Oh it’s a grand old team to play for.....
Twenty seven years ago I had the great honour to play in the Marine side which reached the third round of the FA cup . The prospect of facing a first division side was a real possibility and we held our breath as the draw was made . Sadly we drew Crewe away and after the initial disappointment settled down we actually felt that it was a winnable tie and a new mentality was required. The strength of belief in that side was a tangible force and even if we went a goal behind in games we knew that we were capable of coming back and winning - the opposition felt this belief and once we had equalised there was only one outcome. Sadly Crewe knew a bit too much for us and after losing Paul Dawson to a hamstring injury early in the game the reshuffle proved too much and we lost 3-1. We actually appeared in the fourth round draw because the Crewe game was called off due to a frozen pitch first time around- the winner of our tie would be away to Blackburn Rovers and Mr Dalglish appeared in our dressing room at Crewe to wish us good luck..Now Parkinson’s is part of my life , I look back on these days and the words of the dressing room song come easily to mind - it truly is a grand old team to play for- the best in fact. Good luck to Neil and the boys down in Colchester , come back with a draw if you have to
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