Carling Cup Memories (Part 1)

Although those nail-biting, joyous and dramatic nights under the floodlights at Belle Vue seem like only yesterday, it's actually 15 years ago since Doncaster Rovers captivated the nation's attention and went all the way to the Quarter-Finals of the Carling Cup.

It was a brilliant time for the club - an unexpected success story during the 'golden era' of John Ryan's ownership with some fantastic moments to last a lifetime. Who can forget Jan Budtz's sudden impact against Manchester City, hammering Aston Villa and dancing along to the chorus from Tony Christie's Amarillo as the goals went in, or that sweeping counter-attack in the 121st minute against Arsenal which culminated in Gilberto Silva's gut-wrenching equaliser?

Good and bad; they're some of the best times I've ever had watching football anywhere in the country over the past two decades.

Of course every journey often begins in humble surroundings and today's date (23rd August) is the 15-year anniversary of the First Round clash away at the Racecourse Ground against Wrexham.

It proved to be Rovers' only road-trip in the competition in 2005/06 and they went into the clash as favourites to progress after registering their first win of the season at Swansea City three days previously. Wrexham, having just been relegated to League Two, were experiencing a tough time with ownership problems off the pitch and issues on it, too, as they'd lost the services of top scorer Juan Ugarte earlier that summer and had scored just twice in their opening four games of the new campaign.

The Racecourse Ground; the birthplace of Rovers' Carling Cup dreams (Photo: Rob Waite)

If the form-book was anything to go by, however, a tight game was expected. Both games in League One, the previous season, had finished 0-0 and neither were particularly memorable.

Initially, it was anticipated that this game would see the return of Steve Roberts to North Wales - the centre-back having chosen to leave the Red Dragons for Rovers during the close-season. However, an injury picked up in a previous game prevented his appearance.

Although by and large it was a scrappy clash, Wrexham (who included a certain Darren Ferguson in their starting line-up - whatever happened to him?) actually began positively and it was only some good goalkeeping from Andy Warrington which stopped Rovers from falling behind in the first half.

Dave Penney's half-time team talk obviously had some affect as the team delivered a much tighter, more controlled and more disciplined performance after the re-start although, after a lengthy due to Wrexham defender Shaun Pejic being carried off with ligament damage, extra-time seemed more and more probable with each passing minute.

Nevertheless, with the prospect of 30 more minutes looming large, emotions changed with five minutes remaining as substitute Adam Hughes - the unlikeliest of potential scorers, popped up with the winner, right infront of the travelling contingent of less than 300 fans, for what would turn out to be his only goal in a DRFC shirt. The Australian midfielder, at the club on a six-month contract which didn't get renewed, converted from close-range after Dave Mulligan's initial corner twice wasn't cleared by the Wrexham defenders.

Those saves by Andy Warrington, and other earlier missed chances, had cost the hosts massively!

The win was pleasing as it allowed fans and players alike to dream of a trip to a decent stadium in the next round as top-flight teams without any European commitments entered at that point. The draw wasn't for a few more days as it was scheduled to happen during the broadcast of Soccer AM the following Saturday. When the teams were drawn though, it wouldn't be a trip to Tottenham, Aston Villa, Leeds or any other big club for Rovers...

Instead, Manchester City (infamous pre-season opponents the year before - and with a certain Joseph Barton still on their books) were coming to little old Belle Vue.

The excitement had started!