was hanging off the fence screaming Bruno.

[andysly]

The 4-2 at Scab Forest was like everything we'd be trying to do all season had come together.
3-0 at HT and we were still wondering if we'd hold on, and tbf we let them off the hook, should have put 6 past em not let them get 2 back.

[redandwhitewizard]

That 7-5 always meks me smile, at that point in mi life i cudnt afford t attend every game, so wi 20 or so mins t go i wud turn up n blag mi way in as they were preparing t open the exit gates. cant remember how much time was left wen i got in but i remember laffin out loud in total disbelief wen i enquired of t score, saw prox 15 mins pretty sure i dint see a goal tho feel sure ill be put right if memories failin mi!?!
semi @ chester, hull away fa cup 81 methinks battered em lost 1-0, 5-4 v dover the spontaneous pitch invasion n celebrations at the end were unforgettable!!! ps if u sit near me and ever boo at rovers players, mngmnt or performance fuk off n watch leeds y spineless bstds

[normal rules]

The fa cup match against qpr winning 1 nil . I was 15 and earliest memory of going to rovers with my dad. He was rovers mad then and still is.

An away day at Boothferry Park around the same time when you could get off the train and get straight in ground. This was my first experience of an away day and the feeling never left. Rovers got beat i believe but i was amazed at how many rovers fans travelled and the atmosphere that was created.

The 2-2 draw at York Street in the Conf when Rovers were two up and blew it late on when daryl clare scored deep in injury time. OK this was not a memorable day as a rovers supporter but as i lived in Boston at the time (and still do) i stood with my local mates in the Spain Lane and the emotion at the final whistle was amazing. Jubilation by Boston and i thought the 500 or so rovers fans in the corner were going to have a mini riot, you could taste the disappointment in the air. As someone has already stated - this is why we go to watch, week in, week out. I went to the return fixture at Belle vue and remember standing on the Rosso end in the snow! There was something special about the games between Boston and Rovers during those years.

There are many more, too many to list.

[The Red Baron]

Thank you Yankee. The old grey cells must be fading. I had thought my Dad said 6 - but I wasn't at the game (lol) and I must have misremembered. Apologies all.

That Boxing Day massacre at Valley Parade still has my ultimate vote despite all the wonderful recollections in this thread. There are some real crackers. I will offer one more match though: away at Newport County one freezing cold Friday night somewhere between 74 and 76. We won 3-0. But it wasn't that that made it special. It was Peter Kitchen. That night he scored the best solo goal I have ever, ever seen. It knocked that famous Tony Currie one into a cocked hat. It was better than his one for Orient in the FA Cup semi (or was it quarter) final against Chelsea. A veritably awesome goal - in front of about 2,000 people. (TRB: is there any chance you could find out which year it really was? And what the attendance was? Brendan scored one from a corner I remember too)

BobG

Bob

The Newport game was probably the one on 28th February 1975. Rovers won 2-0 and Kitchen and O'Callaghan both scored. That was on a Friday night shortly after Stan Anderson had taken over as manager. Rovers were then in a run of five straight wins having beaten Division 4 leaders Mansfield 4-3 at Belle Vue the previous Saturday. The attendance was 2,252.

Rovers won 3-2 at Somerton Park the following season (21/02/76) with O'Callaghan scoring twice and Kitchen once, but that game was on a Saturday afternoon.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Three worst weather experiences.

3) Any match at Saltergate in the 80s/90s. It was ALWAYS freezing and/or pissing down on that open terrace
2) The Southport match above
1) I'd forgotten. The one that beats them all. Hartlepool away. 1991. Tuesday night about this time of year. Bremner's promotion surge was just running out of steam and this was a crunch match against a promotion rival.

-3C with a 40mph wind off the North Sea blowing horizontal sleet into the away end. About 250 of us huddling for survival. Old Uncle Jack Ashurst, the craggiest of hard men lasted about 10 mins on the away end before he f**ked off for the players' lounge. Billy Whitehurst got sent off for clocking somebody. I think we held on for a grim 1-1. Me, I was happy to hold on to life that night.

[redandwhitewizard]

I took our lass t that Hartlepool game n watched it after drinking round pool all day!?! How she has stuck wi me Ill never know. Got 2 proud rovers sons despite living in Leeds infested Pontefract, tho t b fair at 17 n 14 theyve ad it really good as Donny fans!!