You're thinking of April 1991 rather than April 1972!
Roots Hall was packed that night.
That 1972 one was before I was born but was that the one when Derek Belloti broke his arm and Spud went in goal?
Yes we would have been promoted for the first time in our history that night with a win.
Of course we went up that season but missed out on promotion at home in front of around 18000.
Pretty sure Bill Garner went to put the keeper's jersey on at first but it was actually Spud that went in goal.
Unfortunately it was nearly 50 years ago and my memory is not exactly what it was!
21st April 1972 with 4 games to go - a win would have clinched promotion.
I was totally gutted after the game -the collapse of 1967/68 was going to happen again.
The crowd was 17,059- our biggest ever 4th division crowd.
Derek Bellotti actually dislocated his elbow making his first save in the 25th minute.
Cribbing from the "Fifty of the Finest Matches Book". Spud went in goal - all 5ft 7in of him - I think Bill Garner wanted to go in goal.
We kicked towards the north bank in the second half and took the lead in the 47th minute through Bill Garner.
As time wore on we got the jitters and made 2 mistakes in the 72nd and 78th minutes.
Then Alec Smith replaced Spud in goal as we went for an equaliser which wasn't to be.
Lincoln only drew the next day which meant we only need one point for our next game which we got the following Tuesday at Scunthorpe.
April 91 -again just 4 games left going for the third division championship- A 0-0 draw in front of 10,664. We finished in second place one point behind them after taking just 2 points from the last 4 home games.
Possibly uniquely the three teams automatically promoted Cambridge ourselves and Grimsby had all come up from Div 4 the year before.
Cambridge were of course the nasty team managed by John Beck where football was at its most direct. Punt it to the wings -win throws - long throws to Dion Dublin, Steve Claridge and John Taylor who got 42 goals between them. Danny O'Shea played 39 times for them that season.
Our main rivalry was in that period from 1989/90 to 1992/93. They finished 5th in 1991/92 in Divsion 1 but plummeted back quicker than us in 1992/93.
Since then in the league, they haven't scored against us in the last 6 games, haven't won any of the last 8 - their last win being in Feb 1999.
All points to an easy win for us???