The infamous 'beach ball goal' that handed Sunderland a 1-0 win over Liverpool in 2009 has gone down in Premier League folklore.
You know exactly what we’re referring to: the infamous ‘beach ball’ incident in October 2009 that helped Darren Bent deliver a 1-0 win over the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light. It’s a moment unlikely to be replicated again, but what exactly happened and what was the reaction?
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What happened?
Sunderland were in great form when they welcomed the previous season’s runners-up, beating Wolves 5-2 before a 2-2 draw against Man Utd at Old Trafford, only being denied the win by a late Anton Ferdinand own goal.
At the time of this fixture, away fans were housed directly behind the goal in the South Stand at the Stadium of Light, and this proved to be fatal for the visitors. The Liverpool fans spent the moments before kick-off throwing an official club beach ball around their section of the stadium, but one youngster inadvertently hit the ball onto the pitch. For some bizarre reason, Pepe Reina chose not to remove the beach ball from the pitch, and when Sunderland pushed forward in the fifth minute after a bright start, it was seen blowing around the penalty area.
Andy Reid’s cross was flicked on by Steed Malbranque, with the ball finding its way to Bent on the far side. The England striker unleashed a first-time shot, which collided with the beach ball to send Reina in the complete wrong direction, while the match ball was deflected past the Spaniard’s left shoulder and into the net. Amazingly, Sunderland managed to hold on for a win that left them seventh in the table after nine games, leapfrogging the Reds along the way.
What was said?
This is a goal that has and will continue to be played back in highlights reels ever since. It came at a time when Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez was extremely volatile in the media, but he was strangely calm when reflecting on the incident afterwards. "We had bad luck with the goal, but the team were not doing well so that is something we have to fix," Benitez said after the match. "The other things you cannot control. I couldn't see what had happened. We were asking and they told us but you cannot change things."
Then-Sunderland boss Steve Bruce took a very different tone, labelling anyone who knew the effort should actually have resulted in a drop ball a ‘saddo’. "Listen, I thought it was a deflection off a player. I have to say when I have just seen it there, if anybody knew that rule - that it is supposed to be a drop ball - then you are a saddo,” he said. "They have got it on telly with the guy who threw it on and it's got Liverpool crests all over it. What a shame." Bruce added: "I thought we deserved it [the win], I hope that's not just going to be the headline [the goal].”
Goalkeeper Reina could not help but rue his misfortune. "It was such bad luck. I lost sight of the official ball and stayed on the red one," Reina told Spanish radio station Cope. "When he shot, it startled me and I went for the red ball instinctively as it was the closest to me and the other went past me. It all happened very quickly.
"This had never happened before in my life. I didn't know what to do. "A lot of things were going through my head but I honestly thought that the goal would stand and no one was going to disallow it."
Goalscorer Bent has spoken plenty of times about the incident since, and he cannot help but laugh at the fact that this was the moment that decided a match in which Sunderland dominated and ‘should have beaten them by five’. "It was probably one of the best games we played that year," said Bent. "We had chance after chance - and it's just funny that the one goal we did get was off that beach ball.
"We played really well that day and should have beaten them by five. We hit the post, we created chances, we passed them off the pitch. But the beach ball shot was the one that went in."
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