For April 28th I'm going back 14 years to 2007 and Racing Club Warwick's end of season visit to Cradley Town.
If you ask me to make a list of the most remarkable matches that I have ever attended, this one would be in my top 5. Allow me a little scene setting if you will. Racing Club had been playing catch-up for most of March and April having suffered more from postponements during the winter than other clubs in the division. This was largely due to the terrible state of their Hampton Road pitch which was only finally addressed a few months ago with the installation of a 3G surface at long last.
We witnessed Warwick's games in hand being whittled away with insufficient points being secured to lift the side out of the relegation zone. 19 games had to be played in those final 7 weeks of the season and Racing Club went into the last league game second bottom and in a seemingly hopeless position. Safety was out of their own hands. For Racing Club to escape the drop zone, they required a victory by at least a five goal margin and then pray for a Biddulph Victoria defeat and, in the unlikely event that both of these things happened, Warwick also needed to win by at least four goals more than Studley!
No chance then. Except that nobody thought to inform Racing Club's players! Gaffer Bobby Hancock had decided to pitch in the youngsters and this included future York City legend Matty Blair who was making his first start in senior football. At least Warwick had the good fortune to be facing Cradley, the one team worse placed than themselves, going into that final day. Before kick off I can recall sarcastically telling Bobby that Racing Club simply “had to believe” to which he replied that he’d already told the players that in the dressing room beforehand. I think he meant it!
It was to be the day when, unbelievably, everything went right. The weather was fittingly beautiful and Warwick were three goals up before half time thanks to two well-taken strikes by Tom Leaver and another from the suddenly prolific Jamie Hammersley. Good news from Barwell too on the phone at half-time who were playing their part in the drama by leading at home to Biddulph and also from Studley who were two-down at home to Boldmere St Michaels. As we took our places for the second half, Racing Club had the ball in the net again straight from the kick off with Tom Leaver securing his hat-trick. Nerves started to jangle, at least amongst the supporters, and the theme tune to The Great Escape popped into my head as it began to dawn on us that we were witnessing something truly incredible. Thank God for Cradley. Their wretched season just got worse and worse as they lost their heads and began making comments to the referee that he wasn’t going to stand for. With Warwick 0-4 ahead they were soon down to ten men and worse was to come as they conceded a penalty and had another man sent-off. The all important fifth goal was now within reach. Martin Hutchcox was the brave soul who stepped up to slam home the spot kick. Five-nil up away from home against nine men with half an hour still to go! At this point the game deteriorated somewhat. Warwick began snatching at chances and apparently somebody (probably Bobby) had mistakenly told the players that they needed to score six – it was probably a good job that the team continued to press as I wouldn’t have fancied Racing Club trying to defend for half an hour even against nine men!
After what seemed like an age, the final whistle went and calls were made to Barwell and Studley to put us out of our misery. No one from Warwick went home - everyone stayed to find out whether Racing Club had survived. After an eternity, Secretary Pat Murphy emerged to inform us that Barwell had beaten Biddulph 3-0. Hurrah! And what of Studley? Amazingly they had come back from two down and scored in the final minute to win 3-2. We scratched our heads and out came the calculators. Had Warwick stayed up or not? Warwick and Studley had finished on the same points and goal difference but, crucially, Racing Club had scored two more and had escaped! With the official attendance being only 42 and pretty well totally made up by Warwick supporters there’s only a select few believers who can rightfully claim that “I was there” on what was surely one of the most amazing days in the club’s history. I doubt that I’ll ever see a final day quite like that one again.
CRB Match No. 1566
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