Saturday’s FA Cup encounter between Dunston and Marine FC saw an unlikely hero who quite literally lit up the entire stadium with his skill.
During the clash, a power outage caused the floodlights at the Marine Travel Arena to malfunction due to which the referees had to bring the came to a halt barely 5 minutes into the second half.
But to the relief of the crowd, there was an electrician on duty at the venue who was none other than Dunston midfielder Phil Turnbull!
Turnbull, who has played for the likes of Gateshead, York and Hartlepool, is actually a full-time electrician by profession, who stepped up to the occasion to showcase his prowess off the field.
Pictures of the footballer-turned-electrician attempting to work the fuse box swarmed on Twitter.
At Marine, where the floodlights have gone out. One of Dunston’s midfielders is a spark and he’s trying to sort it out. Now on the phone to a mate back in the north east. pic.twitter.com/pBneS6DmCA
As hard as he tried, however, the player couldn’t quite find a fix to the issue all by himself. The match officials did not make things easier on the midfielder, giving him an ultimatum to rectify the snag before 5 pm beyond which the match shall be called off.
The referee has given a deadline of 5pm for the floodlights to work.
It took a while but necessary help arrived at the scene and the problem was gotten rid of, resuming the match at the 53rd minute after an anxious 50-minute delay.
The 34-year-old carried his sideline heroics onto the pitch too, as he netted a spot-kick during the penalty shootout.
Although his on-field efforts went in vain as his side lost 5-4 on penalties, his contributions in the recommencement of the game were hailed even by the rival team Marine FC, who tweeted their gratitude towards the Dunston man.
