Sky had royally screwed over the Bolton fans and moved the game to today which at the time, I was disappointed for them, but after the most ludicrous set of results known to man on Saturday, it meant we knew we had a chance to win, and get to the promised land.
All day I was a complete mess. What started as butterflies were full grown pterodactyl by 4 o'clock so I left work early - I think my colleagues were as glad I wasn't pacing around as I was
I got to the ground for just after 7 after a walk from the car which seemed further than I actually live from the ground and after politely declining the offer of a song-sheet I found the others
Nothing against the idea of the song sheet by the way - if it encourages a few more voices, why not, I say ?
Normally at this point I'd have a calming beer - but not today. I just couldn't guarantee that I wasn't going to be sick
At my seat all I kept thinking was "what if...." swiftly followed by "surely not us...." - crunch times like this bring out the pessimist in me.
I wasn't alone - many around me had a look on their face like they just wanted it all to be over
The crowd was in fine voice though, broken only by an impeccably observed minutes' silence to remember the fallen at Bradford
Neil Lennon had pronounced that they wouldn't come here to just roll over but all their plans were almost undone as early as the 2nd minute as Wilson brushed off a defender on the left, cut inside another and but for a brave save from Bogdan, would surely have calmed 10000+ nerves
The pattern of the game was quickly assumed with lots of pretty passing from us and a lot of high balls to Heskey for them
In fairness he won 80% of the high ball fairly and when that didn't work, won the other 20% unfairly.
I can't remember another player getting away with so many fouls. The trouble was that this is all that Bolton had to offer - and with Le Fondre constantly sniffing around - who was to say it wouldn't work?
After Ritchie had a shot saved from close range, Bolton's 1970's tactic almost paid dividends as a flick on (not by Heskey this time) had Le Fondre slipping through the defence and weakly heading the ball straight at Boruc
Thank God he didn't chest it down and run round Boruc - a very poor decision which did nothing for my jitters
Still, the crowd responded magnificently and soon voices as well as red and black balloons were raised
We started to impose our game more and the speed of passing and movement was impressive.
After long range (wayward) shots from both Smith and Kermit it was Ritchie's turn to smash the ball goalwards after a free flowing move
The keeper seemed to be going the wrong way as it zipped across the turf but somehow he managed to throw a strong hand on it an parry it to safety
Bloody hell - how many times have we played teams where the keeper has had the game of his life this season - this ginger ninja was going to take some beating
I blame the pitch - ANY other pitch in the land would have at least one divot that the ball could hit - the one downside of playing on a billiard table :-)
Cometh the time, cometh the man.
With less than 7 minutes left of an entertaining and BLOODY frustrating first half - the hugely impressive Smith (in for the suspended Francis) sent the ball wide right to Ritchie
The Scot (haha) then seemed to kick the ball against his other foot (on purpose - this wasn't me playing) and the trick bamboozled the defender and Ritchie was at the by-line
Looking up, he chipped the ball to the back post and Pugh collected it, trapping the ball instantly
We'd already used our first "sleeper" on Saturday (agent Grabban) and Pugh was faced with our second, Feeney
Whispering "Mitchell" at him, the code - the word did its job and Feeney was frozen to the spot as Pugh jinked past onto his left
Then, without actually taking a back-swing (or so it seemed to me), Pugh rocketed the ball into the top right corner of the goal before Bogdan (or anyone else) had time to set himself
The place exploded!!!
Old and young were jumping up and down, hugging. Tears of joy and relief were shed as Pugh performed a knee slide into the corner
We were WINNING 1-0
Once we caught our breath, as one we all thought, one's not going to be enough
Boruc had the ball 5 minutes later in his hands and after a sadly trade-mark poor clearance straight to their midfielder, the ball was quickly won back and Wilson pinned his ears back and was off
The ball through was slightly deflected which slowed it down as well as sending Wilson slightly wide on the left.
He cut back with the ball and spotting Kermit in acres of room on the right side of the box he passed the ball to him along the deck.
What happened next reminds me of 2 world cup incidents. Do you remember the one where Brazil are playing Italy and Pele seems to pass it to no-one, but then Alberto steams in and cracks it home - yeah, that!!
The ball reached Kermit and he instantly dinked the ball back into the box
Ritchie, having discarded the cloak of invisibility, ran into the box and met the ball on the half volley, punching it into the bottom left corner - an absolutely fantastic finish
World cup incident number 2: watching it back on TV afterwards, as Ritchie span away and ran to the crowd, the commentator gave us a Wolstenhlme moment with "They're turning on the style now Bournemouth" - still gives me goose-bumps
If the first cheer was loud - this one will live long in the memory
The half time whistle went and we were all still jumping up and down humming the tune from Match of the Day - hope sky didn't mind.....
At that point in my mind, we were definitely going up - by the start of the second half I was "well, the next goal is going to be crucial" - I can't help it, honest
Special mention to the dizzying half time entertainment - BEST HALF TIME EVER!!
Half Time 2-0
The second half started with Bolton clearly having got the hair drier treatment but Cook and Elphick were imperious under the bombardment - not that they were winning much in the air - but they were always there for the knock down - there's more than one way to skin a cat.....
Arter had come closest with a shot that drifted wide before Kermit tried a "Beckham" on 63 minutes
From fully 40 yards he spotted Bogdan off his line and he lofted the ball over the keeper's head
Bogdan had the look of a man watching the ball as it was sailing over the bar, but just thought he'd saunter back, just in case. I was only when it was clear, with 6 feet to go, it was obvious that it WASN'T going over, that he managed to back-track in time to tip it over
Six minutes later and it was obviously game over - surely.
A threaded ball had Wilson through one on one, only for Dervite to cynically scythe him down - penalty AND a red card
Our rivals were going to LOVE that - but to be honest - I couldn't care less - there was no other decision
Up stepped Kermit and Bogdan started his mind games. He started on the left, danced to the right and then jumped in the middle - he looked bloody enormous
Clearly that's what Yann thought too, as he skied his attempt high, wide and mighty - Bogdan had got into his head - this game wasn't over
Pugh and Ritchie both had near misses, as I'm a kind mood, before the moment of truth at 77 minutes
Great work down the left had the ball cut back to Wilson, 12 yards out at the near post, with a defender up his backside
In one movement he pivoted to his left, dragging the ball with him and leaving the defender for dead. Without looking up he fired the ball to the near post and with Bogdan rooted to the spot by the speed of the action, it was 3-0 and time for unbridled joy
Stuff happened after that but if I'm honest I can't remember what. The singing, the hugging the jumping, the sheer, sheer disbelief
The final whistle went and the inevitable pitch invasion. As if anyone was going to give a toss about a pitch of the year award
Full Time 3-0
Summary - The best we've played for a while - goals good enough to win 3 goal of the month awards - Football doesn't make you feel any better than that
Star Man - Smith - After Sheffield Wednesday, he must have balls the size of melons. A faultless display both in defence and attack
