Sat 8th May - Stoke City

A 2 - 0 defeat. The foot was most certainly off the gas and without doubt thirteen or fourteen players were already in the airport departure lounge preparing for tomorrows holiday in Cyprus. It doesn’t matter and it didn’t hurt.

The Stoke fans were right up for it though and proved yet again that if Bristol Rovers had a competitor for the smallest of small town mentalities then the Britannia would be a good place to begin the comparison.

With both sides having nothing to play for we were left with the spectacle of knuckle dragging Stokies being dragged out of their seats and frog-marched in front of us and onto a court appearance. All because they got so hyped up over beating little Walsall, or First Division Walsall as I currently prefer to call us. Inevitably, the sad and predictable “down with the Vale, you’re going down with the Vale” ditty was also reassuringly evident, as was the even more pointless almost continual rendition of “Delilah”. Why? why? why? Indeed.

For the record should we be relegated next season it will have still been worth it. To find a more bitter and spiteful bunch – and I’m including our nearest and dearest in this - would be pretty hard. The first 45 minutes were pretty dull. Nothing really happened apart from a fine elbow by Keates on some irritating little shit and Rob Stiener’s probable final appearance in the Walsall shirt.

Much more notable however was the magnificently spontaneous half time disco where for once the police and stewards showed admiral common sense and let the free spirited Saddlers fans let their hair down. Dancing and singing and drinking and beer throwing and more dancing and more singing and you get the drift. For about 200 people there was a release of ten years of frustration and hurt as we celebrated our return to the promised land in the loudest and most jovial way possible.

Memories of this season will live long. Times like the winner at Luton where we realised we were for real, the goal against Stoke at Bescot, Darren Wrack’s run and finish at Bournemouth or the stunning improvement in Ian Roper are all so memorable but for me half time in the Brittania Stadium will never be forgotten. Time will surely only serve to enhance what was a very special fifteen minutes - The legendary half time at Stoke.

The second half offered nothing new and our four year spell in the Second Division symmetrically ended exactly as it had started with a 2 - 0 defeat. At the final whistle when the players had left the field I wanted to stay there. I really wanted to have five minutes more of a remarkable season, I just wasn’t ready to let it go.

As I left the stadium I said goodbye. Goodbye to the likes of Stoke City, the Second Division, to the mess of yesteryear and the ghost of not replacing David Kelly. Next season will be different to 88/89, next season we will start with a manager who has a clue and a team on the up.