Thursday, 15 September 2011

The Greatest Goals Scored by Goalkeepers

I hope you liked my look at some of the greatest own goals ever scored in last week's blog. It made me realise there were so many awesome ones that I didn't put on there, so it may be a topic I go back to in the future.

The own goals blog was one I had planned to do for a while, and just as I was thinking of how to follow it up, Preston's Iain Turner did this...


Yes, that's right, I bring you the greatest goals scored by goalkeepers!

Turner wasn't the first Preston keeper to do it though, Andy Lonergan popped up with one a few years earlier at Leicester, made all the more entertaining by the unbelievably bad commentary.


Lonergan now plays for Leeds United, whose former stopper Paul Robinson famously got them out of trouble in a cup-tie against Swindon with this effort.



Not content with that, he scored the 'other' goalkeeper's goal a couple of years later, for Tottenham versus Watford, and his then England teammate Ben Foster.



Here's probably the greatest ever headed goal from a corner, keeper or no keeper. This is Mart Poom, for Sunderland against his former club Derby.

 
Some keepers are more famous for their goals than for their shot-stopping. Here's probably the maddest of the lot, Jose Luis Chilavert. A master of free-kicks and penalties, and, er, speculative efforts from the halfway line?

 
 Last, but not least, the greatest goal in history scored by a goalkeeper. May 1999. Carlisle United had to win to avoid relegation out of the Football League. With the score at 1-1, deep into time added on for stoppages, the Cumbrians pile everyone into Plymouth's box, and I mean everyone. Enter one Jimmy Glass, on loan from Swindon, playing his third and final game for the club. The rest, as they say, is history...

 

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

The greatest own goals in the world

This week I was made aware of one of the great own goals in recent history. It occured in the Under-21s game between Spain and Georgia. Spain were 6-0 up and cruising. It would take something special for Georgia to get a consolation...


Wow. Not even David De Gea was to blame for that one!

It's certainly up there with my favourites of all time.

Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace v Portsmouth)
There's a phrase in football, 'If in doubt, kick it out.' Which is fine, unless this happens...


Jan Lecjaks (Anderlecht v Partizan)
If you are going to clear it from your own box, don't do it with the wrong foot. Also, make sure it's not a key Champions League play-off tie before you drop yourself in it...



Mind you, if you think that's funny, look up the penalty shoot-out which decided this tie. Some of Anderlecht's are now in orbit.

Speaking of key games, don't put diving headers in your own net if it's a Dutch League title decider. Denny Landzaat (FC Twente v Ajax), take note for future reference...



Franck Queudrue (Lens v Bastia) had a decent spell in the Premier League, but before then, he scored this cracker...


We're getting to the good ones now. Jamie Pollock. If you know your own goals, this needs no introduction...



And finally, the greatest own goal in the history of football. An FA Cup tie in 2000 between Morecambe and Forest Green Rovers. The hero of the piece? Wayne Hatswell. An effort so good that the Match of the Day team played it on coverage of every subsequent round until the final, and to this day, will find an excuse to air it. Here we go...


Let me know some of your favourites via my Twitter page (@adamgray50) or on this blog.