John Helm: Jermaine Beckford’s goal a kiss of life for Cup

Jan 6 2010 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HOPE the FA don’t come down too hard on York City for their failure to get to Stoke for the scheduled 3 o’clock kick-off on Saturday.

Victims of the ice, snow and inevitable traffic snarl-up on the M6, perhaps they were guilty of bad planning and a Scrooge-like attitude in not booking the players in for a hotel stay the night before the game.

But having suffered similarly once, I have sympathy for York.

My nightmare came on the day of the League Cup Final between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City in 1999.

I was contracted to commentate on the match for a company called CSI – and they decreed that I should travel down from Yorkshire to Wembley on the day of the game.

What neither of us knew though was that a heavy load was leaving Leicester that morning and travelling at snail’s pace all the way down the M1.

There was simply no way past the monster and my epic journey lasted eight hours, meaning I actually missed the first four minutes of the game.

Thank goodness Ray Clemence was my co-commentator that day and filled in admirably until I flopped into the chair alongside him breathless, furious and less than well prepared. Lesson learned!

A CROWD of just 8,690 at Hillsborough for any game is an appalling wake-up call for both club and competition.

Sheffield Wednesday have fallen on hard times from a playing perspective.

And disillusioned fans stay away on cold days.

But this is a venue that has been chosen again for potential World Cup matches.

Last season I was at Turf Moor when a pathetic 3,000 turned up for a cup-tie against QPR.

These are the sort of statistics that send a shudder up the spine.