20th March 1988
well I've tried to avoid posting however I can't resist anymore and you know, with the the exception of 2016 the greatest day of my life and possibly the second a year later this has to be my favourite game of all time and the best end to a match (even better than that ending masterminded by the great Marc Snowed at Catalan) I have ever experienced. Sorry if you read it before but those who were there will have great memories about it and deserve I think to relive it!! For once rather than the other way round we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!!!
......the game kicked off and immediately Referee Haigh had to separate Regan and Wigan prop Adrian Shelford as they traded punches. Regan as usual got in the last ‘slap’ which infuriated Shelford who in the very next play pole-axed our forward with a ‘copy book’ stiff arm tackle that saw Regan stretchered from the pitch. As the ‘Faithful’ bayed for a red card the Wigan forward was sin binned, while Regan sat on the grass over the touchline, counting his teeth. On twelve minutes Wigan opened the scoring. Gregory had pushed play wide and Byrne, un-marked on the wing, shot in at the corner, although thankfully Lydon, (who was to have an uncharacteristically poor afternoon with the boot) saw his conversion go well wide, bouncing as it did so, into the terracing just in front of us.
Ellery Hanley, who was showing why he was hailed as the best player in the British game, took a pass from Hampson in the 33rd minute to go in at the corner and Lydon missed again. It was exhilarating stuff if you supported Wigan, but tough for us as Hull just managed to stay in touch. When the hooter went for half time we were relieved to see that the score was still only 8-0, because we had been totally out played. As the Wigan supporters chanted “Champions, Champions” and we replied like a peel of bells, “Same old Wigan, always cheating” the two teams trooped off for half time.
Playing towards the Airlie Street end it was Gary Pearce who led Hull’s revival. We pressed the visitor’s line and Tomlinson threaded an inch perfect kick through to the corner where veteran James Leuluai pounced to score. Then in a ‘watch and learn’ moment, Pearce showed Lydon just how to do it, as he slotted the conversion over from a position right on the touchline.
Nine minutes later in total disbelief, the crowd went absolutely wild as after a spell of Wigan pressure Hull took the lead. Prop John Carroll who was probably the pick of a hard working Hull pack, slipped the ball out of a three man tackle and Kevin Dick took it on. He shot through the scattered defence, drew full back Hampson and sent Divorty in under the posts. Another Pearce conversion gave us a four point lead and we all started to believe that the unthinkable could be a possibility.
Referee Haigh then awarded Wigan seven consecutive penalties and eventually their pressure told as Henderson Gill shot in at the corner. It was the sort of bad luck you get when you’re struggling, because not only was Gregory’s pass forward but all the fans in that corner of the ground believed that Eastwood had Gill tackled into touch well before he got the ball down. However the try stood and as Lydon missed the conversion yet again, the scores were locked at 12-12. In the dying minutes Gill raced back to fly hack a ball into the Best Stand as Fletcher homed in on it, but that seemed to be the final act, however the stage was set for the best end to a game that I have ever seen in 60 years of supporting the Club.
I make no excuses for this narrative going into ‘slow motion’ now, as the next few seconds were breathtaking and perhaps beyond imagination. Frankly it is just impossible to do the whole thing justice, but this is how I remember it………….
We'd all begrudgingly settled for a point, but with the hooter about to sound for full time, Terry Regan, who had come round from his concussed state and heroically rejoined the fray, shoulder charged Andy Goodway and the ‘whistle happy’ referee called foul. We all felt aggrieved, but being just in the Wigan half we felt reasonably confident that nothing would come of the penalty. However with time up, from 55 yards out from the posts, Lydon decided to go for goal. Our hearts sank, surely he would not miss another one and surely a great draw and a precious point wasn’t to be snatched from us at this late stage? It was a straight kick and as the boo’s mounted from around the ground Lydon hit the ball hard, straight and true, but, as was his luck that afternoon, it fell just 5 yards short, right under the cross bar.
At this point, Dick Tingle of the Hull Daily Mail, who was in the Press box, will tell you the two time keepers next to him said, “Next tackle and we blow for time”. This play would be the last of the game and with finger on the ‘claxon’ button, they all watched as the drama unfolded.
The ball was taken under the posts by Pearce who began to run it out. Gary was not the fastest of players, and, as if in submission, he ran straight at Wigan prop Adrian Shelford who was, with the rest of the Wigan team, chasing after the aborted conversion to try and get a hand on the ball. With his last ounce of energy Pearce produced a massive and audacious side step, went past the grasping arms of Shelford and found himself behind the advancing Wigan line. He ran on for about 50 yards, slowing as he went, probably little knowing that just one tackle would see the game end. He started to visibly flag as the chasing cover got closer and closer and just as he was being caught by Hanley and West, out of the blue and on his shoulder appeared veteran scrum half Kevin Dick to take the ball on. It was probably the furthest Dick had run for years, How Pearce got that far and Dick managed to keep up with him are to this day, two of the great unsolved mysteries of the Boulevard.
Visibly gasping for air the veteran number 7 drew full back Hampson and passed hopefully to the outside where substitute McCaffrey, (who had only been on 5 minutes) ghosted into the drama grabbed the ball and had the legs to outpace the defence. As he ran towards us those final twenty yards to the line seemed to have gone into ‘slow motion’. McCaffrey, with three Wigan defenders grasping the air inches behind his feet, at last, placed the ball over the whitewash and we all went wild as at the same moment the hooter sounded and we had won!!! The Wigan players to a man fell to their knees in anguish and Pearce had to wait while the pitch was cleared of rejoicing Hull fans to tag on the two points, but who cared, certainly not the lads round me, who danced and sang like we had won the League. No Video Replays, no television recordings, no evidence, all we can now trust to is our mind’s eye and the memory. It was simply fantastic and one thing’s for sure and that’s that anyone from the 6,371 who still survives, will like me, never forget the greatest finish the Boulevard probably ever saw in its long and distinguished history.
