'I'm glad Portsmouth didn't score, I might have celebrated': Hilsea civil servant on shock linesman cameo in Blues clash with Cheltenham

After all, a linesman cheering a goal wouldn’t have reflected well on the refereeing profession.

Blues season-ticket holder Julian Browning turned up at Fratton Park on Saturday for his customary corporate hospitality experience in the Chimes Lounge, alongside family and friends.

The League One game ended with the 56-year-old occupying the line in front of the South Stand, carrying a linesman’s flag and wearing borrowed gold-coloured boots.

Following injuries to two assistant referees during the Robins encounter, Browning, a civil servant from Hilsea, was plucked from the crowd to ensure the game wasn’t abandoned.

A qualified level 5 referee, with 12 years experience of officiating in the Portsmouth Sunday League and Mid-Solent Youth League, he couldn’t ignore the second-half SOS.

And thankfully, for him, it finished goalless.

He told The News: ‘I’m glad Pompey didn't score, I would have probably found it quite difficult to contain myself, to be fair!

‘You can’t really have a linesman cheering a goal. Mind you, we wouldn’t have scored if we were still playing now.

‘I didn’t want to volunteer, but after the second announcement it looked like no-one was going to come forward, so I thought “What have I got to lose?”.

‘There was a 6ft 6in security guard who asked whether I had been drinking, he knows us from the Chimes Lounge, but I’d had one beer, an East Coast IPA, which I didn’t even finish.

‘I was definitely all over the place, but that was through nerves! I probably looked as though I’d drunk six pints, to be fair!

‘There were long conversations with Cheltenham’s manager Wade Elliott, after all I was a home fan. He asked his players and they said go for it, so everything was agreed.

‘His only request was that I ran Pompey’s back four and not his own team. That made sense, with the likelihood of a contentious decision quite low because Pompey were doing all the attacking.

‘Officials then had to go through all the checks, on the phone to Hampshire FA to get my fan number, confirm my date of birth, and make sure I was legitimately qualified and not some random fan from the crowd.

‘Then the referees managed to find a kit between them. I had the shirt off the second injured one, then a pair of gold football boots came from one of the changing rooms and were thrown on the floor in the tunnel.

‘The assistant referee also offered me his spare black ones, but I told him “If I’m going out there at Fratton Park, then I’m wearing those gold boots!”.’

Browning has been a Pompey season-ticket holder for more than 30 years, attending his first match as a five-year-old in January 1971 for the FA Cup visit of Arsenal.

On Saturday, six members of his family were also in attendance at Fratton Park, including son Harvey and granddaughter Eliza in the Fratton End, and another son, George, in North Stand Lower.

Although his sister Hayley missed her brother’s big moment – she had to leave at half-time as feeling unwell.

Browning added: ‘There were two off-sides, which I didn’t have to give, but only because there was no impact and the ball had gone through to the keeper.

‘And afterwards Curtis Davies came up to me and said “Thanks for stepping up, you didn’t have to”. The players were all really, really grateful, that topped it off for me.

‘But I definitely won’t be bringing any spare kit to the next home game!’