I don't think I've ever been so gutted after a game including some finals. That game just seemed to hurt the most for some reason. It was an atmosphere from a decade earlier with a big crowd inside hoping for a cup shock. But to lose it from the Jaws of victory really hurt. I think Eastwood missed a kick near the end in that game.

Got in his taxi a few times back in the day

One that always sticks in my memory is the Regal Trophy game against Widnes at The Boulevard in December 93. The infamous match in which Des Hasler and Mike Dixon got hypothermia. Remember reading somewhere that it was close to getting abandoned at half time because of the weather conditions.

I was going to nominate the Wigan March '88 game until I saw Wilf's epic post from a couple of days back.
I was in my usual spot (Airlie Street end) and can only remember everyone going utterly mental at the sheer drama of it all. Thing was, nobody knew it was the last play because we didn't have stadium clocks in those days so you were never quite sure when the final hooter was going to sound.

A couple of mentions for arguably the two finest performances I have seen in my time supporting the club;

Australia, Nov '82. Going toe to toe with the side (and it was the full test side to boot) who altered the game of RL for ever. When Topliss scored right on half-time, the Aussies were rattled for possibly the only time on tour.

St Helens, July 2005. Magnificent team performance to send us on the way to a first Cup final in twenty years.

Also, one other, slightly oddball one. Craven Park derby, Good Friday '88. We'd played Halifax in a drawn CC semi-final (0-0 no less!) and had lost the replay (4-3!) on the Wednesday night at Elland Rd. The Good Friday derby went ahead at 3pm as scheduled with everyone expecting a rovers walkover, and we strolled to an easy win after scoring two quick tries early on and coasting home after that. It's always been one of my favourite derby wins, along with 2016 of course, just for the unexpectedness of the outcome. I only went because I'd already bought the ticket. Hindsight was to show that rovers were well on the downward turn by that point, being ultimately relegated the following Good Friday at the Boulevard.

Great post as always and I remember running onto Craven Park and carrying coach Tony Dean shoulder high off the pitch and then walking all the way back to town with hundreds of others singing Old Faithful! What a way to avoid relegation. great memories!!

Cheers Wilf, always pleasing to receive compliments from the master .

Agree with you totally about Wigan '88. Only the two Wembley victories stand above it for sheer pleasure of memory (with the Aussie tour game '82 just behind). If I close my eyes I can still picture a mud-stained Gary Pearce running towards me at Airlie Street, it was only when he reached the 25 that I realised the players frantically chasing him down were Kevin Dick and Paul McCaffrey and not the encroaching Wigan defenders!
Nevermind that there was just over 6000 of us in there that afternoon (and that's including a reasonable Wigan contingent), by the noise and sheer pandemonium that erupted around the old ground, you would have thought there was 50000 in there celebrating!! I have never, in all my days, seen a crowd go so utterly berserk as we all did at that moment Can recall being in Town centre later that evening still in a stunned daze at the drama we had witnessed. Almost 37 years after it happening, it still brings a smile to my face every single time the memory resurfaces in my mind. The kind of moment that goes a long way to compensating some of the heart-breaking and/or depressing moments we have to endure as black & whites from time to time.

Also, if we are talking about derby games (as this thread started with another memorable derby victory), I think it would be remiss if one of us old-timers didn't mention Craven Park, Good Friday 1984, and Len Casey . Completely outdone by Fred Ah Khoi and a moment to savour for all black & whites stood underneath the old greyhound scoreboard at Holderness road end (as everyone went nuts again!!). It still makes me laugh even today, forty years after the event, in fact I'm laughing right now picturing that linesman somersaulting backwards onto the Craven park turf .