Me and Chef Tyke made it to Tranmere at half time around Christmas a few years ago. Traffic was terrible and we were driving from our folks' house in Lincolnshire. Was still 0-0 when we arrived. It could have been worse as not only were we delayed and listened to the whole of the first half on the radio, we then got quite disorientated around Birkenhead. I will never forget reversing back down the approach to the Mersey Tunnel. I reckon Chef would rather forget about it though! Second half was diabolical, so we went absolutely mental when Antony Kay popped up with a very late equaliser! Got in for half price though!
Last match of the promotion season to the Premier League. We had a major car problem on the way down, managed to get it repaired, listened on the radio in disbelief as Oxford tore our defence to pieces, and got into the ground just after Redders had pulled one back. I think it was somewhere around the 70th minute.
a lot will say Liverpool in cup away in 80s whether was that bad people where getting in still with 10 minutes to go so I've been told
I remember a few seasons ago ICU Tyke broke down on the way to PNE away(I think) and turned up in time to see us score a last minute winner!
The Liverpool game is legendary of course. For that Tranmere game we drove a total of ten hours for 45 minutes of football which is pretty impressive! Made it back to Sleaford just in time for last orders!
I remember that one, "We've go Nar-di-e-llo, you've got our ste-re-o!!''. And "feed the scousers" was debuted there too that boxing day too. Not that I condone such provincial stereo-typing.
QPR away in the Lee Crooks era. Didn't get there till 2nd half, paid steward a sneaky tenner to get in, looked at scoreboard and pretty much went straight to pub
The famous Liverpool game in the cup. Half time for us, many got in much later. Other notables: Portsmouth 3-0 Barnsley 27th December 1994. I got in 25 minutes late and we were already 3-0 down. So I watched a boring 0-0 draw. I was late as I set off late. Newcastle 2-1 Barnsley League Cup September 1994. Just south of Newcastle I had a blow-out in the right rear tyre. There were three lads in the back and the weight caused the rear of the car to sink down and the front left to come off the ground. I lost the steering, the car went in to a slide and we all had the joy of travelling up a very busy A1 sideways at 80mph for a few hundred yards before I regained control. We were pushing it for time anyway, so the change of wheel meant we arrived about 10 or 15 minutes late. We missed Redfearn's 30 yard thunder bolt. Hull 0-1 Leeds Sep 1989. My mate was a Leeds fan, so I went to a few Leeds games with him at the end of the 80s when Barnsley were a long way from home. It's quite fun watching how stressed fans get when you don't care about the score. We never missed a weekend football match back then, so we'd watch Bradford, Wednesday, United, Donny, or Rotherham if we didn't fancy a long away trip to watch Barnsley and Leeds were also away. We even went to watch Scarborough in a play-off game. We must have been mental. Anyway, we were at Swindon this weekend, so we decided to make the trip to Hull for the Leeds game. Just off the M62 on to the A63, 10 miles from the ground we had a puncture. Looked in the boot for the spare tyre. Wasn't there. Spent the entire game stuck at the side of the dual carriageway. Watched all the Leeds fans pass us on the way to the game and then watched them going back home the other way. The only time I ever went to a Leeds away game and I never got to see it. So, a bit of a result as it turns out.
Half time Palace away - Miller in the nets and we were winning two nil already. A mixture of a day session in London, fecking miles on the underground and Liquid Gold.
A mate of mine waited until the stewards opened the gates to see the last few minutes of the Bradford game, that year we went to Football Heaven.
We got to the Liverpool game just as second half was kicking off and the kick off had been delayed from what I remember. Worth it though. Remember a lot of trouble after the game two lippy scousers tried attacking our bus - thirty miners from woolley got off and they scarpered
Burnley away a few years ago, think it was about 35 minutes in when we arrived, by which time we were 2-0 up. We must have jinxed us or something because we ended up getting annihilated 4-2 I think. Gifton Noel Williams scored a hat-trick from the bench.
I have never seen a wooden fence dismantled as fast in my life as it did in Liverpool that night, there was pieces of wood & scousers flying everywhere.
Hal-time away at Pompey. They thought we'd travelled all the way from Barnsley, rather than simply leaving late from London, so let us in for nowt.
Worst one for me was (IIRC) Oldham home about ten years ago. Anyway, whoever the opposition were, we came back up from friends in Peterborough just for the match, then returning. There had been a crash on the A1 and we arrived 65 minutes in. We were running down the back of the East Stand towards the late entry gate when the cheer went up for what transpired to be the only goal of the game. Gutted. Best one was Stockport away - I arrived on time but Spartacus had my ticket. He was on the Dove bus, which broke down over Woodhead never got there. They were ace about it - they let us buy tickets to gain admission about ten minutes in, when it transpired the tickets would not make it, with agreement to refund the original tickets in full if we posted them in. They honoured it too. Always had a soft spot for County since.
Like many others, I got into Anfield with five minutes left of the League Cup match - worth every minute of it and used to replay the recording of us singing "You'll never walk alone" from the Radio Sheffield commentary. One other memorable one, that many will relate to - Stoke City away in the FA Cup. Arrived just after the kick-off to see massive queues. Waited and waited to get in, hearing goals flying in and trying to find out the score. Eventually, the stewards/police let us all in free. We were 3-nil up, only for them to pull it back and force a replay. At least we won the replay