Skivo's game's a good 'un, part 2

Following on from last night's brief post I'd just like to reiterate what an enjoyable day it was at Huish Park yesterday. It was great to see a decent crowd turn out for Skivo and especially good to see so many ex-players wearing the green-and-white (or the green-and-black) once again. Match details can be found here and here; and some photo's taken from the back of the Blackthorn Stand are online here.

Things I enjoyed in particular: The return of Gary Johnson. You don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone, as the song says, but I think we all knew exactly what we lost when Gary went up the road to Bristol City - not only the finest manager this club has ever had, but also a strong character, a charismatic leader and a genuinely nice man to boot. The Blackthorn Stand's reaction to him was spot on - beginning with the 'Hey, Gary Johnson, (ooh ah!) I wanna know, do you love the Town' chant; followed by 'We hate City and we hate City, we are the City haters' immediately after his acknowledgement. Well, you probably had to be there, but it was funny at the time. Very funny also when the great man put himself on as a player late in the second half and performed an outrageous dive in the box, followed by his pantomime air of injured innocence as the Blackthorn Stand chanted 'Same old City, always cheating!'. All good knockabout stuff.

Smashing too, to see the likes of Lee Johnson, Super Gavin Williams, Adam Lockwood, Kirk Jackson, Kevin Gall, Gareeeee, Andy Wallace, the mighty Paul Thorne, Andy Lindegaard and Warren Patmore amongst others all back on the Huish Park pitch. My own personal favourite moment came in the second half with Wazza rising at the near post like a 'leaping salmon' as Ciderspace described it though he reminded me more of a jumping spermwhale, to power a header into the net. That brought back a few memories.... Very nice to see former manager Colin Lippiatt yesterday as well, good to see he doesn't hold any grudges after the somewhat unsatisfactory way he left the club all those years ago. The moment of the match came right at the end however, when Darren Way came on for a very brief cameo, his first appearance since the car accident which so nearly cost him his life last year. The reaction of the crowd and his teammates was very moving, a real lump in the throat moment.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon then, and a fitting tribute to Skivo. I know in this day and age that a lot of people disagree with the very idea of testimonial matches, arguing that players are handsomely rewarded as it is and why should they get even more? I would probably agree with this point of view when it's applied to the bloated millionaires of the Premiership, but I hardly think a man who's been plying his trade in the Conference and the lower levels of the football league is going to be able to retire for life at the end of his playing career, whether or not as in Skivo's case he goes on to have a career still in the game. Playing football for a living is a precarious business even at the top, the truth is that whoever you are you're only as good as your last match and careers can be finished by one misplaced tackle at any time. Ten years as a first-team regular at one club in the modern age is rare, much rarer than it was when I began watching football in the 70's, and it deserves to be celebrated. And celebrated it was, and in style. Congratulations Terry, here's to the next 10 years!

Edit - more photos of the day are online here; and Seb White's excellent blog on what the day meant to him is here.