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Goal was 'beyond belief'

6:00pm Saturday 20th September 2008


Aidy Boothroyd still couldn’t believe what he’d seen when he gave his thoughts on Reading’s first goal following this afternoon’s 2-2 draw with Reading at Vicarage Road.

Referee Stuart Attwell and his assistant Nigel Bannister somehow decided that John Eustace had scored an own goal from Stephen Hunt’s 13th-minute corner, even though the ball clearly crossed the goalline at least two yards the other side of the post.

“I’m a little bit bemused because I obviously want to praise the team for their work and courage in getting back into the game and at the same time it’s like a UFO’s landed and a mistake like that has cost you two points,” said the Watford manager.

“I’ve been to see the referee and in fairness to him he’s only going on what the linesman can tell him. If you’re working as a team with somebody and somebody comes in your ear and says ‘it’s a goal’, you give a goal, but how he’s come to that decision is beyond belief when you see it.”


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Your Say YourWatford

Steve, Abbots Langley, says...
6:19pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Even Roger Milford and Rob Styles would have got that right.

The worst decision at Watford in years. How on earth can you give a goal when the ball never went anywhere near the net?

Explain please Keith Hackett.

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HOOF, England says...
6:29pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Absolutely disgusting decision,hopefully the lino will be at the Jobcentre on monday morning.Apart from that a great showing from the lads, good to see Ainsworth & Hoskins put in a decent shift.Hopefully they can keep it up & then we may only need to recruit 2/3 on loan rather than 5/6.

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Derek Payne, says...
7:09pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Imagine if this had happened in a Man U or Chelsea game.

Beyond belief - a decision so sinister the game should be replayed.

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Chris the Vic, The Vic says...
7:42pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Suffice it to say that Simpson must speak to Hackett, an apology by the ref and Bannister issued, McAnuff's yellow card rescinded and the linesman demoted.

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tomr92, Eastcote says...
8:42pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Todays game didn't need video replays, just a linesman with depth perception!

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Stuporman, Watford says...
8:49pm Sat 20 Sep 08

Yes, I was sitting right behind the goal at today's match, and I simply couldn't believe what I was witnessing!

The Reading forward tried hard, but in vain, to hook the ball back over his head into play and prevent a goal-kick, and the linesman somehow interprets this as a goal?

The point nobody seems to have made so far is... if this was a player trying to prevent the ball going over his own GOAL line, then surely he would have had a YELLOW shirt on Mr Bannister?

To make matters worse, I had a fiver on Watford to win 2-1 and Tommy Smith to score the first goal, so thanks to the FA for costing me £175 and The Horns a valuable two points!

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derry pigweed, northampton says...
11:21pm Sat 20 Sep 08

The worst decision i have ever seen in football,the lino had just spotted his friend Paul Gadd with the ballboys and got very excited waving his flag and the embryo of a referee thought sod this i will give a goal else they might want me....!!!!

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Kenny's Jackett & Tommy's Mooney, says...
9:26am Sun 21 Sep 08

Search your consciences Reading:
We have sold our best players,
We have an injury ravaged squad that had only one recognised striker,we struggle to fill the bench,
We have lost millions (somewhere)
We have fans that ironically complain very little(too little at times) We are in for some very challenging times....
but in the true spirit of Watford Football Club - Would we really want to accept a goal like that....I very much hope not!!

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Johnnyhorn, ruislip says...
9:55am Sun 21 Sep 08

One way around it would have been for the ref to agree with both managers that a severe wrong had been done and for reading to allow us to walk the ball into the net at the start of the 2nd half - 1-1 and a proper 45 mins to decide things. Is there not precedent for this?

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WFC & Proud, Watford says...
10:00am Sun 21 Sep 08

Wonder what fine the FA will levy against Aidy for not showing respect to a patently woeful set of four incompetent match officials. They will hide behind the PGMO so they don't have to explain their catalogue of errors which started when Mart got injured; Doyle had treatment on the pitch from the physio but he didn't and wasn't then invited to leave the playing area before the game re-started. From then on, they just got worse!

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Hexham Hornet, HEXHAM says...
11:13am Sun 21 Sep 08

The thing that makes me laugh is the respect campaign from the FA. How can officials expect any respect if they do things like this, and how can the FA expect any if they do not put it right? The FA should organise for the fixture to be replayed, with free entry to all, and to be fully funded by the FA so that the clubs do not lose out.

If that happens then the game may start to earn respect, but people who make such a balls up of things cannot expect any amount of respect from any of us, whether we are players, fans or even members of the media. The ref and linesman should be thrown out of officiating any match above schoolboy level. If the ref blames the linesman then he is a fool, as he can see if the ball was between the posts or over a metre wide of the goal when it crossed the line. I wonder who the dubious goals panel will credit the goal to.

The FA and refs are useless and we seem to get the wrong decisions against us considerably more than in our favour. In a week where we get hit by a heavy fine for the incident at Palace this happens and Aidy gets sent to the stand - what further punishment will he get from the FA? He should get praised by the FA for not laying the ref and his "assistant" out. Well done to the fans for the way they got behind the players.

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Chris the Vic, The Vic says...
12:26pm Sun 21 Sep 08

Yep the fans got behind the team brilliantly and at the end we finish up with 7 of the first team squad out injured excluding Gareth Williams and we deserved all 3 points against Reading.

But why were there so many gaps in the lower Rous and the vic stand. Come on stay away supporters whilst the game against plymouth was horrible the two against Ipswich and reading were brilliantly entertaining and the team dont deserve empty seats

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Johnjo1959, Aylesbury says...
12:29pm Sun 21 Sep 08

The last thing we want is the game to be replayed, for a goal that never was and now there is absolutely no doubt that the ( not so ) fab 4, screwed up completely in awarding a goal that was not within 2 yards of the net, the goal should just be removed from the records, the golden boys awarded the justified 3 point and matter solved apart from a firing squad for the idiot in black and the spineless FA

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Johnjo1959, Aylesbury says...
12:33pm Sun 21 Sep 08

Oh and one last thing, I see sky sport featured an article about Dennis Wise being at the game yesterday, somewhat rather chickening out of going to West Ham and seeing his pathetic bunch get stuffed by the Hammers, ONE POINT !!! Homer don't even consider it !!!!

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Lutherr, says...
12:37pm Sun 21 Sep 08

The linesman and referee are no doubt decent human beings doing their best and should be entitled to respect. We all make mistakes. But respect from fans depends on honesty in return and the published excuse of an 'optical illusion' is fundamentally dishonest. The linesman wasnt just tricked by an illusion. He made a first mistake (thinking it went between the posts) but was also clearly unable to read the game at all (a Reading player was trying to hook the ball back into play not poke it in), and the referee abrogated his duty to make the final decision despite having had a perfect view of the action. Instead he delegated the decision making to a linesman who had no means of saying whether the ball was between the posts and ignored what his own eyes, the fans and players were telling him. It was rank incompetence from beginning to end and my respect for the individuals will return only when they admit as much and dont treat it as some sort of act of god.

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Johnnyhorn, ruislip says...
4:06pm Sun 21 Sep 08

Can the result be overturned? Afterall points are deducted for other reasons. And what about the overall issue of points and goal difference? I still think the only correction would be for a walked in goal at the start of the 2nd half

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After the Goldrush, Broken Arrow says...
10:59pm Sun 21 Sep 08

What if we miss promotion by 2 points? Can we get some sort of financial compensation from the league?

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Chris the Vic, The Vic says...
7:51am Mon 22 Sep 08

I fear that the result will stand and the officials will be diciplined with players booked staying booked.

No doubt Mr Dennis of the express will blame WFc etc etc.

On a more interesting note how long will poom and o'toole be out and is gareth williams near to full training etc.

Feel sorry with Aidy on his team selection for Tuesday...if he plays senior men we have some chance but if we get anymore injuries what chance in the championship. if as we are told the board have some money a couple of loan players would not go amiss

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scotshorn, Aberdeen says...
7:54am Mon 22 Sep 08

After the Goldrush wrote:
What if we miss promotion by 2 points? Can we get some sort of financial compensation from the league?
I doubt it. If we miss automatic promotion by 2 points, we'd probably be in the play-offs - if we lose from there, the FA would be able to argue that we weren't good enough anyway.

If we miss the play-offs by 2 points, they could then argue that it was entirely impossible to predict whether or not we would have been able to win from there.

Scuppered either way.

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Roger68, St Albans says...
10:53am Mon 22 Sep 08

.... But what if it is Reading who pip us to the automatic promotion/final play-off spot/ last place above relegation by one or two points? Unlikely?--of course. Impossible?--not at all. But well done to the WO for putting the video clip on open access on this site. Must have cost them a fee, but a good service to the fans. Has there been a more bizarre decision by an official in the modern game?

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A King, Kings Langley says...
9:09am Tue 23 Sep 08

The "goal" awarded to Reading by the referee and his assistant raises two linked issues: the respect referees campaign and the use of TV replay assistance. That the referee and his assistant made an honest (but bad) mistake is beyond question but they and other officials are not helped by the Football League (and the Football Association ) who both abandoned discussions with replay technology providers earlier this year. The reason given was that the referees decisions were part of the experience of going to watch football and provided talking points afterwards! This pathetic, luddite approach of the football authorities has fortunately not been followed by their counterparts in tennis, cricket and both codes of rugby where replays of crucial moments of action have increased respect for the match officials and have helped to ensure that the correct result is reached. This sort of logical thinking is clearly beyond the football authorities who instead bleat on about respect while failing to give their officials the help that is available right now. Stuart Attwell and his colleague made a bad mistake last Saturday but the real villains are the donkeys running the Football League who deserve no respect whatsoever.

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