Like every WBA fan of recent times, my favourite memory is Bradford. Like the assassination of JFK, every WBA fan knows where they were and what they were doing on the day of that game!
Before kick off, I looked at my dad and he was wiping away a tear, I'd never seen him cry before but the gravity of the situation had got the better of him.
We'd overtaken the Wolves the previous week having been 15 points behind them a few weeks before and a win here and a Wolves loss meant we would be promoted!
Chance followed chance for both teams! It was too much to bear at times, so much was riding on this one result.
91st minute, super Bob is fouled...PENALTY!
We had missed about 11 out of 13 pens that season, to put that in perspective, had we converted all 13 pens, we'd have won the league by a mile!
Up steps Igor Balis...couldn't speak a word of the queens but somehow convinced everyone to let him take the pen.
7 minutes Bob was down on the floor, it was too much, there were tears, anger, frustration. It all came down to this one kick.
He stepped up...IGOR IGOR IGOR
Slotted into the bottom corner to the keepers right!
Fans were all over the pitch, but the most amazing thing I witnessed at that moment was the sight of all 4 stands jumping in celebration!
WBA fans had bought every spare ticket in every stand, regardless of their own safety.
Valley Parade officially holds 25,136... To this day I swear there were 25,000 WBA fans at that game!
Take into account we were nearly relegated to the 3rd tier 2 seasons previous and you'll understand how much that goal meant to us.
I'd lost my voice, I'd cried with my dad and sister, I'd laughed at my mate being tackled by a steward on the pitch after the goal...I'd felt every emotion possible in a short period of time!
My favourite football memory was created by a man who probably didn't know what his goal meant...and that is why football is so great.
At the end of the season West Brom. were promoted in second place while Wolves lost in the semi-finals of the Play-offs
Memory added on March 21, 2013
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