Baldock Town FC tweet goes viral after ‘Twitter correspondent goes on as sub’ during FA Cup win

A tweet from the club apologising for the lack of updates because “our Twitter correspondent had to go on as sub” has been retweeted more than 7,500 times – including by the BBC’s Match of the Day account, and talkSPORT’s Tony Incenzo.

The correspondent in question was Welsh centre-back Liam Kenna, who tweeted out live updates from the sideline as Baldock came back from behind to lead North Greenford United 3-1 in the FA Cup preliminary round.

But with 10 minutes to go, Liam – co-author of a book called Cricket Banter – had to join the action on the pitch.

The 29-year-old told the Comet that he still had the phone in his hand as he entered the fray, and had to be reminded by the linesman to leave it behind.

Liam Kenna. Picture: Dave Fallon (Image: Archant)

The club’s Twitter account was silent for the rest of the game, and returned afterwards to report Baldock’s 3-1 win.

Liam tweeted: “Never been so tired playing 10 minutes of football. FA Cup win.”

The Welshman sent out the apology from the Baldock Town FC account yesterday. Asked how he rated his own performance, the club account replied: “He was very good. Should have started.”

Club liaison officer and secretary Lynn Parker said that in addition to his playing duties, Liam helped on match days by running the club Twitter account.

She said: “We try to do it between us – I can’t do everything, so on Sunday I gave him the phone and he took over.

“Then the game went a bit mad and he had to go on as sub, and we didn’t think about Twitter because we were concentrating on winning the game.

“Afterwards Liam put up a tweet explaining, and everyone just forgot about it because we’d won and got through to the next round.

“Liam’s a very, very funny bloke – he’s hilarious. Now we’re seeing how many people are retweeting this. It’s mad, just crazy!”

Liam told the Comet: “I didn’t realise the tweet had gone viral until Lynn messaged me saying her Twitter was going mad. Then I woke up this morning with 6,000 notifications.

“The worst part was when I found out I’d made a spelling mistake. Then newspapers and radio stations were ringing me all this morning.

“All I did was try to explain why the Twitter had stopped after 80 minutes!”

Baldock had gone in at half time a goal down, but fought back to win at their temporary home at Arlesey’s New Lamb Meadow with goals from Stuart Pearson, Lewis Barker and man of the match Alex Coppin.

Baldock are now through to the first qualifying round – the furthest the club has reached in the FA Cup since being reformed in 2003.

The Reds will face Thame United at 3pm on Sunday, September 3, at New Lamb Meadow.