Chelsea’s two goals to see off Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evoked little more than polite applause, akin to that which might greet a well-taken single on the village cricket green, in large sections of the crowd. Even at Loftus Road, Remy’s wonderful exquisitely stroked finish only managed to rouse a significant number to stand for a view of the pitch over the heads of more excited R’s.
The rarity of explosion in passion and unbridled delight, comparable to that witnessed among in excess of 50,000 Geordies after their team’s 93rd minute triumph, is all the more reason to cherish the late goal.
That event can also bring life to, and create treasured memories of, what had looked set to pass off as a mundane clash; recalled only by historians and aficionados.
Mention of Everton playing Southampton will evoke in the mind of many Blues the image of Canadian forward Tomasz Radzinski smashing a ball gleefully into the Gwladys Street net at Goodison Park with 92 minutes on the clock – the Toffees only having equalised against the Saints in the latter stages of a previously unremarkable and freezing cold Saturday lunchtime encounter on Merseyside.
The bedlam inside Everton’s famous old ground on that day is still fondly recalled a decade later by those of blue persuasion who were present.
Every weekend legions of players and fans have their next week’s mood decided by the very last seconds of a football match.
Away from the Premier League on Saturday, Charlton Athletic’s Valley rocked as Jonathan Obika’s 96th minute goal condemned a crestfallen Leeds United to return to Yorkshire empty handed, while simultaneously hauling the Addicks into longed for mid-table safety.
The biggest swing of all came in the most claustrophobic environs of English football – the bottom of League Two. Accrington Stanley’s Peter Murphy struck deep into stoppage time at York City’s Bootham Crescent to earn the Lancashire club a draw which leaves them perched two points above the dreaded perforated line.
Instead of enjoying the same fragile but precious gap, by virtue of their agonising last-ditch concession the devastated Minstermen remain ensconced in a dead-man’s berth.
Besides the instant boon of energy to take into the next challenge, a telling late strike imbues the vital phenomenon of belief into a team. Accrington’s escape at York was immediately preceded by matches against Wycombe Wanderers and Burton Albion, in which Lee Molyneux and James Beattie respectively, scored with time nearly up to boost Stanley’s total points haul by an additional three.
Similarly, Cisse’s heroics were no one-off. The crackerjack forward had settled the two matches at St James’ prior to Sunday’s with goals scored beyond the 90th minute.
The importance of psychology in football cannot be under-estimated. A set of players with recent experience of scoring late will push on unabated in any given encounter in the firm belief that the trick can be repeated. Equally, a collective support, aware of their team’s ability to pull something out of the fire when all seems lost will continue to fervently back the men on the pitch to the death.
Conversely, fans wearied by watching on as matches slip away when the stewards have taken up position in front of them, will emanate a tension as the 90th minute approaches which grips those wearing the shirt.
Members of the Anyone But United (ABU) brigade will contest that the Old Trafford club benefit from luck beyond compare due to the frequency with which points are won or saved, or a cup run is prolonged, with a Red Devlis’ notch on the scoreboard in what is now officially entitled ‘Fergie Time’.
In fact, the potent mix of possessing a spirited and high-class bunch of players in conjunction with a formidable reputation for just such dramatic rescue acts lies at the heart of United’s habit.
The same was true of Liverpool’s European and domestic champions in the 1980’s. The Reds’ notoriety for never being buried became so strong that it endures in the fabric of the club to this day. While the myth of the Kop ‘sucking the ball into the net’ might be a little far-fetched, there is little doubt that thanks to the abundance of occasions on which they have witnessed their team stage a grand finale, its denizens seldom lose hope in the face of adversity.
Bafflingly, there will forever be a number of people who pay the escalating cost of entering a football ground only to depart before time while offering the familiar excuse of ‘beating the traffic’, or ‘needing to get away’.
Every week there is plain evidence around the country’s stadia that these souls might just be taking their leave before the afternoon’s story – and in some cases the picture of an entire campaign – is changed in a single climactic twist.
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