2000-1: The season ...

of the Disallowed Goal

Daniel Jennings chronicles an amazing sequence of bad luck...

1. Wrexham 0 Bristol City 2 (Saturday 12th August)

Four minutes into the season and on-loan keeper Miller dropped Ferguson’s corner and new-signing Sam swept the ball in at the Kop end. The perfect start? Not so! The referee said that Miller had been impeded by a Wrexham player but on closer inspection it looked more like one of his own players. It was 0-0 at the time and City took the lead four minutes later. The ref rubbed salt into Wrexham’s wounds when he allowed City’s second goal to stand when Rogers looked to be pushed.

2. Wrexham 1 Rotherham United 3 (Tuesday 12th September)

Early in the second half, with Wrexham trailing by a single goal, Killen met Ferguson’s near-post corner with a looping header that left keeper Gray flapping. The home side was back in it. No, think again! The linesman had raised his flag for an offside decision which was pretty hard to believe with a defender still clutching the near post!

3. Reading 4 Wrexham 1 (Tuesday 17th October)

4-0 down at half time and Faulconbridge had already grabbed a consolation goal in the 52nd minute before his ‘goal’ was ruled out. Shortly after netting his first he appeared to only go shoulder to shoulder with Viveash as he turned him nicely before blasted home past Whitehead at his near post. However, the referee thought that he had made too much contact with Viveash and disallowed it. You’d think that it wouldn’t really matter losing 4-1 anyway, but it could have done. Faulconbridge also had a header brilliantly saved and strong shouts for a penalty waved away as Wrexham showed what they were capable of.

4. Wrexham 2 Cambridge United 2 (Tuesday 21st November)

Owen had just equalised and minutes later his fierce drive was spilt by the nonetheless impressive Perez. Faulconbridge steamed in to prod the ball home but the linesman’s flag was quickly raised for an offside. Maybe on this occasion it should have been.

5. Notts County 1 Wrexham 0 (Saturday 23rd December)

Trailing by the single goal and into stoppage time, Wrexham threw everyone forward in the hope of an equaliser. A corner wasn’t properly cleared and when the ball was driven back in by Edwards it deflected off Carey and left Ward wrong-footed in the County goal but the linesman’s flag was already raised. Personally I don’t know what all the fuss was about, it looked like everyone bar Dearden and Edwards was in an offside position! However, the players certainly didn’t approve and Ferguson and Dearden went too far in complaint.

6. Wrexham 1 Port Vale 0 (Saturday 26th December)

Although we were 1-0 up Vale had been all over us and if the ‘goal’ had stood when McGregor headed in Ferguson’s corner early in the second half it would have surely taken the pressure off a little bit. However, a linesman’s flag ruled it out. I haven’t got an opinion on this one as I was too cold to remember it! Faulconbridge’s goal has only just come back to me so I might recall it sometime!

7. Wigan Athletic 0 Wrexham 0 (Monday 1st January)

On the day Wigan would have gone top of the league if they had taken all three points, Wrexham went to deny them the three points and nearly took them themselves. In the 38th minute Carey met Ferguson’s in-swinging right-wing corner and thumped a header into the back of the net sending 1,000+ travelling fans into uproar. However, the referee had already spotted something but it didn’t look much on second sighting.

8. Wrexham 1 Notts County 1 (Tuesday 10th April)

We hadn’t had a disallowed goal for just over three months, so we had an extremely controversial one to make up for it. After already fighting back from 1-0 down to get an equaliser Faulconbridge looked to have won it for us with just half an hour left on the clock. He met Ferguson’s corner (yes, this seems to be a constant factor) with a forceful header that Ward did well to get something on but it still appeared to land in the stanchion. However, the referee along with his assistant couldn’t decide on whether the ball had crossed the line or not. The ref later confirmed that the ball had hit the stanchion but he wasn’t sure the whole ball had crossed the line! This was Wrexham being punished for using goal nets no longer allowed in the Premiership.

9. Wycombe 1 Wrexham 1 (Saturday 14th April)

Definitely the strangest out of the lot. Halfway through the first half Ferguson played the ball through to Gibson who cut it back for Morrell to bundle in from close range, a perfectly worked move deserving of a goal. However, the most stupid of mistakes I have seen made by a referee at any level denied Morrell and Wrexham of a good goal. Despite everyone in the ground realising the linesman hadn’t raised his flag against Gibson because everyone in the middle played him well on, the referee seemed to take it on his own to call the offside! With it being at the away end the Wrexham fans weren’t best pleased and all hands pointed at the linesman gesturing to the referee that NO FLAG HAD BEEN RAISED! I even lost my voice appealing for this one! The referee later confirmed on the Chairboys website that it must have been something in the crowd. Pathetic!

10. Swansea City 0 Wrexham 2 (Monday 14th May, WPC Final)

OK, so it’s not in the league but it does take us into double figures! At 0-0 Russell flicked the ball through to Trundle who confidently rounded Freestone and found the back of the net. Trundle looked a bit disappointed but there were no real protests. Later, video evidence proved Trundle was on side but it happened so quickly it was a hard one to call.