Barry Hone has a first-class chemistry degree, but there is no known medicinal compound to tranquillise his biggest disappointment in football.
In a parallel universe, Horne would have captained Wales at the 1994 World Cup finals, and 29 years ago he was so close to living the dream he was almost at the check-in desk. With their death-or-glory qualifier against Romania in Cardiff locked at 1-1, and Wales on the warpath after Dean Saunders' equaliser, they were awarded a penalty when the late Gary Speed was tripped in the box by Dan Petrescu.
The BBC, who had begun the night showing live coverage of England's futile 7-1 win against San Marino – which came too late to save the Three Lions' chances of going to the USA and Graham Taylor's job as manager – even switched to the more meaningful drama across the Severn Bridge. But Paul Bodin crashed his spot-kick against the bar and Romania, who had been rocking under a fierce Welsh onslaught, recovered their composure to win 2-1.
