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cast your minds back to 2004, can anyone remind me how the penalty shoot out went down? gurney missed the key kick?

I was there but can't remember?!

Didn't Mooney miss as well?

Parkin, Heywood and Fallon scored, Mooneys was saved (brilliantly) and Gurney thumped it against the post

Lost 4-3 on pens, Gurney and Mooney the offenders iirc.

Mooney's was saved, Gurney's hit the post.

Incidentally, despite the result, will always be my favourite STFC game, fuck me we did ourselves proud that night

7 years ago???! No way??!

I remember getting very wet.

Hope that helps.

What I can remember:
- the bloody awful weather
- thinking we were out of luck & we'd never scored (then Parkin scores people go crazy)
- time stopped for an eternity as Fallons shot looped in...then people went crazier
- getting onto the silent, gutted bus at the end of the game, and falling straight asleep

Can't remember the shootout at all

the main thing that sticks in my mind - is the fact that with 5 minutes to go in extra time loads of their fans started leaving, then they heard the roar to celebrate Virgos goal (who for the record I fucking hate with a passion) and they all ran back in.

Then, when  they'd won on penalties the large majority of their fans were more interested in standing infront of our fans, giving us stick and the wanker signs than celebrating their win or congratulating there players.

Thus, why I hate Brighton have no respect for their fans or them as a club and wish them nothing but bad luck - which makes them being a bit good and doing well so fucking annoying.

That year we won at their place (after being behind no less) and they looked like going down was great, then they pulled off the great escape.

No club I hate more.

...None?

apologies for opening up old wounds, by the way!

Try living here.

Try having a housemate whose boyfriend is a massive Brighton fan (In his defence he is a proper fan but it doesn't make it any easier).

Even worse, try having a boss who used to be a Chelsea 'fan' when Brighton were shit and is now a massive Brighton 'fan' now that they have a new stadium and are doing well. It makes me sick.

McGhee came out afterwards IIRC and said they were "battered" over the two legs and we deserved to go through, liked him a bit more after that.

Our day will come.  Keep believing.

That was the night I broke into the ground via the unguarded mound before hysterically celebrating Parkin's goal and goading the Brighton fans.  Cue about four thousand stewards running towards me...  I tried explaining my dad worked for Sky Sports (there were trucks on the banks) and they angrily asked me for my dad's name.

"Errrr.... Brian?"

I got marched round the running track and booted out.  Watched the remaining game through a gap in the fence.  120 mins gone and the Brighton fans were leaving.  Virgo scores and I run back in and stand in the Brighton end to watch that fateful penalty shoot out.

One of the best (and cheapest) nights out at the football I've ever had!

I hadn't got a ticket as box office had messed up.  Got a free VIP ticket for the Swindon 3 - 3 Torquay game the following year, where Torquay came back from three goals down....

Never forget the 1st game. Red and White in one end and Blue and White in the other. CG as jammed pack, scorching hot day, 4pm kick, on Sky, the atmosphere as amazing that day. We battered them for 90 minutes, don't know how we lost that game. Then in the 2nd leg, remember going crazy when Fallon scored and he came round to celebrate and then Virgo equalised. I knew we we're going to lose on pens. That season was brilliant though. Leeds in the CC was brilliant aswell.

I was on holiday in Canada  :(

Fair weather fan....

But like the Murphys........

I was only 11 but remember it so well.

Didn't have a season ticket back then so had to scramble all my stubs from previous games together just to get play-off tickets. Didn't make the second leg though but remember camping out in a friend's front room (we didn't have SKy back then) and going crazy when it looked like we were going through.

That season and 2009/10 are probably the best I've ever had as a Swindon fan.

I remeber that season well I went to every home match bunking off work for the games and not being missed good times

I ended up watching the Stanley cup, local side Calgary flames v Tampa bay lightning. Go flames go. I rang my mate to find out we'd lost, there were some good bars in banff to drown my sorrows.

I presume your housemate was male?

Unbelievably I went to watch shitty st pauli v Bronby in a preseason friendly - nauturally I had my Swindon shirt on.
A group of english people asked me to take their picture at the game. We got talking and they were all from Brighton and went on & on about that bloody match.
Didn't hang around long, one because that pissed me off & the other from Brighton they were probably gay (Brighton Red is excluded from the 'everybody from Brighton is gay' jibe' :toocool:

If you can bring yourself to watch it again.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPeN0u_LbBA

She's a 21 year old Swedish girl.

I was in a pub in Edinburgh, it was absolutely deserted and when I asked the barman to put Sky Sports on he muttered 'why do you want to watch that'?

We had already planned a group trip to Wembley when Virgo scored and that was the strawberries well and truly pissed on.

I think it may have rained that night and I got soaked walking home distraught.

Lucky for you virgo did score, you wouldn't have seen much at wembley

Good point, well made!

I have tried very hard to forget that night. 

Same, i watched it in our local pub in Oxon.

I remember going mental when we scored, then it all went to shit when Virgo scored, i knew that was it then.

When the penalties finished i remember sitting there numb. Horrible.

I remember walking out of the Withdean in a complete daze.  It was one of the few times where I genuinely couldn't believe what had happened.

Couldnt get tickets for this game because of their shit 'stadium', was gutted!
Remember watching it in the pub and it just going silent when brighton won the shootout, quietest I have ever heard a pub go.

Then a massive rush to the bar in order to get  :pint:

Ended up in Oxford with about 20 other town fans, was a fun night :D

The day went like this

Spend morning on phone day before. Got one of the last tickets.
Decided to drive on the day Basingstoke->Swindon (pick up ticker)->some station near Brighton.
Car undertray falls half off on motorway. Wait for RAC to detach it.
Park up at station, get train to Brighton.
Watch game, get very wet. Elated we are winning. Then the inevitable happens and I'm gutted.
Get angry at wanker contingent of Brighton fans.
See half Hartlepool-half Swindon man on way back to station. Think he's had a worse time as City beat pools the day before.
Pick up car, avoid Brighton fans.
Drive home knackered and flat.
Find out those who asked for their (last minute purchase) tickets to be sent on the coach never arrived. Not sure if I am glad or sad I drove to get mine.

Which is why I made sure I partied like it was 1999 all the way from the penalty win at Charlton to the first kick at Wembley.

Went from an amazing night to a complete nightmare, one of the worst nights I've ever had.
Thats what made Charlton in the playoffs so much sweeter and why I went absolutely bananas. Thats football eh, the lows are so frequently it makes the highs amazing. In turn thats why I love  Swindon & could  never follow a 'top' team.

I couldn't get to the Charlton 2nd leg - watched it in a neary-empty pub in my small North Shropshire town.  Only other person watching was a Leeds fan - and an extremely nice one at that.  He watched with me and seemed genuinely pleased for me when Darby scored his penalty.  Clearly no match for being there but I was on top of the world for a long time after that - until Wembley, in fact.

I was at work the charlton away game. Working with a charlton fan too, he was none too pleased when i jumped up and ran round the fire station

Then we got called out

I watched it in a pub in Cheltenham (Taylor's) and was the only one there proudly wearing my Swindon shirt (from what I can remember). My vociferous and enthusiastic support got a few of the neutrals watching more interested in the game and they started cheering on Swindon with me. Was over the moon until "that" equaliser.

Like others on here - I felt utterly dumbstruck to have lost. I just remember sitting at the table just wanting to be any where else. Still, people from around the pub were coming over and patting me on the back and chatting - generally being very nice about it all - but sympathy from strangers is not really what you want at that time!

To top it all, I came out the pub to walk home and bumped in to 2 Brighton fans coming the other way. Cosmic.

Jonah

I can remember Fallon screaming YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS even before his shot hit the net....and i can remember thinking Reeves had jumped to early,two secs before Virgo equalised.

Don't remember the first leg at all, think I was working a night shift so missed most of it despite going to most of the home games and about half a dozen away that season.

As for the away leg, I was stuck in what I seem to recall being called the Lemon Tree on Fleet St. Good crowd in there and quite a few faces from the TE who couldn't get tickets/ were banned etc. Gutted and extremely pissed afyer the game, went to that bar around corner, can't remember the name, used to have 80's acts doing celeb appearances every now and then. Ended up arguing with a doorman and rolling around on the floor with the tattooed cunt for 20 mins before we both called it quits and then I walked into Edwards (where I was a welcome regular) only to be confrontd by a doorman who was 4'10 and told me to fuck off.

I gave up and went home after I smacked the midget cunt.

Shit memories, shit night.

For me the defeat at Bolton in the LC semi final was the worst feeling watching the Town,3-1 up on aggregate going into the last 30 mins...........a date with Liverpool in the final was the prize snatched away.

My cousin hyperventilated half we through the match & we missed the rest sat in the first aid hut!!

That was a low point indeed.  I remember the atmoshpere was excellent  and they put us in the side stand, instead of the usual behind the goal next to Sainsburies (or whatever that supermarket was)

Working at Butlins in Minehead when that game took place (lied about my age) with a shed full of Liverpool fans. They were gutted we didn't make it, easy win they thought, probably right

I was there, we were in the corner terracing next to the floodlight! Mixu pateleinen (sp) scored a screamer  :(

Were you a redcoat?

Was there too, was right next to the supermarket and couldn't see the corner flag. That was my worst experience as a Swindon fan, up until that Brighton game.

The end was awful, locked in as they all celebrated, the bloke on the tannoy thanking all the Swindon fans for their support and telling us what a great night it was. Seem to remember it started to snow as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjwh-INumK0

I forgot how much I hate John McGinley, what a wanker.

Horrible night, horrible away end, horrible weather, horrible memories, so close and yet so far away.

Not as bad for me as losing away at Wolves in 79 in the League Cup Semi though, that was a terrible memory for a teenager in the stands as I was back then, Andy fucking bastarding wanking Gray and a shit ref to add to it.

Spleen vented.

I'd sort of forgotten about this one even though I was there, god we've had some rotten experiences as Swindon fans. The match had previously been postponed and iirc it was very late, we were only about 30 mins away.  My dad's friend wasn't able to attend the re-arranged fixture, so my friend came with us.  I don't actually remember much about the game apart from the sense of despair as it all went wrong and it was bloody cold as well. I also remember us being spat at and called Swindon slags as we left the ground.  An unpleasant end to a miserable night.

Gotta love the Chorley FM commentary!

Ha I went mental in the pub and ran around with my shirt off when Darby scored that penalty
Everyone looked at me haha

I was throwing up in the away end after Darby scored :D

I punched some old bloke when Danny ward equalised, went to hug my mate and caught the bloke with a left hook ::)

I was stood on a seat and fell through it and got stuck.

I was sat in my car outside the away end the night it was called off. The bloke in a burger van gave me the bad news. Found a pub just across the main road from the away end, they were showing viz cartoons on the tv...sid the sexist, the fat slags etc.  :)

You sure that was on the TV and you weren't just watching the locals behaving normally (for northerners)?

Same here, I started jumping up and down on my seat, when it gave way. I dusted myself down & did the same with the seat next to me...it met the same end. Nasty bruises in the morning.

I remember that well.  We were on a coach and we were not long on the M6 when the match was called off, so we stopped off at the nearest town for a few drinks.  Nedless to say after the first drink the local police asked us to leave, as some people we smashing glasses (Stupid I know.  It wasn't me by the way !).

As we got a police escort out of the town, some of the loonies on the coach were asking the driver to drive to the Villa v Leicester match, keep the motor running so we could scrap with Villa / Leicester then make a quick getaway.  Thankfully the driver didn't go anywhere near there.  :D

A few of my other mates had actually got to Bolton's ground and had a drink in the main pub across the road, which kicked off big style  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Tell me about it...... Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon down here, makes it worse that since their fortunes turned ours have turned for the worse.