Features

Reds not the first to be undone

Author: Brandon Barker
Date: 25/10/2009
Football betting

Liverpool found last week that there is nothing worse than conceding a goal that, by the letter of the law, should never have been.

That is nothing short of infuriating for the defending side but, perhaps worse, are those rare occasions when a clear goal is simply not spotted by the officials.

Most clubs would argue this happens every other week, when a dodgy free-kick is awarded for a vague foul on the goalkeeper, or a striker breaks free and finds the net only to be wrongly pulled back for offside.

Yet these occasions are merely trivial in comparison with some refereeing gaffes of the past.

In the recent memory of most fans, certainly those of a Crystal Palace persuasion, is the travesty that befell Freddie Sears in August.

His 30th-minute drive flew past Bristol City keeper Dean Gerken into the top corner of the goal, thudded against the stanchion that helps give the back of the net some shape, and bounced out into play.

After some consultation, referee Rob Shoebridge awarded a goal kick, making the situation even more confusing. If he had ordered play to continue, or given a drop ball after the Palace players surrounded him, it would have suggested that Shoebridge thought the post had been struck.

Instead, he must have decided that the ball went five yards past the post and rebounded off the thin pole that helps hold the net up. To no ones surprise, Palace boss Neil Warnock simply said: "We were cheated."

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A similar response came from Martin Jol after his Spurs side were held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United, one of the online favourites to win this season's Premier League title, in 2005.

In the dying minutes, midfielder Pedro Mendes looped a hopeful shot towards goal which keeper Roy Carroll managed to fumble and knock a metre over the goal line.

With the linesman high up the pitch and the referee in midfield, no one had a good view except the cameras and Carroll, who was not about to give up.

Few disallowed goals could have come at a more crucial point than the one which was ruled out for Chesterfield in their FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough in 1997.

The Spireites led 2-1 and looked to have one foot in the Final when Jonathan Howard's shot hit the crossbar, bounced down over the goal line, and then back into play. The officials saw it differently and the tie went to a replay which Boro won, 3-0.

Not that referees of the current era are any worse than those of the past. Ask Clive Allen for example, whose free-kick for Palace against Coventry in 1980 hit the stanchion - much like Sears' - and bounced out, with a predictable response from the ref.

Perhaps most extraordinary was a goal for Paddy Connolly of Dundee United in 1993.

His close-range shot found the deepest part of the net but bounced out into the six-yard box where a frustrated defender picked up the ball and handed it to his keeper, who kicked it up-field in frustration. The decision? Play on of course.

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