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Following any team involves highs and lows – comprehensive wins; catastrophic defeats; dull draws. The most gutting are games which are lost at the death, but conversely the best are where victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat as the referee has already checked his watch; the “additional time” board has been raised, and the games is drawing to a close. There have undoubtedly been plenty of those, and the most famous is probably a game at EP on Easter Monday 2019. And the game in question wasn’t even being played there.

As County looked to full time in what had been a routine win over Curzon Ashton the eyes of the crowd weren’t on the action unfolding before them but rather looking at their phones to follow events 100+ miles to the north east where Spennymoor were taking on Chorley.

A draw would leave Chorley on 79 points, the same as County, but with a better goal difference. All they would need was to match our result at Nuneaton the following Saturday when they were due to meet Bradford.

There was 91:38 on the clock when suddenly the news came through. There must have been over 5,000 people looking at their phones, and as one the ground rose when “Goal for Spennymoor” appeared on the screens. The ground erupted. We were back on top of the league and a win at Nuneaton would leave us Champions, and a six season stint in the sixth tier of English football would be over. Relive the moment on the link below:

The moment news of Glenn Taylors goal at Spennymoor came through

It was one of those moments. But what relevance to a trip to Keys Park in March 2016?

It was County’s third season in regional football. Things were stabilising and Jim Gannon was in his third spell in charge. Eight games had produced four wins; three draws and just a single loss. There were clear signs that the expectation engendered on Gannon’s return was not overstated. Nothing would come in season 2015/16 but the regulars, who travllled the highways and byways of the NLN, were encouraged to think that there would be an improvement the following season.

But for the vast majority of the game at Hednesford it seemed like things were back to the bad old days. Facing a team which had more than a few connections with County – (the 16 man squad included Mo Cham; Danny Glover; Paul Ennis; Marvin Robinson; Sean Williams and future County favourite Adam Thomas) – a truly dismal first half ended as it had started, with no sign of a goal.

The second stanza wasn’t much better and when Hednesford took the lead, and the County response was muted, it looked like victory would elude us yet again at Keys Park, after a loss and draw in the previous two visits.

Then 3 minutes into injury time Danny Morton launched a free kick from deep in the County half into the Hednesford box. ‘Big K’, (Kayode Odejayi), got his head to it and the effort looped over the home keeper bounced back off the post and was hooked home by Obi Anoruo. A point rescued!! But there was more to come.

An injury took up another 4 minutes, and from the kick off, with everyone expecting the final whistle, Hednesford played the ball forward; a long clearance from Chris Smalley left the Hednesford centre back in two minds. Odejayi nipped in and lobbed the keeper from the edge of the area. Ecstasy reigned in the County following who made up more than half of the attendance that afternoon.

It was joy unbounded … and as with the Taylor goal at Spennymoor it is those moments that make following your team, whoever that might be, so uplifting. These are the memories that come to mind whenever there’s been a bad time….

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Memories of trips to Keys Park

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Tues	14/01/14	a	Keys Park	The Skrill North (Tier 6)	L	1	3	585
Sat	29/03/14	h	Edgeley Park	The Skrill North (Tier 6)	L	0	1	2,669
Sat	06/09/14	a	Keys Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	D	1	1	958
Sat	15/11/14	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	W	3	0	2,651
Tue	01/03/16	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	W	3	0	2,289
Sat	19/03/16	a	Keys Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	2	1	572

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