The Whites family converged from far and wide on the Memorial Stadium in Bristol as we prepared to take on the Pirates, otherwise known as the Gas, a nickname originally coined by their rivals, Bristol City because of the gas works near their old home, at Eastville, spilling out unpleasant aromas.

No such problems these days as we discovered the Drapers Arms, Bristol’s first micropub, purveyors of wonderful local real ales and none of that lager substitute. Lancaster Whites, London Whites, West Country Whites and Walkden Whites all crammed into this small pub to chat with the local fans, who didn’t fancy their chances as they were struggling to remember the last time they had scored, over six matches ago.

For our part, it was simple, we have to win our last five matches to give ourselves a fighting chance to finish above Derby County and grab the second automatic promotion place. Easier said than done of course but not impossible, the lads of 1993 managed it under Bruce Rioch and Colin Todd.

The first half is best forgotten as we struggled to get any rhythm in our game. The second half started with Bristol on the attack and Nathan Baxter had to make three crucial saves to prevent us going behind.

Then, against the run of play, our magic moment of quality arrived through George Thomason putting Aaron Collins through to superbly chip their goalkeeper. We had to endure some tense moments, especially when the referee slapped eight extra minutes on, before Aaron Morley wrapped it up from the penalty spot after Cameron Jerome had been brought down in the box.

Job done. One down, four to go. It made for a happy journey home, battling through storm Kathleen. It puts the pressure back on Derby now, who play at Wycombe on Wednesday night before we take on the probable League One champions, Portsmouth on Saturday. If we keep doing our bit, this season will go down to the wire.