IT JUST EXPLODED OUT OF NOWHERE - IT WAS WILD!

SHEFFIELD United v West Brom? For fans of a certain vintage, it's a fixture that can only conjure one memory.

- Chris Dunlavy

Wild tackles, red cards, dubious injuries and a game so lawless that even the mild-mannered Darren Moore lost the plot. Oh and it was abandoned after 82 minutes when the Blades ran out of players.

Twenty-two years on, the Battle of Bramall Lane remains one of English football's most enduring oddities, even to those who played in it.

"I must have played about 600 games in my career," says Keith Curle. "But that's still the one people talk about. It was wild. Crazy." Curle, now 61, was the captain of Sheffield United when Neil Warnock's men played host to Gary Megson's promotion-chas ing West Brom side in March 2002.

Curiously for a match that would end in chaos and infamy, it was actually a fairly humdrum contest for the best part of 70 minutes.

Simon Tracey, the United goalkeeper, was dismissed in the ninth minute for a deliberate handball.

Scott Dobie headed the Baggies into an early lead, which was doubled by skipper Derek McInnes midway through the second half.

Then, out of nowhere, it all kicked off. In the aftermath of McInnes' goal, Warnock brought on Patrick Suffo and Georges Santos, who the previous season had suffered a fractured eye socket in a collision with West Brom's Andy Johnson.

Mere seconds after entering the field, Santos ploughed into Johnson with a savage two-footed lunge and was instantly sent off. In the ensuing melee, Suffo stuck the nut on McInnes and the red came out again.

As a bleeding McInnes was patched up, scuffles broke out all over the place. Santos charged back into battle. Johnson was restrained by a physio. Moore, wild eyed with fury, looked as if he'd burst out of his kit like the Incredible Hulk. All told, Warnock's subs had lasted a grand total of 90 seconds.