The thing about sport is it can raise you to the loftiest of heights, but also plummet you to the very depths.
I was reminded of this when asked, by a former team-mate, what were my best and worst moments in Sunday football.
Both came playing for Deer Orchard, and weren’t too far apart – but the after match feeling was decidedly different.
We had been drawn to play Distington away in the Sunday County Cup at a time when they played in a field which was somewhere behind where the existing ambulance station is opposite the college.
Now our manager/secretary Jimmy Robinson wanted this trophy more than any other. It was his holy grail and we went there on a good run, but up against an experienced, competitive Distington side.
The likes of Bobby Taylor, Albert Linford, Brian Sutton, the Bedford twins Ronnie and Bobby, all knew the time of day while I still have the stud-marks from the attentions of a tigerish tackling full-back Michael Burns.
Well this particular afternoon was dark, dismal and wet. The pitch was a mud-heap and chances were few and far between.
I was playing full-back on this occasion and late in the contest I decided to play the ball back to our goalkeeper Kenny Bell. Now a pass had rarely travelled more than ten yards because of the clinging mud.
However on this occasion from the edge of the area and with Kenny just about on his line it went straight and true – into the bottom corner of the net.
The game ended 1-0 to Distington and Jimmy, in particular, was distraught. All he could say to me was “What did you do that for?” and I don’t think he spoke to me for at least a fortnight.
I felt awful, certainly the worst moment in my playing career with that own goal deciding a really competitive game in the biggest competition Orchard had played in.
I’m not sure how long afterwards – certainly not within a few weeks – we were playing Seaton Old Boys at Wakefield Road in a League Cup semi-final.
They were another experienced side with players such as Stan Miles, Barry Boardman, Alan Armstrong, Jim Pattinson and the Cross brothers, Kenny and Alan.
Brian Perkins, inevitably, had given us the lead early on but midway through the second-half Seaton had grabbed two quick goals to go in front.
There was a good crowd, too, lining both touchlines and I recall us putting on a lot of pressure in the closing quarter of an hour.
I was more a wing-back than a full-back and used to go well forward for corners. When Joe Jackson swung one over from the left it beat everyone and I was at the far post to head home the equaliser.
Now I wasn’t a noted header of the ball, which is probably why I was left unmarked at the opposite post when another corner came over five minutes from the end. I connected with my head, it beat Stan Miles and found the back of the net.
After the final whistle Jimmy was the first to congratulate me. I had atoned for that Distington disaster – maybe!
It’s funny because whenever my contribution to Deer Orchard’s history is discussed, the Distington own goal gets the biggest mention.
