Liverpool-born Town star Aaron Cresswell has a special reason for hoping he scores in Saturday’s game against Doncaster — he would love to dedicate the goal to the families of the 96 supporters who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster.
The 25th anniversary of English football’s blackest day is next Tuesday and to mark the occasion clubs will unite in tribute this weekend.
Games will be delayed by seven minutes to allow for a one-minute silence with the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest having been abandoned at 3.06pm as the scale of the unfolding disaster became obvious.
Cresswell, who comes from a family of Liverpool supporters, wasn’t even around on that awful day in 1989. He said: "I was born in the December and it happened in the April.
"When you go back to the city it’s always talked about — you can’t read The Sun or do an interview for The Sun — and it’s a massive thing back home. It was a terrible tragedy and my dad still speaks about it because it is a subject that comes up a lot.
"It was a very sad day. One of my dad’s best mates was at the game and I’ve spoken to him loads of times about it. He said it was just horrific and he didn’t like talking about it to be honest.
"As a Liverpool fan it’s a game I could possibly have been at if I’d been around at the time. My little brother goes to the games every week now and I can’t even imagine what it must have been like from some of the stories you hear.
"For 96 people to go to a football match and none of them to return home really is a disaster. Obviously, I’d like to dedicate something to the 96 families but it’s not very often I score. However, if I do I will dedicate the goal to them.”