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The best endings to a game of all time
So Dave asked me to start blogging about all things soccer for the new spoccer.com website. I’m certainly willing to take topic suggestions, or even answer soccer-related questions to the best of my ability, but I thought I’d start by listing, in reverse order, my choices for the three most amazing finishes to a game of all time. All three can easily be found on YouTube. It will be noted that two are from English league games, and all three involve English teams, but then I do believe that the English league is the most thrilling (if not always the most technical) in the world, and tends to give the most excitement. I suppose I might be a bit biased though…
I’ve also used the opportunity to give those interested a bit of history and detail about the English league and how it works.
3) The third best end of all time is probably the one most people would automatically think about when this topic arises: Manchester United v Bayern Munich in the Champions League final on 26th May 1999.
There was a good amount of history riding on the game. Man Utd had already won the Premier League and the FA Cup, thus completing “the Double”; this was once almost mythical, and even then was considered a huge achievement – but to complete the Treble by adding the most prestigious club trophy in sport would be truly unprecedented. Furthermore Man Utd were still frustrated in their bid to be considered the greatest English team ever. Although they were virtually all-conquering throughout most of the 90s, Liverpool fans quite justifiably pointed out their vastly superior European record; the consensus opinion of the time was that for Man Utd to stake a claim to true greatness they had to be crowned champions of Europe.
The final was played at Barcelona’s Nou Camp. After an epic semi-final struggle with Juventus, Utd were playing without their suspended first choice central midfield pairing of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, the engine room which had powered them to domestic success. Bayern, who were hoping to complete a treble of their own, scored through a Mario Basler free kick in the first few minutes, and then proceeded to play to a gameplan which nullified many of United’s strengths. When Mehmet Scholl hit the post with a chip, and Carsten Jancker hit the bar with an overhead kick, both in the last twenty minutes, the sense that Bayern may live to regret their chances to kill off the game began to spread.
Alex Ferguson had brought on two subs – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham – and as the clock ticked into injury time they would both write their name into the history books. First, Ryan Giggs had a woeful shot, so bad it ended up going straight to Sheringham, who buried the ball in the bottom corner. Bayern clearly were stunned, and from the restart Utd almost immediately regained possession and forced a corner; Beckham swung it over, Sheringham headed down and, unbelievably, Solskjaer was there to slam the ball into the roof of the net. Even allowing for extensive celebrations of the equaliser there had only been two minutes between the goals that turned defeat into victory.
If Bayern had been stunned by the leveller they were quite literally floored by the winner. Some players sank to their knees and, even though there were still about 30 seconds left to play, did not even attempt to get up for the restart. Perhaps the most memorable scene of the entire night was Bayern’s Ghanaian midfielder Samuel Kuffour lying prostrate on the turf and just beating the ground again and again.
No one quite believed what they had just seen. Lennart Johansson, the president of UEFA (European football’s governing body) had left his seat to come down and present the trophy with Bayern leading 1-0. By the time he arrived pitchside they were 2-1 down. Ribbons in Bayern’s colours had already been tied to the trophy and quickly had to be replaced.
Not only was it the most incredible end to a major cup final in history, but it cemented Man Utd’s claim to be one of the greatest teams in English history, if not THE greatest. Alex Ferguson was knighted less than a month later.
2) Bizarrely my choice for second best finish to a match occurred 10 years to the day earlier that the Man Utd v Bayern Munich game: 26th May 1989.
To those used to American sports, where a playoff system is invariably used to decide the champion, it is not unusual for a season to culminate with the two (supposedly) best teams facing each other in a winner-takes-all game. However in England the ultimate prize – the league title – is won over the course of 9 months and 38 games. Each team plays every other twice, home and away, and the team with the best record at the end is crowned champion. This CAN lead to a gripping final day with the title up for grabs, but often one team can run away with the league and win it with games to spare, giving a rather anticlimactic feel to the last day. But never before had the two contenders for the title played each other in the last game of the season.
The League’s fixture computer is designed to ensure that potentially crucial or fiery games are not played on the first and last weekends of the season, so you will never find, for example, Chelsea v Arsenal or Newcastle v Sunderland on the last day. (Of course it is always possible that an unexpected team will end up challenging for the title, but the chances of the top two teams playing each other for the title in the last game are almost non-existent). In the 1988/89 season the title was being contested by Arsenal and Liverpool. The two teams were scheduled to meet on April 23rd, only weeks from the end of the campaign and a game which would have been a huge match anyway. But as backdrop to the most dramatic end to an English season ever came the greatest tragedy English soccer has ever seen. A week before the scheduled meeting of the two teams saw FA Cup semi-final day. Liverpool had been drawn to play Nottingham Forest with the game to be held at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground. But mistakes by the police in the build up to the game had seen too many fans allowed through the gates, and 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death. The shock stunned the country and it was clear that neither the Liverpool team, nor anyone else, was prepared to play a crucial and possibly title-deciding match only a week later.
With that match postponed, and the FA Cup semi-final still to be played, the fixtures mounted up and no date could be found to play the Liverpool-Arsenal game. Another rule of the English season is that – similarly to the final group matches in the World Cup – the final set of fixtures must all be played simultaneously, so as to not give an advantage to any team. However with only Liverpool and Arsenal able to win the title it was decided that the rest of the season could end, and this match played later without being unfair. In the end it was actually played the week AFTER the FA Cup final (where Liverpool very appropriately beat their local rivals Everton in a moment of real catharsis for the city) which was another first: Historically the FA Cup final marked the end of the season.
And so the backdrop to this unprecedented scenario was already loaded with drama. Arsenal had been as much as 15 points clear of Liverpool earlier in the season, but a collapse in form from the Gunners combined with a surge from the Reds meant that Liverpool went into the game 3 points clear and with a goal difference superior by 4. The only statistic in Arsenal’s favour was ‘gaols scored’. The upshot was that in order to win the title Arsenal needed to go to Anfield and win by two goals or more. Liverpool were still the powerhouse of English football at the time and hadn’t lost by two goals at home in over three years. Not only that, but Arsenal had not won there by any margin in fifteen years.
It seemed that Arsenal had no chance, and that Liverpool would go on to complete the Double – and few would have begrudged them after the tragic events of a month earlier. Liverpool were somewhat lucklustre in the game but Arsenal played a defensive 5-4-1 to try and stifle the wing play which was a trademark of Liverpool’s dominance. At half time it was still 0-0, but early in the second half Arsenal striker Alan Smith rose to head home a Nigel Winterburn free kick to put his team one up. As the time drained away Arsenal manager George Graham made some substitutions and changed his formation to a more attacking 4-4-2 in the hope of grabbing the second goal they needed. Consequently Liverpool found more room and spurned a number of chances to secure their title; striker John Aldridge thought he had done so, but saw his goal ruled out for offside.
Nevertheless, with 90 minutes up and injury time being played Arsenal led 1-0 but the title was going to the home team. Then, with one last attack, Smith flicked the ball through to midfielder Michael Thomas and he challenged Liverpool’s Steve Nicol (now coach of the New England Revolution). The ball ricocheted back to Thomas who was now clean through on goal; he took a touch, drew the keeper and lifted the ball into the back of the net.
With 25 seconds left of the season Arsenal had stolen the title from under Liverpool’s noses. The Liverpool players sank to the ground, knowing that there was no way back. Few watching the game on TV will ever forget those pictures, or commentator Brian Moore’s line as Thomas was one-on-one: “Thomas! It’s up for grabs now!”
It had never happened before, and almost certainly will never happen again: one team took the title from another with less than 30 seconds of an entire season left.
The events of the game, and indeed Arsenal’s entire season, form the backdrop to Nick Hornby’s brilliant book ‘Fever Pitch’, also made into a film with Colin Firth. (Not to be confused with the film of the same name starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, which took much of the plot but replaced Arsenal’s journey with that of the Red Sox). Side note: The book and/or film is a must for anyone with a partner who just doesn’t “get” soccer!
1) Some would wonder how any moment could be considered a more dramatic conclusion to a match than Michael Thomas’ winner to snatch the title. But my choice for the most exciting end ever is mainly due to the even more unlikely nature of the events. It took place about as metaphorically far from the Nou Camp or Anfield as you can imagine: Carlisle United’s Brunton Park ground. The match in question took place on the final day of the 1998/99 season on May 8th (only weeks before Man Utd’s European triumph), and was a Division 3 game between Carlisle and Plymouth Argyle.
Unlike US leagues, where places are allocated on city size, the English league is split into four divisions, and movement between them operates on a merit-based system. The top two or three teams at the end of each season will be promoted to the next division up, to be replaced by the two or three teams who finished at the bottom of that higher division. Sadly these days the financial structuring of the Premier League means that teams cannot realistically hope to rise through the whole system anymore, but a few decades ago any team could dream of rising to the top division. In fact in the 80s Wimbledon FC did rise from playing amateur football, through all the divisions, and even beat Liverpool to win the FA Cup in 1988.
The four divisions have gone through a number of name changes: for over a hundred years, prior to 1992 they were simply Divisions 1-4; then the top division became the Premier League, and the next three were re-named Divisions 1-3; in 2004 Division 1 (the second tier) was re-labelled the Championship, and the bottom two divisions became League One and League Two. In practical terms however, nothing much has changed.
Promotion and relegation have always been a huge part of the excitement of football, but ultimately not the end of the world. But one relegation was different.
Below the four professional divisions lies the Football Conference, the tip of the non-league pyramid of English football (called a pyramid because the further down you go, the more regionalised it becomes, and so the more leagues of equal level there are). These days the Conference is actually mainly professional in its administration, and virtually functions as a fifth division – but back in the 90s it was entirely amateur, and demotion to the Conference meant a complete overhaul and change of the team. Players went from being full-time professionals to amateurs, needing another profession and only training a couple of times per week. It was a virtual death warrant on a club, so much so that in the 80s there was no automatic relegation from the bottom division. Teams could apply for re-election to the league, and if the other clubs voted they would stay in the league. (My own beloved Preston North End suffered the indignity of re-election once, as did Premiership newboys Burnley).
Naturally the Conference protested, saying that their top team had earned the right to become fully professional, and so mandatory relegation for the league’s bottom club became standard.
In 1998/99, that club looked like being once-proud Carlisle Utd. Carlisle have the distinction of being the most remote league club in England, the 50 miles between them and their nearest neighbours (Newcastle) far greater than any other club could claim. (By comparison Preston’s nearest neighbours, Blackburn Rovers, are only 10 miles down the road; Liverpool and Everton are a mile apart, and Notts Forest and Notts County are literally on opposite banks of the River Trent. And if you REALLY want to see two grounds close together, use Google Earth to see Dundee and Dundee United – just enter Tannadice Park.) Carlisle’s remote location, albeit in one of the least-populated areas of England, means they could draw on decent support even when languishing in the basement division.
Nevertheless, going into the final day of the season Carlisle were bottom and staring at the end of their proud 70 odd year stay in the league. Scarborough were the only team they could catch and avoid relegation, and they had to have a better result than Scarborough to do it. To make matters worse, having sold their first-choice goalkeeper a few months earlier and seen their reserve keeper pick up a season-ending injury, they were forced to apply for an emergency loan (the transfer window having closed); the league agreed and keeper Jimmy Glass was brought in on loan from Swindon. Coming into the last game he had only played twice for Carlisle and was still getting to know his teammates.
Carlisle faced Plymouth at home, knowing that realistically they needed to win to have any hope. These hopes faded when Plymouth scored to take the lead, although midway through the second half Carlisle equalised. As explained earlier, all games on the final day of the season are played simultaneously to ensure fairness, but a lengthy injury in the game meant it was still going on when full time whistles were being blown elsewhere around the country. In particular news came through that Scarborough had drawn their game, which meant the current 1-1 score would send Carlisle down, and almost certainly out of business.
With less than a minute left in injury time Carlisle pushed again and won a corner. By the time everyone, including the keeper, had crowded the area there were ten seconds left in the game. The corner came over, a Carlisle player won the header and the Plymouth keeper parried – but it fell to on-loan keeper Glass who buried the half volley to win the game and save Carlisle’s league status. There wasn’t even time to restart the game, which was a good job as the entire crowd was on the pitch and Jimmy Glass was buried under a mountain of players and fans.
The idea of a virtually unknown on-loan keeper scoring in the last second to save the club’s season and entire existence seems the type of thing that Hollywood would reject as too far-fetched, but the kind of moment that makes soccer the greatest game in the world. You will not regret going to YouTube and searching for Jimmy Glass’ goal - in particular watch out for the fan who tries to jump on the ref in celebration and ends up flooring him.
If you really want to see the kind of emotions that the game can cause, watch the Sky Sports coverage of this final day. As well as showing the joy of the Carlisle fans watch for the Scarborough fans celebrating on the pitch thinking they have survived, and then collapsing in disbelief when the news comes through.
Scarborough were relegated, never recovered and were wound up in 2007. Carlisle actually did get relegated to the Conference in 2004, but by this point it was possible to stay professional – they did so, bounced back and are currently going strong in League One. That’s the kind of difference one goal can make.
I’ve also used the opportunity to give those interested a bit of history and detail about the English league and how it works.
3) The third best end of all time is probably the one most people would automatically think about when this topic arises: Manchester United v Bayern Munich in the Champions League final on 26th May 1999.
There was a good amount of history riding on the game. Man Utd had already won the Premier League and the FA Cup, thus completing “the Double”; this was once almost mythical, and even then was considered a huge achievement – but to complete the Treble by adding the most prestigious club trophy in sport would be truly unprecedented. Furthermore Man Utd were still frustrated in their bid to be considered the greatest English team ever. Although they were virtually all-conquering throughout most of the 90s, Liverpool fans quite justifiably pointed out their vastly superior European record; the consensus opinion of the time was that for Man Utd to stake a claim to true greatness they had to be crowned champions of Europe.
The final was played at Barcelona’s Nou Camp. After an epic semi-final struggle with Juventus, Utd were playing without their suspended first choice central midfield pairing of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, the engine room which had powered them to domestic success. Bayern, who were hoping to complete a treble of their own, scored through a Mario Basler free kick in the first few minutes, and then proceeded to play to a gameplan which nullified many of United’s strengths. When Mehmet Scholl hit the post with a chip, and Carsten Jancker hit the bar with an overhead kick, both in the last twenty minutes, the sense that Bayern may live to regret their chances to kill off the game began to spread.
Alex Ferguson had brought on two subs – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham – and as the clock ticked into injury time they would both write their name into the history books. First, Ryan Giggs had a woeful shot, so bad it ended up going straight to Sheringham, who buried the ball in the bottom corner. Bayern clearly were stunned, and from the restart Utd almost immediately regained possession and forced a corner; Beckham swung it over, Sheringham headed down and, unbelievably, Solskjaer was there to slam the ball into the roof of the net. Even allowing for extensive celebrations of the equaliser there had only been two minutes between the goals that turned defeat into victory.
If Bayern had been stunned by the leveller they were quite literally floored by the winner. Some players sank to their knees and, even though there were still about 30 seconds left to play, did not even attempt to get up for the restart. Perhaps the most memorable scene of the entire night was Bayern’s Ghanaian midfielder Samuel Kuffour lying prostrate on the turf and just beating the ground again and again.
No one quite believed what they had just seen. Lennart Johansson, the president of UEFA (European football’s governing body) had left his seat to come down and present the trophy with Bayern leading 1-0. By the time he arrived pitchside they were 2-1 down. Ribbons in Bayern’s colours had already been tied to the trophy and quickly had to be replaced.
Not only was it the most incredible end to a major cup final in history, but it cemented Man Utd’s claim to be one of the greatest teams in English history, if not THE greatest. Alex Ferguson was knighted less than a month later.
2) Bizarrely my choice for second best finish to a match occurred 10 years to the day earlier that the Man Utd v Bayern Munich game: 26th May 1989.
To those used to American sports, where a playoff system is invariably used to decide the champion, it is not unusual for a season to culminate with the two (supposedly) best teams facing each other in a winner-takes-all game. However in England the ultimate prize – the league title – is won over the course of 9 months and 38 games. Each team plays every other twice, home and away, and the team with the best record at the end is crowned champion. This CAN lead to a gripping final day with the title up for grabs, but often one team can run away with the league and win it with games to spare, giving a rather anticlimactic feel to the last day. But never before had the two contenders for the title played each other in the last game of the season.
The League’s fixture computer is designed to ensure that potentially crucial or fiery games are not played on the first and last weekends of the season, so you will never find, for example, Chelsea v Arsenal or Newcastle v Sunderland on the last day. (Of course it is always possible that an unexpected team will end up challenging for the title, but the chances of the top two teams playing each other for the title in the last game are almost non-existent). In the 1988/89 season the title was being contested by Arsenal and Liverpool. The two teams were scheduled to meet on April 23rd, only weeks from the end of the campaign and a game which would have been a huge match anyway. But as backdrop to the most dramatic end to an English season ever came the greatest tragedy English soccer has ever seen. A week before the scheduled meeting of the two teams saw FA Cup semi-final day. Liverpool had been drawn to play Nottingham Forest with the game to be held at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground. But mistakes by the police in the build up to the game had seen too many fans allowed through the gates, and 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death. The shock stunned the country and it was clear that neither the Liverpool team, nor anyone else, was prepared to play a crucial and possibly title-deciding match only a week later.
With that match postponed, and the FA Cup semi-final still to be played, the fixtures mounted up and no date could be found to play the Liverpool-Arsenal game. Another rule of the English season is that – similarly to the final group matches in the World Cup – the final set of fixtures must all be played simultaneously, so as to not give an advantage to any team. However with only Liverpool and Arsenal able to win the title it was decided that the rest of the season could end, and this match played later without being unfair. In the end it was actually played the week AFTER the FA Cup final (where Liverpool very appropriately beat their local rivals Everton in a moment of real catharsis for the city) which was another first: Historically the FA Cup final marked the end of the season.
And so the backdrop to this unprecedented scenario was already loaded with drama. Arsenal had been as much as 15 points clear of Liverpool earlier in the season, but a collapse in form from the Gunners combined with a surge from the Reds meant that Liverpool went into the game 3 points clear and with a goal difference superior by 4. The only statistic in Arsenal’s favour was ‘gaols scored’. The upshot was that in order to win the title Arsenal needed to go to Anfield and win by two goals or more. Liverpool were still the powerhouse of English football at the time and hadn’t lost by two goals at home in over three years. Not only that, but Arsenal had not won there by any margin in fifteen years.
It seemed that Arsenal had no chance, and that Liverpool would go on to complete the Double – and few would have begrudged them after the tragic events of a month earlier. Liverpool were somewhat lucklustre in the game but Arsenal played a defensive 5-4-1 to try and stifle the wing play which was a trademark of Liverpool’s dominance. At half time it was still 0-0, but early in the second half Arsenal striker Alan Smith rose to head home a Nigel Winterburn free kick to put his team one up. As the time drained away Arsenal manager George Graham made some substitutions and changed his formation to a more attacking 4-4-2 in the hope of grabbing the second goal they needed. Consequently Liverpool found more room and spurned a number of chances to secure their title; striker John Aldridge thought he had done so, but saw his goal ruled out for offside.
Nevertheless, with 90 minutes up and injury time being played Arsenal led 1-0 but the title was going to the home team. Then, with one last attack, Smith flicked the ball through to midfielder Michael Thomas and he challenged Liverpool’s Steve Nicol (now coach of the New England Revolution). The ball ricocheted back to Thomas who was now clean through on goal; he took a touch, drew the keeper and lifted the ball into the back of the net.
With 25 seconds left of the season Arsenal had stolen the title from under Liverpool’s noses. The Liverpool players sank to the ground, knowing that there was no way back. Few watching the game on TV will ever forget those pictures, or commentator Brian Moore’s line as Thomas was one-on-one: “Thomas! It’s up for grabs now!”
It had never happened before, and almost certainly will never happen again: one team took the title from another with less than 30 seconds of an entire season left.
The events of the game, and indeed Arsenal’s entire season, form the backdrop to Nick Hornby’s brilliant book ‘Fever Pitch’, also made into a film with Colin Firth. (Not to be confused with the film of the same name starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, which took much of the plot but replaced Arsenal’s journey with that of the Red Sox). Side note: The book and/or film is a must for anyone with a partner who just doesn’t “get” soccer!
1) Some would wonder how any moment could be considered a more dramatic conclusion to a match than Michael Thomas’ winner to snatch the title. But my choice for the most exciting end ever is mainly due to the even more unlikely nature of the events. It took place about as metaphorically far from the Nou Camp or Anfield as you can imagine: Carlisle United’s Brunton Park ground. The match in question took place on the final day of the 1998/99 season on May 8th (only weeks before Man Utd’s European triumph), and was a Division 3 game between Carlisle and Plymouth Argyle.
Unlike US leagues, where places are allocated on city size, the English league is split into four divisions, and movement between them operates on a merit-based system. The top two or three teams at the end of each season will be promoted to the next division up, to be replaced by the two or three teams who finished at the bottom of that higher division. Sadly these days the financial structuring of the Premier League means that teams cannot realistically hope to rise through the whole system anymore, but a few decades ago any team could dream of rising to the top division. In fact in the 80s Wimbledon FC did rise from playing amateur football, through all the divisions, and even beat Liverpool to win the FA Cup in 1988.
The four divisions have gone through a number of name changes: for over a hundred years, prior to 1992 they were simply Divisions 1-4; then the top division became the Premier League, and the next three were re-named Divisions 1-3; in 2004 Division 1 (the second tier) was re-labelled the Championship, and the bottom two divisions became League One and League Two. In practical terms however, nothing much has changed.
Promotion and relegation have always been a huge part of the excitement of football, but ultimately not the end of the world. But one relegation was different.
Below the four professional divisions lies the Football Conference, the tip of the non-league pyramid of English football (called a pyramid because the further down you go, the more regionalised it becomes, and so the more leagues of equal level there are). These days the Conference is actually mainly professional in its administration, and virtually functions as a fifth division – but back in the 90s it was entirely amateur, and demotion to the Conference meant a complete overhaul and change of the team. Players went from being full-time professionals to amateurs, needing another profession and only training a couple of times per week. It was a virtual death warrant on a club, so much so that in the 80s there was no automatic relegation from the bottom division. Teams could apply for re-election to the league, and if the other clubs voted they would stay in the league. (My own beloved Preston North End suffered the indignity of re-election once, as did Premiership newboys Burnley).
Naturally the Conference protested, saying that their top team had earned the right to become fully professional, and so mandatory relegation for the league’s bottom club became standard.
In 1998/99, that club looked like being once-proud Carlisle Utd. Carlisle have the distinction of being the most remote league club in England, the 50 miles between them and their nearest neighbours (Newcastle) far greater than any other club could claim. (By comparison Preston’s nearest neighbours, Blackburn Rovers, are only 10 miles down the road; Liverpool and Everton are a mile apart, and Notts Forest and Notts County are literally on opposite banks of the River Trent. And if you REALLY want to see two grounds close together, use Google Earth to see Dundee and Dundee United – just enter Tannadice Park.) Carlisle’s remote location, albeit in one of the least-populated areas of England, means they could draw on decent support even when languishing in the basement division.
Nevertheless, going into the final day of the season Carlisle were bottom and staring at the end of their proud 70 odd year stay in the league. Scarborough were the only team they could catch and avoid relegation, and they had to have a better result than Scarborough to do it. To make matters worse, having sold their first-choice goalkeeper a few months earlier and seen their reserve keeper pick up a season-ending injury, they were forced to apply for an emergency loan (the transfer window having closed); the league agreed and keeper Jimmy Glass was brought in on loan from Swindon. Coming into the last game he had only played twice for Carlisle and was still getting to know his teammates.
Carlisle faced Plymouth at home, knowing that realistically they needed to win to have any hope. These hopes faded when Plymouth scored to take the lead, although midway through the second half Carlisle equalised. As explained earlier, all games on the final day of the season are played simultaneously to ensure fairness, but a lengthy injury in the game meant it was still going on when full time whistles were being blown elsewhere around the country. In particular news came through that Scarborough had drawn their game, which meant the current 1-1 score would send Carlisle down, and almost certainly out of business.
With less than a minute left in injury time Carlisle pushed again and won a corner. By the time everyone, including the keeper, had crowded the area there were ten seconds left in the game. The corner came over, a Carlisle player won the header and the Plymouth keeper parried – but it fell to on-loan keeper Glass who buried the half volley to win the game and save Carlisle’s league status. There wasn’t even time to restart the game, which was a good job as the entire crowd was on the pitch and Jimmy Glass was buried under a mountain of players and fans.
The idea of a virtually unknown on-loan keeper scoring in the last second to save the club’s season and entire existence seems the type of thing that Hollywood would reject as too far-fetched, but the kind of moment that makes soccer the greatest game in the world. You will not regret going to YouTube and searching for Jimmy Glass’ goal - in particular watch out for the fan who tries to jump on the ref in celebration and ends up flooring him.
If you really want to see the kind of emotions that the game can cause, watch the Sky Sports coverage of this final day. As well as showing the joy of the Carlisle fans watch for the Scarborough fans celebrating on the pitch thinking they have survived, and then collapsing in disbelief when the news comes through.
Scarborough were relegated, never recovered and were wound up in 2007. Carlisle actually did get relegated to the Conference in 2004, but by this point it was possible to stay professional – they did so, bounced back and are currently going strong in League One. That’s the kind of difference one goal can make.
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