The last time we met....

[Pancho Regan]

I've been clearing out my loft today in readiness for moving house in a couple of months.

I stumbled over a cardboard box full of Rovers stuff, and couldn't resist rummaging....

All the newspapers were there from our meeting with Arsenal in the League Cup Quarter Final, December 21st 2005.
And all the papers and programmes from our wins against Man City and Aston Villa in the previous rounds.

What fantastic memories!

Ironically, I missed the Arsenal game because I had to be in London that night for a Christmas dinner at The Ivy with the major client of the company I was working for at the time. I just couldn't get out of it.

So I was getting text messages from my brother who was at the game, and eventually all the people in my party were asking me for updates! Bizarre.

But reading all the newspaper reports today has brought back the wonderful memories of that amazing League Cup run.

And what a team we had then. Greeny, Fozzie, Sean Thornton, Macca, Heffs, Ricky Ravenhill.... and of course, Copps. The evergreen Copps, sole survivor of that epic cup run.

How will he feel next Wednesday when he leads out the team at the Emirates? He won't be able to recount to his new team mates the passion, the emotion and the sheer joy the Team of 2005 felt as they came within 30 seconds of a place in th League Cup Semi-Final.
But I bet he will allow himself a little moment to reflect on that amazing night at Belle Vue.

I'm reading now the interview with Arsenal Wenger after the match. He knew how close we had come, how unlucky we had been.
"We have played a very good Doncaster side and I'm not surprised by the fact they beat Manchester City and Aston Villa. I was highly impressed with Doncaster. They have some players here who have a future in the Premier League. I didn't see any weakness and it was a really tough tie for us."

I wonder what the papers will be saying next Thursday morning?

We can only dream......

[hoolahoop]

Yes the defeat hurt but the magnanimous words from Wingerworth were more than usually comes from a manager of a top team when beating a small club.
He actually meant it and it showed , they weren't mealy- mouthed words but sincere. Real respect and I felt pride real pride during that Cup run.