PETE’S LEADING A VICTORY PARADE
PETE JAMESON joked even he was surprised at how quick he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate with York City fans at Dagenham – and the penalty shoot-out hero says they’d love to give the Minstermen faithful another big day in the capital.
City keeper Jameson saved three penalties – including the decisive kick from Elliott Johnson – as the National League North side reached the Buildbase FA Trophy semi-finals.
John Askey’s men will now travel away to National League high-flyers Bromley with another large following already snapping up tickets.
More than 800 fans made the long trip from Yorkshire to Dagenham in the quarters and the 28-year-old says the whole team were proud to give them something to shout about – with the party kick-started by his save.
“I don’t know if it’s because of watching VAR on the telly, I sort of looked and waited for the whistle – when the whistle had gone there was so much happiness and relief,” Jameson told The NLP. “And then not really knowing what to do with my celebration!
“All the fans were down the bottom end so I just ran there – I don’t know where this turn of pace came from, all the lads were bolting after us. I’ve had so many messages joking about the Olympics, saying get involved in Team GB and people saying they didn’t realise I was that quick!
“I’ve put some extra pressure on myself in pre-season to be at the front. I thought the gaffer might be playing us as a winger on Tuesday night!
“But it was a great way to end the game. For the fans as well. It’s not a short journey. They’ve been brilliant with us during this unbeaten run. The have been a 12th man.
“The perfect way to celebrate was for all the lads to run down there. You can see from the scenes at the end how much it meant for myself and the club. I was buzzing as much for them as much as for us that we won.”
The shoot-out only came after Clayton Donaldson kept cool to score a 97th-minute penalty to level the score at 1-1.
“The first thing I thought of when Clayton scored the penalty was the team meeting before the game when we watched the video analysis to remember back to which way their takers were going.
“It was relaxed in the huddle and, ‘Right, we’ve got ourselves another chance’. I always felt confident with our lads and the penalties. There were some good penalties from both sides. Sometimes in football you can get this feeling where you think, ‘It’s going to happen’. With how the game ended for us, you see a lot of teams in cup competitions who score so late and it goes into extra time or penalties and they do it because the momentum shifts.
“When Clayton scored the penalty, the fans were rocking, you could almost feel it was coming.”
The former Darlington and Blyth Spartans keeper says on a personal level it was one of his best days in football.
“At the end of the game with the lads picking me up on their shoulders, celebrating with the York fans, it was just an amazing day and memory I will never forget,” he added. “Stuff like that lives with you.”
The Minstermen’s current form also has them in the thick of the promotion race to get back to Step 1. The feelgood factor is clearly bubbling with fans making the most of the club once again subsidising travel for their next long away trip to Bromley.
Their initial allocation of tickets sold quickly sold, so the Ravens gave the two-time FA Trophy winners more with more than 1,000 being snapped up inside 16 hours.
“That didn’t shock me at all,” Jameson said. “That’s how good the fans are at York. We’re a really well supported team.
“But it’s another game for us to go and challenge ourselves against a good team.
“It would be great to get to a final. If we can keep the momentum, as we saw on Saturday, anything can happen.”