Extraordinary scenes as fog descends on 'farcical' FA Cup tie

Does a defeat count if nobody saw it?

Altrincham fans may well be wondering that this weekend, after fog descended upon its FA Cup first round tie against Notts County at Moss Lane in Manchester.

League One side Notts County, featuring Australian former Sydney FC striker Luka Smyth, had taken a first half lead before Manchester-based Altrincham, of the fifth-tier National League, hit the front.

A late equaliser for Nottingham-based County, who won the FA Cup back in the 1893/94 season, forced extra time.

However, by that stage a heavy fog had enveloped the entire stadium, meaning extra time and penalties were played in scarcely believable conditions.

It made one slightly pity the commentators.

"I don't want to worry anyone — we can't see those dugouts at the moment because of the mist," Steve Bower said on the BBC in the closing stages of normal time, before fatefully adding that "it's getting heavier".

"We will try our best to let you know who has got the ball."

Former Notts County striker Mark Stallard said on the BBC Radio Nottingham call that "We're looking around … no-one knows where the ball is."

"We genuinely cannot see the linesman or the players on the far side. It's slightly farcical having to commentate for radio listeners."

At least he was only supposed to be summarising.

"I can just about see the bright white numbers on their shirts, but I am struggling to see what is happening on the far side of the pitch," his play-by-play caller Adam Hassell said.

The scenes were reminiscent of another famous foggy incident involving legendary Charlton goalkeeper Sam Bartram.

On Christmas Day, 1937, a London pea souper rolled into Stamford Bridge and completely covered the field.

In his autobiography, Bartram recalled seeing "fewer and fewer figures as we attacked steadily" over the course of the match, right up until a policeman appeared on the edge of his penalty area.

"'What on earth are you doing here?' he gasped. 'The game was stopped a quarter of an hour ago. The field's completely empty,'" Bartram wrote.

"When I groped my way to the dressing-room, the rest of the Charlton team, already out of the bath and in their civvies, were convulsed with laughter."

Fortunately, nothing like that happened in Altrincham, with the game eventually going to penalties, which took place in front of the Altrincham fans.

The Notts County fans, 100 or so metres up the other end of the ground, were left to guess what was happening based on the reactions they could hear through the gloom.

They weren't the only ones.

"He's put it wide, I think," commentator Adam Summerton said on TNT Sports as Max Sanders stepped up for Notts County.

"It's hard to tell, I'm sorry, but it's so hard to see up here."

"No, it's in. I'm really sorry, it's so hard for us to see up here," he added as the replay was shown on his monitor.

Meanwhile, Notts County's fans started celebrating after a pause of a couple of seconds, presumably because the Altrincham fans were not.

That pattern continued all the way through the shootout, right up until the final spot kick was taken, by "I think it's [Rosaire] Longelo," Summerton said.

He scored, and Notts County was through to the second round.

At least, I suppose, nobody could see the Altrincham players' disappointment.