Deja vu

For those of you who don't like sports turn away now.

It was May 2005 that a certain football club went behind and came back to tie the score and play extra time where their goalkeeper made an unbelievable save in the last minute before said club went on to triumph in a penalty shoot-out.

That club did it again on Saturday May 13th at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff in the F.A Cup.
Two teams met one kitted out all in red and the other all in white.

First they went behind to an own goal by one of the most consistent defensive performers of the season and then it got worse. What can only be described as an aberrration when the goalkeeper spilled a relatively tame shot resulted in the ball being bundled in for a two goal lead.

Salvation was to come from the player who went on to quite rightly win the Man of the Match Award. His pinpoint pass to a teammate resluted in a neatly taken sliding volley to half the deficit to one goal at halftime.

What would the second half bring well almost another goal for the team that lead at the break but this time the goalkeeper thwarted the forwrds twice. An equalising goal did come from the man who would be man of the match. There was never any doubt when the ball fell to his feet as the ball hit the back of the net.

With the scores now tied the game looked as if the team in red would prevail and go on to take victory. Yet the match was far from over and against the run of play an attempted cross from the team in white drifted over and into the back of the goal!

As the time ticked down and into the start of injury time after the ninety minutes were over and with players starting to feel cramp the ball was to fall at the feet of the team in red's captain, their talisman as so many other writers have called him. The ball was struck with true force and supreme precision from all of forty yards and didn't touch the ground until the net in the goal had stopped it.

Extratime saw the players on both sides begin to collapse with cramp as muscles tightened and an inevitability of the penalty shootout loomed. There was still time for last minute drama as a header went goalwards for the team in white but replays showed but for the merest of touches by the goalkeeper deflecting the ball onto the post it would have been over.

The penalty shootout saw the team in red go first and score...the team white went and saw the penalty saved. The team in red saw their next penalty saved and the team in white scored to tie the score. The next penalty went in for the team in red but the team in white saw their attempt saved. Up stepped the next penalty taker for the team in red...goal! All rested on the next penalty which was struck low to the goalkeepers right but it wasn't struck true enough and the ball was saved.

The team in red had won again.

That team was Liverpool Football Club.