By Andrew Warshaw
August 28 – Football clubs are often accused of self-interest and lack of sportsmanship so hats off to Yeovil Town boss Gary Johnson for at least trying to partially make amends after admitting poor judgement by him and his team.
Huge controversy surrounded Yeovil’s equaliser in the final minute of normal time against fellow Championship club Birmingham City in the League Cup on Tuesday after Byron Webster chipped into an empty net despite visiting goalkeeper Colin Doyle kicking the ball out of play because of injury to a teammate.
The goal was allowed to stand, prompting a skirmish between both sets of players, and the visitors became even more incensed when Yeovil went ahead 3-2 in extra time.
Yet with a second-round place in the competition looming, the home side saw the error of their ways. Straight from the restart, the crowd were left stunned after Johnson decided Webster’s equaliser was the wrong thing to do and Birmingham were allowed to run through unopposed and square the game at 3-3.
Birmingham ended up winning on penalties and Johnson explained: “I apologised to (Birmingham manager) Lee Clark at half time in extra time because, on reflection, it was ungentlemanly.”
But Clark was still fuming at what had happened. “I might be wrong but my parents made me grow up to be a good sportsman, win, lose or draw,” he said. “It’s always easy to give a goal back when you’re leading. We were winning going into injury time.”
The incident evoked memories of Marc Overmars’s ‘goal’ for Arsenal in the FA Cup against Sheffield United in 1999, which prompted a rematch. The Dutchman scored when Sheffield had kicked out the ball out of play to allow one of its players to receive treatment.
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