Preston away in the mid 80’s
Plastic pitch was so bizarre !!! Awful bounce and naturally we lost .
On another note deepdale is the only ground I can think of where I’ve been on every side as a saddler
Mid 80’s behind goal in a fenced pen(now home end)
Early 90’s I think on the side for FA CUP game
Mid 90’s game towards end of season we were on the opposite side as new stand had been built.
Finally midweek game in graydons first promotion season , behind the other goal (game lost and Jason brissett sent off)
I was there and will never forgive the ■■■■■■■ bastards.
I was one of those getting drenched too…I was with my 2 daughters and my wife. My recollection is that rain was mixed with snow and the pitch turned white at one point. One of my daughters(who hates football) was only there because she lived in Stockport with my now Son in Law. She has never set foot in a ground since…I cannot think why!!
If I remember right we were also well and truly put playing them also 
That’s jogged my memory to January 1990, in the last season at Fellows Park.
I think it may have been Southend United who were unceremoniously dumped 4-0 from the Daf Windscreen Paint Shield thingy in front of 2,000 or so on a Tuesday night.
This match descended into farce during the second half thanks to torrential downpour.
The opposition were utterly hapless, as Stuart Rimmer completed a brilliant hat trick, chasing his own flick on, as several defenders ended up on the deck.
Southend’s handful of fans took cover under the corner and the match would surely have been abandoned if we weren’t winning so convincingly when it started.
My abiding memory was of Keith Bertschin out of control, sliding apologetically off the pitch and into the advertising hoardings.
That reminds me of a game away at Gillingham back in the early 90s when Saddlers fans crowded under the floodlight tower at half-time and refused to go back onto the terrace when the game restarted.
Absolutely nothing to do with the weather - it was all because of the embarrassment that was Allen McKnightmare!! Think we were already 4 down by that point - all started off by the Happy Shopper version of David “Calamity” James running outside the box to stop a ball that would have gone for a goalkick crossing the line, then booting it towards the penalty spot (I presume his version of dribbling) where stood an incredulous Gills strike with an open net in front of him.
Oh how we laughed!!
2 Likes
I’m sure Bertschin was reported to have had hypothermia following that game. I was there and it well and truly ommerd it down. Think it was called Simod cup that season - but could be wrong.
More bad weather - away at Yeovil in 2008 when a Clayton Ince goal kick got blown out for a corner! Then the heavens opened up and they let us fans on the open terrace behind the goal go into the covered seats on the side without charging extra - all except for one bloke in a white coat who decided to grit it out (looking like a bedraggled polar bear 
)
http://www.ciderspace.co.uk/ASP/news/news.asp?NewsItemId=6102
3 Likes
Remember a bizarre night at bury before they transformed the old wooden stands, they used to make the fans change ends at half time lol, but on this particular night the Walsall fans wasn’t in the mood, so they had to draft a few police on horseback to persuade them, i think that was the night i saw Alfie wood score a wonder goal, and his celebration was even better, until the ref disallowed it for i think it was a mark rees offside 
Another weather affected day was away at Fulham with it absolutely ■■■■■■■ down all match.
Travelled with my wife, so paid the bit extra to sit in the seats, rather than stand on the open terrace.
Quite a few others decided to do the same, which resulted in the stewards moving the segregation netting on the seats to make more room. Much to the annoyance of the Fulham fans being moved from their regular seats to make way for us.
Also before the match driving down Fulham Broadway, the wind picked up and the car was showered in leaves, only to find 50 yards further down the road a big tree had come down.
Lost four nil 
Another weather affected match at Fellows Park in the 70s, a night match in strong wind, maybe against Gillingham. Match abandoned after about 30 minutes when bits of the main stand roof were blown off and landed on the pitch. Just before that a goal kick flew taken at the Railway End blew up and and over the railway for a corner. Walking back along the Broadway my brother got hit on the back of the head by a large cardboard box blown by the wind.
Another ‘bizarre’ match was the 7-4 against Preston in the first round of the FA Cup where we were 4-1 up after about 20 minutes and two ex-preston players scored for us in Willie Naughton and Steve Elliot, with Naughton getting his hat-trick. I heard that some Preston fans turned up late and thought there had been no socre only to be told at the turnstiles they were already 4 down. Second week into my new job and on the Monday after I discovered my team leader was a Preston fan.
As was said to me at the time it might as well had been Pato banton
1 Like
Bristol Rovers at home in 73
Came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 with 2 goals in the last couple of minutes .
In the days when you had no idea how much time the ref would add on
I was twelve at the time - a school night and an example of the stuff that hooked me for life
I think the Simod cup was for 2nd division teams
There’s a couple of games i remember where on the nights the floodlights " failed "
We played Leeds United at Elland road , it was in the F.A cup 1995 , and Killer Lightbourne had had a couple of chances he really should of put away , and didn’t but we kept going at them , and we’re causing a few problems for Leeds then all of a sudden all the lights went out , and were off a few good minutes .
In that time the players returned to the dressing rooms where i believe the Leeds players received a rocketing ( and to this day my mate reckons it was done deliberately before we beat them ) , and returned to the pitch when the floodlights came back on a different team .
We finally lost 5 - 2 with Phil Masinga (R.I.P) scoring a hat trick in 9 minutes for Leeds .
The second game i remember was at the then Bescot Stadium against Stoke city . The game was in full flow , and the floodlights just went out .
The teams were taken back to the dressing rooms , and then both sets of supporters started baiting each other by singing songs , and taking the ■■■■ all in the total black out .
I think Walsall officials got a bit worried that supporters might try and cross the pitch to fight each other so they turned the music up through the tanoid speaker system full volume to drowned out the goading of each other .
2 Likes
Bristol City (A) in the Merson era when Ishmel Demongtaec forgot we had a game & missed the team bus.
Fulham (H) midweek game in Graydon era, day after Al Fayed took them over & they brought no fans and we sang “you could of come on a camel” to them.
Mark Rees getting sent off as soon as he had come on, don’t remember the game but I remember the tackle.
The Bristol City away game where Ian Handysides and Phil Hawker both got black eyes. I can’t remember the score but I think we won. I can however remember my brother having to drag me away from a bemused Bobby I was demanding should arrest the ref for behaviour likely to cause a breech of the peace.
1 Like
Sheffield United at home in 1980 , absolutely bitterly cold , the coldest I’ve ever been at a game . Ended 4-4 with our last equaliser in injury time , Don Penn if memory serves .
Cardiff ( I think , or was it Swansea ) at home around 85/86 . We went 3-0 up , pegged back to 3-3 then won 6-3 . Think there might have been a hat trick for someone . ( Rees?)
I remember that Sheff Utd game. Froze me little toes off it did. Definitely in the “wouldn’t be played these days”Category.
Remember a 5-0 at home to Cambridge round about 1986. They were cut adrift at the bottom and brought about five fans one of whom was particularly enthusiastic and changed shirts every 15 minutes or so.
Remember Freddie putting a window through away at Gillingham.
Those two late pens at Sheffield United in 1981. Bizarre in that the tannoy announced an unlikely result elsewhere which had saved them from the drop. All that did was stop the rioting for five minutes to allow us to get out alive. Once the Sheff United fans knew the truth (they were down) the rioting continued well into the night. Thanks Givens day as Sheffield Wednesday fans called it and the older ones still do.
The streaker against West Ham who got chucked out and then re-appeared. Was that the brilliant Charlie Ntmark own goal match too- a rare two touch effort?
Cardiff Away in 1987. West Tip won the National that day and less than 2,000 people there to see four penalties awarded. Was a very strange day indeed. A very rare no-show (less than 200) from our fans in an empty Ninian Park.
And talking of pens there was a home game against Blackpool on a Tuesday night round about 1988 when the ref just seemed to have a meltdown. Gave three pens I think, nobody knew what two of them were for, sent off at least one of their players and dismissed their manager too (Sam Ellis?). Think Paul Jones lashed Home our pens in a 3-2 win.
1 Like
It was TONY HATLEY.
Hat trick I think.