Cray Wanderers celebrate their Greatest Ever Match as they reach The FA Cup First Round for very first time while brave snooker star Mark Allen uses tv interview to speak about his mental health struggles as yesterday brings the highs and lows of sport

YESTERDAY saw the two sides of the emotion in sport – the jubilation of winning and the pain of losing and the mental health issues that everybody faces daily.

 

Isthmian League Premier Division part-timers Cray Wanderers were celebrating the highs of reaching The FA Cup First Round for the very first time in their history, with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over National League North side Bedford Town, after THAT EPIC 2-2 draw at Flamingo Park last night.

It was great to interview chairman Gary Hillman after the match and he had to wipe away the tears after the beginning of his post-match interview – after walking down the corridor after joining in with the post-match dressing room celebrations after Tim O’Shea’s heroes pulled off yet another upset to set up a home clash with League One leaders Stockport County next month.

Mr Hillman – who has been chairman for 32-years – admitted he would have felt ‘devastated’ had his side lost the penalty shoot-out – but there were plenty of beers, cheers and tears after seventeen-year-old substitute striker Jakob Lowe rifled home the tenth penalty – the 13^th of the night – in the shoot-out.

It went down as Cray Wanderers’ Greatest Ever Match in the club’s 166-year-history and television companies should be all over the First Round tie.

O'Shea, meanwhile, commonly known in the game as 'Tosh', admitted "Yes, it's probably one of my best achivements along with making my Spurs debut, playing internationally for Republic of Ireland, this is right up there!"

However, we also saw the dark side of top-level sport.

Northern Irish snooker star, Mark Allen, 40, was interviewed by TNT Sport’s Rachel Casey, after he lost a snooker match against his friend Jordan Brown in the Northern Ireland Open.

Allen revealed he is on the verge of retirement and that he ‘is in a bad place at the minute’, in his personal life.

If last night’s post-match interviews with Mr Hillman and O’Shea were emotional, and a sense of pride as I left the stadium at around half-past-eleven and published the match report close to six o’clock this morning, a post-match reaction in another sport that flashed up on social media was just as emotional and as gripping as last night’s football match on the edges of the A20 Sidcup-by-pass.

“Not good if I’m honest, really overwhelmed, yes, I’m in a bad place at the minute, so even to just go out there, try, was tough,” Allen said on TNT Sport.

“I think if I wasn’t playing Jordan, I wouldn’t have come back. I felt like if I was going to play one last time, playing here at the Waterfront (in Belfast), where it all started in 2005 against like one of my best mates, I think that was a better way to sign out.”

When asked by the concerned reporter whether he was genuinely thinking of signing out, Allen replied, “Yes.  I’ve been flattered with support but problems from within. Yes, I just don’t see a future for snooker, if I’m honest. It’s sad to say because it’s all I’ve loved to do since I was 12 but the last few months have been really difficult and it sort of put snooker in perspective for me. I don’t know I’m just trying to survive.”

Putting her arm on Allen’s left shoulder to offer comfort, Casey, during the interview proved us reporters actually care about the personalities that we interview post-match despite sometimes asking the tough questions and she replied, “It’s so good to see you! It’s so good to see you! I know it’s so hard, so, so hard to see, but there’s always a road back and you have so many friends, there is so many people there for you and I really want you to know that, everyone is behind you Mark, always.”

Concerned after watching the clip flash up on social media, Steve Sallis, who managed Greenwich Borough alongside Steve O’Boyle in 2019 posted on X, “Get the man to message me if you can.”  @StevenSallis on X.

Mr Sallis says on his X (formerly called Twitter) account that he is a ‘speaker of Leadership and a helper of people.’

Allen posted a really emotional message on Social Media X, which I thought was important to share with you this afternoon.

“Everything I said in that interview was true.  However, rest assured I’m doing my best to turn things round.

“I have been in a mental health clinic for the last 10 weeks, finally discharging so I could attempt to play in Belfast. I owed that to my family, in particular my daughter to see me play for what could be the last time.

“I also owed it to the fans who have supported me throughout my 21-years on tour.

“I also owed that to World Snooker who have been amazing from day one in all of this, in particular Simon Brownell and Neil Tomkins who have remained in touch regularly, even Simon paying me a visit in the clinic itself.  I’m not ok, but I’m ok in that itself.

“I’ve been much worse in the last few months than you saw yesterday. I literally didn’t see a future in anything.  My daughter kept me going, the therapists, staff and all the other patients were amazing and helped me through some really dark days.  I see the light now that I couldn’t see before but I do now.

“I also know it won’t happen overnight. I’m a work in progress. My fight and determination on the table has always been there for ones to see. I need to show those same fighting qualities off it now for a while.

“Please don’t detract anything from Jordan yesterday. He’s been aware of my struggles and that can’t have been easy to play in but he handled it with grace and skill as I knew he would.  I’m proud to call him a friend. I hope the rest of the event is a success and I will continue my treatments going forward and then see what’s ahead.

“Thank you to every single message I have received on (Social Media), text messages and WhatsApps.  I’ve seen them all but a bit overwhelmed to reply right now.

“Just know that they have helped me a lot but I’m not going anywhere just yet. I have so much to live for and this is only the beginning of my new journey.

“Also, I was not made to do any interviews. I was simply given a choice and I felt I owed it to everyone to speak. The media team has been incredible through all this too – thank you all.”

Running this website, for me personally, allows me to forget that I am autistic and mask into a football reporter for a few hours two or three times a week. But everyone goes through some dark moments. I know I do, the passing of my mum really hit me hard.

If you are in a similar position as Mark Allen, reach out to family and friends and there are plenty of phone numbers to contact too.

You are not alone. It’s better out than in and sport can bring some really wonderful and really tough moments but you can get through them. 

It really pisses me off when a football manager walks past me, decling a post-match interview after I've taken the time and personal money to report on one of their games.

Oh, by the way, I ask the same questions in the same order at every single football match. That's why my interviews that at least 10 minutes.  Thank you to all those manager's that do....

Nights like last night at Flamingo Park is the exact reason why I do this, why we all do it…

Cray Wanderers' players were extremely brave last night. Mark Allen's is so much braver for speaking out. I hope you do too.