LEGENDARY Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler will be reminded of the best game he has ever seen when he heads to Roots Hall this afternoon.

Tyler combines his high-profile role at Sky Sports with the assistant manager position at Woking.

But his mind will be flashing back to 1996 when he is reunited with Southend United’s senior football strategist Stan Collymore today.

Collymore fired home a stoppage time winner to help Liverpool beat Newcastle United 4-3 at Anfield, 25 years ago.

And Tyler still believes it was a match like no other.

“It’s the best I’ve ever commentated on,” said Tyler.

“I’m lucky to have been at a lot of games but that game encapsulated everything we love about football.

“I watched it again during lockdown and sometimes you don’t want to revisit things you put on a pedestal but I watched it with my son who had never seen it.

“He knew what I thought of the game and at the end he just said, yes you’re right and I still felt the same after seeing it again too.”

Tyler’s immortal ‘Collymore closing in’ commentary is still replayed regularly.

And it was a night the duo were reminded of when working at the World Cup back in 2014.

“I know Stan very well and we’ve seen each other all over the world,” said Tyler.

“My favourite Stan story is in the 2014 World Cup, he was working for TalkSport and I was working for an Australian channel.

“The opening game was in Sao Paulo and by complete coincidence we went up in the lift together.

“When the door opened at commentary level there was someone facing us to come back into the lift and it was Tino Asprilla.

“Without a hint of thinking about this, he saw Stan and just said, you cost me my Premier League winners medal!

“The fact I had been the commentator and was there as well it was an extraordinary coincidence.

“But it was all done with smiles and it was a lovely moment to share with them.”

However, it is not just Collymore that Tyler can remember commentating on.

“I commentated on Kevin Maher in the FA Youth Cup final in 1995,” recalled Tyler.

“I think Tottenham lost on penalties to Manchester United but he was the captain and a very capable player.

“I remember him well and I remember checking the pronunciation of his name.

“That’s the type of thing you do and still do as a commentator and the best way is to ask the player.

“I remember asking Kevin but I’m not sure he will remember me doing so!”

Tyler will be in the opposite dug-out to Maher this afternoon and it is a role the lifelong Cards fan relishes.

“I’ve been with the manager Alan Dowson for 16 years now,” said Tyler.

“I’m just the oily rag to be honest and commentating is the most important thing for me.

“It always takes preference so there’s no conflict of interest.

“Dowse knows this and so does everyone at the club.

“But we’ve been together at four different clubs now and it just so happened his career path took him to Woking and I’ve been a Woking fan all my life.

“You have to keep your head and forget about your heart for 90 minutes.

“It’s quite special, especially for the home games where I know exactly where I stood when I went for the first time back in 1953. “That’s almost half the club’s history.

“But one of the questions I really don’t like being asked is ‘don’t you have a Premier League team you support as well?’ “Woking have always been my team through thick and thin.”

The Cards are currently 12th in the National League standings but today’s clash will not be the first time Tyler has been to Roots Hall.

“I remember doing a 4-4 draw on a Friday night against Northampton there,” said Tyler.

“It was when I was working for Saint and Greavsie and we were allowed to send the relatively new technology of video rather than film to the Friday night games to show the goals on the Saturday.

“That’s a rare commentary I remember but it’s a great thrill to go to grounds where I would perhaps only go before as a journalist.

“It’s special and we try and do our best in every game but we’re four months into full-time football and it’s very much work in progress.”