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Your support makes all the difference.Anarchy came to Mid-Wales last Friday night, when a punk rock gig at Aberystwyth Town's social club ended with one of the budding Johnny Rottens allegedly hacking large chunks out of the playing surface, but on Saturday afternoon it was democracy's turn.
On a hastily patched up pitch, which Carmarthen Town had hired for their Intertoto Cup debut because their ground did not meet the criteria set by European football's ruling body, Uefa, a 21-year-old postman from Swansea frustrated the hardened Continental campaigners of Sweden's AIK Solna with a smorgasbord of spectacular saves.
Robert Fitzgerald is no ordinary goalkeeping postie, mind you. His nickname, "Fitz", is a truncation of his surname, although at nearly 17st he also bears a resemblance to the heavyweight psychologist-sleuth of that name as played on television by Robbie Coltrane. Opposing forwards used to say Peter Shilton filled up the goal with his presence; in terms of physique, facing Fitzgerald must be a similar experience.
In the main stand the locals were reminded of Tommy Lawrence, the corpulent Liverpool custodian who was known as "The Flying Pig". Yet they rose to applaud Fitzgerald at the end, and even the Swedes, slimline athletes to a man, were impressed. As the AIK and former Swedish World Cup coach, Olle Nordin, remarked, in a phrase evoking Mr Kipling's exceedingly good cakes: "Mr Fitzgerald played an enormously good game."
The subject of food and diet dominated the post-match interviews. Carmarthen's manager, Tomi Morgan, praised Fitzgerald's "absolute stormer" of a display and suggested he had the ability to play at a higher level than the League of Wales if only he did not eat "so many burgers".
"If somebody got hold of him he could be a top-class keeper," said Morgan. "I don't know whether he realises his own ability. If he did, he could have a future in the game. For such a big lad he got down brilliantly a couple of times and made some great stops to keep the tie alive for the second leg in Stockholm next Saturday." Fitzgerald, whose hero Neville Southall always looked as if he could put away his grub, conceded he could do with being slimmer. His shift starts at 4am and he spends much of his round dodging dogs, which sounds like a recipe for fitness. Fat chance: he also confessed a severe weakness for curry.
The compact Park Avenue stadium, overlooked by the imposing National Library of Wales and nestling between a bus station and farmland, might seem as unlikely a venue for European football as for the "Anarchy in the UK" show of the previous evening. However, Aberystwyth are old hands at the Intertoto, a competition invented for the benefit of Continental pools companies, having drawn with Maltese opposition in 1999.
Out on the car park, one aspiring Arthur Daley had set up a table selling Swedish flags and was busily screwing the horns into plastic Viking helmets. Judging by their absence on the heads of the three dozen AIK followers, he may not have made the expected killing. Nor did Nordin's team, an amalgam of fringe players and internationals like Martin Aslund, though scarcely for want of opportunities.
When AIK last visited Britain, they came within 90 seconds of holding Arsenal in the Champions' League before 71,000 at Wembley, only to lose 3-1. This time, with 1,600 watching, they took a while to get their bearings and were almost caught out on several occasions as Shaun Chapple and Ryan Nicholls showed their ex-pro pedigree with Swansea and Leeds respectively. Fitzgerald was grateful for two goal-line clearances and a point-blank miss by Aslund, but the second half turned into a one-man show.
It started with a one-handed save from Aslund at close range. Then came an elegant leap and catch from Joen Averstad's 25-yard drive. If a stupendous double save, à la Jim Montgomery in the 1973 FA Cup final, was Fitzgerald's tour de force, the reflex stop which prevented Dylan McPhee scoring an own goal with his first touch was equally vital for its timing and the maintenance of morale.
With the part-timers on the ropes their season finished six weeks ago while AIK are in the middle of theirs the final minutes resembled a siege. When Aslund hit the post in stoppage time and the rebound pinged about the six-yard box like a pinball before being cleared, even the Mayor of Carmarthen, complete with chains of office, sprang from his seat with fist clinched and shouted: "Come on!"
It will be tougher in the 37,000-seat Rasunda, which is effectively Sweden's national stadium, particularly if AIK put out a stronger side. In the meantime, Carmarthen and the Flying Postman can reflect on a red-letter day.
Carmarthen Town (3-5-2): Fitzgerald; Barnhouse, O'Brien, Thomas; Rees (McPhee, 85), Rossiter (Evans, 87), Chapple, Nicholls, Jones; Meredith, Summers (Johnstone, 90). Substitutes not used: Hicks, Delicate, Berry, Morgan (gk).
AIK Solna (4-4-2): Jankulovski; Thylander, Ljung, Averstad, Casserly (Vasiliou, 79); Ishizaki (Rubarth, 60), Jevtushenko, Tjernstrom, Touma; P Andersson, Aslund. Substitutes not used: Wanstrand-Bjork, Petrovic, Ingel, D Andersson (gk).
Referee: S Radulovic (Yugoslavia).
Booking: AIK: Touma.
Man of the match: Fitzgerald.
Attendance: 1,624.
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