Last updated 12:51, Thursday, 20 November 2008

The year was 1968, the setting was Brunton Park and the attendance was a bumper 25,000 for our fourth round FA Cup clash with Everton.

Tommy Passmoor

In the previous round, we had seen off Newcastle with a famous 1-0 victory in front of 52,550 people at St James’ Park and cup fever had well and truly gripped Carlisle as the Toffeemen came to town.

We were a decent side capable of holding our own in Division Two under the management of Tim Ward. Everton, meanwhile, were one of the country’s foremost sides boasting players who had helped England to World Cup glory two years previously, and would go on to play in the next competition in Mexico, 1970.

In other words, it was simply a mouthwatering cup tie – but I’ll always remember it for something that happened off the pitch.

We went behind to a Joe Royle goal, but we quickly rallied and were enjoying some good spells of possession and held hopes of a comeback.

The ground was absolutely packed, and the fans were getting quite excited as we took the game to our illustrious visitors.

During one move, there was a surge of movement in the Paddock, and the rickety old wooden fence that separated the standing area from the pitch gave way.

Suddenly there were people and falling bodies everywhere. There were lots of shouts and screams, and you could clearly see the fear and panic on some of the faces right at the front of the crowd.

We had heard the stories from the games against the likes of Arsenal, where people had actually died in similar situations, and none of us wanted to see anything like that at Brunton Park again.

We all wanted to help, but there didn’t see to be much that we could do – but I then saw my team-mate and defender Tommy Passmoor pushing his way through some of those who were stumbling around at the front.

There were some who had managed to pick themselves up, and they were obviously trying their best to get clear, but Tommy was ignoring this as he seemed to have his eye on one particular area.

He then bent down, and I was stunned when I saw him reappear with a tiny girl in his arms. The poor little thing was screaming, terrified, and I have absolutely no doubt that she would have been badly injured, or possibly worse, had Tommy not reacted as quickly as he did.

Even though he had exposed himself to danger – make no mistake, it was not a nice situation at all – his only thought was for the little girl and for getting her out of there as quickly as he could.

We all congratulated him and asked him about it afterwards, but he brushed it off as if he’d just been to the shop for a pint of milk.

I genuinely don’t think that he understood the magnitude of his actions, but he was such an unassuming character that it wouldn’t have affected him even if he had.

Eventually, the game got back under way and try as we might, we couldn’t find a way back into the game. Mike Trebilcock made it 2-0 to Everton just before full-time and our cup dream was over.

But the tie lives in my memory for all time because of Tommy’s actions.

He was one of the best players I played with and, for what it’s worth, I honestly believe he would have earned international honours had he been at a more fashionable club.

But saving the life of a little girl – that’s not a bad way to be remembered.

• ADAPTED from Nice One Skip, by Peter McConnell with Andy Hall, priced £11.95. It goes on sale at the Blues Store at Brunton Park from Saturday.
• Were you that girl? Do you know her and where she lives? Let us know here