Missing A Goal

On Tuesday, my team QPR squandered a 2 goal lead and ended up losing 4-2 to Andy Cole & his Burnley team mates.

To make matters worse, I missed Ranger's opening goal. The Central Line was buggered up thanks to a passenger illness at Tottenham Court Road (I mean, really!) so I entered the ground after 14 minutes of play.

As I went through the turnstiles, I asked the girl checking tickets if I had missed any goals. She mumbled "Er, I'm not sure.." to which I sarcastically replied "Well have you heard any loud cheers?!" I got to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Lower Loft, I thought about running but thought, hey what's the hurry.

Big mistake. What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. Firstly, people in the back row of seats all stood up together. Then some really strange acoustics. A short sharp "Ah........" followed by an eruption "YYYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!" and all the QPR fans jumping up & down and hugging each other.

As I ran to my seat I felt elation & disappointment simultaneously. The people who sit around me obviously thought it was very funny. No big screen at QPR, so I had to wait to see Sky Sports News for the excellent team move leading up to Gavin Mahon's headed first goal for the club.

Fortunately this has only happened on two prior occasions in all the games I've watched. One was at home to Tranmere on a bitterly cold day a few years ago. QPR were trailing 1-0 and I left the ground 5 minutes early so I could pick up a shirt in the club shop & avoid the rush. As I walked around into South Africa Road I heard the primeval roar that accompanied QPR's equaliser. Really pissed off with this, I made it round into the club shop just as another loud cheer went up from within Loftus Road. Looking gleefully up at the TV monitors showing the game, I was disappointed to see Jason Koumas celebrating Tranmere's winner.

More recently at home to Ipswich, I'd brought two guests along. Towards the end of the first half I felt the effects of the pre match pints going through my system. As I was stood at the urinal, Paul Furlong decided to belt one in from 25 yards. Cheers, Furs! Only one other punter in the toilets, no words were needed, we both shook our heads in disgust.

Nothing really tops missing one of the most famous goals of all time. The Champions League Final of 1999. A crowd of us watching the game on TV at my friend's flat. Upon Sheringham scoring United's equaliser, I made another toilet visit, in anticipation of Extra Time. A big gasp & shouting from the lounge......"yeah, good wind up guys"......."no really, Solskjaer has scored the winner!" I wasn't the only one. Lennart Johannson, UEFA President, had left his seat inside the Nou Camp, Barcelona, and got in the lift to go up to present the trophy to the expected winners Bayern Munich (who were winning 1-0 at the time). As he got to the top, he was told that United had levelled - so he returned down the elevator to watch Extra Time........