Charlie Raglan has admitted that he nearly missed Wembley once more!
The Oldham Athletic defender was cup-tied for the 2017 EFL Trophy final, and red tape had ruined his previous trip at the national stadium.
After his old team Cheltenham let a 2-0 aggregate lead slip in a League Two semi-final against Northampton, who won the second leg 3-0, he later had a near-miss through the playoffs. He nearly missed the Latics’ date with destiny due to a calf issue.
“I was having trouble during the Friday training session and before the game. “I was feeling a little down,” Raglan said to The Oldham Times.
“On Saturday, the day before the playoff final, I called my wife and wanted to cry because I thought I would have a hard time playing the game.
‘You’ve gone from not feeling able to play to playing for two hours!’ she added afterward. “I suppose adrenaline was the cause.
“It took me a long time to recover after they scored that goal in extra time, which really took the stuffing out of me. Most likely at halftime, and it’s clear that’s when the magic happened.
However, despite Latics’ spectacular comeback against Southend United in extra time, vice captain Raglan was unable to share in the celebration until the final whistle.
“We just need to cross the finish line,” I thought, which prevented me from enjoying the goals. “Go beyond the line,” he remembered.
“The ball’s bounce matters in those games. Anything is possible. We had a ton of opportunities, and I think they had too many, but you’re just hoping for the best. Desperation: do everything you can to defend.
After that, my calf vanished when the whistle blew. I’ll have time to relax and recuperate, so I shouldn’t mind right now. But that wasn’t a pleasant sensation two days before to Wembley.
The victory, and the way it came about after he led the team out, made Raglan’s earlier Wembley setbacks even more memorable. “100%. The 32-year-old stated,
“All those little things are dreams. That’s all in the past, and everything is rosy now because you get to play there, I had my family there, singing the national anthem.”
“But at the same time I had a duty to the players, my team-mates, to this football club, to the fans that I wasn’t going out there to satisfy my own ambitions, I was there to do my job and I’m really pleased that we all managed to do that.”
Sometimes football can look insane, and this one definitely did. It was only relief as the final whistle blew. There was some anguish, but eventually there was only genuine happiness, especially when you were able to stroll about and see the supporters and simply celebrate with your friends. Initially, there was relief that it was done and that there were no more minutes or football to be played. That kind of victory is what everyone talks about in the playoffs.
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