The full horror of conceding a match-defining goal in the death throes of the action was perhaps best encapsulated by Queens Park Rangers’ manager, Harry Redknapp, this weekend. A man who has lived the large majority of his 66 years in the fiercely competitive world of professional football – more than 25 of those as a manager – described his feelings after watching the R’s have two points stolen from their grasp by Shaun Maloney’s deft waft of his cultured right foot as thus;
“That was the cruellest last kick of the ball I have ever been involved in in football.
“I need people to lift me. I don’t know about the players. I need lifting, that is how I feel”.
On reflection, Redknapp might downgrade his expression of abject misery which he asserted with his feelings still raw, and on the back of what had been a copybook example from his side of how to perform with 10 men.
Prior to Bobby Zamora’s 20th minute dismissal, Wigan Athletic, the day’s visitors to Loftus Road, had been the brighter of two relegation haunted teams during what was a markedly compelling encounter. With the R’s shorn of their authoritative forward, they were content to sit deep and watch a curiously tentative Latics’ outfit retain possession in areas that were never likely to cause a rickety home backline any discomfort.
Once Loic Remy had applied a stunning finish to Stephane Mbia’s surging break, it appeared that Rangers had executed their post-red card task with aplomb.
It is that back-story which led to Redknapp feeling so utterly crushed. There is no more hollow feeling in the game, than watching on as the narrative of an entire afternoon’s or evening’s efforts is changed for the worse seconds before the previously pined for blast of the referee’s whistle sounds.
The bare fact resulting from Maloney’s intervention is that QPR lie seven points adrift of safety, instead of a more manageable 5, with six games to play. For Wigan’s part, they draw level with 17th placed Sunderland, as opposed to remaining a point behind the equally troubled Wearsiders.
Redknapp has been here before. His first match of an ill-fated spell at Southampton saw a 2-0 lead with a minute to play against Middlesbrough wiped out by Danny Higginbotham’s own goal and Stewart Downing’s subsequent 20 yard point stealer .
More memorable is the image, two months later, of a desolate Redknapp stood helpless on the St Mary’s touchline as a delirious mass of Evertonians in clear shot celebrated Marcus Bent’s ill-deserved 94th minute equaliser for the Toffees.
Even allowing for the propensity for self-implosion of that particular Southampton side, – evidenced again later that term when Aston Villa overhauled a two goal deficit on the South Coast – without those Downing and Bent match-warping strikes the Saints would have survived in the 2004/2005 Premier League at the expense of West Bromwich Albion.
A year later, and Redknapp’s dalliance with the pivotal late goal was an altogether happier one. With his Portsmouth team eight points from safety, and having only ten games to play, Pedro Mendes chose the 3rd minute of stoppage time during a clash with Manchester City to deliver one of the more spectacular hits of the Premier League era.
The Portuguese’s rocket clinched a match which Reknapp declared his team had to win to avoid being ‘dead and buried’.
The distinct momentum that can be gained from being on the right end of a barmy late victory took full effect at Fratton Park. A week after seeing off City, Pompey scored four times to win in the forbidding environment of Upton Park. They tasted defeat only once more on a memorable charge to safety.
It is these contrasting recollections that will have raced to the front of Redknapp’s football obsessed mind in the immediate wake of yesterday’s hammer blow.
For Roberto Martinez’s part, he was critical of his men’s ‘cagey’ display, but the Spaniard’s relief was such that he was moved to describe a point against ten men as an ‘incredible result’.
On the same day, Papiss Demba Cisse’s exceptional 93rd minute goal against Fulham sparked scenes of chaotic jubilation at St James’ Park. The Senegalese’s winning goal at once effectively secured continued top-flight football for Newcastle United, and set the Geordies up beautifully for a week in which they will attempt to overturn last Thursday’s 3-1 Europa League reverse against Portuguese heavyweights Benfica – before later welcoming arch foes Sunderland to Tyneside.
The feel-good factor that will exist around the whole club, in contrast to what might have been a melancholy atmosphere following a 0-0 home draw against a mid-table outfit, cannot be under-estimated.
Whatever your personal disposition towards Newcastle United or Alan Pardew, it would be hard to begrudge the manager his uproarious reaction to his side turning one point into 3 at the last possible moment.
The men involved in Premier League football – and indeed plenty who watch – are sometimes criticised for their sterile nature. The sight of the modern day boss scribbling notes when his team has scored is all too common. Even on the terraces, unfettered anarchy amongst the gathered throng as a spontaneous response to the net bulging in favour of their heroes is no longer the norm.
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