'I was like a kid on Christmas Eve' - woman fulfils 20-year dream to be Sunderland Football mascot
The lifelong dream of a Sunderland Football club supporter was fulfilled when she got to be a club mascot for their game against Cambridge United.
Joanne Youngson has been a SAFC season ticket holder for 31 years and has been wanting to be the Black Cat Delilah since she was in her 20s.
She said: "I love mascots! Back in the day when I knew they were bringing out a girl mascot, I wrote to the club and put my name forward straight away.
"I remember one day, I was walking to my seat and my friend went 'Joanne they've got a Delilah... I was absolutely gutted!"
Despite this, Joanne initially turned down the opportunity.
She said: "I thought I probably wouldn't be fit enough anymore. I put the phone down and people were saying 'you're kidding...you've gone on and on about being Delilah, call them back!"
Joanne is closely involved with Sunderland Football club, and volunteers on match day at the mental health hub, where she gets her picture taken with them at every home game.
It was through that role that the fans liaison officer found out Joanne had always wanted to be a mascot.
When the usual Delilah was unable to make the Saturday 23 April match last minute, they texted Joanne asking if she wanted to fulfil her dream.
Joanne added: "The club were fantastic, they truly made my dream come true. I was like a kid on Christmas eve!"
Like that child at Christmas, Joanne woke up at 5am and was watching the clock for her time in the costume to arrive.
During her wait she prepared how she was going to act, adding: "It's all I thought about!
"Quite often when I'm in the mental health hub, we see kids who are frightened of them so I had all my actions ready; when the kids were frightened I was going to put my paws over my eyes and kind of like pretend I was frightened as well.
"I was dancing around in the foundation, but it was so hot, it zapped a lot of my energy. It was really hard work so I really take my hat off to them [the usual mascots]."
The day was not all fun and games for Joanne. Having completed a number of duties before the match started, including visiting the the Foundation of Light and a meeting a variety of children, she suffered an injury on the pitch.
"When we went into the ground I went one way and Samson went the other. The players were obviously warming up at that point, and all of a sudden I'm walking along waving and I just get a massive bang on the back of the head.
"[Nathan] Broadhead had kicked the ball, missed the goal and hit me in the back of the head... I got such a shock! I put the paws up on the back of my head and pretended I was dizzy and went along with it. It entertained the north stand."
Despite this Joanne told ITV News Tyne Tees the experience was an "honour" and that the "atmosphere was incredible".
"There were kids with Delilah dolls showing them to me, I just loved every second of it," she said.
Reflecting back on the day, Joanne said she will be a bit more considerate to the Samson and Delilah mascots in the future.
"I pester the life out of Samson and Deliah normally, 'come here, come there' and now I know how hard and hot it is, so I'll give them a break from now on!"