‘Tranmere Rovers v Southampton’ by John Davies

20th February 2001

Scouring the footage of an FA Cup classic
for your face among the looped faithful,
I carefully pause and drag the timeline.

Half-time finds us three-nil down,
pretending to study the match programme,
gripping insipid tea for the warmth alone.

But on the hour, the colour-bled crowd
abandon flip-up seats as Paul Rideout scores.
Better reason to stamp feet than cold,

attempt to jump-start our younger selves.
Rideout resurrects a cult of belief,
engineers space to flick in his second.

Swiping any closer blurs incredulous faces
into restless mist, the poor frostbitten pitch.
Best to pull back, track you from a distance.

At Rideout’s hat-trick, the camera pans
across the main stand, seeking the most unabashed,
not finding my father, or his three sons.

Convincing myself it’s you, up in the high rows,
relishing our reaction above your own
when ‘Barn-door’ Barlow stabs home the fourth.

Within stalled analogue,
rescued from an obsolete machine,
we hold on to the unlikely odds.

Place in the next round assured,
I slow-drag your embrace

frame by frame
until there is nothing else.

From issue #11: spring/summer 2021

About the Author
Born in Birkenhead, UK, John Davies’s poems have appeared in The Ogham Stone, The Cormorant, Southword, The Pedestal, Maine Review, Crannóg and Manchester Review. He was a runner-up in the 2017 Waterford Poetry Prize and in the 2018 TU Dublin Story Prize, and was longlisted for the 2018 National Poetry Competition