The Agony and the Exeter City Ecstasy

Plainmoor, Torquay, 2:10pm –Monday 5th May 2008 - Torquay 1 (3) – 0 (1) Exeter

Dejected, disillusioned and incredibly despondent, is the only way to describe it. After driving over 3500 miles since August from Cardiff to follow Exeter City in over 25 games. Begrudgingly handing over countless £5.30 toll bridge fares and purchasing gallons of petrol to follow City home and away  was it seriously going to end like this?  Anti-climax doesn’t come close.

Where was the fighting spirit shown at Burton only nine days previously? - Where we clawed back a two-goal deficit with three minutes to go. Why weren’t we playing our real game, the passing, patient, probing football side that City have slowed evolved into during this campaign? An entire campaign’s hard work seemed like it could peter out into a dire frustrating defeat.

We bossed the first leg. Dominant from front to back apart from, crucially, being able to put the ball in the back of the net. Controversy surrounded the game both on and off the pitch. From a wrongly disallowed Exeter goal to a tunnel bust up at full-time, but Torquay had the upper hand thanks to a 92nd minute goal.

I wrote in the build-up to the second leg about the need to err on the side of caution, to avoid the huge disappointment that could follow. 58 minutes into the second leg it seemed I’d made the right choice, as Kevin Hill pounced to put Torquay 3-1 up on aggregate and the Gulls began to squawk about promotion and Wembley. It took that breakthrough to wake the 5000 Torquay fans inside Plainmoor from their 2-hour siesta. ‘Singing when they were winning’ they might well have been but we were about to be humiliated by Torquay, in their back yard.

Exeter just didn’t look like scoring. We were almost cast adrift, a momentous four goals away from that dream return at Wembley (and three from forcing extra time) with 20 arduous minutes left against a side that had conceded just once against Exeter in the last 240 minutes of football!

Like an embarrassed holidaymaker who’s fallen through a deck chair on Torquay sea front, we looked like we were about to be ridiculed on our own bank holiday saunter to the ‘English Riviera’.

Plainmoor, Torquay, 2:30pm Monday 5th May 2008 - Torquay 1 (3) – Exeter 4 (5)

Delirious, disbelief and delight are some adjectives to describe those frenzied twenty minutes that followed. Or how about breath-taking, exhilarating, extraordinary, amazing, unique, unforgettable, awesome, or just pure ecstasy?

No matter how I try to illustrate it, you just had to be there. To have experienced that unconfined joy and relief which just bubbled over as the miracle comeback was completed.  It was one of those moments you just want to bottle up and then relive over and over again.

I know I will never ever forget the feeling when Richard Logan superbly headed in the 3rd goal just a few feet in front of us in the 89th minute and by the time Wayne Carlisle ran clear in injury time to score the fourth I felt on cloud nine.

Nick Hornby described it as the delirium where everything goes blank for a few moments and he’s spot on. Those blanks moments are followed by that need to dance, jump, shout, run, and scream and hug all the City fans that are going absolutely bananas around you.

When celebrating momentous footballing occasions like that your whole world turns on its head for a few seconds. Because the run-of-the-mill celebration usually lasts maybe a few seconds and then it’s a round of applause and smiles all around. But those magical football moments send you over the moon. They seem to last forever and you never feel the need to come back down to earth!

I’m sure every football fan has experienced those select few moments when they felt the same. Isn’t that why we are so loyal in our support? Because we know the ecstasy could be just around the corner?

Although I think the emotional rollercoaster left everyone emotional and physically shattered. I had a banging headache and a sore throat but immensely proud. It was so enjoyable on our return home to re-watch those twenty minutes and the pandemonium that ensued, and the footage of us dancing out of the ground on BBC Spotlight of course….

Football is all about the shared experience and those uninhibited celebrations echoed this. Those post-match songs and celebrations were not only being celebrated with my friends and family but with the players, management and the fans who were all glowing with pride and pure delight at the afternoon’s events.

That brings me on nicely onto our players. In those last twenty minutes they really were all heroes. They showed passion, commitment and pride in wearing the Exeter shirt and showed an indomitable desire to drag us to Wembley. Huge praise must also go to Paul Tisdale who got his tactics spot-on. Can you remember a manager making three second half substitutes in a semi final who all went on to score?  - Exactly!

I’ve already described just how much this result meant to me but the player’s reactions show it meant just as much to them.  We saw Dean Moxey dive into the crowd as the 3rd goal went in. Richard Logan kiss the badge after his stunning winner and even Tisdale ran onto the pitch and celebrated with fans behind the dugout. Whilst Paul Jones showed his immense gratitude to the fans support as he took the time to walk the length of the away end shaking hands with everyone. That’s the sort of players I like to see at my football club, they made us proud on Monday.

When I predicted last week that there could be some unforgettable moments over the two ties, I could never imagine just how right I would be. Scoring three goals in the last ten minutes in a Play Off Semi Final at your local rivals when all hope seemed lost just isn’t the Exeter City way!

So do you think all this hyperbole and hype is a ridiculous reaction to a Non League Play- Off Semi Final victory? I’m sure if you ask anyone lucky enough to witness that unforgettable afternoon in the away end at Plainmoor on Monday they will undoubtedly disagree. It was a day that made me immensely proud to be an Exeter fan and no amount of belittling and put-downs will ever take that away.

Peter Evans - Pictures courtesy of Cheggers and The Express & Echo.

For more feedback from Monday’s game, visit my blog or listen to Kellow’s Bootlaces which includes phone interviews with the victorious players

Comments

[Shaun]

Fantastic article, sums up just how i felt about Monday's game!