It was deja vu in 1978 and a repeat of the promotion campaign in 1966, a point at Orient would see up to the top flight barring a complete mathematical disaster in the last game.

It could not be tighter in the midweek fixtures prior to the final day of the 1978/79 Division 2 season, with 2 games to go Saints started the week top on 55 points, but only on goal difference, Spurs were on 53 and Brighton 52.

So the task for this mid week game was to make sure that at least one of the two teams below us could not catch us, everyone was looking to Brighton who could only get a maximum of 56 points and had a goal difference of 23, so one point for us would virtually see us home as ours started the week 8 goals better.

So up to London on the Tuesday evening to Brisbane Road which had been the scene of my first ever away trip one day short of exactly three years earlier.

For the 2nd time in 3 days it was a case of using the thumb again to get to the game, only this time I was accompanied by a mate of mine at the time Steve and we had arranged for a lift home with his Dad.

So we left for London in the morning of the game, had a wander round the centre during the day and then had a pint or two near the ground in the evening.

The were 19,248 in the ground and it seemed that most of them were Saints supporters, three sides of Brisbane Road were Saints supporters and only the main stand seemed to have any Orient fans in it and there were even Saints supporters on that side as well.

Given that Orient did not have a big crowd and that a year earlier we had played there in an evening game in front of 5,226 and our other three visits there had not been much more and that including a healthy number of Saints fans, it would not be exaggerating to say there were over 13,000 Saints fans in the crowd that night, possibly a little more.

I was on the big covered terrace on one side of the ground where I had stood on the three previous visits and this seemed to be where the noisiest portion of our support had gathered, probably because like me they had been there before.

It was packed solid and many Saints supporters had to go behind the goals as they couldn't get into this section and both ends were also packed.

The games was not a classic, it was tense and all the action happened in the period before half time, initially disaster struck and Orient took the lead through Fisher (not Hugh) the O's were in a bit of relegation trouble although they had a few games in hand and looked to be the least likely of bizarrely 8 clubs who could occupy the third and final relegation place.

But the lead would only last 9 minutes when Tony Funnell the hero of the run it scored with a header to put us level and send 3/4 of the ground wild. Ironically he scored with a header that looked remarkably similar to the one scores at Brisbane Road in 1966 in an almost identical scenario.

The second half was tense, not so much because we were under any pressure, both sides seemed to be happy to take a point, but because it seemed that we just wanted the final whistle to go so the celebrations could start and we would be all but up.

All ears were also to transistor radios to hear how Brighton were getting on against Charlton, anything less than a win would see us up on points.

The whistle finally went and the Saints hordes surged on to the pitch, sadly Orient's ground was not in the best of conditions and the perimeter wall collapsed in a couple of places as the celebrating fans clambered over it and several of our fans were injured in the process, at least one with a broken leg.

We all danced on the pitch and I took home some of the grass that I kept in a plastic bag for a few years, there were a few rumours of Spurs fans in attendance, but I didn't see any, at least not in any numbers.

The news from Brighton was mixed, they had won 1-0, so that meant that for the moment we weren't up totally mathematically, firstly Spurs were hosting Hull the following evening, if they lost that we were up whatever the result on the final day.

But Spurs beat Hull 1-0, and Bolton won their game so it set up a final day with only Bolton sure of promotion, Saints, were hosting Spurs and Brighton Blackpool, technically any one of the three could go up or stay down.

From a Saints perspective a draw against Spurs would see us up as would that score see the North London club promoted unless Brighton won by 11, from our perspective we needed to avoid an 8 goal turnaround in goal difference if we lost and Brighton won.

Surely that would not happen and the fans at least celebrated as if we were already up.

Lawrie McMenemy was a little more cautious although Ted Bate the manager who had been in the same position 12 years earlier on the same ground was a little more celebratory than he had been back then and said how delighted he was for Lawrie and the boys for all the hard work they had put in.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 10:29 - Apr 25 There were 200 Spurs fans, very visible throughout the game, at the top of the terraces behind the goal to our left. They disappeared rapidly at the final whistle when Saints fans invaded the pitch and made a beeline for them.
1

Leeds United Polls