Unsung heroes in a Notts shirt

[jackal2]

I don't know if you could call him "unsung" after his famous goal in the FA Cup at Spurs, but Don O'Riordan I thought was a key player in getting us promoted to the old Division One.

After our promotion from the old Third Division we had started well in the Second Division in 1990-91 but then the bubble was threatening to burst in late Autumn until Neil Warnock pulled the masterstroke of dragging 'Donno' in from the cold, often playing him as a sweeper, where his experience and talent was invaluable.

Don did for us what Dave Mackay once did for Brian Clough at Derby - an old warhorse who everybody had written off suddenly turned out to be the linchpin that held all the other pieces together.

It might be the rose-tinted specs talking but I still think O'Riordan's achilles tendon injury on the opening day of the Division One season away to Man Utd at Old Trafford was ultimately what cost us a chance of staying in the top flight. Prior to that injury he had become a key player, despite his age.