A fan's-eye view from Turf Moor, with Stephen Cummings

IT's a great feeling. You're away from home. There' about 3,000 of you. For the last half hour you've all been singing yourself hoarse, as the Clarets have taken the game to Oldham, looking like they'll score every time they pass the half way line. And you know that if we can just get one goal then we'll bury this lot.

Then Paul Smith who has been having his best game for ages floats a long ball forward. To be honest the defender should deal with it - knock it out for a throw-in or something. But he doesn't. He dithers. Either his goalkeeper's not talking to him or he's not listening.

And all the time Andy Payton's closing in. Because in the same way a shark will move in for the kill at the sight or scent of blood, so the Padiham Predator comes to life when defenders dally.

And before you can say, "twenty goals a season," Payton expertly exploits the gap between full-back and keeper. He's got the ball. Your heart beats dangerously quickly. And in the space of a nanosecond you're thinking, "Go on, Andy! You can do this! Finish! Finish! Finish!" Time stands will as everyone focuses on the striker. Like moths to a flame, 8,543 souls are absorbed by the moment. In one fluid movement, Payton extends a leg, connects with the ball and executes a perfect lob over keeper Kelly and into the corner of the net.

At which point the tension is shattered and 3,000 travelling Clarets go berserk - and I mean berserk. You're jumping up and down like a demented jack-in-the-box, punching the air, hugging your mates and screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" over and over again.

And you've got the biggest grin on your face. And just for a split second you wish you could be in the Oldham end, just to see what this great, joyous, writhing mass of Claret and Blue humanity looks like. Thirty seconds later when you finally come to rest, you can feel your heart still pounding from the thrill of it all. Oldham 0, Burnley 1.

If you want to talk about life-affirming moments, then you can rank this up there alongside the best. Because moments such as this are absolutely priceless and give what Nick Hornby in "Fever Pitch" describes as "this powerful sensation of being exactly in the right place at the right time." Football - I love it...

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.