When Barnsley last visited Old Trafford in February 1998, there will always be memories of a bizarre play by Peter Schmeichel and a missed penalty.
For the Reds players who were in that FA Cup match, the most memorable thing about it was what happened previously.
It centres on Darren Sheridan, a Manchester native who was a member of Barnsley’s team but did not play that day.
Due to his suspension, the midfield enforcer and dressing room ‘character’ got together with his Manchester United supporters in a pub near Old Trafford before heading to the stadium to get tickets.
Circumstances contrived to produce a comedy incident which proved the perfect settler for a set of Barnsley players who had been trounced 7-0 in a Premier League fixture there the previous autumn.
Taking up the story, defender Adie Moses tells The Yorkshire Post: “Shez was a Manchester lad and a big United fan and his family (were). We were on the bus and were a little bit nervous as we’d had that previous beating.
“Typically in the week, Shez had been saying to the lads that he needed lots of tickets and was asking who had got spares. He called Martin Bullock on the team bus and you could hear Bully saying ‘we’ll sort you tickets, Shez, don’t worry.
“Shez was in the pub with his mates and couldn’t hear. The timing was unbelievable, Shez walked outside of the pub with a pint of Guinness in one hand and a mobile phone in the other, just as the team bus drove past him. We were all looking from the bus and Shez, instead of trying to hide, held his pint up saying: ‘Good luck, lads.’
“Danny (Wilson – manager) and Eric (Winstanley – assistant) had clocked it as well, and as the bus went past, Danny went down the bus saying: ‘Did you see that little so-and-so? Wait till I get him tomorrow!”
“I think it helped lighten the mood. Everyone was laughing and it made us relax a bit more. That incident with Shez kind of helped.”
The game itself saw John Hendrie put the Reds in front after a blooper from Schmeichel.
Teddy Sheringham soon levelled, but Moses and co dug in to secure Barnsley a replay, which they famously won 3-2, thanks to a brace from Scott Jones. But it could and perhaps should have been settled back in Manchester.
Moses continued: “Andy Liddell was through on goal and Gary Neville absolutely scythed Lidds down from about thigh height with a scissor tackle from the side. He took him out and the referee couldn’t get away from the incident quickly enough. It was the most nailed-on penalty you’d ever seen.
“I also remember John putting us one-nil up. Schmeichel sliced a backpass and it spun across goal and John’s little legs couldn’t get there quick enough.”
For Doncaster-born Moses, that game remains a cherished memory to this day.
The defender added: “Danny told me to do a job on Ryan Giggs. Whenever I see Neil Redfearn, he goes on about me marking Giggs out of the game and always tells people it was the best one-on-one (man-marking) performance he’d ever seen. To be fair, I probably had one of my best games in a Barnsley shirt.
“I didn’t miss many games that season, but was sub for the league game. I was watching all those goals go in thinking that ‘I might never ever get to play at Old Trafford, just put me on Danny.’
“Thankfully, he put me on near the end. But after getting a beating it was nice to get the chance to go back to Old Trafford in the cup.”
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