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So what do you do when you have just headed home a potentially promotion-winning goal and hundreds of fans come running at you in celebration?
David Wheater answered in the way only he could: “You just cuddle everyone.”
Thanks to Fleetwood’s impressive pluckiness, the defender’s 66th minute header did not end up being the history-making moment it threatened to be at the time.
Supporters flooded on to the pitch and, briefly, things threatened to turn ugly as some people started spilling out of the Port Vale stand.
But amid the chaos there was a salutary lesson. Wheater, Adam Le Fondre, Jay Spearing and a few other Wanderers players helped stewards and police to marshal the crowd back into the stand, diffusing the tension.
Such a show of unity would hardly have been imaginable some 12 months ago but underlined just how far things have come in this rollercoaster of a campaign.
“When they burst on I was glad of the rest,” Wheater laughed. “I was a bit tired after all the celebrating.
“When we got back to the half way line we saw some of the Port Vale fans were going at our fans, so a few of us went over and tried to calm things down.
“It’s probably not the best thing to do when there’s fighting going on. But I’m 6ft 5in I can look after myself if someone starts it.
“I don’t know about Jay Spearing – he’s a little Jack Russell, isn’t he?
“It came into my head we needed to get the fans back into the stands and maybe they listen to players more than the stewards and the police?”
Wheater’s goal did have historical significance, as it turned out, being Wanderers’ 7,000th in league football.
By the time Gary Madine slotted in a deserved second in the last minute of normal play, the earlier pitch invasion had staggered the two games in such a way supporters already knew the promotion party had to be put on hold for another eight days.
“It’s in our hands still, so hopefully we can go on to the last game and a packed house and win it there,” Wheater said of Sunday lunchtime’s visit of Peterborough United.
“We only need a draw and I think with our defensive record we should be able to get at least that. I’d rather go for the win and end on a high.”
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David Wheater answered in the way only he could: “You just cuddle everyone.”
Thanks to Fleetwood’s impressive pluckiness, the defender’s 66th minute header did not end up being the history-making moment it threatened to be at the time.
Supporters flooded on to the pitch and, briefly, things threatened to turn ugly as some people started spilling out of the Port Vale stand.
But amid the chaos there was a salutary lesson. Wheater, Adam Le Fondre, Jay Spearing and a few other Wanderers players helped stewards and police to marshal the crowd back into the stand, diffusing the tension.
Such a show of unity would hardly have been imaginable some 12 months ago but underlined just how far things have come in this rollercoaster of a campaign.
“When they burst on I was glad of the rest,” Wheater laughed. “I was a bit tired after all the celebrating.
“When we got back to the half way line we saw some of the Port Vale fans were going at our fans, so a few of us went over and tried to calm things down.
“It’s probably not the best thing to do when there’s fighting going on. But I’m 6ft 5in I can look after myself if someone starts it.
“I don’t know about Jay Spearing – he’s a little Jack Russell, isn’t he?
“It came into my head we needed to get the fans back into the stands and maybe they listen to players more than the stewards and the police?”
Wheater’s goal did have historical significance, as it turned out, being Wanderers’ 7,000th in league football.
By the time Gary Madine slotted in a deserved second in the last minute of normal play, the earlier pitch invasion had staggered the two games in such a way supporters already knew the promotion party had to be put on hold for another eight days.
“It’s in our hands still, so hopefully we can go on to the last game and a packed house and win it there,” Wheater said of Sunday lunchtime’s visit of Peterborough United.
“We only need a draw and I think with our defensive record we should be able to get at least that. I’d rather go for the win and end on a high.”
Source