Restored and reunited

Kate Burlaga looks back on a season of beginnings, restarts and revival

Words: Kate Burlaga

We’re not going to Wembley.

No Hopkin or Elliott or Simonsen, no sunburn and gut-churn and tears.

What if Iliman Ndiaye, sent through with that dreamy outside-of-the-boot ball, had directed leather into turf rather than torso? 

What if Brice Samba had not been able to stretch that hand, that hopeful leg that far? 

What if Oliver Norwood, lingering on the penalty spot with thoughts and demons, had just converted that first one?

That brilliant, breathless night at the City Ground, glorious chaos followed by glorious failure, deserved more, but after moments and margins, the misery felt different, the anguish tempered. 

We’re not going to Wembley – but this play-off tale stood in the end for recovery, for reconnection, for reunion.