Cheating Thierry Henry and the 10 most controversial goals - and non-goals - of all-time

By Ian Cruise in Mirror Football Blog

Published 15:55 19/11/09

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Thierry Henry sparked outrage on Wednesday night when his helping hand edged France past the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup finals play-off.

But how does that compare with some of the game other's great goalscoring controversies? Ian Cruise takes a look...

10) Jonathan Howard - Chesterfield v Middlesbrough, FA Cup semi-final, April 1997
With Third Division Chesterfield leading their Premiership opponents 2-1, Howard found space in the box and fired in a right foot shot which crashed down off the bar and over the line. But not according to referee David Elleray, nor his linesman. They ruled the 'goal' out, and also failed to award a penalty as Gianluca Festa climbed all over Andy Morris as he tried to reach the rebound. Morris recalls: "After we had that legitimate goal ruled out, they got their tails up and suddenly they were on top." Boro recovered to draw 3-3, and then won the replay 3-0 to book their place in the final.

9) Pedro Mendes - Manchester United v Tottenham, Premier League, January 2005
Mendes had scored his first goal for Spurs on New Year's Day 2005 against Everton, and should have had his second three days later. The Portuguese midfielder's speculative 50-yard shot should have been easy for United keeper Roy Carroll to deal with, but he fumbled the ball over the line, as TV replays later proved. Bit late for Spurs by then, though.

8) John Eustace - Watford v Reading, Championship, September 2008
Watford midfielder Eustace was credited with the infamous 'ghost goal' - or perhaps 'ghost own goal' would be more appropriate - as the last player to touch the ball, even though replays showed it had gone wide of the post by about five yards. But referee Stuart Attwell and his assistant Nigel Bannister decided the ball had gone between the sticks, despite Watford's furious denials. The match eventually finished 2-2 and Watford's appeals to have the record books show the goal scored by Attwell and Bannister fell on ears as deaf as those of the match officials themselves.

7) Marc Overmars, Arsenal v Sheffield United, FA Cup 5th round, February 1999
The FA Cup has thrown up some amazing stories down the years, and this was certainly one of them. Arsenal's winner in their 2-1 Highbury triumph came after Sheffield United had kicked the ball into touch so one of their players could receive treatment. On the resumption, though, instead of giving possession back to the Blades, Kanu broke free down the right and squared for Overmars to tap home. The visitors were apoplectic, Arsene Wenger said sorry and offered to replay the match. Which they did. And that one ended 2-1 to the Gunners as well.

6) Jeff Astle - Leeds v West Brom, First Division, April 1971
With West Brom already leading 1-0 and Leeds' title hopes hanging in the balance, Albion added a second goal through Jeff Astle to kill off the game. But that was only half the story. The linesman had flagged when Tony Brown intercepted the ball, aware that Colin Suggett was in an offside position, but referee Ray Tinkler waved play on and Astle eventually netted. It cost Leeds the title in 1971, and effectively ended their hopes the following season as well after they were ordered to play their early home matches on neutral grounds following the Elland Road pitch invasion sparked by Tinkler's decision.

5) Darren Bent - Sunderland v Liverpool, Premier League, October 2009
You know you ain't heading for silverware when goals like this go in against you. Sunderland took the points at the Stadium of Light when Bent's early strike ricocheted past Pepe Reina after it bounced off a beach ball thrown from the crowd. It later transpired that the goal should have been disallowed because of the intervention of a foreign object on the pitch, but the referee surely shouldn't be blamed for Daniel Agger?

4) Geoff Hurst - England v West Germany, World Cup final, July 1966
There is much hand-wringing going on right now about Henry's actions on Wednesday night - just as there was when dirty Diego kyboshed England in '86 - but there were fewer dissenting voices when our Geoffrey banged home the third against the Germans on a warm summer's day in '66. Instead of arguing about whether or not the ball crossed the line, folks were more concerned with congratulating the Russian linesman for his decisive intervention. Oh well, what goes around...

3) Carlos Tevez - Manchester United v West Ham, Premier League, May 2007
The goal that allegedly cost Sheffield United £25m as they were relegated from the Premier League as a consequence of the Hammer's 1-0 win at Old Trafford. And will eventually cost West Ham £20m in compensation payments to the Blades after they agreed on an out-of-court settlement over United's claims that Tevez, part owned by a third party, was ineligible to play. Shame about all that really, 'cos it was a good goal, too.

2) Luis Garcia - Liverpool v Chelsea, Champions League semi-final, April 2005
'The goal that never was' proved enough to separate Liverpool and Chelsea after a closely fought two legs in the last four of the 2005 Champions League. Blues boss Jose Mourinho had dubbed the Spaniard's strike as a 'ghost goal' long before anyone had ever heard of Stuart Attwell. But he conveniently forget to mention that if the goal had been chalked off, Liverpool would have had a penalty anyway after Petr Cech flattened Milan Baros. But why let the facts get in the way, eh?

1) Diego Maradona - Argentina v England, World Cup finals, June 1986
And there is it coming around...! Twenty years after Hurst's crossbar challenge, Maradona punched England out of the Mexico World Cup with Argentina's controversial opener. The fact that he settled the affair with a second goal, and one of the best ever scored in a World Cup finals, was rendered neither here nor there with his post-match proclamation that his first had been scored by the 'Hand of God'. Try telling Peter Shilton that...

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