Here’s something you don’t see on a football pitch every day – allowing another team to score after you scored without meaning to. But in a League One (the third division of English football) match between Bury and Doncaster Rovers, that’s exactly what happened.
When Bury defender Nathan Cameron was injured, they had put the ball out of play so he could receive treatment. But as play restarted, Doncaster’s Harry Forrester tried to lob the ball back to the Bury goalkeeper. But he was off his line and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
As the Bury players and staff protested, a long discussion ensued. Forrester can even be seen putting his hands up and apologizing to Bury players, convincing them that he didn’t mean to score. The referee conferred with both managers and it was decided that Doncaster would allow Bury to score. They wouldn’t stop the team from leveling the score.
What happened next would seem bizarre to anyone who just switched on the game on TV. Leon Clarke dribbled the ball from kickoff at the centre circle all the way to the goal and tapped it in. The Doncaster defenders and goalkeeper even jokingly attempted to tackle Clarke as he made his way up the field.
The match ended 1-1 with the incident causing 7 minutes of injury time to be played. After the match, Doncaster manager Paul Dickov said they were put into a tough situation but had to do what was right to uphold the club’s name and honour.
We hope both goalkeepers still get a clean sheet bonus!
The fans also paid homage to Neville Neville, the father of Phil and Gary Neville who died on Friday aged 65, by chanting his name in the 65th minute.
