Arsenal America

Ed. Note - A new member recalls a memorable match…

I am new to Arsenal America, but with the recent departures of some players it reminded me of my first trip to Highbury that I would like to share with you. I had only recently started following the Gunners after they won the double in 1998, and so the following season a friend and I decided to go to London for a long weekend and see if we could catch a match. As it was, Arsenal was at home in a 5th round FA Cup tie with Sheffield United, little did I know what was in store for us.

We arrived early to scope out the area, find some tickets, buy some souveniers, and grab a bite to eat (worst fish and chips take away, ever!). The tickets were pretty easy as the opponent was not “desirable”. I’m sure the touts saw us coming and we bought a pair of tickets in the lower tier of the North Bank. Little did we know just how good our seats were! When we finally found our seats they were only ten row behind the goal and just off the right goal post. Perfect! I moved down to the signage to take some snaps of the warm-ups, the pitch, and the stadium.

We settled into our seats for the match and were really getting into it!! “We’re the North Bank” after all!! The game itself was not particularly interesting until. . . around mid-way (if memory serves) through the second half one of the Blades went down with an injury on the far side of the pitch, and although from our angle it didn’t appear that their keeper kicked the ball out for him to get treatment, it was implied. However, shock turned to awe when (I don’t remeber who) Arsenal took the throw in and launched it toward Sheffield’s defensive third. No one from their team seemed to move toward the ball!?! So, Kanu got in the act and picked up the ball and headed toward goal, almost unopposed. The next thing we knew we were on our feet as a simple pass to Overmars beat the defender and Overmars cooly slotted it in the back of the net. Advantage Gunners! It was an odd sensation though, as people were cheering, but still a little bit in disbelief over what had just happened. We were cheering too, but it seemed like maybe we shouldn’t?!?

Well, needless to say the Blades were none too pleased by the turn of events. The Clock End full of away supporters started up immediately with the “Same old Arsenal, always cheating”. Their players and manager threatened to abandon the match, and at one point walked off the pitch! The stewards started marching out to make sure the Clock End didn’t erupt onto the filed and were out in force. Eventually, play resumed, but Sheffield upon kicking off just kicked the ball into our defensive third and expected us to level the match on an own goal. Hah, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Final score: Arsenal 2 - Sheffield United 1

After the match waiting for the tube, we stood around with both sets of supporters. No fights, no angry words, just a lot of conversation and talking points from both sides. In the end the FA overturned the match and made them replay the match, which from my understanding, is the only time that has EVER happened. What a first visit! We were a witness to history!!