On This Day – 25th October
It was on this day nine years ago that my club Aldershot Town played the biggest match in their history.
After beating West Ham United away before home wins over Carlisle United and Rochdale, we were draw at home to the mighty Manchester United in the Fourth Round of the League Cup.
I had queued up for an hour and a half ten days before the game to buy tickets. I managed to secure four tickets on the East Bank, the large terrace behind the goal where I normally stand. Part of the agreement of buying the ticket was that you also had to buy a ticket for the next home game at the same time. It was a clever way of the club making extra money from the tie. They also bumped the price of the matchday programme up to £5 for the United game. Despite there being more pages, it didn’t justify the increase of £2 from our normal programme.
My Dad was making a rare visit to a match, the lure of a big team too much to keep him away!
My best friend Nick made the longest journey, flying over from Austria on the day of the match, before flying back the following day. Scott, a college friend and fellow Shots fan completed our group of four. The game attracted a huge crowd of 7,044.
United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson named a strong line-up including big names such as Nemanja Vidic, Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov. It wasn’t going to be easy for us.
The Shots would be wearing their away strip after manager Dean Holdsworth insisted it brought us good luck after the win away to West Ham in the First Round. We wore it in the next two rounds, despite having home advantage. I personally preferred seeing Manchester United in their famous red kit as opposed to their away strip as it made them instantly recogisable as Manchester United. Away shirts will change colour season by season, but United’s home shirt will always be red!
Any chance of a giantkilling disappeared after quarter of an hour after Berbatov rolled in a close range finish with incredible ease.
Michael Owen doubled United’s advantage in the 41st minute, racing into the box and firing under Shots goalkeeper Ross Warner. Antonio Valencia fired in a third from distance to complete a comfortable win for the Premier League side.
Aldershot would finish the season in 11th position in League Two, United missed out the Premier League in the last seconds of the season.
The following season was Sir Alex Ferguson’s last in charge of the club and Aldershot relegated from the Football League at the end of the following season. They have not returned since.
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