Source: Daily_Mail
Wrong! Referee blundered in allowing Bent's beach ball winner against Reds
This is the moment when the most bizarre goal in football could have put paid to Liverpool's title hopes.
Sunderland's Darren Bent fires a shot which hits a red beach ball and deflects past goalkeeper Pepe Reina in the fifth minute to hand Liverpool a 1-0 defeat.
In a farcical version of an own-goal, the ball, branded with a Liverpool crest, had been thrown on to the pitch earlier by a young Liverpool fan.
Darren Bent
Spot the balls: Goalkeeper Pepe Reina appears to have Sunderland striker Darren Bent's fifth-minute shot covered
sunderland
In off the red: Bent's shot deflects off the beach ball, changes direction and flies past the helpless Reina
Manager Rafael Benitez, under pressure after his team's fourth Premier League defeat of the season in nine matches, insisted: 'It's just one of those things.'
But Sunderland counterpart Steve Bruce questioned whether the goal should have been allowed.
Refereeing experts suggested that official Mike Jones had blundered but the Premier League swiftly gave him their backing, insisting he had made the correct decision.
A Premier League spokesman said: 'The beach ball was an inanimate object so the referee should have stopped the game as soon as he was aware it was on the field of play. However, the difficulty would be if he didn't see it until it was struck by the match ball.'
As the debate raged over Beach Ball Gate, former Premier League referee Jeff Winter said that, on the evidence available to him, the goal should not have stood. 'By the letter of the law, it is outside interference and a drop-ball should have been where the incident occurred,' he said.
'You have to wonder how the referee and his assistants missed it - even the fourth official should have seen it, although admittedly he is a long way away.'
Winter's reading of the laws of football was confirmed by former FIFA referee Graham Poll, who said the correct decision would have been a drop-ball.
beach ball
Ball boy: The beach ball is thrown onto the pitch by a young Liverpool supporter
In the referee's defence, Liverpool defender Glen Johnson appeared to get a touch on Bent's shot before it cannoned into the beach ball and was deflected past Reina.
The Liverpool goalkeeper remonstrated with the referee's assistant but to no avail. Bent was happy to claim the goal, the first by a Sunderland player against Liverpool for seven years.
'It was a strange goal,' he said, with some understatement. 'You don't get many deflections off beach balls. But I've had plenty of shots which have been deflected off the target, so I'm happy to take this one.
'I just remember hitting the shot, it hitting the top of the balloon and flying in. The balloon was right in the middle of the Liverpool penalty area, so I don't know why they didn't move it. But we'll take it. The goal's mine - it's not a question of having to claim it. It's mine. We've seen plenty of examples recently of shots that were going wide being deflected in and at least mine was heading for the middle of the goal.'
Manager Bruce added: 'It's one of the most bizarre incidents I've ever seen in football, but I just hope it doesn't overshadow our performance.
'I understand the ball had a Liverpool crest on it and was thrown by a Liverpool fan . . . what a shame!
Sunderland's Darren Bent
Up, up and away: Sunderland's Darren Bent celebrates after scoring against Liverpool
'Whatever happened, I thought we fully deserved the win. My keeper only had one shot to save in added time and we could have had three or four in the second half.'
It was Liverpool's third successive defeat (two in the Premier League and one in the Champions League), all without scoring, and their fourth loss in nine matches since their league season started on a wave of optimism last August.
They are now in eighth place, one behind Sunderland, who ended a run of six successive league defeats against Liverpool.
Benitez blamed his team's failings for the setback rather than the beach ball. 'It was a special situation but we didn't play well,' he said.
'We made some mistakes. We had our chances and we didn't take them. These things can happen in a lot of games. It was in the middle and it was very influential.
'Pepe might have saved the shot if it hadn't been deflected but we didn't play well - that's the main thing.
'It could be a technical situation but in this case the goal was allowed.' Winter suggested that disallowing the goal might have provoked 'a riot'.
And he added: 'People say you have to use common sense, but the laws of the game say this is outside interference.
'A similar incident occurred in an FA Cup match involving Sheffield United a few years ago when the ball hit a balloon and the goal stood. 'It is the sort of thing that happens on park pitches. You do not expect to see this sort of thing in professional football.
'I'll be very surprised if Mike Jones is refereeing in the Premier League next week.
'I made enough mistakes as a referee and will always defend officials, but if it happened like this, how did they miss it?'
