For March 29th I'm going back 24 years to 1997 and Stevenage Borough's table-topping clash with Macclesfield Town in the Conference (National League).
This day presented another opportunity for me to squeeze two games into the one day. In addition to the featured match, I was able to race to Wembley for the 6PM kick-off of England v Mexico. Looking at the travel logistics today, I don't think that I would plan for such a tight turnaround but I didn't miss any of either match that day.
Macclesfield went into the game top of the table with only seven games remaining, one point ahead of Kidderminster Harriers who had played a game more. Sitting in third place were Stevenage Borough, 10 points behind Macclesfield but with three games in hand. A win in this game would put the possibility of the league title within Stevenage's control.
Both sides had won the Conference within the previous three years. Macclesfield had been Champions in 1993/4 and, as proclaimed on the programme cover, Stevenage were reigning Champions. Neither club had been promoted as their grounds did not meet Football League criteria but both were now confident that they wouldn't be rejected again by the Football League were they to win the title.
By Conference standards, the attendance was huge: 5,760. Paul Fairclough's Stevenage's side was largely that which had won the title the previous season and included the bandana-wearing Efetobar Sodje. Sodje's unique headwear is apparently known as a "do-rag" and carried the words "Against All Odds" (queue Phil Collins). Despite being born in Greenwich, Sodje, one of four footballing brothers, represented Nigeria 12 times including appearances against Argentina and England at the 2002 World Cup. Sadly, in 2017 Sodje was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraud having siphoned off money from his own charitable foundation.
Sammy McIlroy's Silkmen (Macclesfield was a silk-weaving town) found themselves 1-0 down at halftime and, having conceded a second early in the second half and then being reduced to ten men (club-record appearance holder and future Manager John Askey was sent-off), the game looked all over. Remarkably however Macclesfield were not finished and pulled two goals back before breaking Stevenage hearts with a 90th minute winner to confirm their title credentials. They eventually won the title by five points that season and were promoted to the Football League for the first time.
CRB Match No. 1102
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