Carshalton Athletic!! That's a great shout Cult. Yes it certainly was robust, even with the team we had that time who although not great were capable of looking after themselves at least. If memory serves, we won 2-0 on a drizzly afternoon, Keith Mountford scoring at the Chequers end? Don't know who got the other, might've been an own goal.
I was at Frickley as a young lad two but wasn't that scared, there seemed to be rioting like you'd never imagine with the police but me, my dad and most other Alty fans were completely ignored. The closet I remember was some bloke barging past my dad so he could get at police a few hundred yards away. I don't think youngsters these days could ever comprehend what the miner's strike was like.
To me it was what the Civil War must've been like.
With regards to the incident with George Sheperd afterthe Bishop Auckland game I think there was an altercation that was swiftly put to bed by the intervention and left hooks of Ian Horrigan, our dimunitive and crap scouse midfielder who happened to be a pro boxer too!!
For the Bishop Auckland riot itself I don't know how on earth to explain it to our newer generation, not sure they'd believe me. Let's just say that when you see police horses charging IN To the Chequers end you know it's unprecedented.
My actual favourite footnote to that day was that the whole Specials Unit and Tactical Aid Team was sent down to Moss Lane, everything that the GMP had was here. They all left their posts from the Man Utd game (who I think were at home to Coventry). Unbeknow to everyone at OT there was about 2 policeman and a dog on duty the second half for a crowd of 55,000 absolutely anything could've happened!