Played at Mannion Park, Middlesborough, on June 28th 1997, as part of the EuroNet 97 tournament.
We were originally due to play Man City. They too were struggling with players and, in another group, Man United were forced to withdraw after a number of their guys failed to turn up (rumoured to be stranded en route from Bournemouth!). And so, at the eleventh hour the organiser agreed to let the 2 sides merge to form a Denis Law XI. If you ask me, these *combined* sides shouldn't be allowed!!!! ;-)
Stuart bravely took his place on the bench, despite being in considerable pain and another passing Swindon player was persuaded to make up the numbers (having been instructed to remove his red shit first).
Porl's tactics continued to look good but there was no way of stopping their 3 thunderbolts that eventually won the match ... especially as my rib cage was now at a safe distance and unable to block any further certain goals (and some of my ribs in particular were at least 3 inches away from where they had been prior to the Villa game). I took my place on the touchline with Hil and Alison to show my support ... then I put it back on and started cheering on the team instead. The Mexican wave was a nice touch but was lost abit with just 3 people! I offered encouragement by means of vocal support and even with a minute to go and 3-0 down I was still heard to chant "Come
on Giants, you can still do this."
Our defensive tactics meant we made few forays into the opponent's half but when we did and were awarded our first corner (of the *tournament*!), the Giants were seen to begin a lap of honour.
A 3-0 defeat was by no means an embarrassment and I was incredibly proud of the way the whole team had conducted themselves throughout. The Swindon player could only play one half and Stuart was suffering quite a bit (although you couldn't tell when you saw him get stuck in the way he did!) so we were down to just 12 which was hard going for all the players
concerned. We were certainly one of the smallest squads in the tournament.
So it might have been 3-0 but I'm counting it as a moral victory! Bearing in mind Manchester scored 5 against Stockport and (from memory) a similar number against Villa, we did bloody well.
