Best:
Alfreton Town: An odd choice but one that always sticks in my mind and not for the football. I'm not entirely sure of the result, think we lost 1-0. A few of us had got the train down and this was the same day as Man United played Sheffield United away. A load of Mancs piled onto our train and were obviously well piled, when they all piled off and gave us copious amounts of ale to sup for the remainder of our journey to Alfreton. When we arrived at Alfreton, rather than return the favour to fellow football fans travelling onwards, Maller (RIP) decided we should hide our newly procured ale in a bush. Game was crap, as I say I think we lost 1-0. We went back to the train station and Maller insisted on scratting around this Bush to find the booze stash, we were convinced it was gone but when we seen his face light up we knew he'd found it. United fans pile back on the train at Sheffield but this time are leathered, trashed the train (lights removed, drivers cabin broken into etc) and the train came to a sudden halt at a Roose-esque station called Dore. Numerous police officers were waiting and carting MU fans in small groups onto another train and confiscating their drink. They then attempted to remove myself and our little band of Barrovians who shown the police our Barrow shirts. They then allowed us to take a pick and mix of confiscated MUFC booze and get back onto the original train. We were there for a couple of hours and this meant it was touch and go whether we'd make our connection. Manchester staff sent us to Preston and they then said we had to go to Lancaster where they'd arrange transport to get us back to Barrow. When we arrived at Lancaster the station was completely shut, not a staff member in sight. We were abandoned
Stu Nipps had work the next day and despite our suggestions of a taxi home insisted we got a hotel for the night. We ended up with Maller paying on his credit card for an overpriced Holiday Inn and the following morning we had to get a taxi anyway as Stu had work before the first train (cheers for letting us know the night before mate ).Boston away, the year we won the Conference North. We travelled in good numbers and despite the result, the bus was a party atmosphere. We knew that day that the team we had were going to be challenging at the top.
Darlington - the game they thought was their last. An eerie atmosphere and the crowd split exactly half and half. Not so much about the football or atmosphere that day but the way the two clubs came together in what was clearly a difficult time for them as a club. The banner we had on display is now quoted at their new ground.
Durham City - FA Cup game at Esh Winning which we made hard work of but ultimately went through 1-0. Went in Bobaleskis car and Stu decided to play Squeeze - Cool for cats the entire way on repeat. Jamie Bull (RIP) was squirted by the Durham keeper Kevin Wolfe, I accidently called the entire Barrow team shit live on radio Cumbria and we had a jolly good day.
Oxford United at home, the winner played Sunderland away. The atmosphere was electric that night and there was just a feeling in the air that we would not lose. We beat them 3-1 and set up one of our most memorable ties of recent years.
Workington away - Darren Sheridan scored a banger of a free kick and this started to give us belief we could make the playoffs (which we went onto win). The locals weren't exactly welcoming to us and it was excellent they contributed so kindly to our cause.
As for the worst, there's probably 101+ we could talk about but I'll stick to the ones I attended.
Worst:
Alfreton at home - Hucknall Town were told their ground wasn't good enough for promotion and that second place would go up if they met the criteria. We were battling with Alfreton for second and they couldn't go up either. IIRC we lost 3-2 to a late goal from none other than Mark Hume who we had given hell all game. That extinguished any hopes we had of promotion.
Dover in the FA Trophy - one of my first games watching us, I was right behind the goal where Lee Cooper missed his penalty. High hopes for everyone, massive support with people locked out right around the streets just to lose in that manner.
FC United - This one is my personal worst, plastic United on a roll, this was at the time their biggest game in their short history. We were a huge scalp for them and as it was played on a Sunday we already knew the winner was to play Rochdale. Everything about that day was grim.
Hinckley at home: Coming towards the end of Phil Wilsons tenure, I suppose this result started to kick start the Daz and Dave era but we were rooted to the bottom after losing 1-0 against an equally rubbish Hinckley. This was the promotion season yet after this result we were all certain it was to be a relegation to our lowest ever league season.
Wealdstone: Shit game, Hurst injured, argued with the Mrs over the phone. Ended up with hypothermia in Basingstoke. Nearly died. Rather not talk about it
I know there are others which I didn't attend (Shaw Lane and Atherstone come to mind). I know this was a long post but it's bloody great reminiscing.
