Darren Bent condemned Liverpool to their fourth Premier League defeat of the season with a bizarre fifth minute goal.The Sunderland striker's shot looked certain to be cleared by Glen Johnson before it hit a large red beach ball which had been thrown into the penalty area by a Liverpool supporter.
The shot was diverted inside the post and Liverpool, without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard and employing a new formation, were unable to find a response.
With their chances of winning the title now looking remote, the pressure is mounting on Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez - and it could have been even worse for him as Sunderland missed several good chances to seal a more emphatic win.
REACTION:
Benitez refused to protest over the remarkable goal that decided the game. Asked if he believed it should have been allowed to stand, the manager said:"It's a technical question. It could be a goal, but it's difficult to say. In this case, I think it should be a goal."
However, Bruce was not as certain it should have counted after being told the laws of the game state it should have been disallowed and the game restarted with a drop ball. "But does anybody know that rule?" he said.
The two managers also took the heat out of a confrontation that took place midway through the second half as Kenwyne Jones was receiving treatment for an ankle injury before being taken off on a stretcher.
Benitez said:"I was asking about time. Their players were on the ground three or four times in 10 minutes. The game was stopped so I was talking to the fourth official and Steve came in and wanted to argue with me. I was surprised because I was talking to the fourth official."
And Bruce added:"It was handbags. You do things on the spur on the moment, then look back and think you made a prat of yourself. It's all done and dusted.".
Bruce's team certainly won the argument on the pitch. Benitez said:"We didn't play well. We made some mistakes and gave the ball away too much. Yes, the goal was very influential, but we didn't play well.
"This is a bad defeat, but in a normal season, teams at the top would be winning every single game. This time it is a bit different. Chelsea have lost twice and I've seen a lot of teams at the top losing games.
"If we win the next two or three games, we could be top of the table. It's a question of keeping our confidence and working hard. We have to analyse things and see if we are making mistakes
"We have an important game on Tuesday and that's the priority, not talking about the league table - we have to get three points in every single game,"
Bruce said:"I thought we deserved it. We had three one-on-ones in the second half and could have scored more.
"There was a great atmosphere and maybe the players have not been able to handle it in the past, but they did this time and it's pleasing. We had a bit of luck with the goal, but we took them on and beat them hands down."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In a manner that can only be described as remarkable. The goal from Bent will be the talking point for a long time and, while the managers were sanguine about it, there is no doubt that it ensured the right result to a match that provided an insight into how the season may develop for both teams. Liverpool had a new formation and a league debutant in Jay Spearing and neither helped them gain midfield control.
WHAT IT MEANS:
Sunderland followed their impressive performance at Manchester United with another display of their improvement under Bruce. They were busy, imaginative and showed attacking instincts that lifted them into seventh place and may yet take them higher. Liverpool were deprived of ideas in the absence of several key players and that's a major worry for Benitez ahead of a long and busy season. He denies it, but their title chances probably ended with this defeat. Now they have to find the fan responsible.
QUOTABLE: "It was a strange goal, but I will take it."
Darren Bent refuses to give credit for the goal to a beach ball!
SUNDERLAND 1 (Bent 5) LIVERPOOL (0)
PLAYER MARKING:
Sunderland (4-4-2): Gordon 6; Bardsley 7, Turner 6, Ferdinand 6, McCartney 5 (Henderson 46, 6); Malbranque 7, Cana 7, Cattermole 7 (Zenden 57,5), Reid 7; Bent 8, Jones 7 (Campbell 66,5).
Subs not used: Fulop, Nosworthy, Da Silva, Healy.
Liverpool (5-3-2): Reina 5; Johnson 6, Skrtel 5 (Voronin 72,5), Carragher 5, Agger 6, Aurelio 6; Lucas 5, Benayoun 6, Spearing 5 (Mascherano 72,5); Babel 5 (Ngog 81), Kuyt 5.
Subs not used: Cavalieri, Riera, Insua, Kelly.
ATTENDANCE: 47,327
NEXT UP:
- Sunderland v Birmingham (Away) Premier League 24/10, 1500 BST
- Liverpool v Lyon (Home) Champions League 20/10, 1945 BST
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Darren Bent (Sunderland): An early goal was backed up by a hard-working performance from the striker who is doing his best to attract the attention of England chief Fabio Capello. He is on fire at the moment and deserves another international chance.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
benitese is still in denial, said the team played o.k. today.
i think the only chance of him winning anything is if he joins fantasy football, i hope they get the message now and sack him.
C o u g ar C h a ts . C o m___ .where you will get a big Surprise! Only for men...LOL
liverpool will have all on reaching top six this season
as sure as night follows day someone always wants rafa,s head if we don,t win 6 nil,there.s still nearly 90 points up for grabs and i for one know rafa will do is damdest to get as many of them as possible
redratty
Liverpool can have no complaints about the deflected goal. It was a moronic Liverpool supporter who threw the beach ball onto the pitch, what followed can be termed "rough justice". Perhaps the half wit who chucked the ball on can now reflect that he probably cost his team two points.
Yeh, half asleep, before anyone else tells me, of course that should be one point..........
the ref should be punished big style goal should have been disallowed as per rules secondly he had a very bad game for both teams
It should not have been counted with the interfernce. End of story! This should not have been difficult to determine. At least allow the teams to win fairly. The credibility of the sport becomes diminished just as we are seeing with the umps and baseball. When you have the fans thinking that a game is won, no matter what the sport is, by refs and umps who are unprofessional, inattentive,or displaying favoritism, the fans lose interest. You ruin the sport and the fans......
This is just plain stupid. The refs need to get junk off the field before resuming play. If stuff still gets littered on the field, clear the stands and play the game with no fans. Just think, if a ball lands on ANY other pitch (football, baseball, hockey, basketball, etc), play is stopped, debris removed, play resumed. This proves once and for all (besides for all the players diving), that soccer is NOT the beautiful game.
What did he say...... the idiot writing this nonsense makes no sense, I still have no idea how the loose ball from a fan played a part in the goal, did the soccer ball hit the rouge ball and cause it to veere off into the goal, or the opposite, did the goalee not see the right ball, what the fuck happened, and if the soccer ball hit the play ball causing the goalee to miss because of this..... then replay goal no count, I saw a field goal in football hit a bird, they tried to catch the bird to fine it to no avail. oh by the way....soccer sucks....... thats the only thing that made even the blah blah game half way interesting, the ball hits another ball and scores 1 thats ONE big one point, almost as boring as baseball, rugby is tops, beats out all the others...... I dont understand how people can stand to watch that constant kicking with NO, scores, or very few........nothing happens, constantly just kick ball baCK AND FORTH GOALEE GRABS BALL KICK IT HIGH IN THE AIR TO THE WRONG PERSON HE KICKS THE BALL TO ANOTHER WRONG PERSON INTERCEPTED BY not the person that was suppose to get the ball shut me up slap the crap outa me no wonder the fans beat the shit outa each other, I beat up people in my house while watching a freaking boring soccer game, shoot me,tear my eyes out.......somebody help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did not see the play but the Laws of the Game are clear and any seasoned referee should know them. If the ball in play hits another ball or other object not in play, the action is suspended and a drop ball is declared at the point of contact. To allow a goal in a situation like this is poor officiating.
As a referee I know all four referees were asleep at the wheel and should have not allowed the goal. With four referees they are paid to scan the field for any object that could possibly endanger the players or create an advantage for either team. All four need to read the 17 Laws of Soccer till they fully understand them. As a coach of a U-19 team I would take the "Beach Ball" goal and RUN !!!!
The law is very clear. Law 8 says that a dropped ball is a way of restarting the match after a temporary stoppage which becomes necessary, while the ball is in play, for any reason not mentioned elsewhere in the Laws of the Game.
Birds are not outside agents, they are a part of the field (pre-existing), so is the wind,as are overhanging tree branches.
If the match ball came into contact with another ball, then an outside agent has entered the field and play must be temporarily stopped and re-started with a dropped ball. If there was no contact between the two balls, then it is the referee's judgment as to whether there was interference with the play.
Nonetheless, if no protest is filed, then the match result stands.
The referees, by the way, were being evaluated. All referees at the professional level are debriefed on their match.
LOOK as a Sunderland fan this stupid goal should not have counted. However, due to the officials that we have in the PREM it did, it has, and it will stand, and be talked about in pubs and clubs forever. amen. that is why these officials are in the fizzy pop league this weekend. Big Mal
Lets all " CALM DOWN" and just relax in the knowledge that at least liverpool have got no chance of the title, AGAIN. haha