Ex-Portsmouth midfielder David Norris: I ruined Billy Sharp’s Southampton glory - and it was the best moment of my career

Norris’ stoppage-time intervention secured relegation-bound Pompey a shock 2-2 draw at St Mary’s in April 2012.

It was a contribution from the midfielder which has earned him residency in Fratton folklore.

And, in a 2017 interview for Played Up Pompey Too, Norris revealed how the favourite moment of his career also impacted upon the man who thought he had claimed a south-coast derby win.

‘The chance encounter occurred at Manchester Airport as my family and I prepared to fly out for a holiday to Portugal,’ he told Played Up Pompey Too.

‘I had bumped into Billy Sharp and he told me: “I was just about to be a massive hero and you killed me. I’d scored two goals, was substituted with a minute to go to a standing ovation – and you did that!”.

‘The former Southampton striker was right – and that match provided the best moment of my football career.

‘Every so often, I visit YouTube and watch footage of the April 2012 south-coast derby.

‘There’s one clip where somebody has filmed behind the goal with the back of a man’s head right in front of him, yet there’s enough space to view my strike and the ball hitting the back of the net.

‘The camera then panned around to capture the joyous fans in St Mary’s away end going absolutely crazy. The memory gives me goosebumps even now.

‘Earlier in that second half, I remember it being 1-1 and thinking “Please let me score in this game” - then Billy Sharp grabbed his second and the feeling was that was it, game over.

‘Then, deep into stoppage time, Ricardo Rocha pumped a long pass into the box and Karim Rekik managed to win a header to send the ball looping in the air in my direction.

‘It was spinning, I could see it, and my first thought was to just help it left-footed back into the box, create carnage and see what problems it could cause - then I had a change of mind.

‘As it dropped I decided to hit it and, if you closely watch the footage, you will see me mouth “Bang” at the precise moment the ball was struck, like you would do in training.

‘Upon connection, I knew it was in, in fact I was half-running to celebrate before the ball struck the back of the net. It was the best single feeling of my football career.

‘There are probably 25 occasions when football has generated unbelievable emotion inside of me, but that one is definitely top.

‘I totally lost my head, running, shouting, heading for the fans, I could see them falling down and going nuts, while the stewards blocked off the celebrating players.

‘I managed to run straight through two stewards and into the supporters, yet somehow never got booked, instead Kelvin Etuhu did, and he had been substituted earlier! I think there was too much going on for the officials to keep track of.

‘There are rivalries in football, I have played in some of them, but nothing like that match, this was proper.

‘We were always the underdogs against a Southampton side sitting second in the Championship which, three weeks later, would clinch promotion to the Premier League.

‘In contrast, Pompey were second from bottom, in administration, had lost players because of our financial problems and been hammered 5-1 at home by Burnley the previous week. The consensus outside the club was that we would get pumped.

‘For us the mindset was definitely focused on damage limitation, this was one game we could not lose. No matter whatever else happened, it was an occasion which could almost save the season.

‘On the team coach heading to the game, there were people on the streets giving all sorts of hand gestures in our direction and shouting stuff – from five-year-old kids as well as 90-year-old guys, not your usual teenagers or men. I was thinking “This is nuts”.

‘We pulled up outside St Mary’s entrance and, through the coach windows, noticed a large group of supporters firing abuse in our direction. Then we were told not to leave our seats.

‘The manager, Michael Appleton, surprised us by putting on a motivational DVD, containing footage of each player’s good bits and strong moments - it was a very clever ploy.

‘That lifted us, we were hyped up and left that bus 10ft tall, striding through the stick delivered from those supporters gathered. For the players, it was a case of “Let’s do something here”.

‘But we were losing 2-1 into stoppage time then came the late drama – for both myself and Sharp – as it finished 2-2.’

David Norris made 42 Pompey appearances and scored eight goals from June 2011 until July 2012.

Played Up Pompey Too, released in 2017, is still available from Amazon. While Played Up Pompey Three, which contains more of your favourite Blues players, is out in September.

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