The day the referee scored

[Cromwell58]

This is the programme from that game and a news clipping from the Plymouth paper. I was at the game and if I am right the goal was scored in the Steel works end and the ref was running in front of the goal when the ball seemed to get trapped through his legs and went in,I think the goal was credited to the ref.

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[Jonty]

Thought this was a Div 4 match, but can see from the programme is was Div 3. Looking back on these heady days, was there a feel that we were punching above our weight, compared with the likes of Arglyle? And it was just a matter of time before the slide, or was our mindset then that we were up for bigger things?

I still cant get my head around the fact that we were kicking off in front of less than 700 fans as a non league side only a few seasons later.

....No doubt the downturn in our fortunes started soon after this bit of luck in this game.

[Dexter]

We then had him again, I think, in the F A Cup when we played Goole Town away I think it was. He didn’t score that time.

[Suffolk Blue]

Remember it well. Ref tried to get out of the way but only succeeded in rifling the ball into the net. Ball was heading more towards the corner flag from McLeans miss hit shot. Picture our players of today nonchalantly slamming balls into the back of the net in a pre match warm up and you have an idea what it was like. It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen on a football pitch.

The game I think was played in the November of 968 and we then went on a long run of defeats. The points secured in this game were key to our survival for at least one more season. Most memorable thing for me was the initial silence after the ball went into the net as if nobody knew quite what to do and leaving poor old Ivan Robinson to adjudicate on his own mistake.

In passing I know that Steelworks End (John Woods) was at that game and when prompted would always give his recollections of it, including correcting my own memories. I'm sure if he were here he'd be posting right now.

[blue nige]

I was at that game and the goal was fittingly at the steel works end , I was right behind it and Pat dunne (ex Man Utd goalie) was moving over to get the ball back when it hit the ref I've never witnessed anything like that since.

[Nigel Bamford]

Thought this was a Div 4 match, but can see from the programme is was Div 3. Looking back on these heady days, was there a feel that we were punching above our weight, compared with the likes of Arglyle? And it was just a matter of time before the slide, or was our mindset then that we were up for bigger things?

I still cant get my head around the fact that we were kicking off in front of less than 700 fans as a non league side only a few seasons later.

....No doubt the downturn in our fortunes started soon after this bit of luck in this game.

I don't think we did believe we were punching above our weight. We had got to that position because we were good enough. OK, when we threatened the top of Division 3 thoughts of moving up to Division 2 might have seemed fanciful but with Colin Appleton as player/manager the team was playing great football and fully deserved to be a solid Division 3 outfit. It was a wonderful time. However, bad things were on the horizon...

[Hitthebar22]

I remember it, but not well. I was with my dad, sitting in the stand. I do recall all around being incredulous that the goal was scored, and that it stood. My first recollection of Holker Street.

[Shaun]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... edge.sport

...from a few years back now.

[pjdaly]

Yes, I remember this crazy moment also. I think George, who passed away last year, must have had some nerve (or embarrassment) in claiming the goal!

Jonty, you asked if we were punching above our weight . . . as a CLUB perhaps we were, I really don't know, but as a TEAM we definitely were not because under Colin Appleton we were, I am sure, the best Barrow team ever in our history and well worthy of our place at the top end of the old Third Division. But of course at the time of the McClean/Robinson goal we were just about to start our great decline into obscurity with the very well documented disaster of Appleton being replaced by one Norman Bodell . . .

[LDBF]

I was there, 15 years old, at the Holker Street end just coming back to watch after having a pee, didn't know who scored, just that it was Barrow, to be told by others that it was an own goal by the ref

[xerxes]

I was there, and I wrote the following report some years later when we were in the NPL.

"Barrow (0) 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 Sat 9th November 1968.

Autumn 1968 saw Barrow riding high in the table, undefeated at home, and having topped the table briefly. We were hoping for another win in the game against Plymouth, but they defended dourly, and with ten minutes left the game seemed destined for a 0-0 draw. At this point Barrow, attacking the Steelworks End, gained a right wing corner. The referee, Mr Ivan Robinson, as is customary, took up position just behind the bye-line.

The corner was half cleared, and both sets of players began the mad rush out of the penalty area. Mr Robinson started to follow. But then, enter one George McLean, bearing down on the loose ball like an enraged bull, 25 yards out.

Now, big George was never renowned for his long range shooting, being more noted for his heading ability - so why he wasn't in the area for the corner is still a mystery. At any rate, when he let fly from 25 yards I fully expected the ball to end up somewhere in Walney Channel, so it was a surprise to me and the 5,540 other spectators that he actually kept the ball down, albeit going several yards wide.

However, it was even more of a surprise to Mr Robinson who, as he reached the corner of the six yard box, realised the ball was heading straight for him. He pirouetted like a ballet dancer in an attempt to take avoiding action, but to no avail, and the ball struck his knee and richocheted upwards.

The Plymouth 'keeper Pat Dunne (formerly of Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland), having seen the shot on its way wide, had already run towards his left hand post on his way to retrieve the ball for the goalkick (so he thought). He could only watch helplessly as the ball described a perfect arc over his head before dropping into the far side of the goal.

Initially there was some doubt amongst the crowd as to the validity of the goal, coupled with disbelief as to what had actually happened. But a goal it was, and Barrow ran out 1-0 winners. It is interesting to speculate whether, if such a goal was scored nowadays, the attacking players would smother the referee with hugs and kisses!

On a more serious note, that incredible piece of good fortune was the last to go Barrow's way for some time - it marked the start of the slip down the table which ended three seasons later in expulsion from the Football League. Sometimes as I stand in the wind and rain at some God-forsaken NPL ground, I wonder if we are still paying for that piece of good luck.

Barrow - Else, Mallon, Bebbington, Harrison, Arrowsmith, Appleton, McCarthy, Ellison, McLean, Mulvaney, Riley. Sub - McDonald."

[BillyWhizz]

I was at that game.

Didn't some geezer cycle all the way from Plymouth to attend the fixture? I remember reading about it in the EM. I think he traveled to every ground in the league that season, by bike, to cheer on Plymouth Argyle. Some kind of record he was attempting.

[Cromwell58]

Found this in Footballs strangest games

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[Cromwell58]

Found this in footballs strangest matches

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[Cromwell58]

Also in the same book

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