I don't remember an awful lot about the build up to the game but most of it in the local press had concentrated on the fact that the referee had finished our previous game (a 1-0 defeat away to Crewe) four minutes early. Some people were so convinced that a terrible wrong had been done to us that they were arguing the match should be replayed. Yes we were that desperate! Well we had good reason to be. Bottom of the Football League with one match to play we had to win our final game against Orient to stand any chance of maintaining our League status. Even then we had to rely on Lincoln City or Torquay losing. It seemed a tall order and I had the nerves to prove it. I was not helped by the fact that most other promotion/relegation issues had already been decided and the National press had descended on town. Just when you wanted to put it to the back of your mind, there we were on the TV or in the paper. There is only one true faith and how it was tested this day.

The official attendance was 15,781 though it seemed more like 20,000. Sure there were those who had come to bury the club but the vast majority had come to cheer on the Clarets for maybe one last time (there was a very real threat that relegation would bring extinction) with the wish that their vocal support could make a difference and keep us up. At the time I was a bit miffed that I could not even get in the Park View before the game as we had been going in for a pre match pint or two all season, but these were soon forgotten when we heard the click of the turnstile and climbed the steps to the Longside looking for salvation. It was fantastic to see the ground full again and the pre-match atmosphere was unbelievable. A deafening rendition of 'I Can't Help Falling in Love With You' just before the teams came out still sends a tingle down my spine and brings a tear to the eye. The tension was added to as after a tumultuous reception the teams had to go off again to allow the thousands still outside to see the kick off, and we knew that the other results would be through long before our game had finished. We finally kicked off at 3:15 p.m.

Tension is not really the word for it, heart stopping gets close, but what agonies we went through. Orient still had an outside chance of a play-off place and had not come here to lie down. A draw was no good and all the early play went their way. A flick on and an Orient player was through on goal when Ray Deakin launched himself horizontally to half block the shot which still looped on to the bar. It was the sort of block he would never have attempted to make in a normal game but this was no normal game. But then news started to filter through that Torquay and Lincoln were losing and a cheer went up on the Longside, but it was no good if we didn't do the business, and as half-time approached this looked far from likely. I had just said, "I'll settle for 0-0 at half-time" for about the tenth time when Neil Grewcock picked up the ball on the touchline just inside the Orient half. In what now seems like a slow motion replay to the memory, he cut inside a couple of players and hit a curling shot towards goal....too soft, the keeper can stop it....but what it lacked in pace it made up for in direction and it curled quite beautifully inside the post. 1-0, half-time, there is a God - he's called Neil Grewcock.

I spent the next 10 minutes amongst a sea of delighted Clarets simply making my way to the gents and only got back just as the second half started. And what a start - now we were on top. A couple of chances came and went before a cross in to the box which really did make me believe. Ian Britton, the smallest player on the pitch sneaked in between 2 giant defenders to plant a header into the bottom corner. I will have to publish a picture of it later but the fact that the cross evaded the first defender and Britton got to it before the second defied all logical explanation. Shortly after, Britton had a great chance to make it safe when he hit a shot just wide which all of the Longside thought it was in, but hey, this is Burnley you know.

Then disaster struck. Clarets keeper Neenan waved at a cross instead of catching it and it fell for an Orient player to make it 2-1. Now the pressure was on. Neenan redeemed himself with some desperate saves when it seemed they must score, then once, when he was beaten, Phil Malley this time threw himself full length to save a certain goal. But time was ticking down and we now knew that Lincoln had lost and Torquay had drawn. If we could hang on we were safe....aaarrggghhh. Leighton James knew how I felt because as the cheers went up with still 15 minutes to play in our game he came running to the Longside arms outstretched pleading for confirmation. Finally convinced we could do it he could do no more than put his head in his hands, we were still playing!

As time ticked down, fans started to spill on to the sides of the pitch and I fancy I saw some signals from the Orient bench to give it up - if they equalised now they might not get out of here alive. Perhaps I imagined that, as the last few minutes were pure agony. The Longside was screaming, pleading beseeching the Rev. George Courtney to blow the final whistle, but on my watch there were still 2 minutes left plus what must have been an age of injury time. Maybe I am wrong and I am certainly not complaining but I still say he blew for time early! But yes, miracles do happen and as the ball was cleared up field he blew the most important whistle in our history and I made the mistake of falling to my knees as 5,000 Longsiders rushed forward to get on the pitch! We were safe - Deliverance.

The party that night was unbelievable especially as we were celebrating our lowest league position in a century. We actually finished 3rd from bottom with Torquay and the relegated Lincoln beneath us and I'll leave the final word to my mate Mark who said in the Pub later the funniest thing I have ever heard: "I always said the bottom two should have gone down!"

Andrew is also the web master at the Come On You Clarets web site.

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