follow . The match action lasted less than six minutes . I ca n't remember a single kick . What I do recall quite vividly are the scenes of distress , desperation and death at the Liverpool end that destroyed so many families and shocked the world . Looking to my left and behind Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar 's goal , I was drawn to a huge mushroom-like effect among the crowd in the central standing enclosures around kick-off time . See Liverpool players and fans paying tribute to victims of Hillsborough disaster '' The match had not long started when the first signs of a major problem surfaced . Fans began frantically attempting to climb over the perimeter fence to escape the crush at the Leppings Lane end of the ground . I did n't know it at the time , but the swell was the exit point of a tunnel that ran under the stand . Through it hundreds of Liverpool fans had attempted to make their way without realizing the two caged pens it led to were already overcrowded . Many had the life squeezed out of them in that tunnel . Others were trampled or crushed
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- They left home with hope in their hearts , thousands of fans true to the Liverpool anthem , dreaming of reaching another Wembley FA Cup Final . The disaster at Hillsborough football stadium in 1989 resulted in the deaths of 96 football supporters . But what began as a day out in the spring sunshine 20 years ago ended as the darkest hour in the history of British football . I had settled into Row B Seat 2 of the press box in the south stand at Hillsborough , home to Sheffield Wednesday and neutral venue for the game . From there I would have had an uninterrupted view of the semifinal showdown between Liverpool and Brian Clough 's Nottingham Forest . Clough , one of the legends of the British game , had been denied an FA Cup Final with Forest a year earlier , when his side lost to Liverpool at the same stage of the competition and at the same venue . The atmosphere in the ground for the 1989 semifinal exploded as the teams emerged onto the pitch . But none of us was prepared for what was to