Northern Ireland v Germany, Thurs 5th October

The morning after Northern Ireland’s superb 2-0 victory over Czech Republic I bought all the newspapers. I was still glowing after the achievement of the lads.

My mates George and Tommy are already on their feet to celebrate, however I am still seated. Let’s face it, as you get older your reactions are not as quick. George and Tommy are 30 years younger than me. They have kids at primary school, while I have grandchildren at primary school. All those years make a difference to one’s alertness, one’s agility and one’s quickness off the mark. Mind you, there was something else keeping me glued to my seat until the last possible moment. Let’s call it the weight of history dragging me down. I am in my sixth decade as a Norn Iron supporter and the many disappointments of those years have caused me to refuse to count my chickens. I take nothing for granted and never celebrate until the ball is nestling in the back of our opponents’ net. During those six decades I have witnessed many a disappointment, many a ‘win or bust’ game where our rivals proved too strong or too skilful or too quick for the lads in green. Now one thing we can all be sure of is that the weight of history is a burden confined to ageing fans like me. Do you think Michael O’Neill and his coaches Jimmy and Austin sowed seeds of doubt in the minds of our squad by quoting the statistics that Northern Ireland had never before beaten Czech Republic? Certainly they did not! The management of the present successful run are more concerned with making history rather than reciting the miseries of yesteryear. Of course I applaud Steven Davis and the rest of our ‘history makers’ who are on the verge of a World Cup play-off after notching a record five successive competitive wins and keeping seven clean sheets in eight qualifiers. And as an old timer who remembers past defeats I find it all the more wonderful to savour these days when we are riding on the crest of the wave. Long may it continue! Words Cunningham Peacock

They had almost booked a place in the World Cup play-offs with two games to spare and had never looked like losing despite the slick passing skills of their opponents. The newspapers lived up to my expectations and enabled me to relive the thrills of the night before. The sports journalists were heaping praise on Michael O’Neill and his team. There were ratings indicating how well each player had performed - and all of them were highly rated. There were quotations from Michael and goalscorers Jonny and Chris. There were action photos of my favourites doing the business in style. There was also that amazing shot of the whole stadium bathed in floodlights with the action taking place on the pitch while Mother Nature staged a spectacular display of her own, one of the most colourful sunsets ever in shades of light and dark red. Surely that was a sign in the sky that these are special days for football in Northern Ireland? It occurred to me that I might feature in one of these pictures, so I started scanning the faces in the crowd. Sure enough, there I was alongside my mates in the lower tier of the North Stand. The picture in which I recognised myself captured what for me was the ‘champagne moment’ of the game. It was the 28th minute and Jonny Evans was performing that gymnastic leap to meet Ollie Norwood’s headed pass. Jonny was twisting the muscles of his back and neck to make possible a backwards header over the keeper for the crucial first goal. And there in the corner of the photo were my mates George and Tommy and yours truly. At last I was part of the action in a vital World Cup clash. I was over the moon! But something about that photo caused me a little concern. In the picture the ball is not yet in the net. Jonny is airborne and so is the Czech goalkeeper. The ball is soaring towards the goal. It is that split second before it hits the net and we all go bananas.

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