Northern Ireland v Slovakia

WIN OR BUST: THESE ARE THE MATCHES TO SAVOUR! When I was a lad we didn’t have a television set. I was starved of seeing top class football with one exception. Every year on FA Cup Final day I would go next door to our neighbour’s house and watch the big match being staged at Wembley.

I remember sitting in his little kitchen in 1957 watching Aston Villa beating Manchester United 2-0 in black and white. I was just nine but already was becoming a football fanatic. Ever since then the drama and tension of a do or die game has always thrilled me. Tonight’s game is a kind of cup final. It’s win or bust for both teams and it’s at Windsor, too! In the long years after the 1986 World Cup we fans of Northern Ireland looked on enviously as other countries took part in these vital matches. Northern Ireland were always an also-ran in those barren years. Of course there were high points, good performances and fine wins, but we never had enough in the tank to take us to within 90 minutes of the finishing line. But recently these cup finals have been like buses. You wait for ages for one to come along and then several show up at once. Back in 2015 we had not one but two cup finals, both at Windsor. In September we played Hungary in a win or bust encounter which could have booked our place at Euro 2016. But the Hungarians spoiled the party by scoring first and then we were reduced to 10 men when Chris Baird was sent off. When I arrived at our local railway station after the game my wife Roberta was waiting in the car park, ready to deliver commiserations. “Too bad we lost 1-0,” she said. She had switched off the car radio in despair, but I was thrilled to delight her with the great news that Kyle Lafferty had scored with the last kick of the game and that another do or die game was set up for the following month. And this time there were no hiccups as the team overwhelmed Greece on a night fired with emotion. Captain Courageous Steven Davis scored twice and Josh Magennis bagged the other in a 3-1 win.

Qualifying for the Euros led to another win or bust game in the second phase of matches. This time Wales were the opponents, in Paris. We didn’t score in the first half when we were dominating the game and a certain Gareth Bale was always going to get one opportunity… Then came the World Cup qualifiers and that home and away play-off with the Swiss. I have a feeling that we fans put too much pressure on the team for the home leg. Our expectations were sky high and the lads’ performance suggested that they were too tense to take advantage of being at Windsor. Still, it took a dodgy penalty to beat us. Now here we are with the Euros just 90 minutes away. We have arrived here after that emotion-filled play-off semi-final in Sarajevo, when we played extra time for only the second time in our history. That’s right, it was NOT the first time Northern Ireland played extra time, despite certain media outlets claiming it was. On 17 June 1958 we played Czechoslovakia in Malmo in a World Cup group decider. The score was 1-1 after 90 minutes. In extra time Peter McParland scored the winner to put us in the quarter-finals! Roberta went away and hid for the most recent penalty shoot-out. She can’t stand the tension, but I was strangely relaxed. I had a hunch that we were due another victory in these win or bust encounters. So another cup final awaits us tonight. Call me greedy if you like but I can’t get enough of them! Words Cunningham Peacock

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