Over the years I’ve learned not to turn Sky Sports down whenever they offer me work. But there are rare occasions when I’ve just had to say ‘Sorry, No, I can’t do it’.
This Saturday was one of those days because I could only do matches in a certain part of the country, due an appointment later in the day. But I’ve built up a good relationship with my boss, so when I turned down the original offer we came to a compromise and I did another match closer to where I needed to be.
The fear is always that the game you’ve turned down will be a classic, while yours will be an absolute stinker.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case… but it did leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Both matches were four-goal thrillers, with the home side coming from two goals behind to snatch a draw with a late equaliser. But my emotions couldn’t have been more different.
When I saw Stevenage level it up against Hartlepool I couldn’t help laugh at Sky presenter Jeff Stelling live on air as his team dropped two points. But it didn’t take the ‘football gods’ too long to get their own back as my original game, involving my team Leicester, saw local rivals Nottingham Forest equalise four minutes into stoppage time!