Hillsborough was a slow motion day of horror - Brian Laws

Minutes into the game the ball was in Brian's hands.

He was steadying himself to take a throw-in when a supporter ran past him on the pitch.

He initially presumed the Liverpool fan was trying to cause trouble.

But when more supporters started to appear Brian began to realise something was going terribly wrong.

The 47-year-old recalls: "We obviously knew this was going to be a huge game for Liverpool and Nottingham Forest...and Hillsborough was one of the biggest grounds around that could accommodate both teams.

"We were having a lot of arguments between both clubs about which end Forest should have and vice versa.

"But the police got involved and said because of the way in and the routes into Sheffield, they suggested Liverpool have the Leppings Lane end.

"That was the big start of the problems that were incurred.

"Coming towards the ground we could see there was a sea of supporters at both ends - obviously the occasion was electric.

"We were in good form. We fancied our chances immensely of winning the game. Even coming up before the kick-off it was almost full then... it was so noisy.

"I actually recall we had a throw-in within minutes of the game kicking off and funnily enough the game started in such a tempo that I think Liverpool hit the crossbar.

"We had a throw-in at the Leppings Lane end, I had the ball in my hand. I was going to throw it into Nigel Clough in the 18-yard box when a supporter ran right across me screaming.

"Our immediate thoughts, mine particularly, was not that there was anything happening, other than saying well you're trying to spoil the game.

"And then it was followed by three, four, five people starting to run on and we were in that corner there thinking 'what the hell's going on?'.

"And even though when you looked at the Leppings Lane end there was a lot of shouting and screaming, because it was deep you couldn't see what was going on.

"You just thought it was idiots running on the pitch to spoil this great occasion. We didn't know what was unfolding in those minutes.

"I remember the referee calling us across and we were really annoyed at the time, thinking we want this game to go ahead.

"The referee said, 'Look you're going to have to come off the pitch just for a short while, just while we clear the pitch and then we'll get it going again'.

"So we got in the dressing room and I remember looking at Brian Clough and he sort of sat down and he said 'sit down, take your boots off'. How bizarre is that? 'Sit on the floor, get your legs out, relax, we're going to go back out there and beat these lot. Be prepared, but I want you to be relaxed about it'.

"Then a chief inspector came in and said that there was a fatality and we were going to have to delay the kick-off.

"As soon as he said that word fatality I remember Cloughie turning round and saying 'fatality, lad, if there's a fatality the game's not going ahead. It's a game of football, not life or death. We're going home'.

"Then he went 'hang on a minute, you can't do that'.

"We're all thinking what the hell's going on here? Has somebody been stabbed, shot, we had no idea.

"Then within minutes people were coming in and saying there were five, six, seven bodies on the pitch.

"And then of course, panic starts because we have no idea what was happening in there.

"Cloughie said: 'Get changed, the game's not going ahead'. And the officials thought the game was going to go ahead, which was the amazing thing because they didn't want to cancel the game at that particular time.

"I just remember getting changed very quickly because I had my family here, my two children and my wife Anne.

"We got out on the pitch and you're normally waiting for that noise. You hit that noise and it's actually quite deafening. But instead there was silence.

"You're walking out to silence and it was incredible, it was like everything I watched was in slow-motion. People were on the floor, people-carrying.

"It was just horrible and I was looking round thinking 'where's my family?', trying to get in touch with them, see where they are, see if they're all right.

"But those moments unfolding were just like slow-motion and it was incredible.

"The general feeling was shock, horror, everything that you think of. Nobody should lose their life watching a game of football.

"Questions were always going to be asked why. But from a footballing point of view nobody really cared much about the game after that. It became secondary.

"I think people wanted it to go ahead, to be finished as an honour to people that lost their lives.''

Brian continues: ''In a way I'm actually glad that Liverpool got through, and Everton, and obviously it's become a game that represented the deaths that had taken place.

"I think that year, you forget about the cup itself, it was just about the game and rightly so, and a memory for those that passed away.

"In football there should never be a tragedy. This should never happen. If you're going to the theatre you don't expect that you're going to lose your life.

"And football had to take a turn really for the better.

"I think making it an all-seater stadium was certainly the best move they've ever done. But unfortunately it had to be from a reaction to the tragedy that took place.

"I think the fact that something was done about it, at least something good came out of it for the safety of supporters and now you can actually go and enjoy a game, and you can take your family and have no fear of anything like that happening again.

"I remember my wife telling me that she was staring at one particular young boy who had been carried on a placard on the pitch, and he had these bright white trainers on.

"And she said 'all I did was watch and stare at this young boy and he was lain down and they were trying to resuscitate him. The life had just gone out of him. His feet had parted as though his life had gone.'

"And when she told me that it brings it back - your kids are seeing that.

"It's an incredible scene. You'd expect that on a battlefield, not on a football pitch.

"For the first time they didn't want Forest to win, because Forest were loved by everybody for the way we played football and everybody loved Cloughie and wanted him to win the FA Cup.

"But on this occasion it was secondary.

"The good thing is I had a helping hand in that Liverpool did get to the final.

"I scored an own goal (in the replayed match) - I did help them on their way."